New ID pictures of conducting polymers discover a surprise ABBA fan
The first ever detailed pictures of the structure of conjugated polymers have been produced by a research team led by Professor Giovanni Costantini at the University of Warwick.
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Polymers news
This is what a stretchy circuit looks like
Researchers in China have made a new hybrid conductive material—part elastic polymer, part liquid metal—that can be bent and stretched at will. Circuits made with this material can take most two-dimensional shapes and ...
A tango with tangled polymers
While statisticians are driven by real-world problems, U of S mathematics professor Chris Soteros is motivated by the more esoteric behaviour of long-chain molecules, such as polymers and DNA, and the mathematical problems ...
'Uber' drug delivery for cancer patients
Cancer remains one of the major causes of death in Australia and around the world, despite improved treatments and rates of survival.
Essential oils to fight bacterial infections
James Cook University scientists have discovered a technique to apply natural plant extracts such as Tea Tree Oil as a coating for medical devices, a process which could prevent millions of infections every year.
Polymer crystals hold key to record-breaking energy transport
Scientists from the universities of Bristol and Cambridge have found a way to create polymeric semiconductor nanostructures that absorb light and transport its energy further than previously observed.
Method for synthesizing a novel polyester with alternating arrangement
Professor Hideto Tsuji and Assistant Professor Yuki Arakawa at the Toyohashi University of Technology have developed a method for synthesizing a "pure" alternating copolymer of L- and D-lactic acids in which L- and D-lactic ...
Polymer researchers discover path to sustainable and biodegradable polyesters
There's a good chance you've touched something made out of the polyolefin polymer today. It's often used in polyethylene products like plastic bags or polypropylene products like diapers.
New polymer manufacturing process saves 10 orders of magnitude of energy
Makers of cars, planes, buses - anything that needs strong, lightweight and heat resistant parts - are poised to benefit from a new manufacturing process that requires only a quick touch from a small heat source to send a ...
'Infinitely' recyclable polymer shows practical properties of plastics
The world fell in love with plastics because they're cheap, convenient, lightweight and long- lasting. For these same reasons, plastics are now trashing the Earth.
Spinning high-strength polymer nanofibers
Spiderman has it figured out.
New self-assembling protein hydrogels may hold many applications for biomedicine
Delivering medications safely and accurately is of great interest to researchers and, of course, to people who need them. So is restoring function to damaged body parts. Jin K. Montclare, an associate professor of chemical ...
Engineers turn plastic insulator into heat conductor
Plastics are excellent insulators, meaning they can efficiently trap heat - a quality that can be an advantage in something like a coffee cup sleeve. But this insulating property is less desirable in products such as plastic ...
Polymers that mimic chameleon skin
Biological tissues have complex mechanical properties – soft-yet-strong, tough-yet-flexible – that are difficult to reproduce using synthetic materials. An international team has managed to produce a biocompatible synthetic ...
Making rusty polymers for energy storage
It's called a nanoflower, but if you could brush your cheek against its microscopic petals, you would find them cool, hard and … rusty.
Researchers demonstrate highest reported conductivity for organic radical polymer
Researchers discover a way to control the colour of OLEDs
Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are used in smartphones and televisions to facilitate the high-contrast display of colours. Conjugated polymers are also often employed as organic semiconductors in such diodes. Researchers ...
Custom sequences for polymers using visible light
Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University used a light-sensitive iridium-palladium catalyst to make "sequential" polymers, using visible light to change how building blocks are combined into polymer chains. By simply ...
Novel adhesive and thermally stable epoxy resins
Epoxy resins or epoxies are organic compounds that can be hardened into adhesive materials with excellent thermal stability, mechanical strength, and chemical resistance. The hardening or 'curing' results from cross-linking ...
'Candy cane' polymer weave could power future functional fabrics and devices
If scientists are ever going to deliver on the promise of implantable artificial organs or clothing that dries itself, they'll first need to solve the problem of inflexible batteries that run out of juice too quickly. They're ...
The degradation status of modern polymeric museum artifacts can be classified by their smell
Breath analysis in disease diagnostics is a promising research field, and the advances in instrumentation allows the accurate detection of metabolites. But not only the health status of patients, but also the preservation ...
Scientists create multifunctional protein-polymer films
A team from MSU, with international and Russian colleagues, has found that mixing dendrimers (tree-like polymers) and proteins induces spontaneous multilayer films. They are easily formed and retain the activity and function ...
'Random walk' of heat carriers in amorphous polymers
The intrinsic structure of amorphous polymers is highly disordered with long, entangled molecular chains. They are usually considered as thermal insulators due to their ultra-low thermal conductivity. One effective way to ...
Scientists simplify process to make polymers with light-triggered nanoparticles
Rice University scientists plan to employ the power of the sun to build functional synthetic polymers using photosensitive quantum dots—microscopic semiconducting particles—as a catalyst.
Printable, colorful camouflage with polymers
In nature, colors can serve as a form of communication, but they can also hide animals and plants, camouflaging them from sight. Researchers now report in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces that they have developed polymers ...
