A 13mm-long black fish silently patrols the ocean, not to feed or predate, but to clean. Soft and squishy to touch, the flesh of this fish is made of the same material as pearls are made of. As it propels through the ocean, it magnetizes the plastic particles lingering in the deep waters. Once the particles latch onto its body, it quietly swallows them away, leaving the seafloor pure and tidied up. This is a rough image of what you might witness in the years to come. In a research paper published in the journal Nano Letters, a team of Chinese scientists shared how they designed this robo-fish that eats up microplastics from the oceans.
While most of the existing soft robots are manufactured in materials like hydrogels or silicone rubber, this one, developed in 2022, is a bit advanced. The rubbery robots are typically inferior in their mechanical performance and are easily damaged and unable to perform several integrative functions. In contrast, this robo-fish is stronger, more flexible, more bendable, and durable, owing to a material that is inspired by the shells of ocean clams, as per CGTN America. Called “mother-of-pearl” or “nacre,” the material offers this fish essential elasticity that other rubber-like materials are not able to provide, as the scientists at Sichuan University, southwest China, noted in the research report.
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