Silicon-based aerogel (SA) has attracted increasingly more attention in the field of thermal insulation as its extraordinary properties such as ultralight, ultra-low thermal conductivity, and strong designability. However, SA thermal insulation materials (SA-TIMs) have several intrinsic defects such as low strength and poor toughness, which make their processing and handling difficult and restrict their practical applications. Composition optimization and microstructure reconstruction are the most convincing and effective strategies to improve their mechanical and thermal insulation properties, achieve more functions, and reduce cost. This review encompasses a complete survey of scientific achievements related to the two strategies, describing their characteristics, microstructures, and properties. The influence of different compositions and various assembly structures on the final properties of SA-TIMs is thoroughly reported. The main focus of this review is to point out the design principles of SA-TIMs and discuss the most promising development trends towards their widespread applications.

硅基气凝胶（SA）具有超轻，超低导热性和强大的设计性等非凡特性，在隔热领域受到了越来越多的关注。然而，SA绝热材料（SA-TIM）具有一些固有的缺陷，例如强度低和韧性差，这使得它们的加工和处理困难并且限制了它们的实际应用。成分优化和微观结构重建是提高其机械和隔热性能，实现更多功能并降低成本的最令人信服和有效的策略。这篇综述涵盖了与这两种策略相关的科学成就的完整调查，描述了它们的特征，微观结构和特性。彻底报道了不同组成和各种组装结构对SA-TIMs最终性能的影响。本文的主要重点是指出SA-TIM的设计原理，并讨论其广泛应用的最有希望的发展趋势。