Hear from the authors of ‘Vinylene-bridged naphthalenediimide-based dual-acceptor copolymers for thin-film transistors and solar steam generation’

To celebrate the growth and development of the RSC Applied Polymers community and to highlight the remarkable authors who continue to contribute their high quality work to the journal we would like to share the opinions and insights of these authors through this introductory blog post. Once dubbed #RSCAppliedfirst50, our blog posts aim to give a voice to the authors behind the research and hope that their insights might shed light upon growing challenges and progress in polymer science and its applications.

In this edition, we hear from Dr Chia-Yang Lin as they discuss their article, ‘Vinylene-bridged naphthalenediimide-based dual-acceptor copolymers for thin-film transistors and solar steam generation’.

 

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Hear from the authors of ‘Production of gelatin methacrylate by flow chemistry and investigation of its suitability as a biomaterial’

To celebrate the growth and development of the RSC Applied Polymers community and to highlight the remarkable authors who continue to contribute their high quality work to the journal we would like to share the opinions and insights of these authors through this introductory blog post. Once dubbed #RSCAppliedfirst50, our blog posts aim to give a voice to the authors behind the research and hope that their insights might shed light upon growing challenges and progress in polymer science and its applications.

In this edition, we hear from Dr Pallavi Sengupta, Professor Neil Cameron and Professor Tanja Junkers as they discuss their recently published article, ‘Production of gelatin methacrylate by flow chemistry and investigation of its suitability as a biomaterial‘.

Hear from RSC Applied Polymers authors: Dr Pallavi Sengupta, Prof Neil Cameron & Prof Tanja Junkers

 

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Hear from the authors of ‘Cryopreservation and post-thaw differentiation of monocytes enabled by macromolecular cryoprotectants which restrict intracellular ice formation’

To celebrate the growth and development of the RSC Applied Polymers community and to highlight the remarkable authors who continue to contribute their high quality work to the journal we would like to share the opinions and insights of these authors through this introductory blog post. Once dubbed #RSCAppliedfirst50, our blog posts aim to give a voice to the authors behind the research and hope that their insights might shed light upon growing challenges and progress in polymer science and its applications.

In this edition, we hear from Professor Matthew Gibson and Dr Natalia Gonzalez-Martinez as they discuss their article, ‘Cryopreservation and post-thaw differentiation of monocytes enabled by macromolecular cryoprotectants which restrict intracellular ice formation‘.

 

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Meet the authors of ‘Optimization of light-curing ionogels by response surface methodology’

To celebrate the growth and development of the RSC Applied Polymers community and to highlight the remarkable authors who continue to contribute their high quality work to the journal, we would like to share the opinions and insights of these authors through this introductory blog post. Once dubbed #RSCAppliedfirst50, our blog posts aim to give a voice to the authors behind the research and hope that their insights might shed light upon growing challenges and progress in polymer science and its applications.

In this edition, we hear from Shixue Ren about their article entitled ‘Optimization of light-curing ionogels by response surface methodology‘.

 

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Hear from the authors of ‘Emerging stimuli-responsive hydrogels for enhancing chronic wound healing’

To celebrate the growth and development of the RSC Applied Polymers community and to highlight the remarkable authors who continue to contribute their high quality work to the journal, we would like to share the opinions and insights of these authors through this introductory blog post. Once dubbed #RSCAppliedfirst50, our blog posts aim to give a voice to the authors behind the research and hope that their insights might shed light upon growing challenges and progress in polymer science and its applications.

In this edition, we hear from Maya Yun about their review entitled ‘Emerging stimuli-responsive hydrogels for enhancing chronic wound healing‘.

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Meet the authors of ‘Mussel-inspired biomimetic adhesive coatings for food preservation: a review’

 

To celebrate the growth and development of the RSC Applied Polymers community and to highlight the remarkable authors who continue to contribute their high quality work to the journal we would like to share the opinions and insights of these authors through our blogs pages. This is the first post featuring our inaugural Emerging Investigators authors – a new forum we will use to celebrate the research of the rising stars in our applied polymer science community, as recommended by our Editorial Board and Advisory Board members. Read the 2025 Emerging Investigators collection here.

In this edition, we hear from Emerging Investigator Dr Garima Agrawal about their study entitled ‘Mussel-inspired biomimetic adhesive coatings for food preservation: a review

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Meet the authors:  Dr Ali Al Alshaikh and Dr Jason Bara

Read their recent paperTuning solvent strength can fractionate PVC into ultra-low molecular weight material with low dispersity’.

Dr Ali Al Alshaikh and Dr Jason Bara have developed a method to fractionate PVC into materials with different molecular weights by adjusting solvent strength, rather than simply dissolving all the polymer at once. Their innovative work supports the goal of creating a circular economy for plastic materials, where waste can be effectively reprocessed into useful products.

