Accidental Discovery Leads to Novel Material
A team of Israeli and American materials scientists have stumbled upon a method to create a new type of glass that can self-assemble and repair itself.
The team, from Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University in Israel, along with colleagues at the California Institute of Technology in the United States, discovered that mixing a specific type of peptide (a chain of amino acids that make up proteins) with water creates the novel glass.
Self-Assembling, Self-Healing, and Adhesive Properties
Upon investigating the properties of the new glass, the researchers found that it exhibits self-assembling capabilities, along with the ability to self-heal and adhere despite being strong and stiff.
Wide-Ranging Applications
According to the scientists, the new glass has potential applications in creating glass panels and coatings, manufacturing water-repellent surfaces, and producing highly precise objects such as optical lenses. Additionally, it requires less energy to produce compared to most commercial glasses.
Further Research and Development
The research team believes that further experimentation could reveal even more applications for the novel glass. Their findings have been published in Nature Communications.
Fortuitous Discovery
According to phys.org on June 13, the researchers stumbled upon the "recipe" for the new glass serendipitously. They were initially investigating the use of short peptides as alternatives to conventional components of large molecules.
While studying a dipeptide molecule containing two phenylalanine units, they inadvertently mixed it with water and discovered the creation of an amorphous, supermolecular glass that self-assembled as the water evaporated at room temperature.
Surprisingly, self-assembly of peptides in previous studies had resulted in crystalline materials—not transparent and therefore not resembling glass. However, the end product in this latest research was transparent like traditional glass.