Journal of Materials Chemistry A, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, is pleased to announce an open call for papers for our upcoming themed collection on:

Design and characterization of flexible electrode materials

This collection will be Guest Edited by:

Professor Xiu Song (George) Zhao, Qingdao University

Professor Hui Ying Yang, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore

Professor Li Qiang, Qingdao University, China 

Scope of the collection

The design and characterization of flexible electrode materials, situated at the confluence of materials chemistry and engineering, holds pivotal significance for society. Through tailoring composition, structure, and mechanical properties, these materials optimize performance and adaptability in flexible electronics. This bears remarkable implications: from wearable health monitors to sustainable energy solutions. The historical trajectory highlights an evolution from rigid electrodes to innovative materials like conductive polymers, carbon nanotubes, and graphene. This progression, propelled by a nuanced understanding of materials chemistry, enables precise manipulation of materials properties.

The field’s connection with materials chemistry lies in its ability to engineer molecular structures, surface attributes, and interfacial interactions to fine-tune conductivity, electrochemical performance, and mechanical resilience. This harmony between chemistry and engineering ensures materials not only exhibit exceptional traits but also endure real-world demands. This dynamic interplay of science and engineering catalyzes wearable tech, energy storage, and beyond, showcasing the transformative potential of materials chemistry in reshaping technology and enhancing human life.

How to contribute

This call for papers is open for the following article types:

• Communications
• Full papers

If you would like to contribute to this themed collection, you can submit your article directly through the journal’s online submission service at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jmchema. Please add a “note to the editor” in the submission form when uploading your files to say that this is a contribution to the themed collection in response to the open call.

The Editorial Office reserves the right to check suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of the collection, and inclusion of accepted articles in the final themed collection is not guaranteed.

We look forward to considering your submission and featuring your latest research in this themed collection!

Open Call For Papers: Nanoengineered Biomaterials for Anticancer and Antimicrobial Drug Targeting

Guest edited by Kavindra K. Kesari, Sabya S. Das and Janne Ruokolainen.

We are delighted to announce a call for papers for our latest online themed collection in Materials Advances on Nanoengineered Biomaterials for Anticancer and Antimicrobial Drug Targeting that is being guest edited by Kavindra K. Kesari (Aalto University, Finland and Lovely Professional University, India), Sabya S. Das (University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, USA and DIT University, India) and Janne Ruokolainen (Aalto University, Finland).

Nanoengineered biomaterials have been shown to possess enhanced physicochemical and biological properties, leading to their increasingly widespread use for diverse biomedical applications. This themed collection broadly focuses on nanoengineered biomaterials targeting cancer and microbial infections theranostics which includes:

• Nano-phytotherapeutics
• Biogenic nano-biomaterials
• Cancer therapeutic approaches
• Antimicrobial therapeutic approaches
• Nano-biomaterials based sensors
• Overcoming drug resistance
• Redox biology mechanism
• Photothermal and photodynamic therapy
• Toxicological and drug-polymer stability studies
• Clinical and preclinical aspects.

Open for submissions until 31 March 2024

If you would like to contribute to this themed collection, you can submit your article directly through the Materials Advances online submission system. Please mention that this submission is a contribution to the Nanoengineered Biomaterials for Anticancer and Antimicrobial Drug Targeting collection in the “Themed issues” section of the submission form and add a “Note to the Editor” that this is from the Open Call. The Editorial Office reserves the right to check suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of both the journal and the collection, and inclusion of accepted articles in the final themed issue is not guaranteed.

Please also note that all submissions will undergo our normal rigorous peer review processes including an initial assessment prior to peer review, and that peer review and acceptance are not guaranteed. All accepted manuscripts will be subject to an article-processing charge (APC) unless your institute has an existing agreement with the RSC that covers publications in our gold open access journals. More information about charges, discounts, and waivers are available here. Corresponding authors who are not already members of the Royal Society of Chemistry are entitled to one year’s Affiliate membership as part of their APC. Find out more about our member benefits.

