Search

Electrochemically induced stresses in battery electrodes leading to performance degradation are still poorly understood. In situ measurements show that stress scales proportionally with lithium intercalation rate and strain with capacity.

Force-induced covalent bond changes in mechanophore-linked polymers typically require large, irreversible material deformation, limiting successive activation cycles. Now, repeated force-induced reactions have been achieved by incorporating flex-activated mechanophores into elastomeric networks.

Rubbery polymers have been made in which damage is healed by exposure to light. The healing mechanism allows localized, on-demand repair, and might help to extend the lifetimes of materials for many applications. See Letter p.334

Frontal polymerization spin mode dynamics is used to autonomously fabricate patterned crystalline domains in poly(cyclooctadiene) with multiscale organization.

Oil-water emulsion techniques can be used for encapsulation of chemicals and control of reactivity, but is challenging for highly reactive materials such as acids and bases. Here, the authors report the encapsulation of bases by masking of reactivity with photo-removable protecting groups.

Bioinspired vascular networks transport heat and mass in multifunctional materials but lengthy multistep fabrication processes hinder large-scale application of structural vascular materials. Here, the authors report rapid, scalable, and synchronized fabrication of vascular thermosets and fiberreinforced composites under ambient conditions.

Carefully designed 'mechanophores' can tame the 'brute force' approach needed for breaking chemical bonds in reactions. If incorporated into polymers and activated by mechanical forces, the mechanophores undergo rearrangement reactions to selectively form new molecules. The effect might result in mechanically responsive polymers that warn of impending structural failures, can slow damage or even self-repair.

Exposing synthetic materials to large stresses tends to result in simple failure, unlike many biological systems, which respond by enabling physiological processes such as hearing and balance. But by incorporating a chemical group that responds to mechanical stress by changing its colour, it is possible to monitor the accumulation of plastic deformation directly in a synthetic polymer. This principle could be used to design synthetic materials with desirable functionalities ranging from damage sensing to fully regenerative self-healing.

Understanding how heat is transferred across interfaces is important for the efficiency of micro- and nanoscale electronic devices. Here, it is shown that there is a direct link between the bonding character of an interface and the thermal transport across it.

Extensive crosslinking in thermosetting polymers provides their desirable durability but makes them difficult to recycle. Now acetal-based monomers containing nucleophilic pendant groups have been incorporated into polyurethanes, which are stable in aqueous acid yet degradable at room temperature under organic acidic conditions. The degradation products were upcycled into higher-value, long-lasting materials.

Frontal polymerization of dicyclopentadiene is used to generate thermoset polymers and composite materials with much lower energy requirements and cure times than are needed in conventional oven or autoclave curing approaches.