A team of Chinese scientists has developed a new polymer material so efficient that a feather-light amount can lift a heavy object, including an adhesive patch the size of a fingernail that can pull a car.

Inspired by ancient weaving techniques, the scientists from Zhejiang University intertwined flexible and rigid polymer chains at a molecular level, creating a material with exceptional strength and toughness, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature Materials.

Instead of simply mixing them, they devised a method to "weave" them together, using flexible polyurethane chains as a warp thread and rigid epoxy resin chains as a weft thread to create a durable textile.

This molecular architecture results in good performance. When applied as an adhesive, the material demonstrated a lap shear strength more than double that of conventional controls.

In a demonstration, a small piece of the adhesive, measuring only 2.5 by 1.3 centimeters, was able to tow a 2.1-tonne car.

This approach paves the way for the design of advanced materials with customized properties for a range of industrial applications.