Recently Discovered Materials That Take Innovation To The Next Level

From self-pouring liquids to literally invincible alloys, let's explore some recently discovered materials that take innovation to the next level!

Self-Pouring Resin Polymer

To empty a cup of liquid, you usually have to tip it out all the way. Except, there’s one liquid out there that hardly have to tip at all, because it pours itself! That bizarre material is a self-pouring resin polymer.

Self Siphoning Fluid by Dan Reid

Polymers are materials made up of a repeating chain of molecules, called monomers. Those monomers are combined in a chemical reaction called polymerization, forming chain structures called polymers that make for tough, durable materials.

That liquid in particular is polyethylene oxide, or poly-ox. That gel is very thick because its chain molecules like to stick together, a process called cohesion, giving it an elastic quality acting like beads that are attached to a chain. That allows it to self-siphon, pouring itself without emptying. But it’s more than just a party trick!

A study in 2023 uncovered poly-ox’s potential for 4D printing. That is a 3D-printed form, able to morph into different shapes and then change back when it changes temperature or is exposed to electricity. Since poly-ox has a good shape memory, it could enhance the printing ink’s viscosity, and allow it to remember which shapes it has already made.

Hydrophobic Nanotech Water-Resistance

How infuriating is it when you spill your drink on your freshly cleaned t-shirt? There is a complete game-changer. That is a type of fabric called hydrophobic, meaning it repels liquid; liquids simply roll off the surface, keeping you and your clothes dry.

Why we Make Hydrophobic (Water Repellent) Clothing for Athletes by BLUESMITHS

That is because the fabric is treated with hydrophobic nanotechnology, a protective coating of incredibly tiny threads called filaments, which traps pockets of air in the fabric and shields it from liquids. Plus, recent advances in hydrophobic fabrics could even keep you from getting ill!

Those super fabrics can fend off diseases like E. coli up to 97% of the time. When negatively charged bacteria interacts with chains of positively charged hydrophobic molecules, the molecules repel them, causing disruption, and then death, to the bacterial structure. But the best t-shirt feature of all? It doesn’t lock in that nasty sweat smell.

Carbon DLS 3D-Printing

Carbon Digital light synthesis or CDLS is a new 3D-printing process developed by the digital manufacturing company Carbon, which creates extra-strong parts faster and more accurately than other printing methods, while leaving zero waste.

A liquid plastic resin is cured into shape by UV light as it prints. Once the part is printed, it’s baked in an oven, where heat will strengthen the material enough to take pressures of up to 3000 megapascals. That’s over 435,000 pounds per square inch!

Carbon Resin - FPU - Flexible Polyurethane by Carbon

Because that carbon process can produce all kinds of materials, CDLS printing could become the next big thing in mass production. CDLS could give us our industrial fabrics, rubber products and vehicle parts in half the time it would take to test just one design with another manufacturing method.

Shape Memory Polymer

Finding a new scratch or a new dent on your car might be the most annoying thing in the world! But what if your car could just repair itself? When damaged, shape memory polymers are able to turn back to their original state when pressure and temperature is applied, as demonstrated in the video below!

New Self Healing, Reprogrammable Polymer Family by Texas A&M University College of Engineering

The scientific wizardry behind it all lies with cross-linked molecules. Those hang from polymer chains, and at higher temperatures, remain disconnected. But at lower temperatures, they link up to the chains. So, a tear can be healed at room temperature simply because the cross-link molecules can bond to the chains again.

Self-healing materials aren’t actually a new phenomenon, self-healing concrete was actually used way back in the Roman era! But it was only in 2023 that scientists finally discovered how they made it! Ancient builders used a highly reactive compound called quicklime, which led to deposits called lime clasts forming within the concrete.

When mixed with water, the deposits would dissolve and recrystallize, healing the cracks so, whenever it rained, the concrete would heal over! That modern discovery could be used to fill road potholes more efficiently, and cars could be applied with sprayable surface coatings able to heal scratches and prevent rust. Even tires could heal themselves of cracks with those polymers.

