Soft matter and soft robotics
The latest chemistry news and research on soft matter, including liquid crystals, gels, emulsions and foams and soft robotics, from the Royal Society of Chemistry's magazine, Chemistry World
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Research
Colour-changing liquids could flag cold chain breaches for medicines
Device offers simple and reliable monitoring with no electronic waste
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Research
Study untangles friction and surface chemistry in chemically damaged hair
Researchers develop system that can be used to screen the tribological performance of hair care formulations
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Business
Making oil and water mix by encapsulation
Italian start-up Sphera Encapsulation can protect lipophilic food ingredients in aqueous environments
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Research
Developing custom apparatus to determine battery electrolyte sweet spots
Susan Perkin discusses the unique technique she uses to understand liquids and how they interact with surfaces
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Business
Transforming sawdust with ultrasound
Bio-Sep can break down biomass and extract valuable molecules without damaging them
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Research
Loofah-structured hydrogel could help meet global clean water demands
Hydrogel water purification technology goes from a curiosity to a contender through a change in its structure
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Research
Flexible batteries kept stable with stretchy metallic films
Liquid metals that block out air and water could improve the lifetime of stretchable electronics
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Research
Fluidic chemical systems can mimic the way the brain stores memories
Imitating the way that neurons communicate could lead to low-power neuromorphic computing
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Business
Silky smooth tissue regeneration
Serigen mediproducts is harnessing one of India’s biggest industries to help heal wounds and rebuild flesh and bone
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Research
Active liquid climbs walls
A two-phase liquid containing molecular motors could create a new class of soft matter
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Research
Unique phenomenon discovered as gel shifts to a liquid, then back to a gel and back again
Discovery could offer insight into unusual natural events
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Research
Flaws fixed in venerable 84-year-old method of measuring porosity
Simple software corrects calculations of surface area that were out by up to a factor of five
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Feature
3D printing adds another dimension
Nina Notman learns how 4D printing is opening the door to unique smart materials whose applications may only be limited by our imaginations
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Research
Liquid crystals under pressure create squid-like camouflage
Pneumatic membranes trigger full-spectrum colour shifting on demand
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Feature
The rise of ferrofluids
Magnetic liquids are taking off, Hayley Bennett reports, but not as their inventor once imagined
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Research
Artificial chameleon skin detects seafood spoilage
Supramolecular system changes colour across almost the full visible spectrum
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Opinion
Eugenia Kumacheva: ‘My poetry is in my research proposals’
The soft matter expert on curiosity, collaborators and creativity
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Research
Inorganic ‘sponge’ made from seafood waste
New form of calcite can absorb water as well as contaminants like oil and dyes
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Research
Rippling polymer sheets flex like muscles
Two-dimensional Belousov–Zhabotinsky gels mimic the way organisms move
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Feature
Using ions to connect life to machines
Ionotronic materials are beginning to show how life’s signals can be aligned with electronics. James Urquhart speaks to the scientists who are exploring the emerging frontier