Journal: Materials Horizons

Abbreviation

Mater. Horiz.

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry

Journal Volumes

ISSN

2051-6347
2051-6355

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2014 - 201982020 - 202516
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Publications 1 - 10 of 24
  • Multi-compartment supracapsules made from nano-containers towards programmable release
    Item type: Journal Article
    Hu, Minghan; Reichholf, Nico; Xia, Yanming; et al. (2022)
    Materials Horizons
    The assembly of nanomaterials into suprastructures offers the possibility to fabricate larger scale functional materials, whose inner structure strongly influences their functionality for a vast range of applications. In spite of the many current strategies, achieving multi-compartment structures in a targeted and versatile way remains highly challenging. Here, we describe a controllable and straightforward route to create uniform suprastructured materials with a multi-compartmentalized architecture by confining primary nanocapsules into droplets using a cross-junction microfluidic device. Following solvent evaporation from the droplets, the nanocapsules spontaneously assemble into precisely sized multi-compartment particles, which we term supracapsules. Thanks to the process, each spatially separated nanocapsule unit retains its cargo and functionalities within the resulting supracapsules. However, new collective properties emerge, and, particularly, programmable release profiles that are distinct from those of single-compartment capsules. Finally, the suprastructures can be disassembled into single-compartment units by applying ultra-sonication, switching their release to a burst-release mode. These findings open up exciting opportunities to fabricate multi-compartment suprastructures incorporating diverse functionalities for materials with emerging properties.
  • Beyond absorption maxima: the impact of wavelength-resolved photochemistry on materials science
    Item type: Other Journal Item
    Thijssen, Quinten; Carroll, Joshua A.; Feist, Florian; et al. (2024)
    Materials Horizons
    Reflecting on Giacomo Ciamician's revolutionary vision of harnessing sunlight to drive photochemical transformations, the field of materials science has evolved significantly, yet it has been constrained by the misconception that the highest reactivity in photochemical systems is achieved at the absorption maxima. Here, we explore this notion further with evidence from photochemical action plots, demonstrating that reactivity can indeed be maximal at wavelengths significantly separated from the absorption peak. By examining the implications of the disparity between absorptivity and photochemical reactivitiy, we explore its impact for the enhanced penetration depth of light in photoresists, the reduction of energy requirements for photochemical reactions, and its transformative potential for volumetric 3D printing. Ultimately, we argue for a renewed appreciation of light's capability to facilitate photochemical reactions across the entire volume of a material.
  • Hard-magnetic cell microscaffolds from electroless coated 3D printed architectures
    Item type: Journal Article
    Bernasconi, Roberto; Cuneo, Federico; Carrara, Elena; et al. (2018)
    Materials Horizons
    The combination of 3D printing and wet metallization is a promising methodology for the manufacturing of functional microdevices able to carry out biomedical tasks in vivo. Following this approach, prototypical cell scaffolds are successfully manufactured in the present work. Functional layers are sequentially deposited employing electroless metallization on stereolitography 3D printed moveable structures. Final devices are characterized and magnetically actuated in a precise way using a novel rolling motion approach, which allows for a superior control over speed and position. From the living cells compatibility point of view, the scaffolds show good biocompatibility with fibroblasts after the application of a gold layer.
  • Magnetoelectric micromachines with wirelessly controlled navigation and functionality
    Item type: Journal Article
    Chen, Xiangzhong; Shamsudhin, Naveen; Hoop, Marcus; et al. (2016)
    Materials Horizons
  • Advanced technologies for the fabrication of MOF thin films
    Item type: Review Article
    Crivello, Chiara; Sevim, Semih; Graniel, Octavio; et al. (2021)
    Materials Horizons
    Metal–organic framework (MOF) thin films represent a milestone in the development of future technological breakthroughs. The processability of MOFs as films on surfaces together with their major features (i.e. tunable porosity, large internal surface area, and high crystallinity) is broadening their range of applications to areas such as gas sensing, microelectronics, photovoltaics, and membrane-based separation technologies. Despite the recent attention that MOF thin films have received, many challenges still need to be addressed for their manufacturing and integrability, especially when an industrial scale-up perspective is envisioned. In this brief review, we introduce several appealing approaches that have been developed in the last few years. First, a summary of liquid phase strategies that comprise microfluidic methods and supersaturation-driven crystallization processes is described. Then, gas phase approaches based on atomic layer deposition (ALD) are also presented.
