November 2011 – Soft Matter Blog

Archive for November, 2011

Soft Matter issue 24 out now!

30 Nov 2011

The latest issue of Soft Matter is now online. You can read the full issue here:

The outside front cover features an article on Microscopic structure influencing macroscopic splash at high Weber number by Peichun Tsai, Maurice H. W. Hendrix, Remko R. M. Dijkstra, Lingling Shui and Detlef Lohse

Structural forces in soft matter systems: unique flocculation pathways between deformable droplets is the article highlighted on the inside front cover by Rico F. Tabor, Hannah Lockie, Derek Y. C. Chan, Franz Grieser, Isabelle Grillo, Kevin J. Mutch and Raymond R. Dagastine.

Issue 24 contains the following Highlight and Review articles:

Fancy submitting an article to Soft Matter? Then why not submit to us today!

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Review: Shear-thinning hydrogels for biomedical applications

28 Nov 2011

Injectable shear-thinning hydrogel systems are reviewed in this recent paper by Jason Burdick and co-workers. Injectable hydrogels are important for tissue engineering and drug delivery, they can be applied through a syringe and undergo a rapid sol-gel transition at the target site. This review highlights the mechanisms for hydrogel formation to obtain shear-thinning behaviour and subsequent self-healing properties of the gels.

Read for free until January 10:

Shear-thinning hydrogels for biomedical applications
Murat Guvendiren, Hoang D. Lu and Jason A. Burdick
Soft Matter, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1SM06513K

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Soft Matter Poster Prize: 3rd International Congress on Biohydrogels

25 Nov 2011

Sharad Pasale in front on his poster Congratulations to Sharad Pasale for winning a Soft Matter poster prize at the recent 3rd International Congress on Biohydrogels.

Sharad Pasale’s winning poster was titled:

Synthesis of biodegradable and thermoresponsive hydrogel via RAFT polymerization and click chemistry for tissue engineering.

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Soft Matter issue 23 out now!

17 Nov 2011

The latest issue of Soft Matter is now online. You can read the full issue here:

The outside front cover features an article on Reversible emulsification controlled by ionic surfactants and responsive nanoparticles by Jos Zwanikken, Katerina Ioannidou, Daniela Kraft and René van Roij.

Bespoke periodic topography in hard polymer films by infrared radiation-assisted evaporative lithography is the article highlighted on the inside front cover by Argyrios Georgiadis, Alexander F. Routh, Martin W. Murray and Joseph L. Keddie.

Issue 23 contains the following Highlight and Review articles:

Fancy submitting an article to Soft Matter? Then why not submit to us today!

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Soft Matter article on self-folding of polymer sheets is highlighted in New Scientist

15 Nov 2011

The story in New Scientist (Pulse of light creates instant origami) has a short video which nicely shows the polymer sheet folding into 3 dimensional structures.

The paper by Michael Dickey, Jan Genzer and co-workers was also covered by Chemistry World (Shrinky Dink origami powered by heat).

Graphical abstract: Self-folding of polymer sheets using local light absorption

… And finally here’s the original research paper

Self-folding of polymer sheets using local light absorption
Y Liu, J K Boyles, J Genzer and M Dickey
Soft Matter, 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c1sm06564e

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Soft Matter article featured in Chemistry World: Shrinky Dink origami powered by heat

14 Nov 2011

US scientists have devised a method of generating 3D structures from flat surfaces by printing patterns onto a polymeric children’s toy and letting an IR heat lamp do the rest.

Polymers that are responsive to an applied stimulus have attracted interest in a variety of areas, and polymers that self-fold have potential applications in packaging, mechanical actuation, sensors and drug delivery.

