Putting the Power in Power-Dressing

Scientists in the UK developing wearable electronics have knitted a flexible fabric that delivers twice the power output of current energy harvesting textiles.

There is considerable interest and research into wearable piezoelectric energy harvesters that use waste energy from human movement or the ambient environment to power low-energy consuming wearable devices, such as wireless sensors and consumer electronics.

 

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The fabric is composed of two separate conducting, silver-coated polyamide textile faces joined together by a PVDF spacer yarn. Credit: Navneet Soin et al.

Put a plastic bag in your tank: Converting polyethylene waste into liquid fuel

Researchers in India have developed a relatively low-temperature process to convert certain kinds of plastic waste into liquid fuel as a way to re-use discarded plastic bags and other products. 

They report full details next month in the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management.

Many pundits describe the present time as the "plastic age" for good reason and as such we generate a lot plastic waste. 

Among that waste is the common polymer, low-density polyethylene (LDPE), which is used to make many types of container, medical and laboratory equipment, computer components and, of course, plastic bags. Recycling initiatives are in place in many parts of the world, but much of the polyethylene waste ends up in landfill, dispersed in the environment or in the sea.

credit:www.pslc.ws

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Organic lights and solar cells straight from the printer

Time is slowly running out for bulky television sets, boxy neon signs and the square-edged backlit displays we all know from shops and airports. It won’t be long before families gathering together to watch television at home will be calling out: “Unroll the screen, dear, the film’s about to start!” And members of the public may soon encounter screens everywhere they go, as almost any surface can be made into a display. “These may just be ideas at the mo- ment, but they have every chance of becoming reality,” says Dr. Armin Wedel, head of division at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP in Potsdam-Golm. The first curved screens were on display at this year’s consumer electronics trade show (IFA) in Berlin. The technology behind it all? OLEDs: flexible, organic, light-emitting diodes.

 

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) – here at the bus stop of the future – will soon come out of printing machines.
© Fraunhofer IAP / Till Budde

Credit: http://www.fraunhofer.de

Synthetic Polymers Enable Cheap, Efficient, Durable Alkaline Fuel Cells

A new cost-effective polymer membrane can decrease the cost of alkaline batteries and fuel cells by allowing the replacement of expensive platinum catalysts without sacrificing important aspects of performance, according to Penn State researchers.

A membrane electrode assembly being inserted into a fuel cell testing stand. By creating several variations of membranes and studying them under similar conditions, the research team can predict the most optimal structure in an active and stable fuel cell. (Credit: Patrick Mansell)

 Credit: http://news.psu.edu

Polymers

Do you think that daily life would have been easier and colourful without the discovery and varied applications of polymers? The use of polymers in the manufacture of plastic buckets, cups and saucers, children’s toys, packaging bags, synthetic clothing materials, automobile tyres, gears and seals, electrical insulating materials and machine parts has completely revolutionised the daily life as well as the industrial scenario. Indeed, the polymers are the backbone of four major industries viz. plastics, elastomers, fibres and paints and varnishes. The word ‘polymer’ is coined from two Greek words: poly means many and mer means unit or part. The term polymer is defined as very large molecules having high molecular mass (10³-10⁷u).  For more details click here.

Courtesy: S. Anand, http://textbook.s-anand.net/

Rubber - Chemistry

Rubber is an elastomer—that is, a polymer that has the ability to regain its original shape after being deformed. Rubber is also tough and resistant to weathering and chemical attack. Elastomers can be naturally occurring polymers, such as natural rubber, or they can be synthetically produced substances, such as butyl rubber, Thiokol, or neoprene. For a substance to be a useful elastomer it must possess a high molecular weight and a flexible polymer chain. 

Read more: http://www.chemistryexplained.com/Ru-Sp/Rubber.html#ixzz2D7RS7ypY

Polymers

Prior to the early 1920's, chemists doubted the existence of molecules having molecular weights greater than a few thousand. This limiting view was challenged by Hermann Staudinger, a German chemist with experience in studying natural compounds such as rubber and cellulose. In contrast to the prevailing rationalization of these substances as aggregates of small molecules, Staudinger proposed they were made up of macromolecules composed of 10,000 or more atoms. Read more here.

Courtesy: William Reusch, 

Introduction to Polymers

Polymers are a large class of materials consisting of many small molecules (called monomers) that can be linked together to form long chains, thus they are known as macromolecules. Read more here.

Addition polymerization steps

Courtesy: http://plc.cwru.edu