Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog

Journal of Materials Chemistry will publish a themed issue on Organic Optoelectronic Materials in 2012. Please contact the editorial office if you would like to contribute an article.

The Guest Editors of the issue will be Professors Wenping Hu (ICCAS, China), Klaus Müllen (MPI-P Mainz, Germany) and Zhenan Bao (Stanford University). The themed issue is dedicated for the celebration of Prof. Daoben Zhu’s 70th birthday.

Organic Optoelectronic Materials with special functionalities stem from the increasing ability to manipulate and tune the optoelectronic properties of organic and polymeric materials. This was achieved through the systematic variation of their molecular components, to allow for molecular-level control of the solid-state structure via arrangement of the functional molecular components into a defined solid architecture.

With the development in materials, a number of applications have shown great promise for practical applications. Organic light-emitting diodes made the development of a superior flat-panel display technology possible. This display technology has been used in diverse applications ranging from cellular phones to large-area high-definition television screens. Organic solar cells now can reach quantum efficiency over 9%, which makes them attractive for delivering cheap solar power. Organic field-effect transistors have resulted in a revolution in developing fast and inexpensive integrated circuits based on organic semiconductor elements. When combined with the advantage of solution processability, organic semiconductors allow for the use of a variety of printing techniques, such as inkjet printing and stamping, to fabricate large area devices at low cost. The mechanical properties of organic semiconductors also allow for flexible electronics. However, the most distinguishing feature of organic semiconductors is their chemical versatility, which permits the incorporation of functionalities through molecular design. Organic integrated circuits have already been realized, which has accelerated the development of “plastic electronics” and “printed electronics”.

The aim of the themed issue focuses on organic and polymer materials with high electroluminescent efficiency for organic light-emitting diodes, with high quantum efficiency for organic solar cells, with high mobility for organic field-effect transistors, and so on. Certainly, it is a highly interdisciplinary science, the research and development of organic optoelectronic materials continually derives ideas, methods, and technologies from other research fields. Knowledge, results and techniques derived from chemistry, physics, materials science, semiconductors, electronics, nanotechnology and biology have been adopted in the design and development of organic optoelectronic materials. For example, the understanding of how the properties of materials impact their microstructure, and in turn how they affect device performance; modification and control of the interface between organic layers and organic/metal electrode; the understanding the processes that contribute to the operation of organic devices; and the integration of organic elements with existing silicon technology to realize high performance electronic devices and circuits, have all been crucial in the development of organic electronics and their corresponding applications.

Journal of Materials Chemistry wishes to publish original research that demonstrates novelty and advance, either in the chemistry used to produce materials or in the properties/applications of the materials produced. All manuscripts will be handled by the Journal of Materials Chemistry Editorial office and refereed in accordance to the standard procedures of the journal.

The deadline for the receipt of manuscripts for this themed issue is 3^rd October 2011.

Manuscripts can be submitted using the RSC’s on-line submissions service. Please clearly mark that the manuscript is submitted for the themed issue on Organic Optoelectronic Materials. We very much hope that you will be able to contribute to this themed issue and look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Professor Wenping Hu, Guest Editor
Professor Klaus Müllen, Guest Editor
Professor Zhenan Bao, Guest Editor
Dr Liz Davies, Editor, Journal of Materials Chemistry

The Mechanoresponsive Materials themed issue is now online. Here is Christoph Weder’s Editorial. The front cover illustration features a paper on Alkyl chain length effects on solid-state difluoroboron β-diketonate mechanochromic luminescence by Cassandra Fraser and co-workers. The inside front cover highlights a Feature Article on The physical chemistry of mechanoresponsive polymers by Timothy Kucharski and Roman Boulatov.  

 The issue also includes 6 Hot Articles:

• Tailored design of mechanically sensitive biocatalytic assemblies based on polyelectrolyte multilayers
• High-resolution 27Al MAS NMR spectroscopic studies of the response of spinel aluminates to mechanical action
• Piezochromic luminescence of amide and ester derivatives of tetraphenylpyrene—role of amide hydrogen bonds in sensitive piezochromic response
• Arene effects on difluoroboron β-diketonate mechanochromic luminescence
• Restructuring of exponentially growing polyelectrolyte multilayer films induced by salt concentration variations after film deposition
• Environmental effects on mechanochemical activation of spiropyran in linear PMMA

Read the full issue here:

The submission deadline for the Materials Chemistry in the Emerging Field of Synthetic Biology themed issue is just over a month away. Professor Cameron Alexander (University of Nottingham, UK) and Dr Rachel O’Reilly (Warwick University, UK) will act as the guest editors for this themed issue of Journal of Materials Chemistry. Please contact the Editorial Office if you are interested in contributing to the themed issue.

