[–]Amadameus0 points
2 points
2 points
(+2|-0)
ago
As soon as I saw the material they were using I wasn't surprised. Copper(II) acetylacetonate, or basically copper complexed with a really floppy, flexible molecule called acetylacetonate. Look at that section on tautomerization!
"Under strain the molecules in the crystal reversibly rotate and reorganise to allow the compression and expansion required for elasticity and still maintain the integrity of the crystal structure," he said.
So basically it's a crystal structure that can restructure itself so easily that at room temperature you'll see flexibility as a result. Cool, and certainly useful from a materials-science point of view, but hardly groundbreaking.
[–] Amadameus 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
As soon as I saw the material they were using I wasn't surprised. Copper(II) acetylacetonate, or basically copper complexed with a really floppy, flexible molecule called acetylacetonate. Look at that section on tautomerization!
So basically it's a crystal structure that can restructure itself so easily that at room temperature you'll see flexibility as a result. Cool, and certainly useful from a materials-science point of view, but hardly groundbreaking.