Recycling Plastic Into Ice-Cream

In the near future, your ice cream could contain one very unexpected ingredient: plastic. The first ever food made from plastic waste was created by student Eleonora Ortolani in 2023.

She took a small amount of plastic and broke it down with an enzyme, a protein that speeds up chemical reactions, placed in E. coli bacteria. That breaks the links formed between molecules in the material. Once that enzyme breaks the chain, it’s actually no longer plastic, but a collection of unlinked, tiny molecules called monomers.

She then used another enzyme to synthesize and combine the unlinked monomers to form the chemical structure of vanillin, which is a larger molecule that creates the flavor in vanilla. Then, that was successfully used to create flavored ice cream! Ortolani believes that a similar process could be used to turn plastic waste into more than just ice cream flavorings, but proteins and carbohydrates too!

GNoME: Discovering 2 Million Crystals With Deep Learning

Forget "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". Nowadays, it’s more like "one small right-click for man, one giant leap for AI." And some recently discovered materials are no exception! A Google AI model called GNoME has been used to discover 2.2 million new types of crystals, 380,000 of which are materials that could genuinely power our future technology.

Google launched GNoME in 2023, feeding it information on crystals from a wide database. When they ran the model, it was able to generate new crystal structures and predict how stable they would be in reality and 41 of them are now being tested, as the AI model gave the scientists a recipe that let them successfully grow the most-promising crystals in a lab!

GNoME’s discovery, in fact, is equivalent to 800 years’ worth of human knowledge and research. That’s like a medieval peasant in the 1200s discovering the technology for the iPhone! Currently, we have no way of knowing just how powerful those crystals could be but some scientists have claimed that they could revolutionize future tech.

But how? Some crystals are already used in lots of pieces of tech like computer chips, electric batteries and solar panels. That is due to a wide range of unique properties, that allow them to conduct heat to keep computers cool, store energy for long periods of time or in some cases generate electricity like quartz, which can create small amounts of electricity when it’s pressed or squeezed.

Finding new crystals that can perform those abilities while being stable enough to work without decomposing is traditionally a long, painstaking process. But the millions of crystals rapidly found by GNoME could offer any of those properties or more undiscovered abilities and 380,000 of them are considered very stable which means they can be used without decomposing.

That means we may have access to newer, advanced ways of powering and increasing the speed or lifespan of electronics, all due to an AI model that’s made for hunting crystals. No one can say we’re living in the dark ages anymore!

3D Printing With Mycelium

Even if you don't like mushrooms, this next new material will probably make you a fan of fungi. Since 2018, Blast Studio has developed a new construction tool you can not only build with but that you can eat! Mycelium are the roots of a fungus, like mushrooms, which are incredibly important to our ecosystem. One of its important properties is being able to decompose organic compounds.

So, Blast Studio used discarded coffee cups, which are shredded and added to water to create a pulp. That is then mixed with the mycelium to form a paste and 3D-printed into shape. The pieces are stacked together, and the mycelium begins to grow between each piece, fusing them together.

Lovely Trash - Mycelium 3d printing from waste by Blast Studio

Eventually they produce mushrooms that can be picked from the structure and eaten! But once each piece has fully fused, the whole structure is heated to 176°F to dry out and stop its growth, by killing the living mycelium. But it’s not over yet. Due to its insulating and fire-retardant properties, that dried out version can still be used in architecture! Because it can be printed into all sorts of shapes, that material knows no bounds when it comes to construction.

NASA's New Super-Metal: GRX-810

If you think you work well under pressure, think again. You’ll never come close to the next mighty material, it makes Titanium look like cotton wool! In 2022, NASA created an alloy called GRX-810. An alloy is a metal made up of two or more different elements. For example, bronze is an alloy consisting of copper and tin.

GRX-810 was 3D-printed as an alloy combo of nickel, cobalt and chrome, laced with tiny nanoscale particles of an oxide called yttrium. That oxide strengthened the material so much that it was able to take up to 3,000 pounds of pressure per square inch, while enduring temperatures of 2,000°F.

