Developed fifteen years ago, this composite material could be the future of textiles: light and ultra-resistant, it is also very useful for protecting against mosquito bites.
To fight against mosquito bites, we knew citronella, repellent sprays, ultrasound or even mosquito nets. Before long, it will soon be possible to count on another ally to repel these insects that are after our blood: graphene.
If this name probably means nothing to you, this composite material is most certainly the future of textiles, especially military ones. Synthesized in 2004, this material derived from graphite has until now been used in electronics and electricity.
In a study published in the journal PNASresearchers at Brown University in the United States explain that they have succeeded in creating a textile lined with a coating of several layers of graphene oxide.
Result: in addition to being extremely light and almost transparent, this new fabric is extremely resistant: it could thus support a weight of 2 tonnes exerted on a surface of 1 millimetre.
Mosquito armor
But these are not the only advantages of graphene clothing. According to the authors of the study, the latter would also constitute a bulwark against mosquito bites: firstly because they make it possible to mask the odor given off by the human body, but also because the stings of insects cannot enter.
Mosquitoes not only wouldn’t bite people wearing graphene clothing, the researchers said, but people wouldn’t even land on them, as the graphene acts as a chemical barrier by blocking out the smell of human sweat that people love. mosquitoes.
“Mosquitoes are important vectors of diseases (dengue fever, chikungunya, yellow fever, malaria, editor’s note) all over the world, and non-chemical protection against mosquito bites is attracting a lot of interest”, explains Robert Hurt, researcher at Brown’s School of Engineering and co-author of the work. “We had been working on fabrics incorporating graphene as a barrier against toxic chemicals, and we started thinking about other uses for this method. We thought that graphene might also protect against bites from mosquitoes,” he continues.
An innovation still under study
However, you will have to be patient before finding mosquito repellent graphene clothing. As the researchers acknowledged, the fabric currently only protects when dry. “The next step will give us the full benefits of breathable, puncture-resistant protection.”
As for the current price of this material, it is still far from being within reach of all budgets, since it was estimated at around 1,000 dollars per gram in 2017. It therefore remains, in addition, to wait for a drop in prices. production costs.
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