which are coated with a charged polymer layer that helps them adhere to the target microbes,
Recently, researchers at Nanjing University in China created a material from polyethylene membranes that does exactly that.
minimalist realization of their original density-near-zero idea, consisting of 0. 125 mm-thick polyethylene membranes perforated with 9-millimeter-radius holes in a square grid inside of a metal
Results of the research have applications in textile, polymer, and ceramic industries and in other applicable surfaces.
demonstrated that the conducting elastomers can be fabricated in diameters ranging from the very small--about 150 microns,
However, the heterogeneous distribution of nanoparticles in the structure of the membrane polymer can be considered as an important problem.
The surface of nanoparticles was coated with polystyrene sulfonate as a new approach to improve the homogenous distribution of nanoparticles in polymer.
This method significantly affects the distribution of nanoparticles in the membrane polymer and it modifies the structure and the separation performance.
"But it's been a mostly polymer composite with graphene making up less than 20 percent of the volume."
the graphene flakes are mixed with a biocompatible elastomer and quickly evaporating solvents.""It's a liquid ink,
The presence of the other solvents and the interaction with the specific polymer binder chosen also has a significant contribution to its resulting flexibility and properties.
Shah said the biocompatible elastomer and graphene's electrical conductivity most likely contributed to the scaffold's biological success."Cells conduct electricity inherently--especially neurons,
and Conductive Elastomers"),could help robot developers make their machines more human. Nae-Eung Lee and colleagues note that one way to make interactions between people
The researchers created a stretchable and transparent sensor by layering a carbon nanotube film on two different kinds of electrically conductive elastomers.
Scientists used revolutionary nanotechnology to work on small polymer layers inside implants which measure between 1 and 100 nanometers.
the risk of deep bone infection is reduced substantially. ur research shows that applying small quantities of antibiotic to a surface between the polymer layers
they combine the physical solid-state properties of e g. ceramics or semiconductors with classic polymer-processing technology.
The modified nanoparticles and additives combine with a polymer matrix (an epoxy resin, an acrylate, a polyimide for example) or a hybrid matrix (organic-inorganic) to produce a coatable Nanomer composite system. he modular principle makes it possible to achieve a number of properties at one
and silicone elastomer, support the range of motions performed by biological fingers. The glove's control system is portable and lightweight
Conductive polymer solutions and a colloidal Si QD solution were deposited on the glass substrate. The current and optical power densities of the LED are, respectively,
we noticed that it was almost invisible and very flexible like a polymer and could literally be sucked into a glass needle or pipette.
"Whether it's a silicon probe or flexible polymers...they cause inflammation in the tissue that requires periodically changing the position or the stimulation.
researchers lay out a mesh of nanowires sandwiched in layers of organic polymer. The first layer is dissolved then, leaving the flexible mesh,
his colleague Dr. Ali Dhinojwala, Morton Professor of Polymer Science; and Ming Xiao, graduate student, recently published a paper in a joint project with the University of California,
and Yeon Sik Jung of the Department of Materials science and engineering at KAIST has developed the first flexible PRAM enabled by self-assembled block copolymer (BCP) silica nanostructures with an ultralow current operation (below one quarter
BCP is the mixture of two different polymer materials, which can easily create self-ordered arrays of sub-20 nm features through simple spin-coating and plasma treatments.
Their work was published in the March issue of ACS Nano("Flexible One Diode-One Phase change Memory Array Enabled by Block copolymer Self-Assembly".
"In addition, he wrote a review paper regarding the nanotechnology-based electronic devices in the June online issue of Advanced Materials entitled"Performance Enhancement of Electronic and Energy Devices via Block copolymer Self-Assembly
made from electroactive dielectric elastomer, a soft, compliant smart material, can effectively copy the action of biological chromatophores.
"The researchers investigated making bio-inspired artificial skin embedded with artificial chromatophores using thin sheets (five to ten millimetre) of dielectric elastomer-a soft,
The researchers begin by creating a three-dimensional polymer template on a silicon substrate. The template is shaped like a series of identical
and an elastic polymer is applied to the zinc oxide. The researchers then flip the whole thing over
Because both zinc oxide and the polymer are clear, the structure is transparent. And it is stretchable
"The scientists devised a new arrangement of solar cell ingredients, with bundles of polymer donors (green rods) and neatly organized fullerene acceptors (purple, tan.
The two components that make the UCLA-developed system work are a polymer donor and a nanoscale fullerene acceptor.
