If you were to ask what the biggest hassle of owning a cellphone is today, I guarantee you that most would say having to deal with cracked screens. We have a tendency of dropping our phones, and in doing so, destroying the one piece of property that contains a very large chunk of our private lives – from images, to music, and so on. Fret not, this hassle will no longer exist in our near future thanks to Polish-born French physicist Ludwik Leibler with his invention of a new polymer known as vitrimers!
“In the consumer products segment, vitrimers have the potential to reduce obsolescence of damaged plastic products by allowing for easy repairs. Some plastics require centuries to decompose, and currently 90% of all waste floating on the world’s oceans is plastic, killing as many as 1 million sea creatures annually. With vitrimers, self-repairing plastic could dramatically reduce waste and its environmental impact, as well as reducing replacement costs to consumers.” – European Patent Office
Leibler and his team of researchers at the Laboratoire Matière Molle et Chimie at ESPCI ParisTech have invented a new class of plastics that contain glass-like properties within its fabric. What makes this invention significant is that it not only maintains sturdiness while being moldable, given the right temperature, but will subsequently self-repair itself indefinitely whenever it’s damaged. Not only does this paint a bright future for all cellphone screens, it equally does so for all plastic materials that are used in our hospitals and construction.
These vitrimers consist of molecular networks that are in a state of dynamic equilibrium, as opposed to solely being rigid or permanent. Subsequently, they emulate a certain polymer known as thermosets, which provide them an equal property of being both rigid and immutable. As a result, by combining these two classes of materials, these vitrimers become what Leibler calls a “supramolecular” substance. The significance of this is due to the fact that some plastics take centuries to decompose. Consequently, 90% of all waste floating in our oceans is plastic, killing up to 1 million sea creatures per year. With vitrimers, this will become a thing of the past.
FUTURE IMPLICATIONS
The future of plastics has never looked brighter! With the invention of vitrimers, Leibler and his team have set up a new foundation of resources that’ll vary throughout societal markets, from cellphone production, to architecture, to healthcare. Materials that self-repair have been discussed at length within science-fiction literature, though is now making its way into the world of science-fact. Vitrimers now join a growing list of sci-fi wonders becoming a reality. In the comments below, tell us what other applications you envision for self-repairing plastics.
Source: European Patent Office
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