Drawing inspiration from nature, researchers are making polymers with ever-more precise compositions on demand. Using multistep synthesis tools pulled from biology, biochemistry and organic synthesis, a group is reporting that it is developing ultra-high precision synthetic polymers with precisely controlled chain lengths and monomer sequences. The resulting information-containing macromolecules can be deployed for data storage,…
Terminator-Like Liquid Metal Moves and Stretches in 3D Space
In the blockbuster Terminator movie franchise, an evil robot morphs into different human forms and objects and oozes through narrow openings, thanks to its “liquid-metal” composition. Although current robots don’t have these capabilities, the technology is getting closer with the development of new liquid metals that can be manipulated in 3D space with magnets. Reported in ACS Applied…
Now You See Heat, Now You Don’t
Hiding an object from heat-sensing cameras could be useful for military and technology applications as well as for research. Efforts to develop such a method have been underway for decades with varying degrees of success. Now, researchers report in ACS Nano that they have fabricated an inexpensive, easy-to-produce film that makes objects completely invisible to infrared detectors.…
Upcycling Plastic Bags Into Battery Parts
Plastic bag pollution has become a huge environmental problem, prompting some cities and countries to heavily tax or ban the sacks. But what if used plastic bags could be made into higher-value products? Now, researchers have reported a new method to convert plastic bags into carbon chips that could be used as anodes for lithium-ion…
Water Bottles, Other Recycled 3D Printing Materials Could Avoid Military Supply Snags
Soldiers on the battlefield or at remote bases often have to wait weeks for vital replacement parts. Now scientists report they have found a way to fabricate many of these parts within hours under combat conditions using water bottles, cardboard and other recyclable materials found on base as starting materials for 3D printing. They say…
Water Bottles, Other Recycled 3-D Printing Materials Could Avoid Military Supply Snags
Soldiers on the battlefield or at remote bases often have to wait weeks for vital replacement parts. Now scientists report they have found a way to fabricate many of these parts within hours under combat conditions using water bottles, cardboard and other recyclable materials found on base as starting materials for 3-D printing. They say…
Fast, Cheap And Colorful 3D Printing
People are exploring the use of 3D printing for wide-ranging applications, including manufacturing, medical devices, fashion and even food. But one of the most efficient forms of 3D printing suffers from a major drawback: It can only print objects that are gray or black in color. Now, researchers have tweaked the method so it can…
Improving 3-D Printing Of Plastic Parts
Robots that can build homes, marathoners’ running shoes and NASA’s upcoming spacecraft all have one thing in common: 3-D printed parts. But as enthusiasm for 3-D printing continues to grow and expand across markets, the objects printed by the process can have weaknesses. Now, one group reports in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces that using a simple…
New 4-D Printer Could Reshape The World We Live In
From moon landings to mobile phones, many of the farfetched visions of science fiction have transformed into reality. In the latest example of this trend, scientists report that they have developed a powerful printer that could streamline the creation of self-assembling structures that can change shape after being exposed to heat and other stimuli. They…
Pearly Material for Bendable Heating Elements
The iridescent shimmer of a string of pearls may one day be more than pretty adornment. Scientists now report in ACS Applied Nano Materials a hybrid material consisting of imitation pearl combined with silver nanowires that works as a heater, with the added benefit of high flexibility, suggesting a potential role in wearable devices. Nacre,…
Improving Cyber Security In Harsh Environments
Many people don’t worry about the security of their personal information until it’s too late. And protecting data is even more important for military personnel, whose lives could be in danger if some types of information were to get into the wrong hands. Now, one group reports in ACS Nano a new way to protect data, especially…
Is 3-D printing Living Up To The Hype?
