Nano composite material allows the "fish" to remove micro -plastic to heal itself

Plastics are commonly visible things in our daily life. But now, plastic has caused "white pollution". In fact, what is more terrible than "white pollution" is the micro -plastic pollution that quietly threatens biological health in the invisibly.

In recent years, as scientists have found micro -plastic in water and sediments in multiple sea areas, people have realized that micro -plastic pollution has become a global environmental problem. The micro -plastic in the ocean is a new type of pollutant. The particles are small, large in number, widely distributed and easy to be eaten and enriched by organic organisms such as marine fish and shellfish. And human threats.

Recently, Professor Zhang Xinxing, the National Key Laboratory of the National Key Laboratory of the Sichuan University, has developed a software robot -robot fish -driven software -driven software robot. The machine fish can swim in all directions with light sources. When the laser is shot on the tail of the fish, the light will deform the material and bend. Several times in a row can make the tail swing left and right, so that the fish moves forward.

It is worth mentioning that the machine fish can swim about 2.67 times that of its length per second. During the swimming process, the machine fish will release a molecule with a slight negative power, which attracts the micro -plastic molecules with positive electricity, so that every nearby micro -plastic is adsorbed on the machine fish. Not only that, new materials for making machine fish can also heal itself after cutting. A few days ago, the relevant research papers were published in the international academic journal "Nano Express".

Software robot materials need to have multiple performances

Micro -plastic is almost everywhere on the earth, especially in the waters environment. Once they fall in the corners and gaps at the bottom of the waterway, it is difficult to remove. In response to this situation, the current commonly used solutions are to use small, flexible and self -promoted software robots to remove these pollutants.

"Software robots need to have high adaptability and environmental tolerance in a complex waters environment. They must be free to adapt to water in waters with different salt content or different acid -base environments." Wang Yuyan, a doctoral student at the Sichuan University Polymer Research Institute, said that in the water environment, software robots will inevitably be washed out of water. This requires robotic materials to meet a certain mechanical strength. New micro -plastic will be produced.

In fact, existing aquatic software robots are usually made of hydrogels and silicone rubber. Due to its inherent conditions such as its structure, water content, and medium composition, the mechanical properties are poor and easily damaged.

At present, many researchers have made major breakthroughs in various driving methods and driving speeds of robots, such as introducing additional separation function modules such as robotics. However, such embedded electronic components will undoubtedly increase the weight of the robot, which is not conducive to the fast and stable operation of the robot. In addition, the existing aquatic software robots are mostly driven by motor or fuel engine, which is difficult to meet the needs of environmental friendship and sustainable driving.

"Considering operating conditions and economic costs, the development of software robots will inevitably move in the direction of integration, lightweight and intelligent." Wang Yuyan said that some research has achieved the functional integration of software robots through introducing function fillers, but because nano The lack of structural design makes the prepared materials can only be curved or scalable simply and slowly.

On the other hand, because the functional integration of materials requires high filling, and the high filler fill rate will cause the flexibility of the composite material to decrease, and it is easy to crack and damage under dynamic stress. "So, how to balance the function and mechanical performance of the material has also become a challenge," she said.

Once the material is broken, it can perform "self -healing"

Based on this, Zhang Xinxing's team was inspired by the micro -gradient of the natural material of the pearl mother (also known as the pearl layer), imitating a similar gradient structure, creating a durable, bending, and automatic, and automatic can be automatically available. Healing materials.

"We found that the pearl layer in nature can still maintain strength and toughness when the content of the inorganic objects is more than 90%." Wang Yuyan introduced that the team imitates the micro -gradient structure of the pearl layer to The nanos layer is decorated layer by layer filtering to the polyurethane gels layer by layer, creating an orderly concentrated gradient nano -composite material. "Such preparation methods not only effectively solve the problem of high function fillers that cause flexibility, and the process is simple, which is conducive to large -scale preparation." Wang Yuyan said.

Through the improved design of the structure, the research team uses this new material to make a 15mm (about half inches) of micro -machine fish, so that it can swim quickly and absorb micro -plastic.

Long -term reliability is a prerequisite for the practical application of software robots under complex conditions. In actual operation, the break of materials can easily cause major safety accidents. The research team found that if the material can perceive the broken and "self -healing", it can greatly extend its service life.

"While we are assembling gradient assembly, we introduce the interface bonds between function fillers and polymer soft bases. Compared with the traditional uniform dispersed material structure, there are many super supermarkets between the layers of the new material and the layer. The interaction of the molecule can make the material heal after being cut. "Wang Yuyan explained that the hydrogen bonds on the contact interface of the function fillers and the polymer can quickly rearrange after the break, so that the mechanics of the polymer interface Increasing intensity has given the ability to automatically heal composite materials, and also enhances its stretching ability. Wang Yuyan said that the currently developed machine fish only integrates the surface micro -plastic directional collection function. The research team is trying to introduce the fluorescent light emitting group. Through the fluorescent response of different pollutants, it can be further developed. Detect new materials for micro -plastic pollutants.

Zhang Xinxing believes that with the deepening of research, this healing emerging materials will also be developed into other functions, showing potential application value in the fields of solar power generation, chemical response catalysis, biomedicine, aerospace and other fields.

Extended reading

In order to eliminate the research and development of aquaculture farms "Qing Daofu"

Recently, the Fisheries Ecological Environment Research Office of the Institute of Aquatic Products of the Chinese Academy of Aquatic Sciences and the China Institute of Aquatic Sciences and Standard Research Center has developed a rapidly enriching the fishery environment (freshwater and seawater breeding environment). (Manm). Related research results were published in the top environmental science journal "Dangerous Materials Magazine".

In recent years, the impact of micro -plastic pollution on aquaculture products has attracted widespread attention. The micro -plastic in the fishery environment is mainly derived from the degradation of large plastic waste on the land and the use of plastic products in the process of breeding.

Long -term exposure to high -concentration micro -plastic environments, the quality and safety and reproductive development of aquaculture creatures will be greatly affected. However, there is no rapid testing and removing the feasible method of micro/nanoplastics in the fishery environment. This blank needs to be filled.

In view of this, the joint team has developed a super -smooth magnetic nanomaterial that wraps artificial melanin particles. The composite material has the following obvious advantages: first, the recovery rate is high, the removal rate of different particle size microplastics in the water body can reach more than 89.3%; second, the separation is fast, which can be regulated by regulating the size of the pH to control the size of the magnetic nanoparticles. In the strong magnetic field, the micro -plastic is quickly separated by 30 seconds; third, the ease of use is strong and can adsorb a variety of typical micro -plastic in the fishery environment, such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, etc., which have strong promotion and application potential.

This magnetic nano -composite material is the first domestic material to be applied to the rapid detection and removal of micro -plastic in the fishery environment, providing a new field of vision for the monitoring and governance of new pollution in the fishery environment. This material has excellent performance, high ease of use, low production cost, and has a broad application prospect.

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