The deadline for the receipt of manuscripts for this themed issue is 21st May 2011.

Synthetic biology is a rapidly developing area of science with potentially far-reaching consequences.  While much publicity has centred on what constitutes this scientific field and what possible ethical issues might be invoked, before there can be any real practical progress there needs to be a fundamental shift in the synthesis aspects of synthetic biology. Biological processes utilise highly evolved self-assembly mechanisms and a plethora of error-correction strategies in order to generate functional materials, which in combination form the working machinery of the cell. For synthetic counterparts, new chemistries will be needed to generate the precise structures that give rise to function, or to modify existing machineries in order to create wholly new behaviours.

Materials chemistry is central to this endeavour. In particular, the long-standing focus on supramolecular structure and order, function at multiple lengthscales, and emergent properties, in materials chemistry equips scientists in this area with an advantageous ‘mindset’ for synthetic biology. The ‘top-down’ approach involves re-engineering existing tools from biology to generate novel functions (IGEM etc), or even organisms (Venter). Modifications of gene circuits to do different tasks than those evolved in nature require an understanding of the biological materials that perform these functions – this is materials chemistry but applied to biological molecules and assemblies (Seeman, Turberfield). The ‘bottom-up’ approach involves completely new structures and functions that can be completely abiotic in origin, but biomimetic (or possibly ‘biosuperior’) in function. Chemistries for forming artificial cell walls (van Hest, others) and artificial actuators (Ryan, others) show how sophisticated properties can arise from relatively simple building blocks, if designed and put together in ingenious ways. The work by Cronin et al shows the extreme abiotic end of emergent synthetic biology, while that of Szostak and Mansy exemplifies a hybrid approach wherein natural components are incorporated into novel frameworks to perform synthetic biology functions. Computational materials chemistry is another important component, as not only can life-like behaviour be programmed in silico, but increasingly, insights from complex computational algorithms can be used to design synthetic biology processes such as vesicle assembly, budding and replication that can be tested in the ‘wet’ laboratory (Krasnogor).

Overall, this themed issue covers the key materials chemistries that will help to define the exciting field of synthetic biology to come. There are many opportunities in this field, and materials chemistry is at its heart. All manuscripts will be refereed in accordance to the standard procedures of Journal of Materials Chemistry, and in this respect invited articles will be treated in the same way as regular submissions to the journal.

We look forward to hearing from you if you’re interested in contributing to this themed issue.

Don’t forget Journal of Materials Chemistry is publishing a themed issue on Self-Organization of Nanoparticles with with Professor Nicholas A. Kotov (University of Michigan, USA) as Guest Editor.

The deadline for the receipt of manuscripts for this themed issue is 17^th April 2011.

Manuscripts can be submitted using our online submission service. Please indicate on you submission letter that your manuscript is submitted in response to the call for papers for the Self-Organization of Nanoparticles themed issue.

 Did you read the recent themed issue in Journal of Materials Chemistry on the topic of hybrid materials? This issue was guest edited by Pierre Rabu and Andreas Taubert and contained a broad range of high quality articles.  

You may also be interested in the current issue of Chem Soc Rev, a themed issue on this topic, with guest editors Clément Sanchez, Kenneth Shea and Susumu Kitagawa. The issue contains 33 tutorial and critical reviews, highlighting exciting new achievements in hybrid materials research.

Joanne Thomson, Deputy Editor of Chem Soc Rev will be attending the Hybrid Materials conference in Strasbourg in March. Let her know if you would like to meet up to discuss RSC Publishing!

We are delighted to announce a themed issue on Materials Chemistry in the Emerging Field of Synthetic Biology that will be published in Journal of Materials Chemistry. The guest editors for this themed issue are Professor Cameron Alexander (University of Nottingham, UK) and Dr Rachel O’Reilly (Warwick University, UK). Please contact the Editorial Office if you are interested in contributing to the themed issue.

The deadline for the receipt of manuscripts for this themed issue is 21st May 2011.

Synthetic biology is a rapidly developing area of science with potentially far-reaching consequences.  While much publicity has centred on what constitutes this scientific field and what possible ethical issues might be invoked, before there can be any real practical progress there needs to be a fundamental shift in the synthesis aspects of synthetic biology. Biological processes utilise highly evolved self-assembly mechanisms and a plethora of error-correction strategies in order to generate functional materials, which in combination form the working machinery of the cell. For synthetic counterparts, new chemistries will be needed to generate the precise structures that give rise to function, or to modify existing machineries in order to create wholly new behaviours.

