Polymers news

Major advance in organic solar cells

Chemistry / Polymers

created Oct 19, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (15) | comments 0

Professor Guillermo Bazan and a team of postgraduate researchers at UC Santa Barbara's Center for Polymers and Organic Solids (CPOS) today announced a major advance in the synthesis of organic polymers for plastic solar cells. ...


Tiny particles can deliver antioxidant enzyme to injured heart cells

Tiny particles can deliver antioxidant enzyme to injured heart cells

Chemistry / Polymers

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Researchers at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed microscopic polymer beads that can deliver an antioxidant enzyme made naturally by the body into the heart.


New polymer that changes color instantly in response to external magnetic field (w/Video)

Chemistry / Polymers

created Jun 16, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (19) | comments 2

A research team led by a chemist at the University of California, Riverside has fabricated microscopic polymer beads that change color instantly and reversibly when external magnetic fields acting upon the microspheres change ...


See the force: Mechanical stress leads to self-sensing in solid polymers

Mechanical stress leads to self-sensing in solid polymers (w/Video)

Chemistry / Polymers

created May 06, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Parachute cords, climbing ropes, and smart coatings for bridges that change color when overstressed are several possible uses for force-sensitive polymers being developed by researchers at the University of ...


Probing and Controlling ‘Molecular Rattling’ May Mean Better Preservatives

Probing and Controlling 'Molecular Rattling' May Mean Better Preservatives

Chemistry / Polymers

created Feb 25, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- For centuries, people have preserved fruit by mixing it with sugar, making thick jams that last for months without spoiling. Now scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology ...


Biodegradable synthetic resin replaces vital body parts

Biodegradable synthetic resin replaces vital body parts

Chemistry / Polymers

created Jun 09, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (24) | comments 7

Researchers at the University of Twente (UT) have developed a new type of resin that can be broken down by the body. This new resin makes it possible to replicate important body parts exactly and make them ...


New look for antiques

New look for antiques: Paintings and gilt surfaces can be effectively and gently restored with water-based microemulsion

Chemistry / Polymers

created Oct 26, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the past, restoration of paintings and other old artwork often involved application of acrylic resins to consolidate and protect them. One of the most important tasks for modern restorers ...


Scientists hope tiny tubes can help repair damaged nerves

Scientists hope tiny tubes can help repair damaged nerves

Chemistry / Polymers

created Aug 16, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Glasgow are hoping to use tiny fabricated tubes to help damaged nerves heal themselves.


Novel polymer delivers genetic medicine, allows tracking

Novel polymer delivers genetic medicine, allows tracking

Chemistry / Polymers

created Oct 06, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Theresa M. Reineke, associate professor of chemistry in the College of Science, and colleagues in her lab at Virginia Tech and at the University of Cincinnati have developed a new molecule that can travel ...


Trapped! Scientists Immobilize Bacteria in Fibrous Hydrogel

Trapped! Scientists Immobilize Bacteria in Fibrous Hydrogel

Chemistry / Polymers

created Aug 04, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Bacteria play a role in myriad industrial processes from fermentation to cleaning up environmental pollution. But floating freely in solution, the microbial cells constantly multiply, generating ...


'Non-trivial' Crystallization Reveals Antibiotic's Molecular Mode of Action (w/ Video)

Chemistry / Polymers

created Aug 03, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- With the "last resort" antibiotic Vancomycin now plagued by the first signs of bacterial resistance, a scientific collaboration centered at Duke University has identified how a candidate successor antibiotic ...


Synthetic Capsules Made of Natural Building Blocks

Chemistry / Polymers

created Mar 23, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The basis of all life forms are vesicles: membrane-enclosed, liquid-filled “bubbles” made of lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates. Cells, which are separated from the surrounding medium by their cell membrane, ...


'Self-healing' polymer may facilitate recycling of hard-to-dispose plastic

'Self-healing' polymer may facilitate recycling of hard-to-dispose plastic

Chemistry / Polymers

created Apr 23, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers in The Netherlands are reporting development of a new plastic with potential for use in the first easy-to-recycle computer circuit boards, electrical insulation, and other electronics ...


Colorful columns: Simple method for the production of microcylinders with multiple compartments

Chemistry / Polymers

created May 25, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Under a microscope they look like tiny pie charts or colorful candy canes: A team led by Joerg Lahann at the University of Michigan has been able to produce micrometer-wide discs and elongated rods precisely ...


Bristly Spheres as Capsules

Bristly Spheres as Capsules

Chemistry / Polymers

created Mar 06, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Amphiphilic molecules, which have one water-friendly (hydrophilic) end and one water-repellant (hydrophobic) end, spontaneously aggregate in aqueous solutions to make superstructures like ...