Materials Sciences

Materials management deals with the research, development, manufacturing and processing of raw and industrial materials. Key aspects here are biological and medical issues, which play an increasingly important role in this field.

innovations-report offers in-depth articles related to the development and application of materials and the structure and properties of new materials.

NIST chemists define and refine properties of plastic microsystems

There may well be a plastic biochip in your future, thanks in part to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Microfluidics devices, also known as “lab-on-a-chip” systems, are miniaturized chemical and biochemical analyzers that one day may be used for quick, inexpensive tests in physicians’ offices. Most microfluidics devices today are made of glass materials. Cheaper, disposable devices could be made of plastics, but their properties are not yet well understood.

New antibacterial coating may prolong contact lens life

The hassle of removing and cleaning your contacts every night, or even every month, could become a thing of the past, based on a study involving a new contact lens coating that kills bacteria.

The study involved rabbits. The coating: an extremely thin layer of selenium, a naturally occurring element found in soil, some plants and many foods we eat.

The rabbits showed no ill effects after two consecutive months of wearing the coated lenses, according to Ted Reid, Ph.D., of Texas Te

Colloidal inks form self-supporting scaffolds through robocasting

A new way to assemble complex, three-dimensional structures from specially formulated colloidal inks could find use in advanced ceramics, sensors, composites, catalyst supports, tissue engineering scaffolds and photonic materials.

As will be reported in the July 9 issue of the journal Langmuir, scientists have developed colloidal, gel-based inks that form self-supporting features through a robotic deposition process called robocasting. A computer-controlled robot squeezes the ink out of a s

LCD paint licked

Walls and curtains could sport liquid-crystal digital displays.

Homes of the future could change their wallpaper from cream to cornflower blue at the touch of a button, says Dirk Broer. His team has developed paint-on liquid crystal displays (LCDs) that offer the technology.

Liquid crystals are peculiar liquids: their molecules spontaneously line up, rather than being randomly orientated as in a normal liquid. Passing a voltage across the molecules switches their alignment, b

Osmium is Stiffer than Diamond, Scientists Discover

Whether it will compete for the title of a girl’s best friend remains to be seen but the element osmium can already challenge diamond in at least one respect: stiffness. According to a report published in the current issue of Physical Review Letters, osmium can withstand compression better than any known material. The results provide a potentially new lead in the search for superhard materials.
Diamond’s ability to resist scratches, dents and chipping–in short, its hardness–makes

Elektrischer Anstoß zur Selbstorganisation

Neue Materialien mit nichtlinearen optischen Eigenschaften

Fensterscheiben und Brillengläser, die sich bei zunehmender Helligkeit dunkler färben, sind besonders im Sommer eine feine Sache. Optische Eigenschaften, die sich mit der Lichtstärke verändern, so genannte nichtlineare optische Eigenschaften, sind ihr Geheimnis. Auch als optoelektronische Bauteile sind derartige Materialien von Interesse. Voraussetzung für die besonderen optischen Eigenschaften ist eine sehr regelmäßigen Mikrostruktu

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