Aeroshield

AeroShield Materials is a materials science company commercializing ultra-clear silica aerogel for use inside insulated glass units. The company's aerogel sheets are roughly 95 percent air trapped in nanoscale pores and can be bonded to the inner glass of windows and doors; approximately 3 mm of the material inside a double-pane window is stated to deliver triple-pane or better thermal performance at double-pane thickness and weight, improving energy performance by up to 65 percent (reported elsewhere as a 50 percent improvement in energy efficiency and a reduction in heat loss of up to 65 percent).

The company positions windows as the weakest element of the building envelope, citing U.S. Department of Energy figures that heat gain and loss through windows account for up to 30 percent of a homeowner's heating and cooling bill, and noting that U.S. adoption of triple-pane windows remains below 5 percent because of cost, weight, thickness and limited frame and aesthetic options. AeroShield states its material can be incorporated on existing insulated glass production lines with minor changes. Research and development has focused on residential windows, doors and skylights, with stated additional applications in commercial windows, grocery store freezer doors, ovens, electric vehicle windows and solar thermal energy.

AeroShield produced 14-inch by 20-inch prototypes as of 2022 and has conducted testing at national laboratories to evaluate performance and durability. In 2024 it opened a 12,000 square foot pilot manufacturing facility in Waltham, Massachusetts, containing aerogel R&D labs, manufacturing equipment, assembly lines and testing equipment, where it plans to produce, test and certify its first full-size windows and patio doors for initial product launch.

Founding story

The technology originated in the MIT laboratory of Evelyn Wang, where research on aerogels for windows began around 2014 with funding from ARPA-E and later sponsors including the MIT Energy Initiative through the MIT Tata Center for Technology and Design in 2016. Aerogels had long been used as thermal insulation, including by NASA, but had not been made transparent. After roughly five years of theoretical and experimental work, the MIT team established that keeping the silica particles both small and uniform in size allows light to pass through without scattering, producing a transparent aerogel whose clarity is preserved as sheet thickness increases. Elise Strobach, who developed the ultra-clear silica aerogel during her doctoral work at MIT, co-founded AeroShield in 2019 with Aaron Baskerville-Bridges and Kyle Wilke to further develop and commercialize the material for windows and other applications.

Business model

AeroShield develops and manufactures a transparent aerogel material that is supplied for integration into insulated glass products, working with industry partners and insulated glass manufacturers to incorporate the material inside new windows and doors rather than selling finished windows directly to homeowners. Its site also solicits manufacturing and partnership inquiries.

Traction

As of the 2022 seed announcement, AeroShield was producing 14-inch by 20-inch prototypes and had conducted extensive testing at national laboratories for performance and durability. In 2024 it opened a 12,000 square foot pilot manufacturing facility in Waltham to produce, test and certify its first full-size windows and patio doors for an initial product launch. It has received FORGE product development grants and MERT 2.0 Research and Prototyping Fund support, and lists awards including a grand prize in energy and SBIR funding.

Latest developments

The opening of the Waltham pilot manufacturing facility, announced in spring 2024 and covered by MIT News in September 2024, where the company plans to produce, test and certify its first full-size windows and patio doors ahead of an initial product launch.