Materials Horizons Blog

Scientists in China have made a rewritable electrochromic display using a hydrogel for the first time.

Typical electrochromic devices contain upwards of five layers, their complicated structures contributing to high production costs and hindered performance. Now, a team led by Hong Wang of Xi’an Jiaontong University has devised a much simpler structure.

Source: © Royal Society of Chemistry
A lithium chloride electrolyte endows the hydrogel electrode with high ionic conductivity

Their system contains a multifunctional hydrogel deposited directly on a tungsten oxide film on top of an F-doped SnO₂ (FTO) layer. To make this possible, the researchers embedded the hydrogel with aqueous lithium chloride, allowing it to simultaneously act as a transparent electrode, electrolyte and ion storage layer. By reducing the number of interfaces present in the device, the team were able to improve the performance of the device for display applications, compared to other electrochromic systems, while also reducing production costs.

To read the full article visit Chemistry World.

Multifunctional hydrogel enables extremely simplified electrochromic devices for smart windows and ionic writing boards
Huajing Fang, Pengyue Zheng, Rong Ma, Chen Xu, Gaiying Yang, Qing Wange and Hong Wang
Mater. Horiz., 2018,5, 1000-1007

We would like to highlight the Outstanding Reviewers for MATERIALS HORIZONS in 2017, as selected by the editorial team, for their significant contribution to the journal. The reviewers have been chosen based on the number, timeliness and quality of the reports completed over the last 12 months.

We would like to say a big thank you to those individuals listed here as well as to all of the reviewers that have supported the journal. Each Outstanding Reviewer will receive a certificate to give recognition for their significant contribution.

Dr Annette Andrieu-Brunsen, Technical University Darmstadt, ORCID: 0000-0002-3850-3047
Dr Chu-Chen Chueh, National Taiwan University, ORCID: 0000-0003-1203-4227
Professor Jonas Croissant, University of New Mexico, ORCID: 0000-0003-0489-9829
Dr Jan Dhont, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Institute of Complex Systems, ORCID: 0000-0003-3122-0586
Dr Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh, RMIT University, ORCID: 0000-0001-6109-132X
Dr Ying Liu, North Carolina State University, ORCID: 0000-0003-3687-1337
Dr Edmond Ma, Hong Kong Baptist University, ORCID: 0000-0002-1259-2205
Dr Valerio Voliani, Italian Institute of Technology, ORCID: 0000-0003-1311-3349
Dr Zhanhua Wang, Sichuan University, ORCID: 0000-0003-0493-1905
Dr Chao Xie, Hefei University of Technology, ORCID: 0000-0003-4451-767X

We would also like to thank the MATERIALS HORIZONS board and the materials science community for their continued support of the journal, as authors, reviewers and readers.

If you would like to become a reviewer for our journal, just email us with details of your research interests and an up-to-date CV or résumé. You can find more details in our author and reviewer resource centre

Material designed to get thicker as it bends

Scientists in the Netherlands have designed a material that offers to lengthen the lifetime of hip implants using an unprecedented property: the material gets thicker when compressed and when stretched.

Source: Eline Kolken
The new material could improve implant longevity

The average owner of an artificial hip is no lazy bones. Each year, they take around four million steps. All this movement takes its toll, though. After around 15 years, implants tend to work loose from the femur bone and need replacing.

To read the full article visit Chemistry World.

Rationally designed meta-implants: a combination of auxetic and conventional meta-biomaterials
Helena M. A. Kolken, Shahram Janbaz, Sander M. A. Leeflang, Karel Lietaert, Harrie H. Weinans and Amir A. Zadpoor
Mater. Horiz., 2017, Advance Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C7MH00699C

Inspired by natural iridescence in fish skin, scientists in Germany have developed a graphene-based coating that changes colour when deformed. It could provide a simple way to warn of hidden damage in buildings, bridges and other structures.

Many materials are coloured by chemical pigments, which absorb light at particular wavelengths and reflect the remaining light, which we see as colour. Other materials, however, are given colour by periodically arranged microscopic surface structures. These cause interference between reflected light waves, amplifying them at specific visible frequencies. This strategy is used in some of nature’s most vibrant materials, from fish scales to peacock feathers, butterfly wings and cephalopod skins.

Following the success of Peer Review Week in September 2016 (dedicated to reviewer recognition) during which we published a list of our top reviewers, we are delighted to announce that we will continue to recognise the contribution that our reviewers make to the journal by announcing our Outstanding Reviewers each year.

We would like to highlight the Outstanding Reviewers for Materials Horizons in 2016, as selected by the editorial team, for their significant contribution to the journal. The reviewers have been chosen based on the number, timeliness and quality of the reports completed over the last 12 months.

We would like to say a big thank you to those individuals listed here as well as to all of the reviewers that have supported the journal. Each Outstanding Reviewer will receive a certificate to give recognition for their significant contribution.

Professor Fei Huang, South China University of Technology
Dr Susan Kelleher, University College Dublin
Professor Christine Luscombe, University of Washington
Professor Markus Niederberger, ETH Zurich
Dr Genqiang Zhang, University of Science and Technology of China

We would also like to thank the Materials Horizons board and the materials community for their continued support of the journal, as authors, reviewers and readers.

If you would like to become a reviewer for our journal, just email us with details of your research interests and an up-to-date CV or résumé. You can find more details in our author and reviewer resource centre

Discovery of hidden thread in silk of deadly spider inspires material-toughening strategy

Scientists have discovered microscopic metastructures in the web of the recluse spider that offer a blueprint for tough new materials.

Source: © Schniepp Lab The recluse spider spins its ribbon-like silk into loops

At first glance, the venomous yet timid Chilean recluse spider (Loxosceles laeta) seems to be highly disorganised in constructing its web. Traversing its lair, it deposits clumpy bales of silk in a messy, tangled cobweb. Look closer. Work led by Hannes Schniepp at the College of William and Mary, in Virginia, US, in collaboration with Fritz Vollrath at the University of Oxford, UK, has shown that the spider carefully choreographs its spinnerets to sew silk in thousands of micrometre-sized loops. When strained, the loops sequentially open to reveal hidden length in the thread, dissipating energy and staving off breakage.

To read the full article visit Chemistry World.

Toughness-enhancing metastructure in the recluse spider’s looped ribbon silk
S. R. Koebley, F. Vollrath and H. C. Schniepp
Journal Article Mater. Horiz., 2017, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C6MH00473C, Communication