New hydrogels a potential alternative to petroleum based plastics

[marsden_online]

via SciBlogs .

Published in the Jan 21 edition of Nature, the paper outlines how the researchers were able to create a high-water-content hydrogel using only water, a bit of clay, and a pinch of organic components (details below).
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The recipe for this hydrogel goes something like this: take some water. Add about 2-3% by mass of clay. Mix, and add 0.4% by mass of certain organic components*. Shake well, at least metaphorically, for 3 minutes or a bit longer.

And voila! The final product is a transparent hydrogel with some very interesting properties. It’s able to stick together, which means it can easily be built into structures etc. It also keeps its shape, so any structures it’s used for can be free-standing – all due due to its ‘outstanding mechanical strength’.

It’s able to self-heal when damaged, and preserves biologically active proteins for catalysis (great for setting up reactions involving enzymes). In fact, it has some interesting applications for building reaction sequences using blocks containing different enzymatic activities.