Hakai magazine explains how we can turn crab and lobster shells into batteries, plastics and (maybe) scaffolds for growing new organs:
[Mark] MacLachlan [of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver] is after one particular component of the material that makes up the shells—chitin, a tough substance that is structurally similar to the cellulose in plant cell walls. The chitin is made of rod-shaped nanocrystals that are organized in a helix. Their orientation reflects light in a way that makes the shells iridescent.
From this starting point, MacLachlan has figured out how to transform chitin into a number of useful materials, such as an iridescent film that changes color when pressure is applied, and a litmus paper-like film that detects different chemicals in water.
But one of the most promising materials begins when the chitin is cooked at 900 °C in a nitrogen atmosphere. This transforms it into a nitrogen-doped carbon that can be used to make electrodes for batteries. “Chitin-based films are very porous, so they have a large surface area,” says MacLachlan. This gives them a high capacity for storing charge.
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But other options, such as chitin-based bioplastics, have great potential.
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Biomaterials based on chitin or cellulose could form scaffolds to help support the growth of new tissues in the body, then dissolve once they are no longer needed.
[via Mr. Lloyd]