Researchers have discovered a way to make crab shells transparent, which while of no use to the shells' former owners, could be applied to solar panels and flexible video displays. According to the research group led by Professor Hiroyuki Yano at Kyoto University's Research Institute for "Sustainable Humanosphere," the key to the study is a soft and highly heat-resistant fiber called "chitin" that is found in crab and shrimp shells. The researchers discovered that the shell could become transparent if protein is removed from it and it is coated with different types of resin, including acrylic. After succeeding in making the shell transparent, the team applied the theory in the construction of a heat-resistant sheet, which they succeeded in making by crushing the transparent shell into powder and adding resin to it. With the effect of chitin from the crab's shell, the sheet was about 10 times more heat-resistant than resin without the component addition. According to Yano and his team, the soft nature of the chitin sheet makes it possible for it to be used in manufacturing of organic electroluminescent display screens and solar power panels instead of glass, which due to its toughness takes more time and effort to be processed. "We believe that in the future we could also apply the same study to vegetable fiber too. This study has made a major step forward toward the use of biomass resources," Yano commented. The study will be published in the British Royal Society of Chemistry journal "Soft Matter."
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