Molecular Bonds Create Complex Soft Structures

Mar-02-18 A new method of bonding soft materials could help usher in the coming generation of soft robotic and electronic wearables.

Creating a complex tool requires different materials to be attached together—a process that has typically been limited in working with soft materials. To offer a less restrictive method, a team from Harvard developed a way to chemically bond soft materials, such as hydrogel and elastomers, during the manufacturing process without altering the properties of the material.

The process involves mixing chemical coupling agents that resemble “molecular hands with small tails” into the precursors of the materials. When the elastomer and hydrogels are combined during manufacturing, the free hands “reach across the material boundary and shake” to create chemical bonds and attach the materials together.

Image: Suo Lab/Harvard SEAS - An unmodified hydrogel peels away from an elastomer (left). Materials treated with the handshake coupling agents (right) are far harder to peel apart.

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[CO.UK]
[SEAS.HARVARD.EDU]

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