Polymers and soft materials news

Co-Editor in Chief of Materialia receives highest German Research Award

German Research Foundation honours Dr. Baptiste Gault with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Award

Sunlight breaks down ‘missing’ oceanic plastic waste

plastic waste in seawater breaks down and dissolves into organic molecules much more quickly than expected when exposed to sunlight

Porous scaffold makes a good home for blood stem cells

highly porous polymer foam that mimic bone marrow drives the differentiation of blood-forming stem cells

Living polymerization takes 3D printing into fourth dimension

A combination of 3D printing and photo-controlled/living polymerization can produce objects that transform their shape in response to certain conditions.

New design rules allow ribosomes to create advanced materials

Researchers have formulated design rules that guide how ribosomes can incorporate new kinds of monomers to produce synthetic polymers.

New polymer coating helps reduce the need for toilet flushing

Researchers have developed a novel polymer coating that dramatically reduces the amount of water needed to flush a conventional toilet.

Flushed with success

Polymer coating to make a non-stick toilet bowl

Storing renewable energy even when there is no sun or wind

New class of polymers brings cheaper grid batteries

Theoretical nanotube structure inspires super-hard polymer material

A lightweight polymer material full of holes, inspired by theoretical nanotube structures called tubulanes, is nearly as hard as diamond.

Presentation of 13th Feng Xinde Prize for the Best Chinese Paper Published in Polymer in 2018

Improved electrical devices from 3D-printed polymer structures

Embedding electrical circuits inside 3D-printed plastics to improve electronic devices

Open Call - Materials Today Chemistry: Special Issue on FINAEC (Functional Interfaces based Nanomaterials for Applications in Environment and Chemistry)

Using decoys to fight autoimmune diseases

A material that mimics the organs targeted by autoimmune cells could draw these cells away from vulnerable body tissues

Deadline Extended for the 2020 Robert Cahn Award

Catalyst switching creates one material out of four polymers

By juggling four different chemical reactions in a single flask, researchers have combined four polymers to form a single multicrystalline substance.

Electric field causes liquid crystals to display novel structures

By applying an intermittent electrical field, researchers have managed to get blue-phase liquid crystals to adopt novel structures with novel properties.

Novel polymer membrane goes with the flow battery

Researchers have found that a class of polymers known as AquaPIMs can produce an ideal membrane for use in a flow battery.

Why do some crystals shrink when they’re heated?

By analyzing the atomic structure of scandium fluoride, scientists have discovered why certain crystalline materials shrink when they're heated.