Material Science News and Discussions

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Chip lets scientists study biocement formation in real-time
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-12-chi ... -time.html
by Sandrine Perroud, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
Scientists from EPFL and the University of Lausanne have used a chip that was originally designed for environmental science to study the properties of biocement formation. This material has the potential to replace traditional cement binders in certain civil engineering applications.

The chip is the size of a credit card and its surface is engraved with a flow channel measuring one meter from end to end that is as thick as a human hair. Researchers can inject a solution into one end of the channel and, with the help of time-lapse microscopy, observe the solution's behavior over several hours. Medical scientists have used similar chips for health care applications, such as to examine how arteries get clogged or how a drug spreads into the bloodstream, while environmental engineers have applied them to the study of biofilms and contaminants in drinking water.
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This Alloy Is the Toughest Known Material on Earth, And It Gets Tougher in The Cold
by Michelle Starr
December 11, 2022

Introduction:
(Science Alert) An alloy of chromium, cobalt, and nickel has just given us the highest fracture toughness ever measured in a material on Earth.

It has exceptionally high strength and ductility, leading to what a team of scientists has called "outstanding damage tolerance".

Moreover – and counterintuitively – these properties increase as the material gets colder, suggesting some interesting potential for applications in extreme cryogenic environments.

"When you design structural materials, you want them to be strong but also ductile and resistant to fracture," says metallurgist Easo George, Governor's Chair for Advanced Alloy Theory and Development at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee.

"Typically, it's a compromise between these properties. But this material is both, and instead of becoming brittle at low temperatures, it gets tougher."
Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/this-allo ... -the-cold
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weatheriscool
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Team creates protein-based material that can stop supersonic impacts
https://phys.org/news/2022-12-team-prot ... pacts.html
by Katherine Moss, University of Kent
A University of Kent team, led by Professors Ben Goult and Jen Hiscock, has created and patented a new shock-absorbing material that could revolutionize both the defense and planetary science sectors.

This novel protein-based family of materials, named TSAM (Talin Shock Absorbing Materials), represents the first known example of a SynBio (or synthetic biology) material capable of absorbing supersonic projectile impacts. This opens the door for the development of next-generation bulletproof armor and projectile capture materials to enable the study of hypervelocity impacts in space and the upper atmosphere (astrophysics).

Professor Ben Goult explained, "Our work on the protein talin, which is the cell's natural shock absorber, has shown that this molecule contains a series of binary switch domains which open under tension and refold again once tension drops. This response to force gives talin its molecular shock absorbing properties, protecting our cells from the effects of large force changes. When we polymerized talin into a TSAM, we found the shock absorbing properties of talin monomers imparted the material with incredible properties."
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GTUB3 is the first microporous, metal-organic solid that is both conductive and photoluminescent
https://phys.org/news/2022-12-gtub3-mic ... scent.html
by Technical University of Berlin
Researchers at TU Berlin have developed a new material from the class of microporous, metal-organic framework (MOF) compounds. On the one hand, such compounds can store small molecules and gases such as hydrogen, CO2 or even toxins. On the other hand, the large surface area resulting from the high volume of pores means they are also suitable as a material for electrodes such as in supercapacitors, which can be charged much faster than conventional batteries.

A study describing this work is published in the journal Advanced Optical Materials.

The problem to date is that the majority of MOFs are very poor conductors of electricity. The new material created by the researchers, called GTUB3, is both a good conductor as well as chemically and thermally extremely stable. What makes it unique is that it is also photoluminescent, meaning that it glows when irradiated with light. As a result, it could also be used in optoelectronic applications and solar cells.

Metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, are considered one of the most exciting classes of materials in modern chemistry. They consist of metal atoms directly bonded to organic molecules. "In the past, we only valued such crystal structures for their aesthetic beauty. Some of them actually call to mind Moroccan tiles," explains Dr. Gündoğ Yücesan from Faculty III—Process Sciences at TU Berlin. "What makes them interesting today are the many cavities that make microporous MOFs ideal storage media as well as their large surfaces, which facilitate reactions."
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Exploring the problem of creating a plastic that is both strong and biodegradable
https://phys.org/news/2022-12-exploring ... dable.html
by University of Konstanz

How can plastics be designed so they retain their desirable properties but at the same time can be more effectively recycled? This and other questions concerning the eco-friendliness of plastics are the focus of chemist Stefan Mecking and his research group at the University of Konstanz.

In their latest paper in the international edition of Angewandte Chemie, the team presents a new polyester that exhibits material properties that are attractive for industry while being environmentally friendly.

Normally incompatible

Plastics are made of long chains of one or several chemical basic modules, so-called monomers. Plastics distinguished by high crystallinity and water repellency, which are therefore mechanically highly resilient and stable, are widely used. A well-known example is high density polyethylene (HDPE), whose basic modules consist of non-polar hydrocarbon molecules.
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Enzymes could make it cheaper to recycle waste polyester textiles and bottles than making them from petroleum
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-12-enz ... tiles.html
by Erik F. Ringle, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
What do a T-shirt, a rug, and a soda bottle have in common? Many are made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a ubiquitous plastic that revolutionized the materials industry after it was patented in the 1940s.

Created from petroleum refining, PET is a material known for its durability and versatility. It is easily molded into airtight containers, woven into durable carpets, or spun into polyester clothing.

"The reality is that most PET products—especially PET clothing and carpeting—are not recycled today using conventional recycling technologies," explained Gregg Beckham, senior research fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and CEO of the U.S. Department of Energy BOTTLE Consortium. "The research community is developing promising alternatives, including enzymes designed to depolymerize PET, but even these options have tended to lean on energy-intensive and costly preprocessing steps to be effective."
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'Smart' coating can be precisely applied to make fabric into protective gear
https://phys.org/news/2023-01-smart-coa ... -gear.html
by Morgan Kelly, Dartmouth College
A durable copper-based coating developed by Dartmouth College researchers can be precisely integrated into fabric to create responsive and reusable materials such as protective equipment, environmental sensors, and smart filters, according to a recent study.

