The group of Associate Professor Takakazu Takeoka of Nagoya University, in collaboration with RIKEN Center for Radiation Photon Science and Unitika Co., Ltd., will develop a colorless, transparent and highly tough material that mimics the structure of the corneal membrane. succeeded in.
The cornea consists of a soft gel mainly composed of mucopolysaccharide and water, and collagen fibers which are elastic bodies.Since the collagen fibers are arranged in an orderly manner in the cornea, the visible light scattered by each collagen fiber is canceled by interference, and the cornea becomes optically colorless and transparent.On the other hand, high toughness is realized by the composite of soft mucopolysaccharide gel and elastic collagen fiber, and the cornea protects the contents of the eyeball as an adventitia.
This time, with reference to this, a composite elastomer in which hard silica fine particles having a uniform particle size and having a diameter of about 100 nm are dispersed in a soft crosslinked polymer at a high concentration, and the silica fine particles are arranged in the crosslinked polymer in an ordered state. When I made it, I discovered that it became colorless and transparent optically and became highly tough mechanically.It is said that the breaking energy of the composite elastomer containing 35 vol% of silica fine particles is about 13.5 times that of the system containing no silica fine particles.
There has never been a composite elastomer that can transmit light as obtained in this research, and in order to support the future life of human beings, advanced medical treatment, flexible (wearable) displays, and software that are expected to develop in the future. It is also considered to be a useful material in fields such as robots.
Paper information:[ACS Materials Letters] Highly Transparent and Tough Filler Composite Elastomer Inspired by the Cornea