Other alloys in the same conditions lasted around 10 hours. But GRX-810 lasted for 9 months. NASA is now considering using it for aircraft parts, particularly to create nuclear thermal rocket engines. Those thermal engines could power faster missions to Mars, and far beyond, if they discover a material that can withstand the heat of its reactor.

Glowee: Bioluminescence Light

We all love seeing the lights of a big city in the dark, but it cost a lot to keep those lights running through the night. And not just financially, but environmentally, too. Let's explore the work of Glowee, a company that uses bacteria to light up the night sky!

Founded in 2014, that operation was inspired by bioluminescent organisms, which are able to naturally emit light in dark surroundings. It’s thought as many as 90% of marine organisms possess that ability! So, Glowee extracted non-toxic bioluminescent micro-organisms, like the bacterium, aliivibrio fischeri, and suspended them in saltwater tubes.

Inside, the glow from the bacteria illuminates the liquid, creating a source of light that runs on less energy and water than LED lights. All the electricity used to power city lights, for example, could theoretically be swapped for that biological lighting! In 2019 a town in France, Rambouillet, tested out the lights for themselves. Seems a little dim to replace streetlights for now, but that doesn’t stop that being a bright idea!

Shrilk: Degradable Bioplastic From Shrimp

Shrilk is a degradable bioplastic made using chitosan, a sugar derived from shrimp shells, and a protein called fibroin, which comes from silk. That unlikely combo has produced a surprisingly versatile new material that can take both rigid and elastic forms. That is because Shrilk is hydrophilic, meaning that it’s attracted to water molecules and will happily absorb, dissolve, and mix with them.

That means that Shrilk can become a hard plastic used for things like cups and plates when it’s introduced to a little water, or an elastic plastic, like saran wrap when it’s exposed to lots of water. Shrilk isn’t just an alternative for manufactured plastics.

Shrilk can grow plants from its own bioplastic soil. It decomposes within just a few weeks, leaving compostable remains that release nutrients which support plant growth. As for clothing, synthetic fabrics and plastics are everywhere in your jeans, your coat, your favorite t-shirt. Shrilk could substitute the synthetic for the sustainable!

AI Discovers Material To Reduce Lithium In Batteries: N2116

Don’t you hate it when you realize your phone’s battery-life is getting shorter and shorter in front of your eyes? What if there was a new kind of battery that could last not hundreds, but thousands of charge cycles? In 2024, a new substance was discovered by an AI model, by narrowing 32 million possibilities down to 18 in less than a week. N2116 successfully made the a material that could replace lithium-ion batteries, the same kind your phone uses, and reduce their use up to 70%.

Lithium batteries are made with lithium extracted from brine deposits; reservoirs filled with very salty water. To extract lithium we use large amounts of water too. Approximately 500,000 gallons per ton. But the resource is starting to run out, with demand estimated to increase tenfold by 2030.

Furthermore, those lithium batteries use liquid electrolytes to conduct the electricity, which are highly flammable and explosive. N2116 in comparison, is a solid-state electrolyte, meaning that all of its parts are made from solid materials. That makes N2116 much safer to use, and even more impressively, Solid-state batteries can also store more energy inside them than batteries with liquid electrolyte, which means they can last longer and charge faster.

The lifespan of a lithium battery is roughly 2-3 years, or 300-500 charge cycles. With the thousands of cycles N2116 possesses, you could be looking at over a decade of regular use! Cities with battery operated lights, traffic signals, cars, even power grids, N2116 could change it all!

Aerogel & Hydrogel

You wouldn’t think air, the stuff we breathe could be a building material, would you? Meet Aerogel, the insulation material you’ve probably never heard of. It sounds like a Walmart shampoo brand, but it’s actually the world’s lightest solid material, with 99.8% of it made up of air. The other .2 percent are consisted of a gel made from a polymer and a liquid solvent.

