Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog

An online global news service, EurekAlert! has highlighted research from chemists at the University of Texas at Arlington that promotes ‘green fuel’ by using more efficient materials for solar fuel cells.

The findings have been compiled in a mini-review published in ChemElectroChem Europe along with a companion article titled: ‘Decoration of ultra long carbon nanotubes with Cu₂O nanocrystals: a hybrid platform for photoelectrochemical CO₂ reduction‘ which has been published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

The full article can be read here.

A paper which was originally published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A has been explored in further detail on a scientific web hub. Ales Styskalik one of the co authors of a paper titled: Control of micro/mesoporosity in non-hydrolytic hybrid silicophosphate xerogels has written an article which features an accompanying video to further explain his work. The original article can be read below:

Control of micro/mesoporosity in non-hydrolytic hybrid silicophosphate xerogels
Ales Styskalik, David Skoda, Zdenek Moravec, Michal Babiak, Craig E. Barnes and Jiri Pinkas*
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2015, 3, 7477-7487
DOI: 10.1039/C4TA06823H

Details of the article on the website External Diffusion can be found here along with the video.

Scientists in China have flexed their muscles with a new steam-driven actuator made from a carbon nanotube and silicone rubber composite. Potential applications of this design include artificial hearts, sensors and soft robots.

Actuators convert energy in various forms directly to mechanical energy, in this case behaving like muscles in response to a stimulus. The biomedical community anticipates using actuators to replace damaged muscles. However, actuators’ complexity and poor durability have hindered their foray into the clinical world.

Interested? The full story can be read in Chemistry World.

The actuator's silicone membrane expands to six times its original size

The original article can be read below:

A large-deformation phase transition electrothermal actuator based on carbon nanotube–elastomer composites
Zhiwei Zhou, Qingwei Li, Luzhuo Chen, Changhong Liu and Shoushan Fan
J. Mater. Chem. B, 2016, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C5TB02715B