Very often in fantastic works one can see some kind of high-tech materials that, after damage, tighten, as if they "heal" themselves. It all sounds and looks extremely unrealistic, because if damaged, the bonds between the molecules are destroyed and they cannot be restored. Or is it possible? The answer to this question is provided by a new material constructed by engineers at MIT. It can react with carbon dioxide from the surrounding air in order to reshape and even repair itself.
The test sample of the material is a synthetic gel-like substance, the main part of which is carbon. According to the editorial staff of Advanced Materials, the self-healing process is based on a process that is somewhat reminiscent of photosynthesis. Only in this case, carbon from carbon dioxide is used to restore damage to the material. According to one of the authors of the work, Michael Strano and Seon-Fon Kwak, Developing a synthetic material that does not use fossil fuels has clear environmental benefits.
An illustration of the self-healing properties of the new material. In the presence of light, carbon from the air fills in voids to repair damage.
To develop their creation, scientists used chloroplasts (organic plant inclusions, due to which the process of photosynthesis occurs), obtained from spinach leaves. But the problem is that chloroplasts isolated from the cell cannot perform their function for a long time. Therefore, the experts first extracted these inclusions to study the processes, and then replaced them with non-bilological catalysts that perform the same functions. The resulting gel matrix contains a polymer based on aminopropyl methacrylamide (ARMA), glucose and glucose oxidase.
Vladimir Kuznetsov