A new paper titled “Electric Field Driven Soft Morphing Matter” authored by Ciqun Xu (former joint PhD student with Bristol Robotic Laboratory), Charl Faul, Majid Taghavi, and Jonathan Rossiter, is now published Open Access in Advanced Materials!

This study demonstrated an electric field-driven soft morphing matter, termed electro-morphing gel (e-MG), with extremely high morphological adaptability and complex multimodal electric field response. The remote-control strategy opens a wide range of applications in soft and bio-inspired robotics, dexterous manipulation, and space exploration. Check the supporting video for a cool swinging gymnast for more details!

A new paper titled ”Conductive hydrophobic graphene oxide films via laser-scribed surface modification” was accepted for publication in Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, led by Prof Shirin Alexander from Swansea and a team of researchers, including Dr Marcos Villeda Hernandez and Charl Faul. The study investigated the behaviour of a carboxylate functionalized graphene oxide with water repellent property and improved electrical conductivity.

Ulia’s collaborative paper with Prof Ozlem Errol has now been published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials. Click here for the paper, published Open Access and available for free download!

Electrorheological fluids (ER) make up a class of smart materials that are distinguished by their capacity to alter their rheological characteristics in a controlled and reversible manner in response to an externally applied electric field (E). Three-dimensional (3D) conjugated microporous polymer (CMP) analogs of PAni have a nitrogen-rich porous and hierarchical structure, low density, and appropriate conductivity that can be used to explore ER performance and dispersion stability. Here, a carboxylic acid functionalized version was designed to obtain higher polarizability and appropriate conductivity without the need for a dedoping process and thus enhanced ER performance.

A new manuscript Triphenylamine-Based Conjugated Microporous Polymers as the Next Generation Organic Cathode Materials is now available online in Advanced Materials Early View.

Here, a novel triphenylamine-based porous polymer (LPCMP) is presented as an outstanding lithium-ion battery cathode, delivering 146 mAh g^-1 at 3.6 V, high power density, and stability over 1000 cycles, marking a breakthrough for high-energy organic LIBs. These exciting results stem from the close collaboration with colleagues from the National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing.