Creative engineering
WITH technological progress, many astonishing inventions have surfaced in the past five years.
Industrial and academic exploits in chemical engineering have led this progressive movement, creating a multitude of useful innovations that will hopefully make their way into the mainstream market.
Self-healing concrete
Concrete is the primary element of construction. It is sturdy and highly flexible with great resistance to fire. Concrete is often defeated by cracks that get filled up by rainwater that can greatly deteriorate concrete structures.
Inspired by the body’s ability to heal, microbiologist Hendrik Jonkers created self-healing concrete.
The concrete contains encapsulated bacteria deposited throughout its structure. When the concrete cracks and rainwater enters, a chemical reaction causes the bacteria to produce limestone. The limestone fills the cracks and prevents further damage.
Solid Rain
With 70% of the Earth made up of water, this resource is abundant. However, many parts of the world suffer from drought.
Mexican chemical engineer Sergio Velasco came up with a solution – Solid Rain. Solid Rain is a highly absorbent polymer powder that can hold up to 500 times its weight in water.
This is ideal for agriculture as the powder turns into a gel when in contact with water. This powder is mixed into the soil of crops. The gel retains water for up to a year, only depleting when absorbed by the plant itself.
Why wear make-up when you can apply a second layer of skin? Now you can cover up blemishes and wrinkles on any part of your body with XPL’s second-skin cream.
Developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University researchers, this cross-linked polymer layer acts as an elastic, skin-like coverage.
The peel-off layer lasts for 24 hours and is not absorbed by the skin. This is ideal as blemishes can be concealed without further aggravation from chemicals.
Not only does XPL work for beauty, it can be used as bandages to protect skin and retain topical medication.
Sunlight self-cleaning material
The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University has harnessed the power of nature with its nano-threaded fabric.
The fabric is woven with silver and copper nanostructures that heat up when sunlight is absorbed. The heat destroys organic matter, meaning stains are removed by the sun’s force.
Fine-tuning this material could be the future of eco-friendly, green living. Gallons of water used by washing machines would be saved by the sun’s energy.