BOSTON, Apr 30: Scientists have used a synthesised protein to developed a new material that can get as hard as human bones or as flexible as gelatin depending on the environment around it, an advance which may be used in the development of sensors.
“The material is a hydrogel made from a synthesised protein, similar to the one that makes up the jaw of the Nereis virens sea worm and which gives it structural stability and impressive mechanical performance,” said Martin-Martinez from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“When we change the ions of the environment and the salt concentration, the material expands or contracts,” Martinez said.
Researchers, including those from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, looked at a sea worm called Nereis virens in order to create a material, which has the ability to be flexible or rigid at convenience.
The jaw of this worm has a texture similar to gelatin, but if the environment varies, the material may adopt the hardness of dentin or human bones, researchers said.
The team found that at the molecular level, the structure of protein material is strengthened when the environment contains zinc ions and certain pH indexes.
The Zinc ions create chemical bonds with the structure of the compound. These bonds are reversible and can form or break at convenience, making the material more dynamic and flexible, researchers said.
“Its ability to contract and expand makes it especially suited to creating devices that work as muscles for so-called soft robots, which are made of polymers,” Martinez said.
“It could also be used in the development of sensors that do not need to use external power supplies and control devices for complex electronic systems,” he said.
The findings were published in the journal ACS Nano. (AGENCIES)
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