TOUGH LITTLE SPHERES
In SAC, tiny spheres of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) encapsulate much of the liquid. The viscous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) further coats the entire surface. The spheres are extremely resilient, Lou says, as their thin shells deform easily.
Their liquid contents enhance their viscoelasticity, a measure of their ability to absorb the strain and return to their original state, while the coatings keep the spheres together. The spheres also have the freedom to slide past each other when compressed, but remain attached.
“The sample doesn’t give you the impression that it contains any liquid,” says material scientist Jun Lou, who co-led the study. “That’s very different from a gel.
“This is not really squishy; it’s more like a sugar cube that you can compress quite a lot. The nice thing is that it recovers.”
Read on to learn how the researchers approached inventing this fascinating gel.
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