If you have any questions about the journal or the collection, then our team would be happy to answer them. You can contact us by emailing the journal inbox.

With best wishes,

Kavindra K. Kesari (Aalto University, Finland and Lovely Professional University, India)
Sabya S. Das (University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, USA and DIT University, India)
Janne Ruokolainen (Aalto University, Finland)

Journal of Materials Chemistry B is pleased to announce an open call for papers for the upcoming themed collection on stimuli-responsive materials for biomedical applications.

This collection will be Guest edited by:

Prof. Yanli Zhao, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Dr. Mary Beth Browning Monroe, Syracuse University, United States.

Prof. N. D. Pradeep Singh, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India.

This themed collection from the Journal of Materials Chemistry B is focused on recent developments in stimuli-responsive biomaterials.

A large number of stimulus methods have been deployed in functional materials for various biological and biomedical applications, such as (i) photo-responsive materials, (ii) pH-responsive materials, (iii) temperature-responsive materials, and (iv) biologically responsive materials.

This issue aims to cover recent progress on stimuli-responsive materials for biomedical applications, including their design, synthesis, characterization, and applications related to biology and medicine.

If you would like to contribute to this themed collection, you can submit your article directly to the online submission service for the Journal of Materials Chemistry B. Please mention that this submission is a contribution to the Stimuli-responsive biomaterials collection in the “Themed issues” section of the submission form and add a “Note to the Editor” that this is from the Open Call. The Editorial Office reserves the right to check the suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of both the journal and the collection, and inclusion of accepted articles in the final themed issue is not guaranteed.

Journal of Materials Chemistry B publishes high impact work related to materials for biology and medical applications. By publishing this themed collection on ‘Stimuli-responsive materials’, we hope to feature complementary research within the topic field and to collect the most relevant and most recent work on the progress of stimuli-responsive biomaterials research. 

We look forward to receiving your submissions and featuring your latest work in this exciting collection!

Materials Advances is delighted to announce an open call for papers to our new themed collection focussing on the synthesis of high performance materials from natural building blocks!

Guest Editors: Samantha L. Kristufek (Texas Tech University, USA) and Eleftheria Roumeli (University of Washington, USA)

The goal of this themed collection is to bring together contributions concerned with the most recent advances in constructing high performance sustainable materials using natural materials. Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Design and synthesis of natural product-based polymers
• Use of biomass in high performance materials
• SynBio or engineered proteins towards high performance materials
• Formation of sustainable concrete
• Scalability of the synthesis of natural product-based monomers and/or polymers
• Extraction and processing methods of bio-based starting materials
• LCA or TEA of novel materials from natural products
• Novel and circular approaches to materials from natural products

You are welcome to submit an article within the scope before 1 December 2023.

If you are interested in contributing to this collection, please get in touch with the Editorial Office by email.

Please note that accepted manuscripts will be subject to an article-processing charge (APC) unless your institute has an existing agreement with the RSC that covers publications in our gold open access journals. More information about charges, discounts, and waivers are available here. Corresponding authors who are not already members of the Royal Society of Chemistry are entitled to one year’s Affiliate membership as part of their APC. Find out more about our member benefits.

We are delighted to invite papers for a new themed collection on emerging thermoelectric materials, to be published in Materials Advances, a gold open access journal from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Guest Editors:

Dr Krishna Nama Manjunatha, Emerging Technologies Research Centre, De Montfort University, UK,

Prof. Satyajit Sahu, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, India,

Prof. Mona Zebarjadi, University of Virginia, USA,

Prof. Shashi Paul, Emerging Technologies Research Centre, De Montfort University, UK

We welcome the latest research on new and novel thermoelectric materials and their uses in thermoelectric generators (TEGs) for energy harvesting applications.

