Shuyuan Lin, Yujia Zhong et al.
Graphene, an atom-thick layer of carbon, has been called a miracle solution for better batteries, stronger armour, flexible electronics, and more. Now a self-healing version could do even more.
Hongwei Zhu at Tsinghua University in China and his colleagues have made a graphene gel that is tough and rigid when dry, but squidgy, stretchy and self-healing when wet.
They mixed graphene sheets, just a nanometre thick, with water, then added polyacrylic acid, which has good water-absorbing properties. This created an interconnected network of graphene …