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Goodbye plastic? Scientists create new supermaterial that outperforms metals and glass
Scientists at Rice University and the University of Houston have created a powerful new material by guiding bacteria to grow cellulose in aligned patterns, resulting in sheets with the strength of metals and the flexibility of plastic—without the pollution. Using a spinning bioreactor, they’ve turned Earth’s purest biopolymer into a high-performance alternative to plastic, capable of carrying heat, integrating advanced nanomaterials, and transforming packaging, electronics, and even energy storage.
Using a spinning bioreactor, they’ve turned Earth’s purest biopolymer into a high-performance alternative to plastic, capable of carrying heat, integrating advanced nanomaterials, and transforming packaging, electronics, and even energy storage. Moreover, incorporating boron nitride nanosheets during synthesis resulted in a hybrid material with even greater strength -- around 553 megapascals -- and improved thermal properties, demonstrating a heat dissipation rate three times faster than control samples. The scalable, single-step process holds significant promise for numerous industrial applications, including structural materials, thermal management solutions, packaging, textiles, green electronics and energy storage systems.
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