This collection will cover (but not be limited to) the following topics:

1. Novel thermoelectric materials for TEGs
2. Advanced synthesis and processing techniques for thermoelectric materials
3. Nanoscale materials for TEGs
4. High-throughput and combinatorial approaches for thermoelectric materials discovery
5. Advanced characterisation techniques for thermoelectric materials and devices
6. Theoretical and computational methods for predicting and optimizing thermoelectric properties
7. Novel approaches to enhance the performance of thermoelectric materials in TEGs
8. Applications of thermoelectric materials in waste heat recovery, solar energy conversion, and other energy harvesting applications
9. Challenges and opportunities in the development of thermoelectric materials for TEGs.
10. Novel deposition methods, synthesis and characterisation of novel nanomaterials for thermoelectric applications.
11. Advances in silicon nanostructures for thermoelectric applications.
12. New trends in novel alloy materials and investigation of their properties for TEG applications

If you are interested in contributing to this collection, please get in touch with the Editorial Office or directly submit to: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ma (Please add a “note to the editor” in the submission form when you submit your manuscript to say that this is a submission for this themed collection.)

Submission deadline: Submit before 2nd September 2024!

All submitted papers will go through the standard peer review process of Materials Advances and should meet the journal’s standard requirements as well as fit into the general scope of materials science. The Editorial Office and Guest Editors reserve the right to check suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of the collection and inclusion of accepted articles in the collection is not guaranteed. Accepted manuscripts will be added to the collection as soon as they are online, and they will be published in a regular issue of Materials Advances.

Now open for submissions

A new themed collection in Materials Advances will focus on the theory, the manufacturing, the characterization, and the applications of stimuli-responsive polymers, with particular emphasis on their remote actuation.

Actuators play a crucial and indispensable role in shaping the landscape of modern technology. These remarkable devices are the driving force behind the controlled motion and enable a wide array of applications across various industries. Customized functionality and optimized performance, leading to versatile and adaptable actuation systems, can be achieved through the capability of designing and tailoring properties in polymer actuators. To reach this goal, a reliable, thermodynamically-consistent and computationally affordable multiphysics modeling plays a crucial role. Following a thermodynamically-consistent approach is essential to properly couple mechanics with other realms of physics, such as  actuation and sensing can be studied within the same theoretical framework. Additionally, the development of computationally affordable modeling techniques enables efficient and practical analysis along with the exploration of a wide range of actuator designs and operating conditions. The integration of these two modeling features not only promotes optimized analysis and design but also enhances the fundamental understanding of stimuli-responsive. Ad hoc experimental characterization facilitating the identification of the model parameters constitutes a key aspect of this process.; this should possibly leverage on the duality between actuation and sensing.

The integration of 0D, 1D, and 2D nanomaterials in polymer composites revolutionizes the multimodal actuation and control and offers unprecedented miniaturization and enhanced functionality. Moreover, development of Hybrid nanocomposites further expands the possibilities by combining different materials, resulting in synergistic effects and improved actuation performance. In recent times, actuators based on biodegradable and natural polymers are gaining significant importance. These materials not only offer sustainable alternatives but also exhibit impressive actuation properties. This enables actuators to cater to a wide range of application-specific requirements, from soft robotics to adaptive structures. These actuators are revolutionizing robotics, healthcare, automation, and many other domains. Their unique capabilities, such as precise motion control and adaptive response, enable the development of innovative solutions and pave the way for new technological advancements.

The goal of this themed collection will be to bring together contributions concerned with the most recent advances in the multimodal actuation and sensing of polymers. Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Designing and tailoring properties in polymer actuators
• 0D, 1D, and 2D nanomaterials for remote actuation in composites
• Hybrid nanocomposites for remote actuation
• Biodegradable/natural polymeric actuators
• Stimuli for enhanced remote control in polymer actuators
• Breakthroughs and transformative applications of actuators
• Thermodynamically-consistent multiphysics modeling of stimuli-responsive polymers
• Modeling charged species and solvent transports in ionic-electroactive polymers
• Ionic polymer metal composites: characterization of boundary layers of charged species and performance as a function of the environmental conditions

We look forward to seeing your latest work in this field!

