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Materials Horizons Symposium: Electronic & Photonic Materials 2017

We had a great time in Japan in November for the Materials Horizons Symposium on Electronic & Photonic Materials!

Accompanied by Dr Simon Neil (Materials Horizons, Managing Editor) and Hiromitsu Urakami (RSC Manager, Japan), a great line-up of speakers visited Kyoto University and the National Institute for Materials Science to showcase a wide variety of cutting-edge work in and around the areas of electronic and photonic materials. We were delighted to hear some fantastic talks from Professor Yasuhiko Arakawa, Professor Lay-Lay Chua, Professor Maria Antonietta Loi, Materials Horizons Founding Chair Professor Seth Marder, and many more!

This event was also supported by Division of Molecular Electronics and Bioelectronics – The Japan Society of Applied Physics, The Japanese Photochemistry Association, Research Group on Electrical and Electronic Properties of Polymer and Organics – The Japan Society for Polymer Science.

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Smart stretch expands hip implant performance

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

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A coating inspired by fish scales could highlight structural weakness in buildings and vehicles

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.

To read the full article visit Chemistry World.

Variable structural colouration of composite interphases
Yinhu Deng, Shanglin Gao, Jianwen Liu, Uwe Gohs, Edith Mäder and Gert Heinrich
Journal Article Mater. Horiz., 2017, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C6MH00559D, Communication

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Outstanding Reviewers for Materials Horizons in 2016

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

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Spider silk strength is in the loop

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

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Hydrogel wound sealant simplifies trauma treatment

Spray-on bandage dissolves on demand

Scientists in the US have developed a hydrogel-based wound sealant that can be easily applied to stem severe bleeding then gently and precisely removed to allow surgery.

On the 3 October 1993, Corporal James Smith, a 21-year-old US army ranger on operations in Mogadishu, bled to death from a gunshot wound to his thigh and pelvis. You might already know the story of that night, recounted in Mark Bowden’s book Black hawk down. The harrowing story of Smith’s death highlights how difficult it can be for a medic to control internal bleeding before it’s too late – especially if they are pinned down at night by enemy fire, hours from surgical help. Even far from the battlefield, haemorrhage is a serious threat to anyone with a severe wound. Each year, it kills more Americans than those who died in the entire Vietnam war.

To read the full article visit Chemistry World.

A hydrogel sealant for the treatment of severe hepatic and aortic trauma with a dissolution feature for post-emergent care
Marlena D. Konieczynska, Juan C. Villa-Camacho, Cynthia Ghobril, Miguel Perez-Viloria, William A. Blessing, Ara Nazarian, Edward K. Rodriguez and Mark W. Grinstaff
Journal Article Mater. Horiz., 2017, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C6MH00378H, Communication

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AsiaNANO poster prize winners

Congratulations to the poster prize winners at the Asian Conferene on Nanoscience & Nanotechnology which took place from the 10th – 13th October in Sapporo, Japan. The conference was attended by 330 participants from over 10 different countries. There were 79 oral (31 invited) and 182 poster presentations. Materials Horizons and Nanoscale Horizons provided sponsorship in the form of poster prizes which were handed to the following winners:

Chee Leng Lay (University of Singapore) for her poster titled: Transformative Two-Dimensional Array Configurations by Geometrical Shape-shifting Protein Microstructures, Ryo Iida (Hokkaido University): Thermoresponsive assembly of gold nanospheres and nanorods, Satoshi Nakamura (Hokkaido University): Immobilization of AuNRs by assistance of a DNA brush and Zhepeng Zhang (Peking University): Direct Chemical Vapor Deposition Growth of MoS2/h-BN van der Waals Heterostructures on Au Foils.

The conference included recent hot topics on chemical and physical aspects of nanostructures as well as their fabrication and characterization technologies with its main focus on revolutionary approaches and results developed newly in nanochemistry and nanomaterials for the last two years. Further information can be found on the website.

Poster prize winners

Poster prize winners with Professor Masahiko Hara of Tokyo Institute of Technology/RIKEN (far left).

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Top 10 Reviewers for Materials Horizons

In celebration of Peer Review Week, with the theme of Recognition for Review – we would like to highlight the top 10 reviewers for Materials Horizons in 2016, as selected by the editor for their significant contribution to the journal.

Professor Markus Antonietti, University of Potsdam
Dr Michael Bozlar, Princeton University
Professor Bruno Chaudret, INSA
Dr Albert Scenning, Eindhoven University
Dr Xavier Moya, University of Cambridge
Dr Renato Bozio, University of Padua
Dr Jinping Li, Taiyuan University of Technology
Dr Alessandro Troisi, University of Warwick
Dr Seung Hwan Ko, Seoul National University
Professor Christine Luscombe, University of Washington

We would like to say a massive thank you to these reviewers as well as the Materials Horizon board and all of the materials science community for their continued support of the journal, as authors, reviewers and readers.


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Nominations to Materials Horizons Community Board now open!

Last year, we announced the first ever early career researcher advisory board for Materials Horizons. This Board is unique in that it is made up of early career researchers, such as PhD students and postdocs, who are fundamental in the future development of the materials field.

Since then, the members of the Community Board have provided invaluable feedback and advice to the Editorial Office.

Based on its success so far, we are now looking to expand the Community Board.

Are you interested in helping shape a journal publishing cutting-edge research of exceptional significance? Do you have ideas on how high impact journals can engage and support early career researchers? If so, please get in touch!

Simply ask your Principal Investigator to submit your nomination with the information outlined in the documents below to materialshorizons-rsc@rsc.org.

If you have any questions at all, please contact materialshorizons-rsc@rsc.org. We look forward to hearing from you!

Materials Horizons Community Board – Call for Nominations



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LANE 2016, 9th International Conference on Photonic Technologies

Materials Horizons will be supporting LANE 2016, 9th International Conference on Photonic Technologies, in Fürth, Germany, during 19th-22nd September 2016. We will be providing two Best Presentation Prizes comprising a certificate and years online subscription to Materials Horizons.

LANE 2016 offers a platform for international exchange of ideas, opinions, perspectives, results and solutions concerning photonic technologies.

Especially recent developments in the field of

Laser Material Processing

  • Beam sources & components
  • Laser beam welding, brazing & soldering
  • Laser beam cutting & drilling
  • Surface treatment & forming
  • Laser assisted processes

including

  • Experimental results
  • Simulation & modeling
  • Sensing & control

are of interest. In order to open up the capability of light, it is essential to look ahead. Against this background LANE 2016 wants to enhance the

Emerging Technologies

  • Additive manufacturing
  • Precision processing with ultrashort laser pulses
  • Fast laser beam manipulation

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