Shape memory polymers, which return to a pre-programmed form upon a threshold temperature or other stimulus, suffer from limited movement and require complex syntheses, as the parts of the polymer that respond to the synthesis must be chemically different to the panels that move. This new technique, however, uses conventional black printer ink to print a hinge onto a cheap and readily available pre-stressed polystyrene polymer. Interested to know more? Read the full article in Chemistry World here…

Shrinky Dink folding in light

(i) A Shrinky Dink; (ii) unidirectional folding via absorption of light by black ink patterned on one side of the Shrinky Dink; (iii) bidirectional folding due to ink on both sides of the Shrinky Dink. Owing to effective light absorption by the ink, the polymer under the black ink heats up faster than the rest of the polymer

Self-folding of polymer sheets using local light absorption
Y Liu, J K Boyles, J Genzer and M Dickey
Soft Matter, 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c1sm06564e

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Announcing a 2012 Themed Issue on “Polyelectrolytes in Soft Matter and Biology”

10 Nov 2011

Soft Matter is publishing a themed issue on Polyelectrolytes in Soft Matter and Biology next year. The Guest Editors of the issue are Professor Michael Rubinstein (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, USA) and Professor Garegin Papoian (University of Maryland, USA).

Many important synthetic and biological macromolecules, such as DNA, are polyelectrolytes. Both intra- and intermolecular electrostatic interactions, mediated by mobile ions and water, play crucial role in these systems, influencing the molecule’s structure, physical properties and function. Given the importance and ubiquity of polyelectrolytes both in synthetic and biological systems, a growing number of experimental and theoretical investigations address various aspects of their physical properties. Since research on polyelectrolytes is interdisciplinary, at the interface of polymer and biological physics, a themed issue on this topic will bring into a single venue works of researchers from many fields of science, providing a snapshot of the current state-of-the-art in the field. An example of unifying open problems in polymer physics is complexation of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes encountered in macromolecular self-assembly into micelles mediated by electrostatic forces, DNA and RNA packing in viral capsids, as well as is in DNA compaction into chromatin ﬁber.

The deadline for the receipt of manuscripts for this themed issue is 15 March 2012.

Interested in submitting an article? Contact the Editorial Office today by e-mailing softmatter-rsc@rsc.org.

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Hot Highlight on Fluid-Based Adhesion in Insects

08 Nov 2011

Read for free until Dec 9 >>

Insects use hairy or smooth adhesive pads to stick to almost all known surfaces. Although studied for more than 300 years, the principles of insect adhesion are still not fully understood. This ‘Hot Highlight article’ summarizes recent advances in the understanding of fluid-based insect adhesion and highlights the large number of unresolved questions, regarding the mechanism of fluid secretion, the thickness of the mediating fluid layer, and the influence of surface properties on insect adhesive forces.

Fluid-based adhesion in insects – principles and challenges
Jan-Henning Dirks and Walter Federle
Soft Matter, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1SM06269G

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Hot Article: Nanoparticles induce liquid crystalline polymorphism

07 Nov 2011

Read for free until Dec 5>>

Gold nanoparticles (NPs) grafted with promesogenic ligands show temperature induced liquid crystalline polymorphism with unique phase sequence: from smectic to columnar structure. Most studied liquid crystals made of NPs show only simple mesomorphism but authors in this Hot Article have shown that NPs can also give complex, temperature tuneable structures.

Temperature-controlled liquid crystalline polymorphism of gold nanoparticles
Michal M. Wojcik, Monika Gora, Jozef Mieczkowski, Jerzy Romiszewski, Ewa Gorecka and Damian Pociecha
Soft Matter, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1SM06436C

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Soft Matter Blog

Archive for November, 2011

Soft Matter issue 24 out now!

Top Ten most-read Soft Matter articles in October

Review: Shear-thinning hydrogels for biomedical applications

Soft Matter Poster Prize: 3rd International Congress on Biohydrogels

Soft Matter issue 23 out now!

Soft Matter article on self-folding of polymer sheets is highlighted in New Scientist

Soft Matter article featured in Chemistry World: Shrinky Dink origami powered by heat

Announcing a 2012 Themed Issue on “Polyelectrolytes in Soft Matter and Biology”

Hot Highlight on Fluid-Based Adhesion in Insects

Hot Article: Nanoparticles induce liquid crystalline polymorphism

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