Elastic material is impervious to gases and liquids

Applications for the material include use as packaging for high-value technologies that require protection from gases.

“This is an important step because there has long been a trade-off between elasticity and being impervious to gases,” said Michael Dickey, co-corresponding author of a paper on the work and the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. “Basically, things that were good at keeping gases out tended to be hard and stiff. And things that offered elasticity allowed gases to seep through. We’ve come up with something that offers the desired elasticity while keeping gases out.”

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The new technique makes use of a eutectic alloy of gallium and indium (EGaIn), which is liquid at room temperature. The international team of researchers created a thin film of EGaIn, and encased it in an elastic polymer. The interior surface of the polymer was studded with microscale glass beads, which prevented the liquid film of EGaIn from pooling. The end result is essentially a sheath lined with liquid metal that does not allow gases or liquids in or out.