MIT chemical engineers have come up with a material that can react with carbon dioxide from the air to expand and get stronger. As long as its surface is exposed, the carbon-based material continuously reinforces itself by capturing and converting the greenhouse gas from the air.
The new material, a polymer, is a synthetic gel-like substance that performs a chemical process similar to the one plants use to incorporate carbon dioxide from the air into their growing tissues. It could someday be used as a protective coating or a construction material such as panels of a lightweight matrix. Shipping those to a building site, where they would harden and solidify from exposure to air and sunlight, would reduce the energy and cost associated with transportation.
“This is a completely new concept in materials science,” says professor Michael Strano, who led the research with postdoc Seon-Yeong Kwak.
“Imagine a synthetic material that could grow like trees, taking the carbon from the carbon dioxide and incorporating it into the material’s backbone.” The material, which becomes stronger as it incorporates the carbon, is not yet strong enough to be used as a building material, though it might function as a crack filler or a self-repairing coating material, the researchers say.
After working out how to produce materials of this type by the ton, they’re now optimizing their properties. “Our work shows that carbon dioxide need not be purely a burden and a cost,” Strano says. “It is also an opportunity.”
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.
And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.
OpenAI teases an amazing new generative video model called Sora
The firm is sharing Sora with a small group of safety testers but the rest of us will have to wait to learn more.
Google’s Gemini is now in everything. Here’s how you can try it out.
Gmail, Docs, and more will now come with Gemini baked in. But Europeans will have to wait before they can download the app.
This baby with a head camera helped teach an AI how kids learn language
A neural network trained on the experiences of a single young child managed to learn one of the core components of language: how to match words to the objects they represent.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.