The growth in 3-D printing is allowing manufacturers to reduce production time and save money. Metal fabrication shops, industrial firms and engineers are also capitalizing on the technology. But the predicted mass production of 3-D printed products for consumers has not yet come to pass. An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of…
Self-Folding Electronics Could Enable Advanced Robotics
As demand grows for more versatile, advanced robotics and other technologies, the need for components that can enable these applications also increases. Producing such components en masse has been a major challenge. But now, in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, researchers report that they have developed a way to help meet this need by printing electronics…
What the World’s Tiniest ‘Monster ‘Truck’ Reveals
The world’s shortest race by distance — a fraction of the width of a human hair — was run on gold and silver tracks, and took a whopping 30 hours. Given that the vehicles were invisible to the naked eye, your typical racing fan might have missed it. But the April “nanorace” was a huge…
Energized Fabrics Could Keep Soldiers Warm and Battle-Ready in Frigid Climates
Soldiering in arctic conditions is tough. Protective clothing can be heavy and can cause overheating and sweating upon exertion. And hands and feet can grow numb despite wearing such gear. To keep military personnel more comfortable and battle-ready in bitterly cold climes, scientists are now conducting research aimed at creating high-tech fabrics that heat up…
Turning Car Plastics into Foams with Coconut Oil
End-of-life vehicles, with their plastic, metal and rubber components, are responsible for millions of tons of waste around the world each year. Now, one team reports in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering that the plastic components in these vehicles can be recycled with coconut oil and re-used as foams for the construction, packaging and automotive…
Building ‘OLEDs’ from the Ground Up for Better Electronics
From smartphones to TVs and laptops, light emitting diode (LED) displays are ubiquitous. OLEDs (where the O denotes they are organic, or carbon-based) are among the most energy efficient of these devices, but they generally have higher production costs due to the laborious fabrication processes needed to arrange them properly. Today in ACS Central Science,…
Stretchable Hologram Can Switch Between Multiple Images
The possibility of sending and receiving holographic messages has long tantalized sci-fi fans. Although we’re not there yet, scientists have now created holograms that can change from one image to another as the materials used to generate them are stretched. The study detailing how they did it appears in ACS’ journal Nano Letters. To make their…
Synthetic Two-Sided Gecko’s Foot Could Enable Underwater Robotics
Geckos are well known for effortlessly scrambling up walls and upside down across ceilings. Even in slippery rain forests, the lizards maintain their grip. Now scientists have created a double-sided adhesive that copies this reversible ability to stick and unstick to surfaces even in wet conditions. They say their development, reported in ACS’ Journal of Physical…
Degradable Electronic Components Created from Corn Starch
As consumers upgrade their gadgets at an increasing pace, the amount of electronic waste we generate continues to mount. To help combat this environmental problem, researchers have modified a degradable bioplastic derived from corn starch or other natural sources for use in more eco-friendly electronic components. They report their development in ACS’ journal Industrial & Engineering…
Art of Paper-Cutting Inspires Self-Charging Paper Device
Despite the many advances in portable electronic devices, one thing remains constant: the need to plug them into a wall socket to recharge. Now researchers, reporting in the journal ACS Nano, have developed a light-weight, paper-based device inspired by the Chinese and Japanese arts of paper-cutting that can harvest and store energy from body movements. Portable…
Looking for Life in All the Right Places — With The Right Tool
Researchers have invented a range of instruments from giant telescopes to rovers to search for life in outer space, but so far, these efforts have yielded no definitive evidence that it exists beyond Earth. Now scientists have developed a new tool that can look for signs of life with 10,000 times more sensitivity than instruments…
Reducing Tire Waste by Using Completely Degradable, Synthetic Rubber
Scrap tires have been on environmentalists’ blacklist for decades. They pile up in landfills, have fed enormous toxic fires, harbor pests and get burned for fuel. Scientists trying to rid us of this scourge have developed a new way to make synthetic rubber. And once this material is discarded, it can be easily degraded back…
Stretchy Supercapacitors Power Wearable Electronics
A future of soft robots that wash your dishes or smart T-shirts that power your cell phone may depend on the development of stretchy power sources. But traditional batteries are thick and rigid — not ideal properties for materials that would be used in tiny malleable devices. In a step toward wearable electronics, a team…
Reducing Gas Flares, Pollution From Oil Production
Last year, dozens of major oil companies and oil-producing nations agreed to end the routine flaring of natural gas from wells by 2030. This burning off of uncaptured methane in addition to simply letting it escape into the air — a process called venting — releases pollutants and the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane…