Almighty!

February 12th, 2022| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

Stronger than steel and lighter than plastic?

Yes, report MIT chemical engineers, led by Prof. Michael Strano, in “Irreversible Synthesis of an Ultrastrong Two-Dimensional Polymeric Material,” published in Nature last week.

They created this new material that is a two-dimensional polymer that self-assembles into sheets, unlike all other polymers, which can form only one-dimensional, spaghetti-like chains. These grow by adding new molecules onto their ends.

Polymer scientists have long hypothesized that if polymers could be induced to grow into a two-dimensional sheet, they should form extremely strong, lightweight materials. Until now, scientists had believed it was impossible to induce polymers to form 2D sheets. One reason was that if just one monomer rotates up or down, out of the plane of the growing sheet, the material would begin expanding in three dimensions and the sheet-like structure would be lost.

However, in the new study, Strano and his colleagues came up with a novel polymerization process that allowed them to generate a self-assembling two-dimensional sheet: 2DPA-1. Under the right conditions, monomers grow in two dimensions, forming disks, which then stack on top of each other. Held together by hydrogen bonds between these layers, the structure is extremely stable and very strong.

Prof. Strano:

Instead of making a spaghetti-like molecule, we can make a sheet-like molecular plane, where we get molecules to hook themselves together in two dimensions. This mechanism happens spontaneously in solution, and after we synthesize the material, we can easily create thin films that are extraordinarily strong.”

All kinds of possibilities for its use now open up: for car parts, for cell phones, for bridges, space elevators ….

Strano:

We don’t usually think of plastics as being something that you could use to support a building, but with this material, you can enable new things. It has very unusual properties and we’re very excited about that. With this advance, we have planar molecules that are going to be much easier to fashion into a very strong, but extremely thin material.”

The researchers found that the new material’s “elastic modulus”—a measure of how much force it takes to deform a material—is about five times that of bulletproof glass. And its “yield strength”—how much force it takes to break the material—is twice that of steel, even though the material has only about one-sixth the density of steel.

Another key feature of 2DPA-1 is that it is impermeable to gases. While other polymers made from coiled monomer chains have gaps that allow gases to seep through, the new material made from monomers lock together like LEGOs: molecules cannot get between them.

Strano again:

This could allow us to create ultrathin coatings that can completely prevent water or gases from getting through. This kind of barrier coating could be used to protect metal in cars and other vehicles, or steel structures.”

Self-assembling, strong, and unaffected by things outside, sounded to me almost like self-existent, mighty, and unchangeable—a description of only one Being, God!

Before the mountains, [before] they were born,
and [before] You delivered the earth and the world,
and from forever unto forever, You [were] God.
Psalm 90:2

But I—I will sing of Your strength;
and proclaim Your lovingkindness in shouts of joy in the morning,
for You have been to me a stronghold,
and a place of refuge in the day of my distress.
My strength, to You I will sing praise;
for God is my stronghold.
Psalm 59:16–17

The plan of Yahweh forever stands,
the intentions of His heart from generation to generation.
Psalm 33:11

A great God, indeed!

SOURCES:
Technology Networks; Nature