Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog

A photo-switchable polyelectrolyte brush that can prepare dual-component protein patterns by electrostatic attraction has been developed by scientists at Cornell University, USA. Varying the UV exposure of the cationic brush can lead to either a fully charge-reversed brush or patterned cationic/anionic binary brush. The team say this is the first time that a polyelectrolyte brush’s charge has been easily switched from cationic to anionic by UV radiation.

Youyong Xu, Yosuke Hoshi and Christopher K. Ober, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 13789-13792

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Self-cleaning fabrics now even cleaner: US scientists have made a self-cleaning fabric that lasts longer, shows better antibacterial action and is more comfortable to wear than current materials.

Fabrics treated with certain compounds such as N-halamines can produce oxidative species, which kill pathogens and degrade toxic chemicals. However, the compounds either degrade rapidly under sunlight or are only used to coat the fabric’s surface so are easily washed off…

Interested to know more? You can read the rest of the Chemistry World news story here or the original research article here.

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3rd October 2011
The Chemistry Centre, London, UK
www.rsc.org/costearth

This free workshop has been devised to explore technological advancements which could see the UK reduce reliance on imported scarce naturally sourced metals and help it become a leader in substitution.

Deadlines – Speed presentation abstract: 9 September 2011 & Final registration deadline: 18 September 2011

Jana Schäferhans at the University of Bayreuth has won the Journal of Materials Chemistry poster prize at 9th International Symposium on the Characterisation of Porous Solids (COPS 9) held in Dresden, Germany. The title of Jana Schäferhans‘ winning poster was ‘Ultrasound-driven design of multi metal nanosponges‘.

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Congratulations to all the Journal of Materials Chemistry poster prize winners at the GRC Polymers conference, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, USA.

The winners in the front row left to right are Jason Spruell (University of California, Santa Barbara), Jessalyn Cortese (ESPCI Paristech), Elizabeth Kelley (University of Delaware) and Adam Moughton (University of Minnesota). In the back row are the conference organisers Edward Coughlin and Stuart Rowan and Journal of Materials Chemistry Associate Editor Vincent Rotello.

7th International Symposium on Stimuli-Responsive Materials, October 24-26th, 2011 in Hattiesburg, MS, USA. Leading scientists from a variety of disciplines will discuss recent advances in adaptive materials at the interfaces of chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering. This symposium will build on a successful six year history of assembling experts in the area of stimuli-responsive/smart materials to discuss issues related to fundamental science and real-world applicability.

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A reusable wordpad that uses water as ink has been developed by scientists at the University of Science and Technology of China.

The photonic wordpad strongly diffracts blue light due to colloids that form ordered chain-like structures in the solidified polymer matrix. Writing on the wordpad with water swells the polymer matrix and increases the interparticle spacing, which causes a red-shift in the diffracted light. The photonic wordpad can be reused by drying it, and the team claim it is environmentally friendly.

Read the article for free until the 5^th September: Haibo Hu, Qian-Wang Chen, Hui Wanga, Ran Li and Wei Zhong, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, DOI:10.1039/C1JM11697E (Advance Article)

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Scientists in Taiwan have used bulk metals to grow silicon nanowires.

Preparation of the metal catalysts used to synthesise Si nanowires normally involves multi-step procedures and suffers from many processing limitations. Now a team led by Hsing-Yu Tuan at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, have demonstrated that commercially available bulk metals can act as reuseable catalysts to seed Si nanowire synthesis in supercritical benzene. Eight different metals were explored as potential catalysts. Hsing-Yu Tuan and the team claim that this alternative metal-seeded synthetic protocol could be used to prepare versatile Si nanowires/metal architectures for advanced applications.

Interested to know more? Read the full article for free until 5th September: F-W Yuan, H-J Yang  and H-Y Tuan, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/c1jm11956g

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Congratulations to Hamed Shahsavan, University of Waterloo, Canada, for winning a Journal of Materials Chemistry poster prize at the 2^nd International Conference on Nanotechnology: Fundamentals and Applications.

Hamed Shahsavan’s winning poster was titled “Biomimetic Micro/Nano-structured Surfaces: A Potential Tool for the Tuning of Adhesion and Friction”. The conference was held at University of Ottawa, Canada.