Imagine a polymer with ingredients that can pass anything into the environment and then be regenerated for reuse. Or polymer, which can lift weights, Contracting and rasimas like muscles.
For this purpose, the polymer should consist of hard and soft nanoparticles with different characteristics, organized in a special way. The all-new hybrid polymer of this type was developed by researchers at northwestern University. It can be used to produce artificial muscles and other lifelike materials; for drug delivery, biomolecules and chemicals; to create self-healing materials; as a replaceable energy source.
“We have created an amazing new polymer nanoparticles that can be chemically removed and then be reconstructed many times,” says the study’s lead author Samuel Stupp.
The hybrid polymer combines two well-known types of polymers: strong covalent bonds and weak noncovalent bonds, known as “supramolecular polymers”. Integrated polymer consists of two different parts, with which scientists work to enable the polymer to have useful properties.
“Our discovery could revolutionize the world of polymers and to open a third Chapter in their history, becoming an early hybrid polymers, said Stupp. — She will go for the first head widely used covalent polymers and more a new class of supramolecular polymers.”
Scientists still have a lot of work, but ahead is the creation of materials with unique properties — for example, the ability to samorazvitie and heal itself — which will have many applications in real life.
On materials Science Daily