Biomass-Based Nanoengineered Cooling Geotextile for Permafrost Thawing Prevention

permafrost thawing prevention Arctic region biomass materials cooling geotextile nanoengineering
["Xu, Wenhui","Liu, Xiaojie","Yan, Wei","Tian, Yanpei","Xu, Yiming","Zhu, Wenkai","Mohammad, Noor M","Niu, Zhenyuan","Liu, Ya","Deng, Pengfei","Cheng, Qilong","Du, Fengyin","He, Jinlong","Xiang, Hengxue","Li, Ying","Youngblood, Jeffrey P","Kurtz, Nathan T","Zhu, Meifang","Zhuang, Qianlai","Li, Tian"] 2025-11-20 期刊论文
Permafrost thawing is a critical climate tipping point, with catastrophic consequences. Existing stabilization methods rely on refrigerant-based systems, such as thermosyphons and active refrigeration, which are capital-intensive, energy-demanding, or increasingly ineffective in warming climates. Most infrastructure built on permafrost requires continuous heat removal from the foundation as the underlying permafrost becomes progressively unstable. To address these challenges, we demonstrate a fully biomass-derived cooling geotextile that can effectively mitigate permafrost thawing through scalable nanoprocessing via a roll-to-roll fabrication (1.3 mmin-1). The cooling geotextile features a hierarchical three-layer design: a strong woven biomass scaffold, a permeable nonwoven fiber network, and an optimized porous coating layer with micro- and nano-structures. When anchored to bare ground, it extracts heat to the cold sky, enhances albedo from similar to 30% to 96.3%, and establishes a thermal barrier between soil and air. Engineered for Arctic durability, it withstands strong winds, extreme cold, and freeze-thaw cycles, exceeding the American National Engineering Handbook requirements (tensile strength 1,682 kg; tear strength 191 kg; puncture strength 61 kg). Field tests in West Lafayette, IN (40 degrees 25 ' 21 '' N, 86 degrees 55 ' 12 '' W) reveal up to 25 degrees C soil cooling under 500 Wm-2 irradiance. Its lightweight (0.8 kgm-2) and rollable attributes enable scalable and fast localized deployment. Simulations predict up to 12 degrees C surface cooling during Arctic summer (2020-2050), preventing up to 40,000 km2 of permafrost from thawing. Completely derived from biomass, cooling geotextile ensures a low carbon footprint (0.7 kgm-2), positioning itself as a sustainable solution for reinforcing Arctic coastline, reconstructing thawing landscape, and restoring the environment.
来源平台:ACS NANO