Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
8.5
4.4
Journals
Nanomaterials
Special Issues
Advances in Nanostructured Polymers (2nd Edition)
share announcement

Advances in Nanostructured Polymers (2nd Edition)

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Synthesis, Interfaces and Nanostructures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2024) | Viewed by 3790

Special Issue Editor

Dr. David Jenkins

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA, UK
Interests: piezoelectric films; MEMS; micro-sensors; micro-actuators; functionalised materials; graphene and 2D materials; MEMS and materials; nano/micro characterisation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The present Special Issue is a continuation of previous successful Special Issue, titled “Advance in Nanostructured Polymers” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nanomaterials/special_issues/nanostructured_polymers), which was also hosted by this Guest Editor.

Nanostructured polymers are a remarkably interesting class of materials suitable for an incredibly diverse range of applications depending on the polymers used, and whether they are doped, and on the solvents used in the fabrication process. Nanostructured polymers are certainly a unique class of materials that can take on different functional forms.

Polymers today may be considered to be structural or functional, and are often most interesting when they form nanostructured composites. They may often require simple or low-cost processing steps, and this can make them particularly attractive. Examples range from solvent cast, and electrospun nanofiber membranes through to aerogels. Polymers may be water- or solvent-soluble, and a range of additives can be introduced, such as nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, graphene, graphene oxide (GO), reduced GO, etc., to functionalise them. Formed polymers may take different physical forms and require post-fabrication processing steps, for example, to add electrodes in functional systems.

This Special Issue aims to address the latest research devoted to exploring the potential to develop new and novel nanostructured polymers, to explore the materials processing required and the methods used to evaluate their intrinsic characteristics, as well as to analyse their functionality for a diverse range of applications. Research articles focusing on the development of novel biocompatible nanostructured polymers that can be applied in environmental, health, and life sciences and bioinspired soft robotics are especially welcome. Nanostructured polymers that can be developed for larger-scale applications are strongly encouraged.

Dr. David Jenkins
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • nanostructured polymers
  • nanocomposites
  • nanomaterials
  • electrospinning
  • systems health
  • monitoring
  • life sciences
  • air and water filtration
  • soft robotics
  • sensors
  • actuators

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

20 pages, 15755 KiB  
Article
Enhanced Water Absorbency and Water Retention Rate for Superabsorbent Polymer via Porous Calcium Carbonate Crosslinking
by Yixin Jiao, Tongming Su, Yongmei Chen, Minggui Long, Xuan Luo, Xinling Xie and Zuzeng Qin
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(18), 2575; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13182575 - 17 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1408
Abstract
To improve the water absorbency and water-retention rate of superabsorbent materials, a porous calcium carbonate composite superabsorbent polymer (PCC/PAA) was prepared by copolymerization of acrylic acid and porous calcium carbonate prepared from ground calcium carbonate. The results showed that the binding energies of [...] Read more.
To improve the water absorbency and water-retention rate of superabsorbent materials, a porous calcium carbonate composite superabsorbent polymer (PCC/PAA) was prepared by copolymerization of acrylic acid and porous calcium carbonate prepared from ground calcium carbonate. The results showed that the binding energies of C–O and C=O in the O 1s profile of PCC/PAA had 0.2 eV and 0.1–0.7 eV redshifts, respectively, and the bonding of –COO− groups on the surface of the porous calcium carbonate led to an increase in the binding energy of O 1s. Furthermore, the porous calcium carbonate chelates with the –COO− group in acrylic acid through the surface Ca2+ site to form multidirectional crosslinking points, which would increase the flexibility of the crosslinking network and promote the formation of pores inside the PCC/PAA to improve the water storage space. The water absorbency of PCC/PAA with 2 wt% porous calcium carbonate in deionized water and 0.9 wt% NaCl water solution increased from 540 g/g and 60 g/g to 935 g/g and 80 g/g, respectively. In addition, since the chemical crosslinker N,N′-methylene bisacrylamide is used in the polymerization process of PCC/PAA, N,N′-methylene bisacrylamide and porous calcium carbonate enhance the stability of the PCC/PAA crosslinking network by double-crosslinking with a polyacrylic acid chain, resulting in the crosslinking network of PCC/PAA not being destroyed after water absorption saturation. Therefore, PCC/PAA with 2 wt% porous calcium carbonate improved the water-retention rate by 244% after 5 h at 60 °C, and the compressive strength was approximately five-times that of the superabsorbent without porous calcium carbonate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Nanostructured Polymers (2nd Edition))
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

14 pages, 4005 KiB  
Article
Self-Healable PEDOT:PSS-PVA Nanocomposite Hydrogel Strain Sensor for Human Motion Monitoring
by Jie Cao, Zhilin Zhang, Kaiyun Li, Cha Ma, Weiqiang Zhou, Tao Lin, Jingkun Xu and Ximei Liu
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(17), 2465; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13172465 - 31 Aug 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2166
Abstract
Strain sensors based on conducting polymer hydrogels are considered highly promising candidates for wearable electronic devices. However, existing conducting polymer hydrogels are susceptible to aging, damage, and failure, which can greatly deteriorate the sensing performance of strain sensors based on these substances and [...] Read more.
Strain sensors based on conducting polymer hydrogels are considered highly promising candidates for wearable electronic devices. However, existing conducting polymer hydrogels are susceptible to aging, damage, and failure, which can greatly deteriorate the sensing performance of strain sensors based on these substances and the accuracy of data collection under large deformation. Developing conductive polymer hydrogels with concurrent high sensing performance and self-healing capability is a critical yet challenging task to improve the stability and lifetime of strain sensors. Herein, we design a self-healable conducting polymer hydrogel by compositing poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) nanofibers and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) via both physical and chemical crosslinking. This PEDOT:PSS-PVA nanocomposite hydrogel strain sensor displays an excellent strain monitoring range (>200%), low hysteresis (<1.6%), a high gauge factor (GF = 3.18), and outstanding self-healing efficiency (>83.5%). Electronic skins based on such hydrogel strain sensors can perform the accurate monitoring of various physiological signals, including swallowing, finger bending, and knee bending. This work presents a novel conducting polymer hydrogel strain sensor demonstrating both high sensing performance and self-healability, which can satisfy broad application scenarios, such as wearable electronics, health monitoring, etc. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Nanostructured Polymers (2nd Edition))
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop