A new nanoscale hybrid polymer has been found to be capable of chemical regeneration.
By combining rigid and soft compartments from polymers, a team of engineers and materials scientists from Northwestern University developed a polymer that can contract and expand, imitating muscle fibers.
The supramolecular polymer combines polymers with strong covalent bonds and weak non-covalent bonds. By working with the two compartments and manipulating specific orientation, the researchers were able to create a new reactive material.
"Some of the nanoscale compartments contain rigid conventional polymers, but others contain the so-called supramolecular polymers, which can respond rapidly to stimuli, be delivered to the environment and then be easily regenerated again in the same locations,” said Samuel I. Stupp, materials scientist and lead author of the published study.
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