ChemComm is delighted to invite nominations for the very first ChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship. The lectureship, which will be awarded annually, will recognise an emerging scientist in the early stages of their independent academic career. Deadline for nominations: 28th February 2011. Visit the ChemComm blog for more information.
Journal of Materials Chemistry issue 44 is now online and features inside and outside cover artwork from two ‘Hot Articles’ reported on this blog in October.
Red, Green, Blue, Black, Transparent, all these states can now be achieved with a single electrochromic polymer. This front cover artwork represents a paper from Levant Toppare and colleagues from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey: ‘Processable donor–acceptor type electrochromes switching between multicolored and highly transmissive states towards single component RGB-based display devices’.
The inside front cover features another ‘Hot Article’: ‘Anomalous Eu layer doping in Eu, Si co-doped aluminium nitride based phosphor and its direct observation‘ from Takashi Takeda and co-workers from the National Institute for Materials Science and Tohoku University in Japan.
The latest issue of Journal of Materials Chemistry features cover artwork by Ying Chen and colleagues from Deakin University and the Australian National University. Their cover shows boron nitride nanotubes grown on both the external and internal surfaces of a tiny steel needle using the new boron (B) ink method. This demonstrates work from their paper ‘Boron nitride nanotube films grown from boron ink painting’.
Read the full text of this article here:
Lu Hua Li, Ying Chen and Alexey M. Glushenkov
J. Mater. Chem., 2010, 20, 9679-9683
DOI: 10.1039/C0JM01414A, Paper
Read the most-read Journal of Materials Chemistry articles of September 2010, listed below:
Cross-linked enzyme aggregates have great potential in marine antifouling paints claim Danish scientists.
Paints with antifouling activity are used in the marine industry to prevent undesirable accumulation of microorganisms, plants and animals on ship surfaces below the waterline. Previously tributyltin self-polishing copolymer (TBT-SPC) paints have been used however they were banned in January 2008 due to environmental regulations.
The main alternatives are copper-based paints but these also cause concern for the environment. Consequently it non-toxic alternatives are desirable which is where enzymes can have a niche explains Stepan Shipovskov at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Environmentally friendly paints for boats use enzymes instead of metals
Enzymes can interact directly with microorganisms on the ships surface but organic solvents, such as xylene, are the main base of paints and can inactivate the enzymes. Shipovskov and co-workers tested cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs) of proteases in artificial sea water and found that they are tolerant to xylene and have great stability in dried paint. Shipovskov explains that ‘a stabilisation effect occurs due to the covalent linking between enzyme molecules which prevents enzyme inactivation in organic solvents’.
To view the full Highlights in Chemical Science article, please click here: Enzymes – a new ingredient for marine paint?
Implementation of cross-linked enzyme aggregates of proteases for marine paint applications
Jonas Skovgaard, Charlotte A. Bak, Torben Snabe, Duncan S. Sutherland, Brian S. Laursen, Karsten M. Kragh, Flemming Besenbacher, Charlotte H. Poulsen and Stepan Shipovskov, J. Mater. Chem., 2010, 20, 7626
DOI: 10.1039/c0jm01249a
Fingerprints leave their mark on surfaces that remain even if they are washed off allowing them to be detected using disulphur dinitride, claim UK scientists.
Fingerprint analysis of crime scenes has become a powerful weapon in the forensic scientist’s arsenal. The ridges present on the tips of the fingers are unique to a person. By comparison of impressions left in materials – typically flat, regular surfaces, such as glass – to a sample taken from a suspect it is possible to identify the owner of the fingerprints.
It could be possible to identify fingerprints that have been washed from surfaces
But there are occasions where fingerprints are not easily viewable or are fragmented. Here, latent fingerprinting – where obscured fingerprints are enhanced – can be used to identify an individual. In 2008, Paul Kelly and co-workers at Loughborough University noticed that the strained four-membered ring system S2N2 quickly polymerises to (SN)x in the presence of fingerprints. Detecting this polymer produces a visual image of the fingerprint.
