Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog

Researchers at University of Science & Technology of China have made prototype robots from a soft actuator. The robots are capable of gripping objects or worm-like movement, and are controlled by infrared light. The material used to create the robot is ultrasensitive photothermal actuator made from large-area graphene with chitosan and polyethylene. Read the paper for free until 9th January.

Large-area graphene realizing ultrasensitive photothermal actuator with high transparency: new prototype robotic motions under infrared-light stimuli: Changzheng Wu, Jun Feng, Lele Peng, Yong Ni, Haiyi Liang, Linhui He and Yi Xie, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 18584-18591

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The reversible physisorption of hydrogen on porous solid state materials offers one method for storing hydrogen; however, scientists are still searching for ways to maximise the surface area and thereby increase the storage capacity.

In an effort to address this problem a microporous carbon material with an unusually high hydrogen storage capacity has been created by scientists at the University of Nottingham, UK. The material is synthesised using a commercially available zeolitic imidazolate framework as a hard template. The pores of the ZIF are filled with furfuryl alcohol before polymerization and then carbonization to remove the template and leave behind a microporous carbon material. In a final step the carbon is then activated with KOH, which leads to a significant enlargement of surface area.

The microporous nature gives the material a high hydrogen storage density in the range 13.0–15.5 μmol H2 m⁻², which the team say is much higher than most high surface area activated carbons.

Read the article for free until 4^th January

Preparation and hydrogen storage capacity of templated and activated carbons nanocast from commercially available zeolitic imidazolate framework: A. Almasoudi and R. Mokaya, J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 146-152

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Hydrolysis of polysaccharides in unused biomass offers a sustainable method to produce glucose and other chemicals derived from it. In an effort to make the process more commercially viable scientists at Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, China, have designed and synthesized efficient catalysts for the hydrolysis of starch and cellulose based on copolymers of poly(acrylic acid) and poly(styrene sulfonic acid). The random copolymer PAA-r-PSSH gave the highest glucose yield among the prepared catalysts which the team attribute to the synergic effect of the SO3H and COOH groups in the polymer chain.

Read the article for free until 30^th December (free registration required):

Xiutao Li, Yijun Jiang, Li Shuai, Lili Wang, Lingqian Meng and Xindong Mu, J. Mater. Chem., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C1JM12954F (Advance Article)

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Researchers studying new two-photon absorption chromophores based on spirofluorene and ladder-type pentaphenylenes have investigated the effect of structure on two-photon absorption efficiency.

The team say that spirofluorenes with different donors at the both terminals show an increase in two-photon absorption activity as the donor strength increases. The ladder-type pentaphenylenes derivatives show the larger two-photon absorption efficiency than spirofluorene derivatives due to better coplanarity throughout the molecule. Interested to know more? Read the full article for free

Namchul Cho, Gang Zhou, Kenji Kamada, Ran Hee Kim, Koji Ohta, Sung-Ho Jin, Klaus Müllen and Kwang-Sup Lee, J. Mater. Chem., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C1JM13481G (Advance Article)

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Oxygen evolution reactions are used in a wide range of electrochemical processes such chlorine evolution, electroplating, peroxide production, and generating hydrogen from water via electrolysis. However, the high overpotentials required in the oxygen evolution reactions reduce the energy efficiency of the electrochemical processes.

Now researchers at National Tsing-Hua University, Taiwan, have developed highly efficient electrocatalysts based on nickel cobaltite aerogels. These aerogels have an ultralow overpotential of 0.184 V at 100 mA cm−2 for oxygen evolution. The ultralow overpotential is thought to arise from the high specific surface area and well-connected three-dimensional through-pore structure of the aerogel materials.

Interested to know more? Read the article for free until 21^st December 2011:
Hsing-Chi Chien, Wei-Yun Cheng, Yong-Hui Wang, Te-Yu Wei and Shih-Yuan Lu, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 18180-18182

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