_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 ofalginate/polyacrylamide hydrogels using various multivalentcations. These hydrogels exhibit exceptional mechanicalproperties. In particular, we found that the hydrogelscross-linked by trivalent cations are much stronger than thosecross-linked by divalent cations. We demonstrate stretchabilityand toughness of the hydrogels by inflating a hydrogel sheet