Materials Horizons Blog

Chemists unravel their carbon ramen

13 Apr 2016

Written by Liisa Niitsoo for Chemistry World

The new material's morphology resembles graphene but contains a higher number of heteroatoms such as nitrogen and sulfur © Yoobin Chun

By simply heating sugar and salt, researchers in Germany have made a new, and seemingly flat, form of carbon.¹ The material shows extraordinary potential for energy storage and electrocatalysis applications.

Nina Fechler from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and colleagues isolated the puzzling sheet-like material with a constant thickness a few years ago. Unexpectedly the sheets also had a very high surface area (up to 3200m²/g), exceeding a hypothetical single layer graphene material (around 2600m²/g), and showed microporosity at the same time. In addition, it contained many more heteroatoms than could possibly be accommodated within graphene planes, as well as electrochemical characteristics ahead of most ordinary graphene materials.²

The full article can be read in Chemistry World.

The original Materials Horizons article can be read below and is open access:

Synthesis of novel 2-d carbon materials: sp2 carbon nanoribbon packing to form well-defined nanosheets
Xiaofeng Liu, Nina Fechler, Markus Antonietti,* Marc Georg Willinger and Robert Schlögl
Mater. Horiz., 2016, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C5MH00274E

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Past and present Focus articles free to access!

26 Feb 2016

By Aliya Anwar.

Materials Horizons Focus articles are now free to access and will include past as well as current articles which have been compiled below. We hope that you enjoy reading them and remember to check back as this will be regularly updated.

Principles and Implementations of Electrolysis Systems for Water Splitting
Chengxiang Xiang, Kimberly M Papadantonakis and Nathan Lewis
Mater. Horiz., 2016, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C6MH00016A, Focus

Fermi level, work function and vacuum level
Antoine Kahn
Mater. Horiz., 2016, 3, 7-10
DOI: 10.1039/C5MH00160A, Focus

A gentle introduction to the noble art of flow chemistry
James H. Bannock, Siva H. Krishnadasan, Martin Heeney and John C. de Mello
Mater. Horiz., 2014, 1, 373-378
DOI: 10.1039/C4MH00054D, Focus

Mind the gap!
Jean-Luc Bredas
Mater. Horiz., 2014, 1, 17-19
DOI: 10.1039/C3MH00098B, Focus

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Materials Horizons supports Graphene2016 conference

25 Feb 2016

By Aliya Anwar.

The Graphene2016 conference will be taking place in Genoa, Italy from the 19^th– 22^ndApril 2016 will cover the whole value chain of “Graphene and 2D Materials Innovation” from most recent scientific discoveries to breakthroughs in large scale material production and integration towards the development of innovative and competitive commercial applications.

The Graphene Conference is a consolidated event and considered the largest European event in Graphene and 2D Materials. 2016 will stand as a cornerstone event during which all communities will be able to share a common vision of the present and future of 2D materials-based science and technologies.

The deadline for the early bird fee at Graphene2016 is February 26, 2016 and can save you €100.

The number of abstracts (poster and oral) submitted in this edition has clearly exceeded the past editions (around 450 requests).

Please note the upcoming deadlines:

Early Bird Registration Fee February 26^th, 2016

Post-deadline poster submission March 18^th, 2016

There will be a total of 71 keynote & invited speakers with 102 oral contributions and 341 poster contributions along with talks, workshops and an exhibition.

Further details can be found on the website: www.grapheneconf.com

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Ionic liquids bestow stretch on biomedical sensors

24 Feb 2016

By Aliya Anwar.

Written by Fiona Gillespie for Chemistry World

Researchers based in Australia have developed a soft and stretchable device that recognises artery pulses or body movements, and relays the information to a smartphone.

The demand for wearable devices has surged in recent years with gadgets to monitor body movements, heart rate and sweat metabolites, among other things. However, most of the devices currently available are not truly wearable because they do not sit flush with the skin so do not deform as the body moves.

Interested? The full article can be read at Chemistry World.

An ammeter indicates changes in the electric current running through the sensor as it is stretched © Royal Society of Chemistry

The original article is free to access until the 25^thMarch 2016 and can be read below:

Volume-invariant ionic liquid microbands as highly durable wearable biomedical sensors
Yan Wang, Shu Gong, Stephen Jia Wang, George P. Simon and Wenlong Cheng*
Mater. Horiz., 2016, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C5MH00284B

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Poster prize winner at the Active and Adaptive Materials Conference

09 Nov 2015

By Aliya Anwar.

