: Materials Articles
News and Views: Stimuli-responsive hydrogels: Drugs take controlUsing a known and widely used drug as a specific triggering agent, another drug can be released from a hydrogel. This route opens up the application of hydrogels in the targeted, controlled release of drugs in vivo. Nature Materials, vol. 7 #10, pp767-768 |
News and Views: Electrochromic displays: The new blackCareful design of donor–acceptor polymer molecules with reversible redox properties gives access to polymer electrochromic displays with switchable absorption in the full visible range of the optical spectrum. Nature Materials, vol. 7 #10, pp766-767 |
News and Views: Particle transport: Salt and migrateAdding simple salts to colloidal solutions provides a method of controlling the migration of particles in microfluidic devices. Nature Materials, vol. 7 #10, pp769-770 |
News and Views: Energy: Fuel for thoughtThe worlds of nanotechnology and energy meet to unveil a realm of functional materials for fuelling the challenge of low-carbon, sustainable energy. Nature Materials, vol. 7 #10, pp772-774 |
News and Views: Oxygen catalysis: The other half of the equationArtificial photosynthesis — splitting water with light — is an attractive way to make hydrogen, but what happens to the oxygen? A catalyst that aids in the efficient production of gaseous oxygen improves the viability of this approach. Nature Materials, vol. 7 #10, pp770-771 |
News and Views: Thermoelectrics: Half-full glassesThe low thermal conductivity of some thermoelectric materials is commonly attributed to rattlers — atoms trapped in oversized cages. Two independent studies now show that rattlers indeed reduce thermal conductivity to glass-like values. Nature Materials, vol. 7 #10, pp765-766 |
Letter: Boosting migration of large particles by solute contrastsDeveloping novel strategies to drive or manipulate the migration of particles in solutions is important for lab-on-a-chip technologies, especially in the context of biological and chemical analysis. A strongly amplified and tunable migration of large particles using a passive transport phenomenon is now reported. Nature Materials, vol. 7 #10, pp785-789 |
Letter: The donor–acceptor approach allows a black-to-transmissive switching polymeric electrochromeSmart windows and switchable displays require electrochomic materials that change their optical properties on electron transfer. Organic polymers offer further benefits including high contrast, greater colour variety and flexible substrates, but their use has remained challenging. Now, a donor–acceptor approach has yielded the first neutral black polymeric electrochrome. Nature Materials, vol. 7 #10, pp795-799 |
Letter: Drug-sensing hydrogels for the inducible release of biopharmaceuticalsStimuli-responsive hydrogels show potential as smart materials for drug delivery, however, the triggers used must be applicable in vivo. Now, a hydrogel has been synthesized that contains protein–protein interactions that respond to a specific pharmaceutical drug and enable the hydrogel to controllably release its load of a human growth factor, which increases cell proliferation. Nature Materials, vol. 7 #10, pp800-804 |
Letter: Asymmetric caging in soft colloidal mixturesA new, asymmetric glassy state is identified in soft colloidal mixtures composed of large and small star polymers. The results will enable the design, control and tuning of the rheological properties of other soft composite materials. Nature Materials, vol. 7 #10, pp780-784 |
Letter: Highly compressed ammonia forms an ionic crystalAmmonia is an important compound for producing pharmaceuticals, fertilisers and explosives. It is known to form hydrogen-bonded solids at high pressure, but ionic solids of ammonium amide are now predicted at even higher pressure. Nature Materials, vol. 7 #10, pp775-779 |
Letter: Two Ih-symmetry-breaking C60 isomers stabilized by chlorinationThe structure of C60 is well-known: a perfectly symmetrical sphere of 12 isolated pentagons. But this is only one of 1,812 possible isomers, and the only one to obey the isolated-pentagon rule. So far it has been the only form observed. But now two isomers without isolated pentagons have been made. Nature Materials, vol. 7 #10, pp790-794 |