Tapping the power of lightsticks
August 21, 2006Scientists have applied the principle behind lightsticks -- those snap-to-glow devices that light up without electricity -- to produce remote photopolymerization, a long-sought process for sealing inaccessible cracks and numerous other potential practical uses.
Douglas C. Neckers, Andrei V. Fedorov and Andrei A. Ermoskin report a demonstration of remote polymerization, or "remote cure," in a study scheduled for publication in the Aug. 22 issue of the ACS journal, Macromolecules.
Photopolymers are the basis of multi-billion-dollar industries, with uses that include clear coatings, paints, varnishes, adhesives and sealants. These liquids change or "cure" into solids when exposed to light. Chemists have speculated for years about an apparent contradiction in terms -- the possibility of having photopolymerization happen without light or heat.
Neckers, Fedorov and Ermoskin have demonstrated that photopolymers will harden in the presence of the chemical reactions that make lightsticks glow. They propose "remote cure" as a name for the process and cite several possible applications. Among them are sealing joints, cracks or holes inside pipes, tubes or containers where light cannot reach. "Another utilization of remote cure might be to cause the formation of a coating behind a pipe or in a room that could not be entered because of contamination."
Source: American Chemical Society
-
New map shows malaria strain -- impervious to interventions -- holding steady in Asia, Latin America
Dec 05, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Using ionized plasmas as cheap sterilizers for developing world
Nov 15, 2011 |
4.2 / 5 (6) |
10
-
Non-invasive wireless near-infrared device provides reliable diagnosis of bladder dysfunction
May 31, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Doctor Who's trusty invention is anything but sci-fi
Dec 07, 2010 |
4 / 5 (4) |
5
-
Tiny East Timor declares war on leprosy
Oct 11, 2010 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (31) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
More news stories
Fool's gold may prove an unlikely alternative to overexploited catalytic materials
Catalytic materials, which lower the energy barriers for chemical reactions, are used in everything from the commercial production of chemicals to catalytic converters in car engines. However, with current catalytic materials ...
12 hours ago |
4.3 / 5 (7) |
4
|
Unpicking HIV’s invisibility cloak
Drug researchers hunting for alternative ways to treat human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections may soon have a novel target—its camouflage coat. HIV hides inside a cloak unusually rich in a sugar ...
12 hours ago |
5 / 5 (4) |
0
No entry without protein recycling: Researchers discover new coherence in enzyme transport
The group of Prof. Dr. Ralf Erdmann at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, discovered a connection of peroxisomal protein import and receptor export. In the Journal of Biological Chemistry, they disclo ...
12 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Under the microscope #7
In this video Dr Ingrid Graz shows us a thin layer of gold on top of rubber. Cracks in the gold allow it to stretch and we can use this for stretchable electronics.
14 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Hydrogen from acidic water: Researchers develop potential low cost alternative to platinum for splitting water
A technique for creating a new molecule that structurally and chemically replicates the active part of the widely used industrial catalyst molybdenite has been developed by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley ...
Feb 09, 2012 |
5 / 5 (12) |
13
|
Google users warned of threat to smartphone wallets
Users of Google smartphone wallets were being warned on Friday that there is a way to crack pass codes intended to thwart thieves from going on illicit shopping sprees.
Anonymous knocks CIA website offline (Update)
The website of the Central Intelligence Agency was inaccessible on Friday after the hacker group Anonymous claimed to have knocked it offline.
Complex wiring of the nervous system may rely on a just a handful of genes and proteins
Researchers at the Salk Institute have discovered a startling feature of early brain development that helps to explain how complex neuron wiring patterns are programmed using just a handful of critical genes. ...
New error-correcting codes guarantee the fastest possible rate of data transmission
Error-correcting codes are one of the triumphs of the digital age. They’re a way of encoding information so that it can be transmitted across a communication channel — such as an optical fiber o ...
The power of estrogen -- male snakes attract other males
A new study has shown that boosting the estrogen levels of male garter snakes causes them to secrete the same pheromones that females use to attract suitors, and turned the males into just about the sexiest ...
Humans may have helped the decline of African rainforests 3000 years ago
(PhysOrg.com) -- Large areas of rainforests in Central Africa mysteriously disappeared over three thousand years ago, to be replaced by savannas. The prevailing theory has been that the cause was a change ...
