Science, Space and Technology News 2024
Researchers have created a new class of materials called “glassy gels” that are as hard as glassy polymers, but – if you apply enough force – can stretch up to five times their original length, rather than breaking. A key thing that distinguishes glassy gels is that they are more than 50% liquid, which makes them more efficient conductors of electricity than common plastics that have comparable physical characteristics.
Gels and glassy polymers are classes of materials that have historically been viewed as distinct from one another. Glassy polymers are hard, stiff, and often brittle. They’re used to make things like water bottles or airplane windows. Gels – such as contact lenses – contain liquid and are soft and stretchy.
“The ionic liquid is a solvent, like water, but is made entirely of ions,” says Dickey. “Normally when you add a solvent to a polymer, the solvent pushes apart the polymer chains, making the polymer soft and stretchable. That’s why a wet contact lens is pliable, and a dry contact lens isn’t. In glassy gels, the solvent pushes the molecular chains in the polymer apart, which allows it to be stretchable like a gel.
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