Historically, the aerogel market for energy and industrial applications has seen modest growth, growing from US$224M in 2021 to an estimated US$348M in 2025. Exceptionally low thermal conductivity and density make aerogels stand out as high-performance insulation materials for a wide range of applications, including fire protection materials and thermal barriers for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, industrial machinery and pipelines, oil and gas, building and construction, and more. With growing production capacity and increasing market availability of aerogels, energy and industrial segments will continue to be among the leading adopters of aerogels over the next decade. According to IDTechEx's report, "Aerogels 2025-2035: Technology, Market, Forecasts", aerogels for energy & industrial will grow over 2-fold in the next 10 years, owing to the high performance requirements met by aerogels.
Aerogels are ultralight materials with extremely low thermal conductivity. IDTechEx benchmarked over 130 aerogel products in the market across different material types and form factors such as blankets, foams, particles, panels, and more. Source: IDTechEx
Superior performance of aerogels as insulation materials
Aerogels are a class of highly porous, ultralightweight solid materials composed of interconnected nanostructures that are inorganic, organic, or composites. Typically, these materials have a porosity of ~90-95% by air. Silica and silica composite aerogels dominate the market, although organic aerogels are also emerging from players such as Aerogel Technologies and Blueshift.
Aerogels are not just excellent thermal insulators, but they are notable noise insulators, can be hydrophobic depending on the manufacturing process, non-corroding, and provide fire resistance. Products exist across a range of form factors, such as blankets, sheets, foams, particles, tiles, etc. IDTechEx has collected data on 130 aerogel products currently available on the market or under development. Detailed comparisons, benchmarks, and analyses of aerogel products can be found in "Aerogels 2025-2035: Technology, Market, Forecasts".
Most of the products relevant for energy and industrial applications are in the sheet/blanket form, from players such as Aspen Aerogels, Armacell, Nano Tech, and several others. More recently, LG Chem entered the market and told IDTechEx that it is currently producing aerogels for industrial clients, including its in-house petrochemical plants, and expects to enter the EV thermal barrier market later this year.
However, a key challenge with silica composite solutions is that they liberate a lot of dust, which not only makes handling the materials challenging but can also affect their performance over their lifetime. Improving manufacturing processes to mitigate this is an area of focus among many players.
Current and future aerogels market size forecasts for energy and industrial segments. Source: IDTechEx
Market outlook
While the aerogels market is rapidly evolving, concerns remain over the comparatively high cost of aerogel products with other insulation materials. Historically, this has been a barrier to the market's widespread growth. However, over the last few years, manufacturers, especially in China, have rapidly ramped up production capacity, and according to IDTechEx estimates, China currently accounts for approximately 97% of the global production capacity, with several major expansions planned. The increasing market availability may help achieve more competitive pricing for aerogels.
With increasing focus on process efficiency, thermal insulation has become a critical enabler of energy savings, positioning aerogels as vital materials in the energy and industrial segments. IDTechEx forecasts that the aerogels market for energy and industrial segments will more than double over the next decade.
IDTechEx's "Aerogels 2025-2035: Technology, Market, Forecasts" report offers a comprehensive and independent analysis of the global aerogel market, giving detailed ten-year market forecasts segmented by application and material type. The materials covered include polymer, silica, and silica composite blankets, pads, sheets, foams, and a range of other form factors. The report also benchmarks commercially available aerogels across several applications, including thermal barriers for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, oil and gas, building and construction, and several others. Assessment of aerogel applications is also included for other markets such as energy storage, electronic appliances, daylighting & windows, and many more.
To find out more about this report, including downloadable sample pages, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/Aerogels.
For the full portfolio of advanced materials market research available from IDTechEx, please see www.IDTechEx.com/Research/AM.