Materials chemistry is central to this endeavour. In particular, the long-standing focus on supramolecular structure and order, function at multiple lengthscales, and emergent properties, in materials chemistry equips scientists in this area with an advantageous ‘mindset’ for synthetic biology. The ‘top-down’ approach involves re-engineering existing tools from biology to generate novel functions (IGEM etc), or even organisms (Venter). Modifications of gene circuits to do different tasks than those evolved in nature require an understanding of the biological materials that perform these functions – this is materials chemistry but applied to biological molecules and assemblies (Seeman, Turberfield). The ‘bottom-up’ approach involves completely new structures and functions that can be completely abiotic in origin, but biomimetic (or possibly ‘biosuperior’) in function. Chemistries for forming artificial cell walls (van Hest, others) and artificial actuators (Ryan, others) show how sophisticated properties can arise from relatively simple building blocks, if designed and put together in ingenious ways. The work by Cronin et al shows the extreme abiotic end of emergent synthetic biology, while that of Szostak and Mansy exemplifies a hybrid approach wherein natural components are incorporated into novel frameworks to perform synthetic biology functions. Computational materials chemistry is another important component, as not only can life-like behaviour be programmed in silico, but increasingly, insights from complex computational algorithms can be used to design synthetic biology processes such as vesicle assembly, budding and replication that can be tested in the ‘wet’ laboratory (Krasnogor).

Overall, this themed issue covers the key materials chemistries that will help to define the exciting field of synthetic biology to come. There are many opportunities in this field, and materials chemistry is at its heart.

All manuscripts will be refereed in accordance to the standard procedures of Journal of Materials Chemistry, and in this respect invited articles will be treated in the same way as regular submissions to the journal.

We look forward to hearing from you if you’re interested in contributing to this themed issue.

The themed issue celebrating the 70th birthday of Professor Fred Wudl is now online.

Featured on the outside front cover is ‘Carbon nanotubes from short hydrocarbon templates. Energy analysis of the Diels–Alder cycloaddition/rearomatization growth strategy’ by Eric H. Fort and Lawrence T. Scott.

The Feature Article highlighted on the inside front cover is ‘Exotic materials for bio-organic electronics’ written by Mihai Irimia-Vladu, Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci and Siegfried Bauer.

The back cover showcases ‘The thiophene/phenylene co-oligomers: exotic molecular semiconductors integrating high-performance electronic and optical functionalities’ by Shu Hotta and Takeshi Yamao.

The Editorial Fred Wudl. Discovering new science through making new molecules can be read for free here.

Or you can read the full themed issue here:

Journal of Materials Chemistry is publishing a themed issue on the Self-Organization of Nanoparticles with Professor Nicholas A. Kotov (University of Michigan, USA) as the Guest Editor. The themed issue will collect a selection of the best papers in this area in a high profile and high impact themed issue which will be published in 2011. Please contact the Editorial Office if you are interested in contributing.

The deadline for the receipt of manuscripts for this themed issue is 17^th April 2011.

Many scientists over the period of the last decade greatly contributed to the development and understanding of the self-organization phenomena involving inorganic nanoparticles.  Many of them result in truly amazing supramolecular systems transcending different scales of organization.  It is important to analyze now the progress and establish the most exciting directions of future research.

The issue will cover the most exciting directions in self-organized systems of nanoparticles. New examples of nanoparticle superstructures, experimental techniques to reach levels of complexity, electronic phenomena involving energy transfer and plasmonic effects in multiparticle systems, computational and theoretical methods of description of self-organization processes, technological prospects for self-organized systems, biological implications of nanoparticle ability to self-organize, new nanostructured materials utilizing self-assemble phenomena, collective behaviour in NP systems, and other topics related to the self-organization of nanoparticles constitute the intellectual framework of this issue.

The issue will contain communications, full papers and review-type articles (Feature, Highlights or Applications).  All manuscripts will be refereed in accordance to the standard procedures of Journal of Materials Chemistry, and in this respect invited articles will be treated in the same way as regular submissions to the journal.        

Manuscripts can be submitted using the RSC’s on-line submissions service. Please clearly mark that the manuscript is “submitted in response to the call for papers for the Self-Organization of Nanoparticles themed issue”.