Materials chemistry comment, November 2012

New process makes new use of waste plastic

By combining pyrolysis and hydroformylation, researchers have developed a novel process for turning low-value waste plastic into high-value products.

New material that cleans decontaminated water

‘Engineered living material’ that decontaminates pollutants from water

Absorbent sponges made from waste mussel shells

Environmentally friendly use of mussel shell waste with interesting properties

Oxygen atoms form unexpected bonds on graphene

New materials could arise from the unexpected discovery of unusual configurations of oxygen and nitrogen on graphene.

Spangold A shape-memory effect alloy with novel applications