A team of engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has devised a way to manufacture a hydrogel that can adhere to very different types of surfaces, including silicon, titanium and aluminum, with great force, similar to that found between cartilage , tendons and bones or applied by some bivalves to cling to rocks or the hull of ships.
This new transparent and gummy-looking substance contains 90% water. Even so, the researchers managed to make two small glass plates connected by a minimal amount of hydrogel without problems support a weight of 25 kilos that they suspended from them. In another experiment, they applied this compound to a silicon wafer. After hitting it with a hammer, they observed that although it had been broken, the pieces remained in place, again thanks to the hydrogel.
As these experts explain in the journal Nature Materials , in essence, this new substance uses molecules derived from silicon called functional silanes that have the ability to connect the hydrogel with the surface to which it sticks as if it were a chemical anchor .
Its developers believe that the compound could be applied in the future in the coating of some vessels, such as submarines. Furthermore, as it is a biocompatible material, it would also be very useful in medicine, for example to coat catheters or certain sensors that would be implanted in the patient’s body. Professor Xuanhe Zhao, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, who has participated in this initiative, is convinced that it is also possible to use it in robotics , in the development of synthetic flexible joints.
Image: Felice Frankel