The coating responds to the presence of toxic gases in the air by converting them into less toxic substances that become trapped in the fabric, the team reports in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS).

The findings hinge on a conductive metal-organic technology, or framework, developed in the laboratory of corresponding author Katherine Mirica, an associate professor of chemistry at Dartmouth. First reported in JACS in 2017, the framework was a simple coating that could be layered onto cotton and polyester to create smart fabrics the researchers named SOFT—Self-Organized Framework on Textiles. Their paper demonstrated that SOFT smart fabrics could detect and capture toxic substances in the surrounding environment.

For the newest study, the researchers found that—instead of the simple coating reported in 2017—they can precisely embed the framework into fabrics using a copper precursor that allows them to create specific patterns and more effectively fill in the tiny gaps and holes between threads.

The researchers found that the framework technology effectively converted the toxin nitric oxide into nitrite and nitrate, and transformed the poisonous, flammable gas hydrogen sulfide into copper sulfide. They also report that the framework's ability to capture and convert toxic materials withstood wear and tear, as well as standard washing.

The versatility and durability the new method provides would allow the framework to be applied for specific uses and in more precise locations, such as a sensor on protective clothing, or as a filter in a particular environment, Mirica said.

"This new method of deposition means that the electronic textiles could potentially interface with a broader range of systems because they're so robust," she said. "This technological advance paves the way for other applications of the framework's combined filtration and sensing abilities that could be valuable in biomedical settings and environmental remediation."
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Chemical researchers discover catalyst to make renewable paints, coatings, and diapers
https://phys.org/news/2023-01-chemical- ... apers.html
by University of Minnesota
A team led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers has invented a groundbreaking new catalyst technology that converts renewable materials like trees and corn to the key chemicals, acrylic acid, and acrylates used in paints, coatings, and superabsorbent polymers. The new catalyst technology is also highly efficient, which means lower costs for manufacturing renewable chemicals.

The new catalyst formulation converts lactic acid-based chemicals derived from corn to acrylic acid and acrylates with the highest yield achieved to date. The technology exhibits substantially higher performance when benchmarked against other classes of leading catalysts.

The research is published online in the JACS Au.

The public is most familiar with acrylic acid and associated acrylates through its uses in everyday items from paints and coatings to sticky adhesives to superabsorbent materials used in diapers. These chemicals and materials have been made for the last century from fossil fuels. But in the last few decades, the corn industry has been growing to expand beyond food and livestock feed to manufacturing useful chemicals.

One such corn-derived chemical is sustainable lactic acid, a key ingredient in the manufacturing of the renewable and compostable plastic used in many everyday applications.

Lactic acid can also be converted to acrylic acid and acrylates using catalysts. However, until this new catalyst discovery, traditional catalysts were very inefficient achieving low yields and making the overall process too expensive.

"Our new catalyst formulation discovery achieves the highest yield to date of acrylic acid from lactic acid," said Paul Dauenhauer, professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. "We benchmarked the performance of our new catalyst to all prior catalysts, and the performance far exceeds previous examples."

The new catalyst formulation substantially reduces the cost of manufacturing renewable acrylic acid and acrylates from corn by improving yield and reducing waste. For the first time, this could reduce the price of renewable acrylic acid below fossil-derived chemicals.

The economic opportunity generated by the new catalyst is being pursued by Låkril Technologies, a startup company that aims to manufacture low-cost renewable acrylic acid and acrylates. By licensing the catalyst technology from the University of Minnesota, Låkril Technologies will develop the technology beyond the laboratory.

"Chemical manufacturing has relied on a class of catalysts called 'zeolites' for half a century," says Dr. Chris Nicholas, CEO of Låkril Technologies. "Because the new catalyst discovery is based on a zeolite formulation already available at scale, our new process to make acrylic acid and acrylates will achieve low cost with low risk."
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US company gets $120 million boost to make 'green steel'
Source: AP

By ED DAVEY today

The manufacture of “green steel” moved one step closer to reality Friday as Massachusetts-based Boston Metal announced a $120 million investment from the world’s second-largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal.

Boston Metal will use the injection of funds to expand production at a pilot plant in Woburn, near Boston, and help launch commercial production in Brazil. The company uses renewable electricity to convert iron ore into steel.

Steel is one of the world’s dirtiest heavy industries. Three-quarters of world production uses a traditional method that burns through train loads of coal to heat the furnaces and drive the reaction that releases pure iron from ore.

Making steel releases more climate-warming carbon dioxide than any other industry, according to the International Energy Agency — about 8% of worldwide emissions. Many companies are working on alternatives.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/production-f ... 316007f994
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Novel technique developed to produce hydrogen peroxide without emitting carbon dioxide
https://phys.org/news/2023-01-technique ... arbon.html
by Ricardo Muniz, FAPESP
A study published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces describes a novel method of producing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) without emitting carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the main greenhouse gases and one of the world's most widely produced chemicals.

Hydrogen peroxide is used to bleach fabric, pulp and paper, and to whiten teeth. It is also used as a thruster fuel for satellite attitude control, and as a disinfectant or sterilizing agent by hospitals. Some 2 million metric tons of the compound are produced annually.

"To understand the impact of our findings, it's important first and foremost to bear in mind the significance of H2O2 in the chemical industry and the way it's currently produced," said Ivo Freitas Teixeira, a professor of chemistry at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in São Paulo State, Brazil. He has a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of São Paulo (USP) and was a Humboldt Fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany, between 2019 and 2021.
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