The Super Materials Revolution

Amazing as graphene is, it’s not the only advanced material worth our wonder and excitement. Consider the possibilities of these future super materials:

• Carbon nanostructures artificially engineered at molecular scale are stronger than diamonds and can be made into materials that are both super light and super strong – ideal for building a new generation of cars, airplanes, and other vehicles that can travel farther on less fuel while better protecting passengers from crashes and equipment failure.
• Borophene is to the element boron as graphene is to carbon: a layer just one atom thick with extraordinary properties. Borophene is just as superconductive as graphene but even stronger and more flexible, and it’s transparent to boot. It’s a leading candidate for transformative uses, such as batteries that last longer, store more power, and recharge faster; next-gen wearables that comfortably move and bend with the body without losing functionality; and durable, ultra-thin touchscreens we could fold up and carry in our pockets.
• Liquid metals are supple, almost flowing, at room temperature but still conduct heat and electricity. They’re also stretchy and self-healing and can hold their shape even when bent, injected, spread like paint, or printed with a 3D printer. Imagine how much easier construction would be in disaster zones, rural areas in developing countries, or even outer space with wires that can stretch up to 10 times their original length and reattach themselves when severed. And once it’s possible to print with nonreactive liquid metal at nanoscale, disorders like Parkinson’s disease could be treated with electrical stimulation delivered by circuits printed directly on neurons in the brain.
• Engineered living materials have the structural properties of traditional materials but are made by living systems, which allows them to grow in situ, adapt to their environments, and self-repair. Researchers have already used microorganisms that digest food waste to create a biocompatible polymer that’s as good as animal skin for medical uses and can be produced faster. They’re also experimenting with houses that literally grow themselves, with fungi and other plants grafted onto reusable 3D-printed scaffolding or self-reproducing bricks excreted by bacteria that have been fed the ingredients for “biocement.”
• Hybrid living materials (HLMs) are 3D-printed objects coated with living cells that react in specific, predictable ways to materials embedded in the objects. Though still in their infancy, HLMs could eventually allow 3D printing of bandages, braces, and other biomedical devices that produce their own therapeutic compounds, such as painkillers or topical treatments.
• Biomaterials are engineered materials designed to perform in ways that mimic organic ones. Scientists have already tapped nature’s inspiration to develop antimicrobial surfaces that destroy bacteria by emulating dragonfly wings, slime-like nanobots that can assemble and reproduce themselves, and artificial leaves that can “photosynthesize” a common gas currently made from fossil fuels out of nothing more than carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight.