Are you ready for the smart materials revolution?

Materials are usually thought of as inert substances that we manipulate to make or augment things. But what if the materials can be reactive? What if they’re “smart”? Increasingly, researchers and manufacturers are discovering how to integrate digital and smart characteristics into materials, enhancing critical functionalities like heat resistance, tensile strength and corrosion resistance.

In the chemicals industry, there is always a need to devise better protective materials, especially coatings that can prevent corrosion and other types of degradation. Protective coatings are especially important for steel, which is used so widely given its relatively low cost and high performance. Yet unfortunately, this mighty alloy is easily subject to corrosion.

A paper in Nature recently revealed the development of a bio-inspired, self-healing and anti-corrosion waterborne polyurethane (WPU) coating that boasts enhanced tensile strength, damage resistance and anti-corrosion performance. Most impressive, perhaps, are its “self-healing” properties. The paper’s authors explain that “Importantly, due to the reversibility of the hydrogen bonding array, the fractured WPU can easily heal and restore its original mechanical properties when subjected to heating at 50 °C.”

They go on to note that the coating “presents a revolutionary solution for creating multi-functional, high-performance smart material in harsh environments.”

Just as some new materials may be able to react to heat, others can react to light. Researchers at Tufts University School of Engineering have created light-activated composite devices that can make precise movements and form complex shapes. Reporting on their paper in Nature Communications, Tufts Now writes: “The design combines programmable photonic crystals with an elastomeric composite that can be engineered at the macro and nano scale to respond to illumination.”

The Tufts team sees a lot of potential for this research to expand into the development of smart light-driven systems — notably solar cells that could follow the sun’s direction and angle of light. Considering that solar power is one of our greatest and growing clean energy sources, smart materials and systems like this could be hugely beneficial in addressing the climate crisis.

Returning to construction, a recent article in PlanRadar ?highlighted a dizzying array of the most innovative new construction materials, including liquid granite, cooling hydroceramics, super strong aerogel, transparent wood (more eco-friendly and thermally efficient than glass), and self-healing concrete (bacteria is the key ingredient!). ? Sustainability is an important element in many of these materials, whether it’s that they are made from renewable sources or that the material itself provides an eco-friendly benefit (keeping your home cooler or warmer naturally, for example).

Most of these smart new materials include traditional materials as well — but by combining them in different ways, introducing a new component, or utilizing a groundbreaking technique, they transform into something even better.

Many smart materials also end up being quite flexible in their applications:

• BASF used organic aerogel to create SLENTITE, a high-performance, polyurethane-based aerogel insulation panel needing “only half the space to do the same job as conventional materials” and designed with construction and refrigeration sectors in mind.
• Cabot Corp has released multiple ENTERA aerogel products that can be used as thermal barriers in forms like blankets, foams, coatings and even in lithium-ion batteries.
• 3M?has used “xerogel technology” for its Thinsulate Xerogel Insulation, a textile solution made from 60% post-consumer recycled content that is used in a range of warm weather clothing and sportswear.

Innovative developments like these are not an anomaly. A recent Accenture report?shared data that illustrates that the “materials revolution” is underway.

• In 1980, 70% of materials-related patents cited just one material and 6% cited three or more; in 2020, 46% of patents cited one material and 24% of patents cited three or more.
• In 1980, just 4% of materials-related patents referred to smart and digital properties, compared to 24% of patents in 2020.

According to the report: “Over the next several years, growth rates for innovative new materials are expected to exceed those of traditional materials, creating an estimated growth opportunity of US$150 billion by 2025.”

Clearly the opportunity is there. Is your organization prepared to take advantage of it?

Fascinating breakthroughs and findings full of possibility are coming out every day. To keep up with latest in materials research, many engineers use Elsevier’s solutions and resources:

• Knovel is full of materials property data and offers access to vital technical references: for example, these handbooks on Self-Healing Materials?and Nanotechnology and Functional Materials.
• Elsevier publishes many relevant books on new materials, such as Encyclopedia of Smart Materials and many more. ?

What is particularly exciting about the growth of smart materials is that they reflect the best in imaginative high-tech advancement while also addressing our most urgent ecological challenges. Which is to say that not only do many of these smart new materials have an incredible “wow” factor, but they accomplish these technological feats while also being more environmentally responsible than traditional materials.

Learn more about how Elsevier supports the work of professionals in the Chemicals and Materials industry.

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