Material gradients could strengthen polymer components
Combining flexible and stiff materials has bestowed bamboo with a strength-to-weight ratio that rivals steel. Gradually transitioning from a soft to hard substance allows the squishy squid to slice up prey with rigid, scissor-like ...
Porous polymer films with shape memory
Whether for separation processes, photovoltaics, catalysis, or electronics, porous polymer membranes are needed in many fields. Membranes with micropores that switch between different shapes and/or sizes would expand the ...
Collective disentanglement of entangled polymers
LMU researchers have disproven the conventional theory used to explain the dynamics of polymer solutions. They show that for biopolymers collective effects facilitate chain mobility, which is reminiscent of the behavior of ...
Macromolecular order in plastic kingdom
A team of researchers at the Institute of Synthetic Polymer Materials of the Russian Academy of Sciences, MIPT and elsewhere has determined how the regularity of polypropylene molecules and thermal treatment affect the mechanical ...
New molecular muscle responds to visible light
Picture a tiny, makeshift muscle that can curl a 20 milligram suspended weight when exposed to light. Under the right conditions, another mix packs enough power to bench-press a dime.
A new polymer raises the bar for lithium-sulfur batteries
Lithium-sulfur batteries are promising candidates for replacing common lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles since they are cheaper, weigh less, and can store nearly double the energy for the same mass. However, lithium-sulfur ...
A type of semi-transparent polymer that can be mended at room temperature using small pressure
A small team of researchers at the University of Tokyo has created a polymer that can be repaired when broken into two parts by applying a small amount of pressure at room temperature. In their paper published in the journal ...
Using DNA strands to design new polymer materials
McGill University researchers have chemically imprinted polymer particles with DNA strands - a technique that could lead to new materials for applications ranging from biomedicine to the promising field of "soft robotics."
A new theory to describe conjugated polymer-polyelectrolyte blends
LiU researcher Klas Tybrandt has developed a theoretical model that explains the coupling between ions and electrons in the widely used conducting polymer PEDOT:PSS. The model could have applications in printed electronics, ...
DNA as a supramolecular building block
PhD student Willem Noteborn has investigated supramolecular structures. These can be useful for the loading of medicines and signalling molecules regarding, for example, cellular differentiation. In his thesis, he describes ...
A polymer 'love hormone' sensor for the early detection of autism
Is it possible to detect features of autism at birth? At the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, researchers have developed a sensor could make such detection a reality. The main recognition ...
Using polymeric membranes to clean up industrial separations
There are scores of promising technologies under development that can reduce energy consumption or capture carbon in fields including biotech, computer science, nanotechnology, materials science, and more. Not all will prove ...
Coloring the heartbeat
In the 17th Century two giants of science, Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke, were both trying to understand how the wings of butterflies and peacocks, which are made of the same material as our fingernails and hair, could colors ...
Electrostatic force takes charge in bioinspired polymers
Researchers at the University of Illinois and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst have taken the first steps toward gaining control over the self-assembly of synthetic materials in the same way that biology forms natural ...
Technique gives detailed view into how certain polymers form, unlocking answers about nucleation
Imagine a tiny drop. It contains water, the fizzy antiseptic hydrogen peroxide, and a common, yellowish chemical called glyoxal. When the droplet is exposed to light, a cascade of reactions occurs, producing new materials. ...
Exploiting reversible solubility allows for direct, optical patterning of unprecedentedly small features.
To build better solar cells, scientists need to design materials from the bottom up, placing chains of molecules just where they are needed. Scientists devised a new way to grow neatly arranged, densely packed bundles of ...
Strengthening passive sampling of nonpolar chemicals
Passive sampling is a valuable technique for monitoring concentration levels of hydrophobic persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the marine environment. New guidelines for the determination of partition coefficients between ...
Close up view of growing polymer chain show jump steps
(Phys.org)—A team of researchers at Cornell University has devised a means for watching as a polymer chain grows after application of a catalyst. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team explains how they ...
Collaboration yields discovery of 12-sided silica cages
What do you call a materials science discovery that was given a major boost by a lecture from a Nobel laureate in chemistry, used cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM), and was pushed further along by a doctoral student's ...
How physics explains the evolution of social organization
A scientist at Duke University says the natural evolution of social organizations into larger and more complex communities that exhibit distinct hierarchies can be predicted from the same law of physics that gives rise to ...
Learning about the Himalayas using Mars technology
The Himalayan Range includes some of the youngest and most spectacular mountains on Earth, but the rugged landscape that lends it the striking beauty for which it is known can also keep scientists from fully understanding ...
'Walking molecules" haul away damaged DNA to the cell's emergency room
The cell has its own paramedic team and emergency room to aid and repair damaged DNA, a new USC Dornsife study reveals.
Better model of water under extreme conditions could aid understanding of Earth's mantle
Deep inside the Earth exist pockets of water, but the liquid there isn't like the water on the surface.
Researchers find last of universe's missing ordinary matter
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have helped to find the last reservoir of ordinary matter hiding in the universe.
Martian dust storm grows global; Curiosity captures photos of thickening haze
A storm of tiny dust particles has engulfed much of Mars over the last two weeks and prompted NASA's Opportunity rover to suspend science operations. But across the planet, NASA's Curiosity rover, which has been studying ...