Dr. Rein V. Ulijn (left) with Materials Horizons poster prize winner Noemie-Manuelle centre

Materials Horizons congratulates Noemie-Manuelle Dorval Courchesne for her poster prize award at the Active and Adaptive Materials Conference which took place at the City University of New York, New York from the 22^nd – 23rd October 2015.

The conference focused on a number of different research fields in nano-molecular chemistry and featured with International speakers: Dr. Lee Cronin of the University of Glasgow, Dr. David G. Lynn of Emory University, Dr. Jan van Esch from Delft University of Technology and Dr. Samuel I. Stupp amongst others. A poster session was held on the ground floor with one of the prizes being awarded from Materials Horizons.

Further information about the conference can be found here.

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Up close and personal with the Materials Horizons Community Board

03 Nov 2015

By Abigail Hallowes.

Biographies of our newest board members

Sarit Agasti	Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, India
	Sarit received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Calcutta, in 2003 and then his Master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 2005. Sarit went on to receive his PhD from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst under the supervision of Professor Vincent M. Rotello. Since his PhD, he has been a Postdoctoral Fellow at both the Massachusetts General hospital-Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute at Harvard University working with Professor Ralph Weissleder and Professor Peng Yin, respectively. Sarit has now returned to India and is working as a Faculty fellow at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. His lab is interested in engineering small molecules and programmable molecular materials to address challenges in bioimaging, specifically in super-resolution microscopy. Some of his previously published work in Royal Society of Chemistry journals is below. A photoactivatable drug–caged fluorophore conjugate allows direct quantification of intracellular drug transport Sarit S. Agasti, Ashley M. Laughney, Rainer H. Kohler and Ralph Weissleder Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 11050-11052, DOI: 10.1039/C3CC46089D Direct photopatterning of light-activated gold nanoparticles Chandramouleeswaran Subramani, Xi Yu, Sarit. S. Agasti, Bradley Duncan, Serkan Eymur, Murat Tonga and Vincent M. Rotello J. Mater. Chem., 2011,21, 14156-14158, DOI: 10.1039/C1JM11035G

Athina Anastasaki	Warwick University, UK
	Athina received her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She then undertook a PhD in Polymer Chemistry at the University of Warwick under the supervision of Professor David Haddleton. Athina is currently a Monash-Warwick Alliance Research Fellow in the research groups of Professor David Haddleton and Professor Thomas Davis, focusing on controlled living radical polymerization methods, mechanistic studies, photochemistry and sequence-controlled polymers. Some of her recently published work in Royal Society of Chemistry journals is below. Photo-induced living radical polymerization of acrylates utilizing a discrete copper(II)–formate complex Athina Anastasaki, Vasiliki Nikolaou, Francesca Brandford-Adams, Gabit Nurumbetov, Qiang Zhang, Guy J. Clarkson, David J. Fox, Paul Wilson, Kristian Kempe and David M. Haddleton Chem. Commun., 2015,51, 5626-5629, DOI: 10.1039/C4CC09916H Photoinduced sequence-control via one pot living radical polymerization of acrylates Athina Anastasaki, Vasiliki Nikolaou, George S. Pappas, Qiang Zhang, Chaoying Wan, Paul Wilson, Thomas P. Davis, Michael R. Whittaker and David M. Haddleton Chem. Sci., 2014,5, 3536-3542, DOI: 10.1039/C4SC01374C
Read more »

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Pressure brings liquid marbles to a sticky end

29 Oct 2015

By Aliya Anwar.

Written by Emma Stephen for Chemistry World

Scientists in Japan have developed an adhesive that starts out as powder but transforms into glue for hard-to-reach places when pressed. This represents a promising application for liquid marble technology.

Liquid marbles are millimetre-sized liquid droplets that when coated in a hydrophobic powder, lose their wetness. Pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) are viscoelastic polymers that instantly stick to solid surfaces through van der Waals forces. They are used in tapes, labels, post-it notes, spray droplets and adhesives, but PSAs’ sticky nature can make them difficult to handle. Combining these two technologies, Syuji Fujii and his team at the Osaka Institute of Technology in Japan and co-workers at the Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany have developed liquid marbles made up of soft poly(n-butyl acrylate) latex polymer particles that form a tacky polymer core coated with a hard hydrophobic calcium carbonate nanoparticle shell. Initially, the marbles show no adhesive properties but by applying shear stress – light contact pressure between finger and thumb for 1–30 seconds – the powder’s nanoparticle layers rupture, allowing the soft inner polymer to ooze out, endowing the material with adhesive properties.