The result is an incredibly porous, fire-retardant material! It’s also been used in space to capture projectiles like space debris and micrometeorites. However, impact can cause irreparable damage to the gel. It’s been used since its discovery in the 1930s, but scientists have now created a newer, tougher material to replace it, TSAM, or talin shock-absorbing materials.

In 2022, a protein called talin was formed into a hydrogel, a material composed of a solid polymer and water. Talin’s shock-absorbing quality means that it’s capable of absorbing the impact and speed of projectiles without the force of the blow affecting it. In fact, hydrogel was able to capture small projectiles at speeds of over 3,350 miles an hour. That’s over 4 times faster than the speed of sound! And for innovation it may even protect us from the Martian atmosphere! That’s right, hydrogel could be our best building block for future homes on the red planet.

Biodegradable Packaging

Are you tired of throwing out all the containers from huge takeout orders, or constantly throwing out food packaging? Then you might have heard of Notpla, a company that makes food packaging entirely from biodegradable materials. That means that they can be composted to feed worms, microbes and fungi, unlike normal packaging.

Did you know that it can take hundreds of years for plastics like the petrol coated containers to decompose? Well, since 2017 Notpla has replaced over 3.5 million units of plastic food containers with their seaweed-based bioplastics. Researchers from the University of Nottingham have taken that idea a step further, creating packaging made from konjac flour, starch, cellulose and proteins.

That means that after tucking into your favorite takeout, you can eat the container too! That’s not the only edible plastic around there, though. Notpla also created Ooho, an edible water bottle, again made from seaweed.

Notpla - Making packaging disappear by Notpla

Packaging water in those little balls can take off 450 years of decomposition time, compared to just 2 weeks for Notpla’s materials. Not to mention, it fulfils a forbidden tide-pod temptation with its squishy texture and bright colors.

Gallium: The Metal That Melts In Your Hand

Gallium is a soft, silvery metal which can come in both solid and liquid forms. When liquefied, it sticks to most surfaces including skin and glass, leaving a residue if you hold it.

That material is commonly used to conduct electricity in technologies like Blu-ray and solar panels. But in 2023, researchers created a robot made from gallium, with magnetic particles inside. Those particles allow the scientists to control the robot, and also creates a magnetic field which generates electricity. When that happens, the gallium becomes hot and starts to melt.

Gallium has a low melting point of 85°F, which is very close to room temperature, at 68 to 77°F. That makes the transition from solid to liquid very easy to induce. The robot was able to pass through metal bars by liquefying, then reformed into a solid using a mold on the other side! Scientists basically recreated a mini-T-1000 from Terminator: Judgement Day.

Watch shape-shifting metal gallium in action | Science News by Science News

Polyurea Coating Protection

Polyurea is a waterproof material that protects objects from the four horsemen of destruction: corrosion, rot, rust, and breakage. That unlikely hero can defend your possessions from a blast impact of over 1,000 pounds of pressure per square inch.

It’s a sprayable elastomer, adhesive to materials such as metal, cement even food! That spray is formed by a synthetic resin and isocyanates, which are chemicals found in paint and varnishes. Through polymerization, those substances create a flexible, but incredibly tough elastic material, able to take stresses from 1,000 to over 6,000 psi.

POLIUREA PRUEBA DE RESISTENCIA EXTREMA @PolinovaGlobalSLpoliurea by Polinova Global S.L

But that’s not all. It can withstand temperatures below 104°F and up to a flaming hot 300°F. Despite elastomer coatings first originating in the 1980s, that material has been clocked as a great feature of structural designs, reinforcing buildings from weather and damage!

Magnetic Putty

No one could resist playing with silly putty as a kid! So many varieties and colors to choose from! But our next topic is a magnetic putty. Putty is an elastic polymer, made from silicone oil and boric acid. It was first invented as a children’s toy in the 1940s, but the magnetic type has become a growing phenomenon over the years.

So, what makes it magnetic? It includes iron oxide particles, which attract magnetic force. When a magnet is nearby, the putty is not only drawn to it, but it can also consume the magnet entirely! And it’s not just made for fun. That putty has been used to enhance robots.

