American scientists have developed a new type of transparent plastic

American scientists have developed a new type of transparent plastic that is as strong as steel but only has the thickness of a piece of paper. The research results were published in the October 4 issue of the journal Science.

This biodegradable composite plastic is made from clay and a non-toxic glue similar to that used by students and can be produced with little energy. "This is the greenest plastic you can imagine, and the production cost is very low," said Kotov, a researcher at the University of Michigan who leads the plastics development.

To produce composites on the nanometer scale and to maintain their strength at larger sizes is a problem that has plagued scientists for a long time. Kotov tried to solve this problem by mimicking the molecular structure of "brick-mortar" found in shells.

Kotov’s engineering team created a robot that can alternately arrange brick nano-lamellas in different ways like blocks and use a colloidal polymer to create hydrogen bonds between the interlayers, even if somewhere The looseness of the bond can also easily rebond the nanosheets in another place. To glue a layer of clay nanosheets into a 300-layer plastic sheet, the robot arm will take several hours to complete.

Kotov said that the research work is still at an exploratory stage, but a new type of plastic with a square meter can be produced in the laboratory. Experiments show that this kind of "brick-mortar" structure can achieve a very good stress transfer effect between nanosheets and polymer matrix.

Researchers have begun to use this composite plastic to develop practical products, and it is estimated that they will be commercialized within the next year or two. This plastic can be used to reduce the energy consumed by chemical plants for the separation of natural gas and improve the use of micro-technologies such as microchips or biosensors. One day it could even produce lighter, harder armor for vehicles used by the military or the police.