AIST: Water repels, develops heat insulating material that does not break even if it is crushed through light
Hierarchical Structural Materials Processing Group, Research Institute for Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Mr. Takeshita Tsutsumi, research group leader Satoshi Yoda, uses natural polymer chitosan obtained from shrimp and crab shellfish as a material and is water repellent (light) We developed a very low density porous body (water repellent airgel) that combines permeability and flexibility. Details of this technology will be published in the academic journal Nanoscale of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, but prior to that the online version was published on August 21, 2017 (Japan time).
http://www.aist.go.jp/aist_j/new_research/2017/nr20170904/nr20170904.html