Scientists may have just taken the first step toward making it a reality.
The researchers built the material on a nanoscale level, meaning its individual components are measurable in nanometers.
Examples of polymers include proteins, cellulose, and nucleic acids.
The x-shaped monomers in the mechanically bonded 2D polymer.© Mark Seniw, Center for Regenerative Nanomedicine
We made a completely new polymer structure, said study co-author William Dichtel of Northwestern University in a universitystatement.
If you pull it, it can dissipate the applied force in multiple directions.
We are continuing to explore its properties and will probably be studying it for years.
This reaction created mechanical bonds within the crystals.
After the polymer is formed, theres not a whole lot holding the structure together, he added.
So, when we put it in solvent, the crystal dissolves, but each 2D layer holds together.
We can manipulate those individual sheets.
Even a small percentage of the new polymer structure, however, can improve other substances.
Almost every property we have measured has been exceptional in some way.
This incredibly strong and flexible material might just be the armor the future has been waiting for.
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