  • Design and synthesis of chromophores with enhanced electro-optic activities in both bulk and plasmonic–organic hybrid devices
    Item type: Journal Article
    Xu, Huajun; Elder, Delwin L.; Johnson, Lewis E.; et al. (2022)
    Materials Horizons
    This study demonstrates enhancement of in-device electro-optic activity via a series of theory-inspired organic electro-optic (OEO) chromophores based on strong (diarylamino)phenyl electron donating moieties. These chromophores are tuned to minimize trade-offs between molecular hyperpolarizability and optical loss. Hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS) measurements demonstrate that these chromophores, herein described as BAH, show >2-fold improvement in β versus standard chromophores such as JRD1, and approach that of the recent BTP and BAY chromophore families. Electric field poled bulk devices of neat and binary BAH chromophores exhibited significantly enhanced EO coefficients (r33) and poling efficiencies (r33/Ep) compared with state-of-the-art chromophores such as JRD1. The neat BAH13 devices with charge blocking layers produced very large poling efficiencies of 11.6 ± 0.7 nm2 V−2 and maximum r33 value of 1100 ± 100 pm V−1 at 1310 nm on hafnium dioxide (HfO2). These results were comparable to that of our recently reported BAY1 but with much lower loss (extinction coefficient, k), and greatly exceeding that of other previously reported OEO compounds. 3 : 1 BAH-FD : BAH13 blends showed a poling efficiency of 6.7 ± 0.3 nm2 V−2 and an even greater reduction in k. 1 : 1 BAH-BB : BAH13 showed a higher poling efficiency of 8.4 ± 0.3 nm2 V−2, which is approximately a 2.5-fold enhancement in poling efficiency vs. JRD1. Neat BAH13 was evaluated in plasmonic–organic hybrid (POH) Mach–Zehnder modulators with a phase shifter length of 10 μm and slot widths of 80 and 105 nm. In-device BAH13 achieved a maximum r33 of 208 pm V−1 at 1550 nm, which is ∼1.7 times higher than JRD1 under equivalent conditions.
  • Controlled fabrication of porous metals from the nanometer to the macroscopic scale
    Item type: Journal Article
    Kraenzlin, Niklaus; Niederberger, Markus (2015)
    Materials Horizons
  • Microscale investigation on interfacial slippage and detachment of ice from soft materials
    Item type: Journal Article
    Regulagadda, Kartik; Gerber, Julia; Schutzius, Thomas Michael; et al. (2022)
    Materials Horizons
    Surface icing is detrimental to applications ranging from transportation to biological systems. Soft elastomeric coatings can engender remarkably low ice adhesion strength, but mechanisms at the microscale and resulting ice extraction outcomes need to be understood. Here we investigate dynamic ice-elastomer interfacial events and show that the ice adhesion strength can actually vary by orders of magnitude due to the shear velocity. We study the detailed deformation fields of the elastomer using confocal traction force microscopy and elucidate the underlying mechanism. The elastomer initially undergoes elastic deformation having a shear velocity dependent threshold, followed by partial relaxation at the onset of slip, where velocity dependent "stick-slip" micropulsations are observed. The results of the work provide important information for the design of soft surfaces with respect to removal of ice, and utility to fields exemplified by adhesion, contact mechanics, and biofouling.
  • A Bayesian approach to calibrating high-throughput virtual screening results and application to organic photovoltaic materials
    Item type: Journal Article
    Pyzer-Knapp, Edward O.; Simm, Gregor N.; Aspuru Guzik, Alán (2016)
    Materials Horizons
  • Passive climate regulation with transpiring wood for buildings with increased energy efficiency
    Item type: Journal Article
    Ding, Yong; Dreimol, Christopher; Zboray, Robert; et al. (2023)
    Materials Horizons
    Buildings are significant end-users of global energy. About 20% of the energy consumption worldwide is used for maintaining a comfortable indoor climate. Therefore, passive systems for indoor temperature and humidity regulation that can respond to environmental changes are very promising to reduce buildings' energy consumption. We developed a process to improve the responsiveness of wood to humidity changes by laser-drilling microscopic holes and incorporating a hygroscopic salt (calcium chloride). The resulting "transpiring wood" displays superior water adsorption capacity and high moisture exchange rate, allowing regulation of humidity and temperature by the exchange of moisture with the surrounding air. We proved that the hygrothermal performance of transpiring wood can be used to regulate indoor climate, with associated energy savings, for various climate types, thus favoring its application in the building sector. The reduction of temperature fluctuations, thanks to the buffering of temperature peaks, can lead to an indirect energy saving of about 10% for cooling and between 4-27% for heating depending on the climate. Furthermore, our transpiring wood meets different sustainability criteria, from raw materials to the fabrication process, resulting in a product with a low overall environmental impact and that is easy to recycle.
Publications 1 - 10 of 24