T. Rex couldn't stick out its tongue, new research shows
Dinosaurs are often depicted as fierce creatures, baring their teeth, with tongues wildly stretching from their mouths like giant, deranged lizards. But new research reveals a major problem with this classic image: Dinosaurs ...
Braiding may be key to using time crystals in quantum computing
Over the past few years, physicists have predicted that a new form of matter called time crystals may have potential applications in quantum computing. Now in a new study, physicists Raditya Weda Bomantara and Jiangbin Gong ...
Atomic-scale ping-pong
New experiments by researchers at the National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester have shed more light on the gas flow through tiny, angstrom-sized channels with atomically flat walls.
Scientists calculate impact of China's ban on plastic waste imports
While recycling is often touted as the solution to the large-scale production of plastic waste, upwards of half of the plastic waste intended for recycling is exported from higher income countries to other nations, with China ...
Chameleon-inspired nanolaser changes colors
As a chameleon shifts its color from turquoise to pink to orange to green, nature's design principles are at play. Complex nano-mechanics are quietly and effortlessly working to camouflage the lizard's skin to match its environment.
Scientists find evidence of 27 new viruses in bees
An international team of researchers has discovered evidence of 27 previously unknown viruses in bees. The finding could help scientists design strategies to prevent the spread of viral pathogens among these important pollinators.
Instagram unveils new video service in challenge to YouTube
Facebook's Instagram service is loosening its restraints on video in an attempt to lure younger viewers away from YouTube when they're looking for something to watch on their smartphones.
Stone tools from ancient mummy reveal how Copper Age mountain people lived
Stone tools found with a 5,300-year-old frozen mummy from Northern Italy reveal how alpine Copper Age communities lived, according to a study published June 20, 2018 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Ursula Wierer from ...
No, asylum seekers are not a 'burden' for European economies: study
Does the arrival of asylum seekers lead to a deterioration in the economic performance and public finances of the European countries that host them? The answer is no, according to economists from the CNRS, Clermont-Auvergne ...
Boring barnacles prefer the shallow life on coral reefs
If you want to know about the future of coral reefs that harbor marine life and protect coastlines, sometimes that means you have to go there and count barnacles.
The sounds of climate change—Researchers develop an AI to analyze field recordings and estimate songbird arrivals
Spring is coming earlier to parts of the Arctic, and so are some migratory birds. But researchers have yet to get a clear picture of how climate change is transforming tundra life. That's starting to change as automated tools ...
Fossils show ancient primates had grooming claws as well as nails
Humans and other primates are outliers among mammals for having nails instead of claws. But how, when and why we transitioned from claws to nails has been an evolutionary head-scratcher.
Could aliens harness stars to keep ahead of expanding universe?
Dan Hooper, a senior scientist with Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory has written a paper outlining a way future aliens could keep their civilizations alive in spite of the isolation due to an expanding universe. In his ...
A possible explanation for varying measurements of Venus's rotation rate
A trio of researchers with the University of California and Sorbonne Universités has found a possible explanation for why Venus probes have found different day lengths for the planet. In their paper published in the journal ...
Gene-edited pigs are resistant to billion dollar virus, study finds
Scientists have produced pigs that can resist one of the world's most costly animal diseases, by changing their genetic code.
The cells that control the formation of fat
Fat cells, or adipocytes, are at the center of nutritional and metabolic balance. Adipogenesis—the formation of mature fat cells from their precursor cells—has been linked to obesity and related health problems such as ...
Earth's intact forests vanishing at accelerating pace: scientists (Update)
Earth's intact forests shrank by an area larger than Austria every year from 2014 to 2016 at a 20 percent faster rate than during the previous decade, scientists said Wednesday as the UN unveiled an initiative to harness ...
Archimedes' screw inspires researchers to devise a novel particle-trapping laser beam
An active field of research, laser optical trapping works to control the movement and position of particles of different sizes and shapes. The ability to move small particles in a precise and controlled manner is important ...
Researchers say short-term management responses to climate change-mediated disasters can be maladaptive in the long-term
As hurricane season commences on the East Coast and the West Coast heads into fire season, there's no time like the present to consider the short- and long-term effects of responses to disasters being shaped by the climate ...
New tissue-imaging technology could enable real-time diagnostics, map cancer progression
A new microscope system can image living tissue in real time and in molecular detail, without any chemicals or dyes, report researchers at the University of Illinois.
On the path to an artificial cell
It is hoped that cells created in a test tube can answer some of the major questions in biology. What is the minimum that a cell needs in order to live? And how did life on Earth begin? Researchers from the Max Planck Institute ...
New theory deepens understanding of Turing patterns in biology
A team of researchers at EMBL have expanded Alan Turing's seminal theory on how patterns are created in biological systems. This work, which was partly done at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), may answer whether nature's ...
South Asian monsoon efficiently purifies the air of pollutants, but also distributes them across the globe
The same phenomenon recurs every year. During the dry season, in winter, burning fossil fuels and biomass in South Asia creates a huge pollution haze: the Atmospheric Brown Cloud. How and why it disappears as soon as the ...
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