Why Aerogels So Expensive?

Aerogel preparation involves expensive precursors, chemicals, and the need for supercritical drying, making the production relatively more expensive compared to the current conventional building insulations.

Is it expensive to make aerogel?

Even though producing more aerogel at a time would bring its price down, the process and materials alone come with a high price tag of about $1.00 per cubic centimeter. At about $23,000 per pound, aerogel is currently more expensive than gold [source: NASA JPL, FAQs]!

What is so special about aerogel?

Aerogels provide very effective insulation, because they are extremely porous and the pores are in the nanometer range. The nano pores aren't visible to the human eye. The existence of these pores makes the aerogel so adept at insulating.