Researchers have developed a new class of materials called “glassy gels,” which are extremely hard and difficult to break despite containing over 50% liquid. The simplicity of producing glassy gels makes them promising for various applications. A paper titled “Glassy Gels Toughened by Solvent,” detailing this work, appears in the journal Nature.

Traditionally, gels and glassy polymers are viewed as distinct materials. Glassy polymers are hard, stiff, and often brittle, used in products like water bottles and airplane windows. Gels, such as contact lenses, contain liquid and are soft and stretchy. “We’ve created a class of materials that we’ve termed glassy gels, which are as hard as glassy polymers but can stretch up to five times their original length without breaking,” says Michael Dickey, the corresponding author of the paper and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. “What’s more, once the material has been stretched, you can return it to its original shape by applying heat. Additionally, the surface of the glassy gels is highly adhesive, which is unusual for hard materials.”

A groundbreaking new material made from barley starch blended with fiber from sugarbeet waste—a robust substance that composts if it ends up in nature—has been developed at the University of Copenhagen. In the long term, the researchers hope that their invention can help curb plastic pollution while reducing the climate footprint of plastic production.

Enormous islands of plastic float in our oceans, and microscopic particles infiltrate our bodies. The durability, malleability, and low cost of plastics have made them ubiquitous, from packaging to clothing to aircraft parts. However, plastics have significant downsides: they contaminate nature, are difficult to recycle, and their production emits more CO2 than all air traffic combined.