Polymers and soft materials news, September 2020

Researchers develop exciting new polymerization process

By combining low-energy photons to produce high-energy excited states, researchers have developed a novel polymerization process.

New rubbery semiconductor could prove handy for medical diagnosis

A new rubbery polymer semiconductor with high carrier mobility can be used to produce smart electronic skin and a medical robotic hand.

AI reveals important printing parameters for bioscaffolds

A machine learning approach to predicting the quality of 3D-printed bioscaffolds has revealed the importance of controlling print speed.

New shape-memory material for smart textiles and medical devices

Material that can be 3D-printed into any shape and pre-programmed with reversible shape memory

Leather substitutes derived from fungi show promise

Assessment of state of play of renewable and sustainable fabrics derived from fungi

Editor in Spotlight – Prof. Vitalij Pecharsky, Journal of Alloys and Compounds

Composites Part C: Open Access – new journal explores innovations across composite material science

New open access journal brings latest developments in carbon materials science to a wide audience

New study sheds light on nanopillar art

Researchers have replicated a famous painting by shining white light on a glass slide stippled with millions of titanium dioxide nanopillars.

Springing into action with elliptical holes

Adding elliptical holes to elastic materials can enhance their efficiency at converting elastic energy to kinetic energy for extreme velocity movements.

New findings flow from study on soft materials

For the first time, researchers have developed a way to measure the individual solid-like and liquid-like behaviors of soft materials separately.