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Topic Review
Supercapacitor
Supercapacitors are electrical devices for fast storage and release of electric energy utilizing charge accumulation in the electrochemical double layer. In terms of volumetric and gravimetric capacities they exceed conventional dielectric and electrolytic capacitors by several orders of magnitude. However, the low energy density of supercapacitors has seriously limited their wider application in many fields. Increase of energy density highly depends on development of a new generation of advanced electrode materials for supercapacitors.
  • 2.8K
  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)
Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a thermoplastic synthetic polymer, which displays superior characteristics such as transparency, good tensile strength, and processability. 
  • 2.8K
  • 29 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Red Cabbage Anthocyanins in Smart Food Packaging, Sensors
Anthocyanins, as one of the water-soluble phenolic compounds, are able to generate a wide range of colors (for example, blue, purple, orange, and red) that are widely isolated from flowers, cereals, fruits, and vegetables. In addition, based on the pH values of the solution, anthocyanins can be found in different colors and chemical forms that can monitor food quality parameters, and eventually, keep track of food products over the shelf life period. The reversible color attributes of anthocyanins-rich solutions are associated with the source, composition, and configuration of anthocyanins.
  • 2.8K
  • 28 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Lignin-Based Resins
By increasing the environmental concerns and depletion of petroleum resources, bio-based resins have gained interest. Recently, lignin-based resins have attracted attention due to their low cost, environmental benefits, good thermal stability, excellent mechanical properties, and suitability for high-performance natural fiber composite applications. This content highlights the recent use of lignin-based resins with natural fiber composites for high-performance applications. 
  • 2.8K
  • 31 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Assessment of Bio-Based Polyurethanes
Among numerous synthetic macromolecules, polyurethane in its different forms has proven its sheer dominance and established a reputation as a reliable and trusted material due to its proficiency in terms of superior properties, which include: high mechanical strength and abrasion resistance, good durability, good adhesion, good thermal stability, excellent chemical and weathering resistance. Synthetic polyurethane materials are non-biodegradable, poisonous, and use petrochemical-based raw materials, which are now depleting, leading to a surge in polyurethane production costs. Enormous kinds of available bio-renewable sources as predecessors for the production of polyols and isocyanates have been explored for the development of “greener” PU materials; these bio-based polyurethanes have significant potential to be used as future PU products, with a partial or total replacement of petroleum-based polyurethanes, due to increasing concern about the environment, their relatively low cost and biodegradability.
  • 2.8K
  • 12 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Laser Transmission Welding of Polymers
Laser Transmission Welding of Polymers is a joining technique frequently selected by contemporary researchers to weld two thermoplastic surfaces.
  • 2.8K
  • 30 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Polyurethanes in Biomedicine
Due to their mechanical properties, ranging from flexible to hard materials, polyurethanes (PUs) have been widely used in many industrial and biomedical applications. PU characteristics, along with their biocompatibility, make them successful biomaterials in short and medium time applications.  The most important biomedical applications of PUs include antibacterial surfaces and catheters, blood oxygenators, dialysis devices, stents, cardiac valves, vascular prostheses, bioadhesives/surgical dressings/pressure sensitive adhesives, drug delivery systems, tissue engineering scaffolds and electrospinning, nerve generation, pacemaker lead insulation and coatings for breast implants. The diversity of polyurethane properties due to the ease of bulk and surface modification plays a vital role in their applications. 
  • 2.8K
  • 28 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Conducting Polymers
Conducting polymers are an important class of functional materials that has been widely applied to fabricate electrochemical biosensors, because of their interesting and tunable chemical, electrical, and structural properties. Conducting polymers can also be designed through chemical grafting of functional groups, nanostructured, or associated with other functional materials such as nanoparticles to provide tremendous improvements in sensitivity, selectivity, stability and reproducibility of the biosensor’s response to a variety of bioanalytes. Such biosensors are expected to play a growing and significant role in delivering the diagnostic information and therapy monitoring since they have advantages including their low cost and low detection limit.
  • 2.8K
  • 12 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Polysiloxane-Based Ionic Polymers
A diverse range of linear polysiloxane-based ionic polymers that are hydrophobic and highly flexible can be obtained by substituting the polymers with varying amounts of ionic centers. The materials can be highly crystalline solids, amorphous soft solids, poly(ionic) liquids or viscous polymer liquids.
  • 2.8K
  • 31 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Directed Self-Assembly of Block Copolymers
Directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) is a bottom-up approach to nanofabrication based on the ability of BCPs to phase separate spontaneously. It is an attractive technique for the fabrication of nanoscale structures thanks to its high resolution, low cost, ease of integration and scalability.
  • 2.8K
  • 16 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Bitumen and Bitumen Modification
According to the European specification (EN 12597), bitumen is defined as a virtually involatile, adhesive, and waterproofing material derived from crude oil, or present in natural asphalt, which is completely or nearly completely soluble in toluene, and very viscous or nearly solid at ambient temperatures. It is well-accepted that the original characteristics of bitumen are highly dependent on its production and processing procedure, as well as bitumen crude oil characteristics. Good crude oils and proper distillation processes can enhance bitumen properties.