To view the full Highlights in Chemical Technology article, please click here: Polymerisation reveals hidden fingerprints
Polymerisation of S2N2 to (SN)x as a tool for the rapid imaging of fingerprints removed from metal surfaces
Stephen M. Bleay, Paul F. Kelly and Roberto S. P. King, J. Mater. Chem., 2010
DOI: 10.1039/c0jm02724c
As interest grows in clothes that do more than just keep you warm and preserve your modesty, Canadian scientists are developing non-woven textiles that exhibit a reversible colour change due to resistive heating.
Traditional fabrics can be improved by giving them another function useful for fashion medical or military applications, explains Alexis Laforgue at the National Research Council Canada Industrial Materials Institute, Boucherville.
Applying a current causes the material to change colour
Substances that change colour when an external stimulus is applied, such as heat) or electricity (know as (thermochromism or electrochromism respectively), can be added to fabrics to give them extra functionality. Laforgue’s new non-woven material is simpler than many of its thermochromic and electrochromic counterparts because the fibres don’t need to be woven through a fabric and the system doesn’t need an electrolyte layer.
To view the full Highlights in Chemical Technology article, please click here: Colour changing fabrics without weaving
Electrically controlled colour-changing textiles using the resistive heating properties of PEDOT nanofibers
Alexis Laforgue, J. Mater. Chem., 2010, 20, 8233
DOI: 10.1039/c0jm02307h
US scientists have take inspiration from plants to create a water-based solar cells to convert light into electricity.
Plants efficiently use light to initiate reactions that produce energy in a process known as photosynthesis. Now Orlin Velev and colleagues at North Carolina State University, have created a hydrogel device to mimic this process to create electricity.
Flexible photovoltaic device uses water-based gel to generate electricity from sunlight
The device uses a 98 per cent water hydrogel doped with two photoactive dyes (9,10-dimethoxy-2-anthracenesulfonic acid and ruthenium trisbipyridine).The gel is layered between a copper foil electrode coated with carbon black and graphite and an indium tin oxide-coated plastic substrate serving as the other electrode. The dyes absorb light exciting the electrons into a higher energy state. Transport of the dyes through the hydrogel allows electrons and electron holes to be transferred to the two electrodes completing the circuit and generating a current.
To view the full Highlights in Chemical Science article, please click here: Mimicking nature’s solar cells
Aqueous soft matter based photovoltaic devices
Hyung-Jun Koo, Suk Tai Chang, Joseph M. Slocik, Rajesh R. Naik and Orlin D. Velev, J. Mater. Chem., 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c0jm01820a
Call for Nominations!
I am pleased to announce that the 2011 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship is now open for nominations. This annual lectureship honours a scientist who has made a significant contribution to the field of materials chemistry.
Qualification
To be eligible for the Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship, the candidate should be in the earlier stages of their scientific career, typically within 10 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, and will have made a significant contribution to the field.
Description
The recipient of the lectureship will be asked to present a lecture three times, one of which will be located in the home country of the recipient. The Journal of Materials Chemistry Editorial Office will provide the sum of £1000 to the recipient for travel and accommodation costs. The lectureship recipient will be presented with the lectureship certificate at one of the three lectures. They will also be asked to contribute a lead article to the journal and will have their work showcased on the back cover of the issue in which their article is published.
Selection
The recipient of the lectureship will be selected and endorsed by the Journal of Materials Chemistry Editorial Board.
The 2010 lectureship was won by Dan Luo, Cornell University, USA.
Nominations
Those wishing to make a nomination should send details of the nominee including a brief C.V. (no longer than 2 pages) together with a letter supporting the nomination (no longer than 2 pages), to the Journal of Materials Chemistry Editorial Office by 18th February 2011. Self nomination is not permitted.
The 2010 Nobel prize for physics has been awarded to Professors Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov, both from the University of Manchester, UK. Andre and Kostya were awarded the prize for ‘ for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene’, including the discovery that stable graphene can be prepared using sticky tape and graphite!
Since their discovery in 2004, research into graphene has grown considerably, and graphene based materials have been shown to have many potential applications, such as for single molecule gas detection, as transistors, for integrated circuits, as conducting electrodes, bio-devices and antibacterial coatings.
From the Journal of Materials Chemistry Editorial Office and Editorial Board, warm congratulations, Andre and Kostya!
Read Journal of Materials Chemistry articles on graphene here.
