What if we could invent materials that can repair themselves when damaged? Polymer molecules in various states – solid, melt, solution – are susceptible to covalent bond changes in response to ...

Piezoelectric materials convert mechanical stress into electricity, or vice versa, and can be useful in sensors, actuators and many other applications. But implementing piezoelectrics in polymers -- ...

Scientists are keen to develop new materials for lightweight, flexible, and affordable wearable electronics so that, one day, dropping our smartphones won’t result in irreparable damage. One team at ...

Traditional polyesters are obtained via ring-opening polymerization (ROP), but significant research is currently directed at designing new biodegradable vinyl polymers with esters groups in the ...

Every day, new advances in polymer seal and material technology are made for a broad range of applications that protect, enhance and improve our lives. In order to keep up with the fast pace of need ...

Polymers are versatile materials, of which plastics are perhaps the most well known examples. Under a microscope, polymers usually look like squiggly threads, one-dimensional chains of units called ...

The sources of natural polymers can be plant-based, animal-based, and marine-derived. For instance, plant-based polymers like cellulose are widely used in paper and textile industries for their ...

ORNL's invention may change plastic's environmental fate by rearranging polymeric building blocks to customize the properties of plastics. Molecular subunits link to produce polymer chains that can ...

Scientists often seek new materials derived from polymers. Rather than starting a polymer search from scratch, they save time and money by blending existing polymers to achieve desired properties.