_canhuiyang's blog

This paper demonstrates a new type of interconnects to fulfill the primary function of axons: transmitting electrical signals over long distances and at high speeds. The interconnect, which we call "ionic cable", uses ions to transmit signals, and is built entirely with soft, elastic materials-elastomers and gels. The ionic cable is highly transparent, and remains functioning after being stretched nearly eight times its original length. We describe the design, theory and experiment of the ionic cable.

We successfully synthesized a family of alginate/polyacrylamide hydrogels using various multivalent cations. These hydrogels exhibit exceptional mechanical properties. In particular, we found that the hydrogels cross-linked by trivalent cations are much stronger than those cross-linked by divalent cations. We demonstrate stretchability and toughness of the hydrogels by inflating a hydrogel sheet