Interested? The full story can be read in Chemistry World.

The original article can be read below:

Pressure-sensitive adhesive powder
S Fujii et al, Mater. Horiz., 2016, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C5MH00203F

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Introducing the Materials Horizons Community Board

09 Oct 2015

By Abigail Hallowes.

Materials Horizons is thrilled to announce that the first researchers have joined our Materials Horizons Community Board. This board is unique in that it is made up of early career researchers, such as PhD students and postdocs, that are fundamental in the future development of the materials field.

This board will help build relationships with the young researcher community, providing the editorial office with not only essential feedback and advice on the perception of the journal in their community but also education-focused initiatives that will benefit the materials community as a whole.

These engaged and enthusiastic researchers have been nominated by the Materials Horizons and Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B & C Editorial and Advisory Board. We received several excellent nominations and the successful candidates are:

Sarit Agasti – Jawarhal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research, India
Athina Anastasaki – Warwick University, UK
Robert Chapman – Imperial College London, UK
Chaohua Cui – Soochow University, China
Rebecca Gieseking – Northwestern University, USA
Peter Korevaar – Harvard University, USA
John Labram – University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
Tian-Yi Ma – University of Adelaide, Australia
Jaime Martín Pérez – Imperial College London, UK
Troy Townsend – St Mary’s College of Maryland, USA
Daiki Umeyama – Stanford University, USA
Mengye Wang – Xiamen University, China

Please join us in congratulating the new members of the Materials Horizons Community Board.

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Prize winners at 6th EuChemS conference on Nitrogen Ligands

08 Oct 2015

By Aliya Anwar.

Materials Horizons would like to congratulate the prize winners from the 6^thEuChemS conference on Nitrogen Ligands which took place in Beaune, France from the 13^th-17^thSeptember. A number of Royal Society of Chemistry journal prizes – including Materials Horizons – were awarded to the following attendees for their work:

MedChemComm: Sophie Laine (CNRS, France)
Chemical Science: Neeladri Das (Patna University, India)
Dalton Transactions: Nicole Kindermann (Goettingen, Germany), Florian Schendzielorz (Goettingen, Germany) & Charles Lochenie (Bayreuth, Germany)
Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers: Amandine Conte-Daban (LCC Toulouse, France) & Yasin Kuzu (Dortmund, Germany)
Materials Horizons: Maxim A. Faraonov (Chernogolovka, Russia)

Previous conferences have been held in Alghero (1992), Como (1996), Camerino (2004), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (2008) and Granada (2011) with the intention of attracting scientists with an interest in the field of metal-nitrogen ligand chemistry from Europe, abroad and in particular, young scientists.

Further information about the conference can be found on the website.

Prize winners at 6th EuChemS conference

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Active and Adaptive Materials

08 Sep 2015

By Sarah Thirkell, Development Editor.

October 22nd and 23rd 2015, ASRC

This two-day symposium will focus on active and adaptive nanomaterials on October 22nd and 23rd, 2015 at CUNY’s Advanced Science Research Center. In addition to presentations from Internationally-recognized leaders in nano-molecular chemistry, there will be contributed talks, tours of the facility and a poster session in the ground floor lobby.

Confirmed Speakers:

Samuel I. Stupp – Northwestern University
Joanna Aizenberg – Harvard University
Lee Cronin – University of Glasgow
Jan van Esch – Delft University of Technology
David G. Lynn – Emory University
Elisa Riedo – CUNY Advanced Science Research Center & The City College of New York
Nathan Gianneschi – UC San Diego
Adam Braunschweig – University of Miami

For more details and to register please visit nanoscienceny.com or click here

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Materials Horizons Blog

Chemists unravel their carbon ramen

Past and present Focus articles free to access!

Materials Horizons supports Graphene2016 conference

Ionic liquids bestow stretch on biomedical sensors

Poster prize winner at the Active and Adaptive Materials Conference

Up close and personal with the Materials Horizons Community Board

Pressure brings liquid marbles to a sticky end

Introducing the Materials Horizons Community Board

Prize winners at 6th EuChemS conference on Nitrogen Ligands

Active and Adaptive Materials

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