Metallic Wood
A team of researchers has once again used nanotechnology to develop a new material that is as stronger, but lighter, than any natural material known to man. Its porous nature also means that it can be infused with other materials that make it useful for a variety of applications.
The first step in fabrication is to suspend tiny plastic spheres in water. As the water evaporates, the spheres self-assemble into a crystalline framework which is then electroplated with nickel. When the spheres are ultimately dissolved with a solvent, what is left is an open metallic network with struts that are about 10 nanometers (about 100 nickel atoms) wide.
Other methods that utilize 3D printing have proven to be difficult to scale up, and the structures are too small to be of practical use. In comparison to previous strong material samples, which are typically about the size of a flea, the new approach can produce specimens that are 400 times larger.
Materials like metallic wood could someday be used to build structures such as airplane wings that are lighter and stronger than those available today. When infused with anode and cathode materials, they might even serve as batteries to store solar energy during flight.
For information: James Pikul, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, 220 South 33rd Street, 229 Towne Building, Philadelphia, PA 19104; phone: 215-573-2786; email: pikul@seas.upenn.edu; website: https://pikul-lab.seas.upenn.edu/ or https://www.upenn.edu/