The polymer donor absorbs sunlight and passes electrons to the fullerene acceptor; the process generates electrical energy.
The plastic materials, called organic photovoltaics, are organized typically like a plate of cooked pasta a disorganized mass of long, skinny polymer spaghetti with random fullerene meatballs.
because the electrons sometimes hop back to the polymer spaghetti and are lost. The UCLA technology arranges the elements more neatly like small bundles of uncooked spaghetti with precisely placed meatballs.
The fullerenes inside the structure take electrons from the polymers and toss them to the outside fullerene
which can effectively keep the electrons away from the polymer for weeks. When the charges never come back together,
Germany, report in the journal Angewandte Chemie("Hierarchical Nacre Mimetics with Synergistic Mechanical Properties by Control of Molecular Interactions in Self-Healing Polymers")that the introduction of tailored hydrogen bonds in the polymer
Focusing on the laminating polymer phase, they designed a low-molecular-weight polymer with low glass-transition temperature,
which was equipped with varying degrees of a supramolecular binding motif. Combined with advanced synthetic nanoclay platelets,
Key to the success are the supramolecular bonds within the soft polymer matrix. The scientists chose a ureidopyrimidinone (Upy) entity as the bonding motif that,
a transparent elastomer that can be a liquid or a soft, rubbery solid. Kim, whose research focus is micro-electromechanical systems,
The new technique relies on polymer self-assembly, where molecules are designed to spontaneously assemble into desired structures.
an intensely hot laser swept across the sample to transform disordered polymer blocks into precise arrangements in just seconds."
To further exploit the power and precision of LZA, the researchers applied a heat-sensitive elastic coating on top of the unassembled polymer film.
the scientists converted the polymer base into other materials. One method involved taking the nano-cylinder layer
These molecules then glom onto the self-assembled polymer, converting it into a metallic mesh.
where a vaporized material infiltrates the polymer nano-cylinders and transforms them into functional nanowires.
allowing it to drive polymer self-assembly even on top of complex underlying layers. This versatility enables the use of a wide variety of materials in different nanoscale configurations."
and cardiac hypertrophy through biodegradable polymer-encapsulated delivery of glycosphingolipid inhibitor), "builds on recent research by the same team that previously identified a fat-and-sugar molecule called GSL as the chief culprit behind a range of biological glitches that affect the body's ability to properly use, transport
as well as semiconductive and conductive polymers to tailor the behavior of natural cotton fibers. The layers were so thin that the flexibility of the cotton fibers is preserved always
which are coated with a charged polymer layer that helps them adhere to the target microbes,
such as rubber, detergents, and polymers.""This is a proof-of-concept study that shows we have the knowledge
when scientists discovered that it could be used to make polycarbonate plastic--a hard, durable, and transparent material perfect for everything from water bottles to medical devices.
Brandl had synthesized previously polymers that could be cleaved apart by exposure to UV LIGHT. But he and Bertrand came to question their suitability for drug delivery,
A trap for ater-fearingpollution The researchers synthesized polymers from polyethylene glycol, a widely used compound found in laxatives, toothpaste,
Nanoparticles made from these polymers have a hydrophobic core and a hydrophilic shell. Due to molecular-scale forces
and the polymers are biodegradable, minimizing the risks of leaving toxic secondary products to persist in,
from environmental remediation to medical analysis. The polymers are synthesized at room temperature, and don need to be prepared specially to target specific compounds;
The research, published in the academic journal Advanced Materials("Discovery of a Novel Polymer for Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Expansion and Multilineage Differentiation"),could forge the way for the creation of'stem cell
iscovery of a Novel Polymer for Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Expansion and Multilineage Differentiation was led by Morgan Alexander,
and his team have been searching for polymers on which human pluripotent stem cells can be grown
graphene, a conductive polymer and carbon nanotubes, which are atom-thick latticelike networks of carbon formed into cylinders.
The graphene in liquid form was mixed with the conductive polymer and reduced to solid and the carbon nanotubes carefully inserted between the graphene layers to form a self-assembled flat-packed,
#Smart hydrogel coating creates'stick-slip'control of capillary action Coating the inside of glass microtubes with a polymer hydrogel material dramatically alters the way capillary forces draw water into the tiny structures,
a so-called"smart"polymer (PNIPAM), everything changes. Water entering a tube coated on the inside with a dry hydrogel film must first wet the film
while the polymer layer locally deforms. The meniscus then rapidly slides for a short distance before the process repeats.
