Scientists Invent New Method for Producing Synthetic DNA
Chemically synthesized short DNA sequences are extremely important ingredients with countless uses in research laboratories, hospitals, and in industry, like in the method for identifying…
Polymers
Polymer-Eating Enzymes Make “Biodegradable” Plastics Truly Compostable
Polymer-eating enzymes embedded in plastic allow programmed degradation. Biodegradable plastics have been advertised as one solution to the plastic pollution problem bedeviling the world, but…
New Conductive Polymer Ink Paves Way for Next-Generation Printed Electronics
A High-Conductivity N-Type Polymeric Ink for Printed Electronics Researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, have developed a stable high-conductivity polymer ink. The advance paves the way…
New Type of Battery Created That Can Charge 10x Faster Than Lithium-Ion Batteries
Moreover, it is safer in terms of potential fire hazards and has a lower environmental impact. It is difficult to imagine our daily life without…
Synthetic Mucus Can Mimic the Real Thing – Including Unique Antimicrobial Properties
An MIT team has created polymers that replicate the structure of mucins, the molecules that give mucus its unique antimicrobial properties. More than just a…
Making Cleaner, Greener, Biodegradable Plastics From Waste Fish Parts
Polyurethanes, a type of plastic, are nearly everywhere — in shoes, clothes, refrigerators, and construction materials. But these highly versatile materials can have a major…
An Organic Material for Next Generation Energy-Efficient HVAC Technologies
Texas A&M researchers have enhanced the dehumidification efficiency of a polymer that could help develop more energy-efficient systems with a smaller carbon footprint. On sultry…
Exploring a New Material Class to Help Keep Pace With Moore’s Law
University of Virginia School of Engineering and Northwestern University researchers create a new polymer-based electrical insulation for circuits that could help put more power in…
Solving the Puzzle of Polymers Binding to Ice for Biological Cryopreservation
Cryoprotectants are used to protect biological material during frozen storage They have to be removed when defrosting, and how much to use and how exactly…
Machine Learning for Virtually Unlimited Solar Cell Experiments
Researchers at Osaka University use machine learning to design and virtually test molecules for organic solar cells, which can lead to higher efficiency functional materials…
New Catalyst Promises Lighter, Cheaper, Higher-Capacity, Next-Generation Rechargeable Batteries
Novel Catalyst Material Could Enable Better Lithium-Sulfur Batteries, Power Next-Gen Electronics At the heart of most electronics today are rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). But their…
Luminescent Solar Waveguide Windows Generate Energy From Inside and Out
Rice engineers develop polymer cores that redirect light from any source to solar cells. Rice University engineers have suggested a colorful solution to next-generation energy…
“See Through Soil” to Study Hydrogels’ Hidden Workings Could Help Farmers Deal With Future Droughts
In research that may eventually help crops survive drought, scientists at Princeton University have uncovered a key reason that mixing material called hydrogels with soil…
Sweet Coating for Sour Bones: Bridge-Burning Coating for Bone Implants
Osteoporosis is a leading global health challenge. Besides its own adverse effects, it also impairs the function of bone implants — normally made of a…
Discovery of a New Molecule Advances Route to Chemically Recyclable Plastics
New polybutadiene molecule enchains in squares, a microstructure that enables it to depolymerize under certain conditions, advancing options for closed-loop recycling. As the planet’s burden…
Sustainable Plastics: Scientists Make Versatile Polymer From Sugars in Wood
Scientists from Bath’s Centre for Sustainable and Circular Technologies have made a sustainable polymer using the second most abundant sugar in nature, xylose. Not only…
Nanodiamond Sensors Created That Can Act As Both Heat Sources and Thermometers
An international team of researchers created nanodiamond sensors that can act as both heat sources and thermometers, and is using them to measure the thermal…
Nanocrystals With Unique Surface Texture That Eradicates Bacteria Biofilm
The COVID-19 pandemic is raising fears of new pathogens such as new viruses or drug-resistant bacteria. To this, a Korean research team has recently drawn…