Author: Jack K. Clegg, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, The University of Queensland

We are all familiar with elastic materials – just think of a rubber band which can return to its original shape after being stretched. Humans have used elastic materials for millennia. These days, they’re in everything from optical fibres to aeroplanes and buildings. But until now, scientists haven’t been able to pinpoint exactly how these materials return to their original shape. What happens at the level of their molecules? Published today in the journal Nature Materials, our new study uses the properties of flexible crystals to understand how interactions between molecules give rise to elasticity. This provides new insight into…