After using high-resolution optical visualization to study the meniscus propagation while the polymer swelled, the researchers realized they could put this previously-unknown behavior to good use.
or cooling the polymer inside a microfluidic chamber, you can either speed up the filling process
That would allow precise control of fluid flow on demand using external stimuli to change polymer film behavior."
They also want to explore other"smart"polymers which change the flow rate in response to different stimuli,
dynamically evolving polymer interfaces in which the system creates an energy barrier to further motion through elasto-capillary deformation,
"This insight has implications for optimal design of microfluidic and lab-on-a-chip devices based on stimuli-responsive smart polymers
#Making polymer nanostructures from a greenhouse gas (Nanowerk News) A future where power plants feed their carbon dioxide directly into an adjacent production facility instead of spewing it up a chimney
it is also a good source of carbon for processes like polymer production. In the journal Angewandte Chemie("Construction of Versatile and Functional Nanostructures Derived from CO2-based Polycarbonates),
"American scientists have introduced now a two-step, one-pot conversion of CO2 and epoxides to polycarbonate block copolymers that contain both water-soluble and hydrophobic regions
and can aggregate into nanoparticles or micelles. Versatile nanostructures made from CO2 based polycarbonates. Wiley-VCH) CO2 and epoxides (highly reactive compounds with a three-membered ring made of two carbon atoms
and one oxygen atom) can be polymerized to form polycarbonates in reactions that use special catalysts.
These processes are a more environmentally friendly alternative to conventional production processes and have already been introduced by several companies.
However, because current CO2-based polycarbonates are hydrophobic and have no functional groups, their applications are limited.
In particular, biomedical applications, an area where the use of biocompatible polycarbonates is established well, have been left out.
the researchers have been able to produce amphiphilic polycarbonate block copolymers in which both the hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions are based on CO2.
They were also able to incorporate a variety of functional and charged groups into the polymers.
Because it is very difficult to find building blocks to make hydrophilic polycarbonates, the researchers used a trick:
and continue the polymerization. The AGE-containing polymer grows on both ends of the existing polycarbonate, leading to a triblock copolymer.
The length of the blocks can be controlled precisely. Subsequently a thiolene click reaction can be used to simply click a water-soluble group into place at the double bond.
Some of the amphiphilic polycarbonates made by this method are able to aggregate into particles or micelles in a self-organization process.
However, these devices, often created with nondegradable elastic polymers, bear an inherent risk of intestinal obstruction as a result of accidental fracture or migration.
Now, researchers at MITS Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have created a polymer gel that overcomes this safety concern
Image courtesy of the researchers) This polymer is ph-responsive: It is stable in the acidic stomach environment
and folding of devices into easily ingestible capsules meaning this polymer can be used to create safe devices designed for extremely prolonged residence in the stomach.
-responsive supramolecular polymer gel as an enteric elastomer for use in gastric devices")that describes the application of this new polymer gel for creating gastric devices.
the researchers were interested in developing a polymer with elastic properties. An elastic device can be folded into something small
But the size and shape of existing devices with elastic polymers have been limited by safety concerns,
Because of this, the researchers wanted their polymer to also be enteric or have a mechanism that would enable it to pass through the stomach unaltered before disintegrating in the intestines.
The proposed supramolecular polymer gel network. Structures in yellow are synthesized polymer; structures in purple are linear polymer;
and the red structures are inter-polymer hydrogen bonds. Image courtesy of the researchers) To lower any possible risk of obstruction,
we wanted a material that could dissolve in the intestines, thereby dissociating the device, and safely pass out of the body,
Zhang says. To create this new material, the researchers synthesized an elastic polymer and combined it in solution with a clinically utilized enteric polymer.
Adding hydrochloric acid and centrifuging the solution resulted in a flexible, yet resilient, polymer gel that exhibits both elastic and enteric properties.
The researchers used the gel polycaprolactone (PCL), a nontoxic, degradable polyester, to construct several device prototypes.
They first created ring-shaped devices by using the gel to link arcs of PCL in a circular mold.
These elastic devices had a diameter of 3 centimeters wider than the pylorus before they were folded into orally ingestible capsules.
the polymer gel dissolved, allowing for the safe passage of the small PCL pieces without obstruction.
Improving adherence The combined enteric and elastic properties of this polymer gel could significantly improve the design and adoption of gastric-resident devices.
With further work in adjusting the polymer composition or the design of the system they say that they could tailor devices to release drugs over a specific timeframe of up to weeks or months at a time.