Guest Edited by

Lorenzo Bardella, University of Brescia, Italy
Mohammad Luqman, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia
Vinay Deep Punetha, P P Savani University, India

Journal of Materials Chemistry C are pleased to announce an open call for papers to contribute to our upcoming collection on ‘Molecular Scale Electronics’

The concept of using molecules as electronic components has received significant attention over the past 3 decades, initially motivated by the decreasing size of semiconductor-based circuit elements in line with Moore’s Law. It is now recognized that molecular devices can demonstrate properties unique from those observed in conventional electronics, resulting from quantum interference effects, changes in molecular redox state and/or the immediate nanoscale environment (solvent, temperature, light, magnetic field). With robust and reproducible measurement techniques now established, and great gains made in reconciling experimental and theoretical results, attention has turned to the discovery of useful wires, switches, diodes, and resistors – and how best to utilize them. 

This Journal of Materials Chemistry C collection will capture the cutting-edge innovations in synthesis, measurement, data science, and theory that are driving this field forward.

Guest Edited by: 

Timothy A. Su

Assistant Professor

University of California, Riverside

Timothy A. Su is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering Program at the University of California, Riverside. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 2011 working in Prof. Jean Fréchet’s laboratory. Tim obtained his PhD in Chemistry from Columbia University in 2016 as an NSF Graduate Fellow with Prof. Colin Nuckolls. Tim returned to UC Berkeley as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Chris Chang before starting his independent career in 2019. His laboratory at UC Riverside focuses on the synthesis of inorganic clusters and polymers and exploration of their quantum transport and optoelectronic properties.

Michael S. Inkpen

Assistant Professor

University of Southern California

Michael S. Inkpen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Southern California (USC). He obtained his M.Chem. from Durham University in 2008, and his Ph.D. from Imperial College London in 2013 under the mentorship of Prof. Nicholas J. Long and Prof. Tim Albrecht (now at the University of Birmingham). In 2015 he joined Prof. Latha Venkataraman’s group at Columbia University as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow. Mike returned to Europe in 2017 for the final year of his fellowship, where he worked with Prof. Philippe Hapiot at the University of Rennes 1. Research in the Inkpen Lab at USC focuses on the design and study of single-molecule devices and self-assembled monolayers, applying electrochemical and scanning probe microscope-based methods to address fundamental questions in energy storage, catalysis, and electron transfer/transport.

Haixing Li

Assistant Professor

City University of Hong Kong

Haixing Li is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at City University of Hong Kong. She obtained her B.S. in Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2012 where she did her undergraduate thesis with Prof. Xianhui Chen growing oxides in search of superconductors. During her undergraduate studies, she also spent a summer at the University of Oxford learning quantum optics. She then moved to Columbia University and earned her Ph.D. in Applied Physics in 2017 under the guidance of Prof. Latha Venkataraman uncovering electronic properties of molecular silicon. She worked as a postdoctoral fellow and later a Charles H. Revson Senior Fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Ruben L. Gonzalez Jr. at Columbia University studying mechanisms of ribosomal frameshifting from 2017 to 2021. Her research group at City University of Hong Kong examine molecules and bio-inspired architectures at the single molecule level to spark advances in electronics, health, and sustainability.

Open for Submissions until 13^th October 2022

Submissions to the journal should contain chemistry in a materials context and should fit within the scope of Journal of Materials Chemistry C. Please see the journal’s website for more information on the journal’s scope, standards, article types and author guidelines.

Appropriate topics include, but are not limited to:

• Synthetic routes to molecular electronic components.
• Single-molecule conductance experiments.
• Large-area molecular electronic device characterization.
• First principles calculations of molecular charge transport.
• Integrating molecules into functional circuits.
• Metal surface functionalization chemistry.
• On-surface synthesis and electronics of molecular wires.
• Intramolecular charge transfer and mixed valence chemistry.

If you would like to contribute to this themed collection, please submit your article directly through the Journal of Materials Chemistry C submission service. Please mention that your submission is a contribution to the ‘Molecular scale electronics ‘collection in the “Themed issues” section of the submission form and add a “Note to the Editor” that this is from the Open Call.