Vietnamese-origin professors who make super materials can save people from old cloths

From old clothes, scientists have successfully invented the world's best and lightest compressible metamaterial - aerogel cotton with many preeminent features.

Multifunctional materials from fashion waste products

is one of the lightest materials in the world, maintained in solid state, good insulation. These properties help the airgel extremely useful when applied to areas such as oil cleaning, personal care (such as paper diapers) or heat preservation.

Professor Nhan (right) and Associate Professor Hai introduced super materials made from waste cloth.

Although the airgel was first produced in the 1930s, this material was not used by businesses because of its high production costs. This motivates airgel researchers around the world to find new approaches to diversify production of airgel sources. As part of this effort, the team at the Department of Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS) led the way in developing airgel using cotton fibers from fashion waste products.

Leading the research team is Prof. Phan Thien Nhan and his assistant, Associate Professor Duong Minh Hai , of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at NUS University. The team found that new cotton aerogels can be easily bonded, and they can quickly shrink when placed in water.

'This eco-friendly cotton-filled airgel is a great change from the old aerogel that we use waste paper to do. It is easy to compress so it can significantly reduce storage and shipping costs. Besides, cotton aerogel can be produced within 8 hours - 9 times faster than our previous products and about 20 times more than current production models , " said Associate Professor Duong Minh Hai According to Mr. Hai, the group is researching to develop products on a large scale.

"Although we have successfully demonstrated the application of this wonderful cotton airgel in the control of drainage and keeping warm, we will continue to exploit more features of this material" , Assoc. Hai adds.

Application of Aerogel cotton

Wounds that cause rapid loss of blood due to guns or other weapons are extremely dangerous. In this case, the airgel can be used to put pressure inside to prevent blood from continuing to spill and clot.

Existing bleeding control devices include a syringe containing a little cellulose bleach covered with chitosan - a substance that experts extract from shrimp shells and meat of different types of fish, helping to stop bleeding. However, the production and consumption of cellulose bleach is quite modest.

Cotton aerogels can be used to keep water bottles cold or for medical use to stop bleeding.

To solve this problem, NUS analysts have developed the cotton airgel tablets that help treat hemorrhagic wounds. These tablets are made from a blend of cotton and cellulose aerogel, which is coated with chitosan, which is easy to transport. At the same time, it is also very easy to combine with clinical syringes used for hemostasis. Cotton aerogel tablets are also compatible with biological systems, so it is safe to use.

"Each cotton airgel can increase its size by 16 times in 4.5 seconds - three times bigger and faster than existing cellulose bleach - while still retaining its basic features. Morphology of the airgel Cotton helps solve the problem of storage limitations, while its ease of compression (size increase) can apply weight to the weight on the wound, " said Professor Duong.

Besides medical applications, this new material can also be used in the military. Military personnel often have to exercise physically in hot and humid conditions, so they need to drink plenty of water. However, the soldiers' water bottles usually have a capacity of 1 liter and remain cold for about 30 minutes under hot and humid weather.

The NUS team teamed up with the DSO national laboratory to invent ultra-light heat-retaining bags that can keep cold water from 0.1 to 1 degree C within 4 hours. This heat-holding bag weighs about 200 grams, made from a cotton airgel mixed with other common heat-retaining substances.

"The heat-retaining feature of an airgel can be used with a variety of customer items. For example, heating food nutrition. We also see great potential for cost-effective applications. Other high values, such as protecting pipes and transporting condensed petroleum gas, need to be stored at low temperatures , " Professor Nhan said.

The NUS team successfully registered a patent for the cotton aerogel and is looking for new collaborative opportunities for improved marketing.