Ribo-T may be able to be tuned to produce unique and functional polymers for exploring ribosome functions
or producing designer therapeutics and perhaps one day even non-biological polymers. No one has developed ever something of this nature. e felt like there was a small very small chance Ribo-T could work,
Just as with nappies, adding water causes the acrylate polymer to swell. After stretching the fluorescent-tagged molecules move further away from each other;
like a polymer, and could literally be sucked into a glass needle or pipette. From there, we simply asked,
or flexible polymers they cause inflammation in the tissue that requires periodically changing the position or the stimulation. ut with our injectable electronics, it as if it not there at all.
researchers lay out a mesh of nanowires sandwiched in layers of organic polymer. The first layer is dissolved then, leaving the flexible mesh,
which it can then relay to human cells. ur artificial neuron is made of conductive polymers
They also scattered polystyrene beads 10 micrometres wide into a Petri dish filled with macrophages a type of white blood cell that ingests foreign material.
For more information, visit www1. lehigh. edu. Harsh Environments No Match for New Fiber Sensor Nanofiber Fabrication Boosts Quantum computing Sulfur Copolymers Boost IR Optics
and Aix-Marseille Universite have built binary data into a strand of synthetic polymer, a minuscule chain of chemical information about 60,000 times thinner than a strand of hair.
A zettabyte of Lutz's synthesized polymer would be about 10 grams. The process of building a polymer is like stringing a pearl necklace.
As its simplest level, digital information is coded into zeros and ones. Researchers assigned certain chemical components called monomers to represent zero and one.
To build the polymer, it just a matter of chemically stringing those monomers together in a specific order,
creating a polymer. Scientists use a mass spectrometer, a device often used to sequence DNA, to read the data later.
The technology is still in its infancy. Lutz says that research has been underway for about two years
and right now researchers can chain just a handful of bytes of information together. But Lutz has high hopes that they will be able to process kilobytes of information in the next five years.
He looks to the recent advances in coding biological strands of DNA in a similar manner as a roadmap for how synthetic polymer technology can progress.
Lutz, working on synthetic polymers, says that his process, while years away from being viable, is suited actually better for the task of storing data than DNA is.
cellulose is a very abundant polymer. 3d printed objects made of cellulose would biodegradable and could even capture carbon dioxide that would
Now researchers have figured out how to fix mycosporines in place by putting them around a polymer scaffoldingor this experiment, they used chitosan,
but plenty of other polymers would work just as well, they note. The material could absorb UV-B rays 192 percent more effectively than most commercial sunscreens,
The glasses are made from impact-resistant polycarbonate with a scratch-resistant lens that also reduces glare to the eyes.
and Steven P. Levitan, Ph d.,John A. Jurenko professor of electrical and computer engineering, integrated models for self-oscillating polymer gels and piezoelectric micro-electric-mechanical systems to devise a new
and used to produce various types of fuels, plastics and elastomers. In this case, the team at Global Bioenergies refined it into a clear, high-grade,'unleadedfuel."
"That clinical use involves the carbon spheres being coated with polymer-a polymer that can gradually release drugs into the system to fight cancer and other diseases.
and vibrational spectroscopic techniques were used to monitor how the polymers gradually released their payload. The researchers ran a series of different experiments to check the temperatures required for the drugs to disperse,
Different polymer coatings were tested too as the team works towards getting these'homemade'carbon nanoparticles ready for clinical use."
"You can coat it with different polymers to give it a different optical response. You can load it with two drugs,
The roofing material is made from stacked polymers on top of a thin silver film, and only absorbs an incredible 3 percent of sunlight.
"Our artificial neuron is made of conductive polymers and it functions like a human neuron, "lead researcher Agneta Richter-Dahlfors from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden said in a press release.
Building on more than two decades of carbon nanotube research in the field the UW-Madison team drew on cutting-edge technologies that use polymers to selectively sort out the semiconducting nanotubes achieving a solution of ultra-high-purity semiconducting carbon nanotubes.
The Rice lab of chemist James Tour discovered last year that firing a laser at an inexpensive polymer burned off other elements and left a film of porous graphene, the much-studied atom-thick
since their work to make vertically aligned supercapacitors with laser-induced graphene on both sides of a polymer sheet.
Then to one end of the silicon nitride film they attach a small droplet of polydimethylsiloxane a type of silicone.
They then press a tungsten probe typically used to measure voltages in experimental chips against the silicone.
"Basically, we print 2d structures onto a pre-strained elastomer substrate with selected bonding points.
