News tagged with plastic polymer

Process makes polymers truly plastic

Just as a chameleon changes its color to blend in with its environment, Duke University engineers have demonstrated for the first time that they can alter the texture of plastics on demand, for example, switching ...

Chemistry / Polymers

created Mar 15, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Squeezing polymers produces chemical energy but raises doubts about implant safety

A polymer is a mesh of chains, which slowly break over time due to the pressure from ordinary wear and tear. When a polymer is squeezed, the pressure breaks chemical bonds and produces free radicals: ions with unpaired electrons, ...

Chemistry / Polymers

created Mar 02, 2012 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Ordered planar polymers created for the first time

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists under the direction of ETH Zurich have created a minor sensation in synthetic chemistry. They succeeded for the first time in producing regularly ordered planar polymers that form ...

Chemistry / Polymers

created Feb 13, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (12) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Amazon fungi found that eat polyurethane, even without oxygen

(PhysOrg.com) -- Until now polyurethane has been considered non-biodegradable, but a group of students from Yale University in the US has found fungi that will not only eat and digest it, they will do so even in the absence ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 03, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (47) | comments 27 | with audio podcast report

Commercial 'green' solar cells may be possible: researchers

Developing solar energy that is low-cost, lightweight, and energy efficient has proven to be one of the greatest challenges the science world faces today. Although current plastic solar cells are low in cost and easy to produce, ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Nov 22, 2011 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (8) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Research leads to enhanced kit to improve design and processing of plastics

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has developed a world-leading pvT (pressure-volume-temperature) and thermal conductivity test kit.

Chemistry / Polymers

created Sep 26, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

New polymeric material brings companies one step closer to cheaper plastic solar cells and electronics

A single polymer that can be used in both new age plastic electronics as well as plastic solar cells could spell greater cost-savings and open up new design options for electronic and solar cell companies. ...

Chemistry / Polymers

created Aug 17, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Breaking the mold

National Physical Laboratory, after over nine years of extensive research, has developed a world-leading pvT (pressure-volume-temperature) and thermal conductivity test kit that can be used to help improve ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jul 11, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

'Cling-film' solar cells could lead to advance in renewable energy

(PhysOrg.com) -- A scientific advance in renewable energy which promises a revolution in the ease and cost of using solar cells, has been announced today. A new study shows that even when using very simple ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Jul 04, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (10) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Plastic products leach toxic substances

Many plastic products contain hazardous chemicals that can leach to the surroundings. In studies conducted at the University of Gothenburg, a third of the tested plastic products released toxic substances, including 5 out ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created May 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

New transistor for plastic electronics exhibits the best of both worlds

Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a transistor with excellent stability and performance for use on plastic electronics. In addition, it can be manufactured at relatively low temperatures in a regular ...

Technology / Semiconductors

created Jan 27, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (10) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Engineering team invents lab-on-a-chip for fast, inexpensive blood tests

While most blood tests require shipping a vial of blood to a laboratory for analysis and waiting several days for the results, a new device invented by a team of engineers and students at the University of Rhode Island uses ...

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created Jan 10, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Current loss tracked down by magnetic fingerprint

Conventional solar cells made from crystalline silicon are difficult and energy-intensive to manufacture. Organic solar cells are cheaper, but have always produced less electricity. Why this is so has never been fully explained. ...

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 26, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Striding towards a new dawn for electronics

Conductive polymers are plastic materials with high electrical conductivity that promise to revolutionize a wide range of products including TV displays, solar cells, and biomedical sensors. A team of McGill University researchers ...

Chemistry / Polymers

created Sep 28, 2010 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

X-Ray Vision: seeing plastic mixtures inside and out

(PhysOrg.com) -- Two scientists working in Europe have paved the way for improved plastic electronics by devising a technique that can be used to take images of plastic mixtures on the nanoscale simultaneously ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Jul 28, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast