Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog

The latest issue of Journal of Materials Chemistry is now online. You can read the full issue here:

The outside front cover features an article on Sequential logic and random access memory (RAM): a molecular approach by Graham de Ruiter and Milko E. van der Boom
 
 
 





Multishelled Co3O4-Fe3O4 hollow spheres with even magnetic phase distribution: Synthesis, magnetic properties and their application in water treatment is the article highlighted on the inside front cover by Xi Wang, Yeteng Zhong, Tianyou Zhai, Yanfeng Guo, Shimou Chen, Ying Ma, Jiannian Yao, Yoshio Bando and Dmitri Golberg



Issue 44 contains the following Highlight and Feature articles:

• Sequential logic and random access memory (RAM): a molecular approach
• Thiophene-based conjugated oligomers for organic solar cells
• Eco-friendly visible-wavelength photodetectors based on bandgap engineerable nanomaterials

To keep up-to-date with all the latest research, sign up for the journal’s e-alerts or RSS feeds or follow Journal of Materials Chemistry on Twitter.

 

Yi Xie at the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, and colleagues made the robot by combining an actuator,  a device that converts energy into motion, with an electronic device, which responds to infrared light to curl and uncurl to pick up and drop objects. Interested to know more? Read the full article in Chemistry World here…

Large-area graphene realizing ultrasensitive photothermal actuator with high transparency: new prototype robotic motions under infrared-light stimuli
Changzheng Wu, Jun Feng, Lele Peng, Yong Ni, Haiyi Liang, Linhui He and Yi Xie
J. Mater. Chem., 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c1jm13311j

Congratulations to Dr Paul Roach for winning a Journal of Materials Chemistry poster prize at Recent Appointees in Materials Science.

Folashade Kuforiji (left) and Paul Roach (right)

The title of Dr Roach’s winning poster was: Directing Biological Response through Material Properties

Dr Paul Roach is a Lecturer in Biomedical & Cell Engineering at Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, Keele University, UK. Recent Appointees in Materials Science was held 14^th – 16^th September in Bristol, UK.

The latest issue of Journal of Materials Chemistry is now online. You can read the full issue here:

The outside front cover features an article on Conjugated rod–coil and rod–rod block copolymers for photovoltaic applications by Ming He, Feng Qiu and Zhiqun Lin
 
 
 



Batteries based on fluoride shuttle is the article highlighted on the inside front cover by M. Anji Reddy and M. Fichtner

Issue 43 contains the following Highlight and Feature articles:

• How to exploit the full potential of the dip-coating process to better control film formation
• Toward high-performance nanostructured thermoelectric materials: the progress of bottom-up solution chemistry approaches 

To keep up-to-date with all the latest research, sign up for the journal’s e-alerts or RSS feeds or follow Journal of Materials Chemistry on Twitter.

Scientists in Germany say that a rechargeable battery that works on the basis of fluoride transfer between electrodes could have a better storage capacity than current batteries.

The battery, developed by Maximilian Fichtner and Munnangi Anji Reddy from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, is based on a ‘fluoride shuttle’ – the reversible transfer of fluoride anions from one electrode to the other, depending on whether the battery is being charged or discharged. Interested to know more? Read the full article in Chemistry World here…

The lightweight batteries perform as well as heavier batteries, which is important for mobile applications

Batteries based on fluoride shuttle
M. Anji Reddy and M. Fichtner
J. Mater. Chem., 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c1jm13535j

A cloth that changes colour when oxygen levels drop has been developed by scientists in China. The cloth could be used to make clothes that monitor oxygen levels for miners, high altitude adventurers and space explorers.

Xi Chen and colleagues at Xiamen University combined the chameleon cloth with a digital camera to capture real-time images, giving a quick readout of oxygen levels. Locating an oxygen deficiency to prevent danger is very important, says Chen. ‘When I saw on television that coal miners were trapped in mines and died because of a lack of oxygen, I felt sad and tried to figure out a simple method to detect oxygen.’

The dyes in the chameleon cloth are excited under UV light and emit in the visible region, which is captured on a digital camera.
The picture shows the colours at different oxygen concentrations

The team made the detector by coating oxygen-sensitive polystyrene microparticles onto cotton thread and embroidering the thread into a piece of cloth. First, the microparticles were loaded with a blue hydrophobic stilbene reference dye and an oxygen-sensitive red dye. ‘The biggest challenge was selecting suitable dyes,’ says Chen. The dyes had to be hydrophobic, photostable, non-toxic (or have low toxicity) and not leak after encapsulation, he adds. Interested to know more? Read the full article in Chemistry World here…

Chameleon clothes for quantitative oxygen imaging
Xu-dong Wang, Ting-yao Zhou, Xin-hong Song, Yaqi Jiang, Chaoyong James Yang and Xi Chen
J. Mater. Chem., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1JM14162G

Scientists in China have developed an absorbent material made from waste eggshell membrane that can remove Cr(VI) from contaminated water.

Chromium is usually found in water systems in two main states: Cr(III) and Cr(VI). But, while Cr(III) is needed for metabolism, Cr(VI) is highly toxic and carcinogenic to living organisms, and unfortunately, this form is highly mobile.

This ability to move quickly in a system means that developing an efficient and cost effective method to remove Cr(VI) from contaminated water is important. Current methods for removal include reduction, ion exchange and absorption. Of these, absorption is popular because it is simple and effective.

Not only did the eggshell membrane remove Cr(VI) from contaminated water, it also reduced some of it to the less toxic Cr(III)

Biosorption is a type of absorption that uses a material that is not man-made, usually some kind of waste material. Yuming Huang and Bin Liu from Southwest University, Chongqing, have designed a new biosorbent using eggshells. ‘As the by-product of food processing and manufacturing plants, eggshells represent a significant waste because they are traditionally useless after the production of eggs and egg derivatives,’ says Huang. ‘Using this waste to produce useful biomaterial for removal of Cr(VI) from water may be a good choice and opens up a pathway to using biowaste to treat toxic metals from water.’ Interested to know more? Read the full article in Chemistry World here…

Polyethyleneimine modified eggshell membrane as a novel biosorbent for adsorption and detoxification of Cr(VI) from water
Bin Liu and Yuming Huang
J. Mater. Chem., 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c1jm12329g

A Journal of Materials Chemistry communication by Simon Laflamme, Guggi Kofod and co-workers has been featured in Scientific American (Instant Health Checks for Buildings and Bridges).

In their paper (Strongly enhanced sensitivity in elastic capacitive strain sensors) the team demonstrate the capacitance response of capacitive elastic strain sensors can be enhanced more than 50 times by grafting of conducting polymer to the elastomer backbone. These sensors could be used to detect strain and structural fatigue in buildings, bridges and other large structures.

Interested to know more about mechanoresponsive materials? Why not read June’s themed issue.

To keep up-to-date with all the latest research, sign up for the journal’s e-alerts or RSS feeds or follow Journal of Materials Chemistry on Twitter.

Congratulations to Giulia Grancini (IFN-CNR: Politecnico di Milano, Italy) and Matthijs Cox (Eindhoven University of Tecnology, The Netherlands) for winning the Journal of Materials Chemistry poster prizes at the 11th European Conference on Molecular Electronics (ECME 2011).

Matthijs Cox’s, winning poster was called “Tuning Spin Interactions in Organic Semiconductors”.

Giulia Grancini’s poster was  entitled “4D-Imaging of Interfacial Charge Transfer State in Crystalline P3HT:PCBM Blend”.

ECME 2011 was held in 7^th – 10^th September in Barcelona, Spain.