Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog

Here at the Royal Society of Chemistry we are constantly looking to improve our procedures to make things easier for our journal authors.

And we are glad to say that we can now offer free colour for all images and figures in all of our journals, in print and online.

We believe this will further improve the efficiency of our submission, editing and publication processes, and enhance the readers’ experience as well.

So that’s one more reason to choose to publish with us.

View this video to hear from international researchers on why they choose Royal Society of Chemistry journals.

An international team of researchers have used gelatin as their starting material to make doped-carbon electrocatalysts. They might not wobble but they could one day replace platinum in fuel cells.

The gelatin foam doesn’t look like jelly (a). The scanning electron microscope image of the foam (b) shows lots of tiny bubbles

Zoe Schnepp from the University of Birmingham in the UK and colleagues at the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan wanted to show that you don’t have to compromise on properties by being green.

Read the full article at Chemistry World.

Doped-carbon electrocatalysts with trimodal porosity from a homogeneous polypeptide gel
Zoe Schnepp, et al.
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013, 1, 13576-13581
DOI: 10.1039/C3TA12996A

We invite you to join us for Faraday Discussion 174,  which will cover:

•    Organic photovoltaics and energy
•    Organic lasers
•    Organic bioelectronics
•    Sensors and molecular electronics

Submit your abstract today

You can find more details about submitting your abstract here

Speakers include:

•    Magnus Berggren, Linköping University
•    Christoph Brabec, University of Erlangen
•    Donal Bradley, Imperial College London
•    Rene Janssen, TU Eindhoven
•    Uli Lemmer, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
•    Karl Leo, TU Dresden
•    Gemma Soloman, University of Copenhagen
•    Luisa Torsi, University of Bari
•    Latha Venkataraman, Columbia University
•    Fred Wudl, University of California, Santa Barbara

Spanish scientists have developed a way to quantitatively measure the amount of iron in a solution using a colour changing material and photos taken on a smartphone.

Iron is present in almost every aspect of our lives but an excess, known as iron overload, can cause significant long term effects ranging from liver damage to arthritis as a result of iron deposition in organs or joints. As such, the amount of iron in a variety of environments needs to be carefully monitored.

Read the full article in Chemisty World here.

Read the original articles below:

Solid sensory polymer substrates for the quantification of iron in blood, wine and water by a scalable RGB technique
Saúl Vallejos, et al, J. Mater. Chem. A, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C3TA12703F

Sub-ppm quantification of Hg(II) in aqueous media using both the naked eye and digital information from pictures of a colorimetric sensory polymer membrane taken with the digital camera of a conventional mobile phone
José M. García, et al, Anal. Methods, 2013, 5, 54-58, DOI: 10.1039/C2AY26307F

Researchers in Italy and Germany have developed an organic memristive device that mimics the adaptive processes occurring in nervous systems such as the human brain. The work is one of the main findings of the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme Future and Emerging Technologies-Open project which has brought together physicists, chemists, neuroscientists and mathematicians to create breakthroughs in information and communication technologies.

Memristors (‘memory resistors’) are electronic elements with a resistance which is a function of the charge passing through them. Importantly, when the current is removed, the memristor retains this final resistance, providing a capability similar to a biological synapse. The team, led by Victor Erokhin at the University of Parma, incorporated a conducting polymer memristor into a self-assembling stochastic 3D network reminiscent of the brain’s random distribution of neurons and the connections between them.

Spaghetti analogy for training the polymer network. Top: The main components of the organic memristive device. Bottom: Italian children learn that spaghetti can only be eaten with forks (strong association), whereas foreigners in Italy also can eat spaghetti with forks, but upon returning to their own country may begin to use spoons again (dynamic adaptation).

 Read the full article at Chemistry World.

Stochastic hybrid 3D matrix: learning and adaptation of electrical properties
Victor Erokhin,  Tatiana Berzina, Konstantin Gorshkov, Paolo Camorani, Andrea Pucci, Lucia Ricci, Giacomo Ruggeri, Rodrigo Sigala and Almut Schuez
J. Mater. Chem., 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2JM35064E

Fruit juice has been used by scientists in the UK to replace up to half of the fat content from cocoa butter and milk fats in milk and white chocolate.

From left to right: Team members Tom Skelhon, Adam Morgan and Stefan Bon © University of Warwick

Stefan Bon and his colleagues at the University of Warwick made a water-in-oil emulsion to replace the fat by adding fruit juices, water with added vitamin C or flat coke to chocolate formulations.

Read the full article at Chemistry World.

Quiescent water-in-oil Pickering emulsions as a route toward healthier fruit juice infused chocolate confectionary
Thomas S. Skelhon , Nadia Grossiord , Adam R. Morgan and Stefan A. F. Bon
J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 19289-19295
DOI: 10.1039/C2JM34233B