  • 2.7K
  • 17 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Cellulose-Based Polymers in Additive Manufacturing
The materials for additive manufacturing (AM) technology have grown substantially over the last few years to fulfill industrial needs. Despite that, the use of bio-based composites for improved mechanical properties and biodegradation is still not fully explored. This limits the universal expansion of AM-fabricated products due to the incompatibility of the products made from petroleum-derived resources. The development of naturally-derived polymers for AM materials is promising with the increasing number of studies in recent years owing to their biodegradation and biocompatibility. Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer that possesses many favorable properties to be incorporated into AM materials, which have been continuously focused on in recent years. This critical review discusses the development of AM technologies and materials, cellulose-based polymers, cellulose-based three-dimensional (3D) printing filaments, liquid deposition modeling of cellulose, and four-dimensional (4D) printing of cellulose-based materials. Cellulose-based AM material applications and the limitations with future developments are also reviewed.
  • 2.7K
  • 02 Sep 2020
Topic Review
Conducting Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) (PMMA)
Poly(methyl methacrylate), PMMA is a lightweight insulating material that is known for its high Young's Modulus and good optical transmittance properties. Benefiting from these properties, there are recently vast interests to produce conducting PMMA for various applications including electronics, corrosion protective coatings,  diodes, sensors, and many more. Conducting PMMA is possible to produce by incorporating conducting polymers such as  polyaniline (PANi) by physical blending method or by co-polymerization technique. PANi has been the main choice to incorporate with PMMA due to its good conductivity, better environmental stability, and good redox reversibility. In addition, the limitations of PANi include poor adhesion, low mechanical stability and, limited solubility in most organic solvents can be surpassed by blending or co-polymerizing with thermoplastics such as PMMA.
  • 2.7K
  • 30 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Agarose Hydrogels
Numerous compounds present in the ocean are contributing to the development of the biomedical field. Agarose, a polysaccharide derived from marine red algae, plays a vital role in biomedical applications because of its reversible temperature-sensitive gelling behavior, excellent mechanical properties, and high biological activity. Natural agarose hydrogel has a single structural composition that prevents it from adapting to complex biological environments.
  • 2.7K
  • 26 May 2023
Topic Review
Microbial Degradation of Rubber: Actinobacteria
Rubber is an essential part of our daily lives with thousands of rubber-based products being made and used. Natural rubber undergoes chemical processes and structural modifications, while synthetic rubber, mainly synthetized from petroleum by-products are difficult to degrade safely and sustainably. The most prominent group of biological rubber degraders are Actinobacteria. Rubber degrading Actinobacteria contain rubber degrading genes or rubber oxygenase known as latex clearing protein (lcp). Rubber is a polymer consisting of isoprene, each containing one double bond. The degradation of rubber first takes place when lcp enzyme cleaves the isoprene double bond, breaking them down into the sole carbon and energy source to be utilized by the bacteria. Actinobacteria grow in diverse environments, and lcp gene containing strains have been detected from various sources including soil, water, human, animal, and plant samples. 
  • 2.7K
  • 23 Jun 2021
Topic Review
4D Printing Technologies
3D printing has played a crucial role in the last decades as an innovative technology for tissue and organ fabrication, patient-specific orthoses, drug delivery, and surgical planning. However, biomedical materials used for 3D printing are usually static and unable to dynamically respond or transform within the internal environment of the body. These materials are fabricated ex situ, which involves first printing on a planar substrate and then deploying it to the target surface, thus resulting in a possible mismatch between the printed part and the target surfaces. The emergence of 4D printing addresses some of these drawbacks, opening an attractive path for the biomedical sector. By preprogramming smart materials, 4D printing is able to manufacture structures that dynamically respond to external stimuli. Despite these potentials, 4D printed dynamic materials are still in their infancy of development. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) could push these technologies forward enlarging their applicability, boosting the design space of smart materials by selecting promising ones with desired architectures, properties, and functions, reducing the time to manufacturing, and allowing the in situ printing directly on target surfaces achieving high-fidelity of human body micro-structures. 
  • 2.7K
  • 29 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Woven Natural Fibre Polymer Composites
These woven materials are flexible, able to be tailored to the specific needs and have better mechanical properties due to their weaving structures.
  • 2.7K
  • 03 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Synthesis of 2,5-Furandicarboxylic Acid
The most versatile furanic building block for chemical and polymer applications is 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid. However, the classical 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid production methodology has been found to have significant drawbacks that hinder industrial-scale production.  The following content highlights new alternative methods to synthesize 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid that are both more advantageous and attractive than conventional oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural.
  • 2.6K
  • 19 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Chitosan-based Flame-Retardant Systems
During the last decade, the utilization of chitin, and in particular its deacetylated form, i.e. chitosan, for flame retardant purposes, has represented quite a novel and interesting application, very far from the established uses of this bio-sourced material. In this entry, chitosan is a carbon source that can be successfully exploited, often in combination with intumescent products, in order to provide different polymer systems (namely, bulky materials, fabrics and foams) with high flame retardant (FR) features. Besides, this specific use of chitosan in flame retardance is well suited to a green and sustainable approach.
  • 2.6K
  • 22 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Siloxanes
Siloxanes are adaptable species that have found extensive applications as versatile materials for functionalising various surfaces and as building blocks for polymers and hybrid organic-inorganic systems. The primary goal of this review is to report on and briefly explain the most relevant recent developments related to siloxanes and their applications, particularly regarding surface modification and the synthesis of graft copolymers bearing siloxane or polysiloxane segments. The key strategies for both functionalisation and synthesis of siloxane-bearing polymers are highlighted, and the various trends in the development of siloxane-based materials and the intended directions of their applications are explored.
  • 2.6K
  • 08 Sep 2020
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