Researchers have engineered a new material that is an extreme thermal insulator, is exceptionally stiff and can be printed as a thin film at large scales. The material has one of the lowest thermal conductivity profiles of any dense, or nonporous, material—approaching the theoretical limit of how good a material can be as a thermal insulator.

“Stiff materials that are good thermal insulators would have substantial utility in a variety of applications, from cookware to electronic devices to space travel,” says Dali Sun, co-corresponding author of a journal article on the work and a professor of physics at North Carolina State University.

“But this is a significant challenge,” Sun says. “Because, in general, stiff materials are good at conducting heat, and materials that are not stiff are good at insulating against heat. We’ve created a material that is very stiff and is extremely good at insulating against heat. Better than any material you would find in nature.”