Studies from 2023 show that magnetic putty is a robot’s best friend, providing extra magnetic force and load-bearing support. It’s also able to navigate through small areas too, as narrow as 1.5mm. That means it could be used to travel inside the body, helping doctors find and retrieve swallowed objects.

中大團隊研發「史萊姆機械人」 Slime Robot developed by CUHK team by CUHK Channel

Carbon Fiber

Carbon fiber is the stuff that’s doing all the heavy lifting behind the scenes; a material twice as stiff as steel and up to 5 times stronger. It’s able to take stresses between 3000-7000 Megapascals in comparison, your standard steel reaches 550 Megapascals.

But how? Well, carbon fiber is composed of (as the name suggests) carbon, the same stuff diamonds are made from. Carbon atoms can bond together to form long, crystalline strands that create incredibly tight chains. That results in a material that is chemical-resistant and can take temperatures of over 3,600° F.

Because it’s so tough but also lightweight, it can used in everything from construction to medical implants, like bone plates and prostheses. You’re probably wondering that if this material is so strong and helpful, why aren’t we seeing it everywhere? The answer, unsurprisingly, is money. It’s more expensive to produce than other materials, so plastic and metal are still used to keep the costs of everyday items down.

SMILES: The Brightest Fluorescent Material Ever Made

The discovery of our next material is enlightening, literally! In 2020, scientists created a material called small-molecule, ionic isolation lattices SMILES, for short. Those are the brightest fluorescent materials on Earth, at 7,000 brightness units. In fact, when compared to a similar fluorescent material called cadmium selenide quantum dots, commonly used in the medical field, SMILES were 30 times brighter.

That new material is made from small fluorescent molecules in colored dyes, which are packed in together tightly. The problem is that the molecules are so close together that they can only emit a dim glow when they enter a solid state. So, scientists threw cyanostar into the mix, which is able to force the molecules apart, allowing their glow to escape and shine brightly even within a solid structure.

That allows the liquid solution to be turned into solid shapes, by first being grown into crystals, then turned into a powder, and finally spun into a film. Then that substance is used to 3D-print those shining shapes. SMILES have a bright future, as they lend themselves well to powering 3D displays, solar lasers, and even medical imaging, like X-rays.

Vertigel: The Material That Stops Bleeding

There’s always a moment of panic whenever you find some blood on yourself. But the news is that, there’ll be no need to go scrambling for band aids in the future, because Vetigel has created a material that can completely stop bleeding in under 20 seconds.

That gel is a polymer able to form a barrier when exposed to blood or tissue, like a bathplug that stops water from flowing. It collects fibrin, a protein that produces the clotting of blood, which prevents additional bleeding. When it does that, the bleeding will stop completely under the gel’s protective mesh. And as it’s composed of natural polymers made from algae, the gel can be left in the wound and easily absorbed by the body.

Since 2021, Vetigel has been used on animals in veterinaries from America to Asia, but it might show up on the human market real soon! In fact, the US Department of Defense is interested in the gel, which could help wounded soldiers on the battlefield. Able to be used for both skin wounds and organ injuries, we might have an amazing new medical device on our hands.

NASA Chainmail Fabric

In 2017 NASA unveiled a 3D-printed chainmail made for astronauts! It possesses tough tensile strength, good reflectivity, heat management, and flexibility enough to fold quickly into different shapes. Unlike the old-timey chainmail of yore, that futuristic version was not welded together, but 3D-printed into stainless steel squares.

Those metallic tiles are able to reflect light on one side and absorb it on the other, making it a highly insulative material. Furthermore, the chainmail is strong enough to help in shielding spacecraft and spacemen alike from meteorites. While they might not have to worry about bloodthirsty medieval warlords, getting blasted by space debris is arguably more terrifying. So, it’s functional and practical.

I hope you were amazed at these recently discovered materials that take innovation to the next level! Thanks for reading.