Thin barriers that exclude gases and moisture are essential for many applications — for example, to preserve food, protect electronics and store gases in pressurized containers. However, such barriers often leak, leading to the ingress of oxygen and water vapour that accelerates spoilage or corrosion, or the egress of stored gases. Because even trace amounts of permeation can compromise safety and performance, the ideal barrier should be completely impermeable, but such a barrier has proved challenging to build. Writing in Nature, Ritt et al.1 report an exceptional organic polymer film that has near-perfect impermeability and can be fabricated easily through processes already widely used for plastics.
Nature 647, 324-326 (2025)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03583-7
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Competing Interests The authors declare no competing interests.
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