The advantage of this technology is its ability to process any type of plastic such as styrofoam polystyrene PET and ABS;
energy can be dissipated into the soft polymer segments. Together, this results in a lightweight material that is considered as the gold standard of natural materials
The scientists started by coating the top surface of a silicon solar cell with a polymer material called a"block copolymer,
#Hierarchically-porous polymers with fast absorption Professor Myungeun Seo and his research team from the Graduate school of Nanoscience
and Technology at KAIST has developed a method to form micropores of less than 2 nanometers within porous polymers where 10 nanometers long mesopores connect like a net.
The advantage of the porous polymers is fast absorption of molecules. Porous polymers with micropores of less than 2 nanometers like a zeolite have a large surface area.
They are used as a means to store hydrogen-based molecules or as a catalytic support that can be used as a surface to convert a material into a desired form.
The research team solved the issue by implementing a self-assembly of block polymers to easily form a netlike nanostructure from mesopores of 10 nanometers.
The team created hierarchically-porous polymers consisting of two different types of pores by using a hypercrosslinking reaction along with the self-assembly method.
The reaction creates micropores within the chain after the polymer chain is confined by a chemical bond.
This porous polymer has micropores that are smaller than 2 nanometers on the walls of mesopores
This is the first case where a porous polymer has both well-defined mesopores and micropores. The research team verified the effect of hierarchically-porous structures on absorption of molecules by confirming that the porous polymer had faster absorption speeds than a polymer consisting only of micropores.
Professor Seo said The study has found a simple way to create different sizes of pores within a polymer.
He expected that the hierarchically-porous polymers can be used as a catalytic support in which fast diffusion of molecules is essential or for molecule collection.
The research was sponsored by National Research Foundation of Korea and published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society y
Instead of making their microscopes more powerful they have discovered a method that enlarges tissue samples by embedding them in a polymer that swells
Their idea was to make specimens easier to image at high resolution by embedding them in an expandable polymer gel made of polyacrylate a very absorbent material commonly found in diapers.
resulting in a more realistic representation than current training tools that use materials such as Styrofoam and latex.
The Johns Hopkins students instead used silicone layers of different densities to more closely represent the physiology of skin,
health workers will be able to make practice incisions through replaceable silicones layers that respond more like human skin."
made from electroactive dielectric elastomer, a soft, compliant smart material, can effectively copy the action of biological chromatophores.
"The researchers investigated making bio-inspired artificial skin embedded with artificial chromatophores using thin sheets (five to ten millimetre) of dielectric elastomer--a soft,
This natural polymer is an ideal"cocoon"that can stabilize compounds such as enzymes antibodies and growth factors while lending itself to many different mechanically robust formats, said Fiorenzo Omenetto, Ph d.,senior author on the paper and associate dean for research and Frank C. Doble Professor
The new technique relies on polymer self-assembly, where molecules are designed to spontaneously assemble into desired structures.
Here, an intensely hot laser swept across the sample to transform disordered polymer blocks into precise arrangements in just seconds."
To further exploit the power and precision of LZA, the researchers applied a heat-sensitive elastic coating on top of the unassembled polymer film.
the scientists converted the polymer base into other materials. One method involved taking the nano-cylinder layer
These molecules then glom onto the self-assembled polymer, converting it into a metallic mesh.
where a vaporized material infiltrates the polymer nano-cylinders and transforms them into functional nanowires.
allowing it to drive polymer self-assembly even on top of complex underlying layers. This versatility enables the use of a wide variety of materials in different nanoscale configurations."
Smart polymers were developed first several decades ago, but multiple functions have not been combined effectively in the same material,
an ionic electro-active polymer (i-EAP), which bends or swells with the application of voltage and are used in soft robotics;
and a two-way shape memory polymer (SMP), which can be programmed to adopt and later recall specific shapes, in a type of muscle memory.
Making IPNS has been tried before with a type of plastic known as a block copolymer, but it has been difficult to fine-tune their exact structure because of difficult synthetic procedures.
In this case the researchers were able to use phase separation combined with ordinary polymer syntheses to achieve the complex structures.
"Our artificial neuron is made of conductive polymers and it functions like a human neuron, "says lead investigator Agneta Richter-Dahlfors, professor of cellular microbiology."
and Steven P. Levitan, Ph d.,John A. Jurenko professor of electrical and computer engineering, integrated models for self-oscillating polymer gels and piezoelectric micro-electric-mechanical systems to devise a new
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