New applications in energy, defense and telecommunications could receive a boost after a team from The University of Texas at Austin created a new type of gel composed of tinycrystals each 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human.
The new material is easy to modify. Changing the temperature can switch it between two different states. The material can absorb different frequencies of light depending on whether it is in a gelled state or not. It could be used on the outside of buildings to control heating and cooling. This type of optical filter is used for thermal camouflage.
The gels can be tailored for different applications because of the designer components that connect them into networks. It's possible to modify the crystal structure to be useful for space craft or fiber-optic networks. gels can be switched based on ambient temperature or environmental toxins.
It could be useful if you could change the heat signature of an object.
The journal Science Advances published the new research.
The Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials is a National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Center that brings together engineers and scientists from across campus to collaborate on materials science research.
The team was able to see the material change back and forth between its two states of gel and not-gel in the lab.
The Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas helped them understand what was happening in the gel when heat was applied. The simulations revealed the types of chemical bonds that hold thecrystals together in a network and how those bonds break when hit with heat.
This is the second unique gel created by this team, and they continue to pursue advances in this arena. A gel that can change between four states is currently being created by Kang. The gel would be made of two different types ofcrystals, each able to switch between states in response to chemical signals or temperature changes. Such gels are called "programmable" materials.
More information: Jiho Kang et al, Colorimetric quantification of linking in thermoreversible nanocrystal gel assemblies, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm7364. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abm7364 Journal information: Science Advances Citation: Versatile 'nanocrystal gel' could enable advances in energy, defense and telecommunications (2022, February 18) retrieved 18 February 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-02-versatile-nanocrystal-gel-enable-advances.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
