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MIT engineers draw inspiration from plant life to create a new polymer that "grows" through a chemical reaction with carbon dioxide.
The material, a substance resembling a synthetic gel designed by a team of chemical engineers, sits on the air to strengthen and repair itself.
Like other self-healing elements in the workplace, this invention could one day be used in architectural or protective coatings.
How cool would it be if your cracked smartphone screen has just been repaired with a light breeze?
Or, as pointed out by MIT, the material can be turned into lightweight panels shipped to a construction site, where they harden and solidify after being exposed to the air and sunlight, thus reducing the energy and transport costs of the developers.
Not yet strong enough to be used as a building unit, the substance may be ready for use as a filler or crack-coating material.
"It's a completely new concept in materials science," says Michael Strano, a professor of chemical engineering, who says that "what we call carbon-fixing materials do not exist today". outside the biological domain.
That's why this breakthrough is so exciting.
This, and the fact that a synthetic ingredient that actively avoids fossil fuels and consumes carbon dioxide "has obvious benefits for the environment and the climate," said MIT researchers.
"Imagine a synthetic material that could grow like trees, taking carbon from carbon dioxide and incorporating it into the backbone of the material," Strano added.
The team's first experiments, however, were not entirely free of biological components: Strano & Co. relied on chloroplasts – specialized compartments in plant cells that carry out photosynthesis – spinach leaf extracts.
Future work will replace chloroplasts with non-biological catalysts (although it is difficult to know which ones).
The US Department of Energy is sponsoring a new program to develop Strano's findings.
"Our work shows that carbon dioxide should not be just a burden and a cost. It's also an opportunity in this regard, "he said in a statement. "There is carbon everywhere.
"We are building the world with carbon. Humans are made of carbo. Making a material that can access the abundant carbon around us is a great opportunity for materials science, "continued Strano. "In this way, our job is to make materials that are not only carbon neutral but carbon negative".
The full study was published last week in the review Advanced Materials.
Scientists at Clemson University have recently revealed their own self-healing product, very close to commercial production. Inspired by Marvel Comics, Californian researchers have created a new component that repairs itself and extends up to 50 times its usual size. Learn more about self healing technology here.
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