Learn more about their research in our interview below.

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Meet the authors of ‘Development of casein-based nanonutraceuticals by entrapping anthocyanin derived from secondary-agricultural residues: A step towards functional food additives’

 

To celebrate the growth and development of the RSC Applied Polymers community and to highlight the remarkable authors who continue to contribute their high quality work to the journal we would like to share the opinions and insights of these authors through this introductory blog post. Once dubbed #RSCAppliedfirst50, our blog posts aim to give a voice to the authors behind the research and hope that their insights might shed light upon growing challenges and progress in polymer science and its applications.

In this edition, we hear from Dr Jayeeta Bhaumik about their study entitled ‘Development of casein-based nanonutraceuticals by entrapping anthocyanin derived from secondary-agricultural residues: A step towards functional food additives

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Congratulations to the prize winners at Dan Eley Symposium 2025

The 2025 Dan Eley Postdoctoral Research Symposium took place at the University of Nottingham on 22 May 2025. RSC Applied Polymers, RSC Advances and Polymer Chemistry were pleased to support prizes at this event and we would like to congratulate our winners!

Welcome Foyer for Dan Eley event.

Welcome Foyer for Dan Eley event.

Meet our prize winners!

Photo of prize winner Madasamy Thangamuthu.

RSC Applied Polymers Prize

Dr Madasamy Thangamuthu

Dr Madasamy Thangamuthu is a Research Fellow in Electrocatalysis, currently working with Professor Andrei Khlobystov’s Nottingham Nanomaterials research group at the School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham (Park campus) since July 2022. Prior to his move to Nottingham, he was part of Professor Junwang Tang’s Solar Energy and Advanced Materials Research Group at the Department of Chemical Engineering, University College London (UCL) from 2019 to 2022. He also conducted research at the Nanophotonics and Metrology Laboratory (NAM) in the Department of Microengineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, from 2015 to 2019. Dr. Thangamuthu earned his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from Madurai Kamaraj University, India, in 2010 and 2014, respectively, and received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, India, in 2008.

His research primarily focuses on sustainable fuel synthesis through Photocatalysis, Electrocatalysis, and Photoelectrocatalysis. Specifically, he is developing next-generation catalysts for green hydrogen production from water splitting and ammonia decomposition, CO2 reduction into liquid fuels and high-value chemicals, and green ammonia synthesis using earth-abundant materials.

Photo of prize winner Joseph Ogar.RSC Advances Prize

Dr Joseph Ogar

Dr Joseph Ogar began his academic career in 2013 as a graduate assistant at the Department of Chemistry, University of Calabar, following his First Degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2010. He earned his Master’s degree in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Calabar in 2016.

In 2017, Dr Ogar joined the research group of Professor Neil Champness at the University of Nottingham, where he completed his PhD in 2021, working on redox-active metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). He later served as a full-time lecturer at Nottingham Trent University during the 2023/2024 academic session and currently holds an hourly-paid lecturer position there. In addition to his teaching roles, he has completed two postdoctoral fellowships and is presently a lab manager and postdoctoral research associate (PDRA) in the Cliffe’s Group at the University of Nottingham.

Dr Ogar’s research interests span the synthesis of redox-active ligands, developing porous open framework materials, and electrosynthesis of BEDT-TTF salts and two-dimensional MOFs with interesting electronic and magnetic properties.

Photo of prize winner Benjamin Weare.Polymer Chemistry Prize

Dr Benjamin Weare

Dr Benjamin Weare is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre, where he works as an electron microscopist. He has a strong interest in the intersection of practical electron microscopy, software development, and data science. His current research involves adapting transmission electron microscopes to work as electron diffractometers, in order to solve crystal structure from nanomaterials not suitable for X-ray methods. His Masters and PhD blended synthetic chemistry and electron microscopy, studying the nanoscale properties of small molecules and framework polymers at the University of Nottingham. In his free time he enjoys reading literature and writing for his blog.

We’d like to congratulate all the prize winners once more, it’s a great achievement for their work to be selected from all the excellent research presented at the event.  We’d also like to thank all organisers, especially Dr James Pearce for organising this conference.

Meet the authors of ‘Advances in Vat Photopolymerization: Early-Career Researchers Shine Light on a Path Forward’

To celebrate the growth and development of the RSC Applied Polymers community and to highlight the remarkable authors who continue to contribute their high quality work to the journal we would like to share the opinions and insights of these authors through this introductory blog post. Once dubbed #RSCAppliedfirst50, our blog posts aim to give a voice to the authors behind the research and hope that their insights might shed light upon growing challenges and progress in polymer science and its applications.

In this edition, we hear from Hayden E. Fowler and Max Saccone in a short introduction about their study ‘Advances in Vat Photopolymerization: Early-Career Researchers Shine Light on a Path Forward’

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