Tag Archive | publicaton
New paper on solvent free ionic conductivity out in Macromolecules
Metal–ligand coordination, as a non-covalent interaction, has been extensively applied in polymer matrices to enhance the mechanical toughness, tune viscoelasticity, and enable self-healing. In recent years, metal–ligand coordination has also been studied as a means of designing ionically conductive polymers. Silicone is a widely used elastomer due to its low cost, large strain to failure, […]
Paper on modeling elastomers with ionic bonds and entanglements out in Mechanics of Materials
Dynamic crosslinks and entanglements play a significant role in tuning mechanical properties of elastomers and gels. In our recent paper in the journal of Mechanics of Materials, we report a continuum modeling framework that considers these two mechanisms for adding toughness and strength to polymers – ionic bonding and entanglements. This theoretical study led by Zhongtong Wang […]
Publication on ionically crosslinked elastomers is out in Soft Matter
Incorporation of reversible crosslinks into polymers is an effective approach for tailoring their mechanical properties and to realizing behavior like self-healing, shape memory, and pH sensitivity. Among various reversible crosslink types, ionic bonds are particularly interesting because of their biocompatibility, saloplasticity, and relevance for energy conversion technologies. Understanding the structure-function relationship of such polymers is […]
Modeling Polymer Chains
MMD lab graduate Michael Buche just published work started in his PhD thesis in Physical Review E. “Freely jointed chain models with extensible links” presents how to derive asymptotically correct analytical expressions for the force-stretch relationships for polymer chains with extensible bonds utilizing statistical thermodynamics. This work was co-authored with Prof Silberstein and fellow Cornell […]
Paper on modeling ionotronics out in JMPS
The design of functional and soft ionotronic devices has gained a considerable interest over the last decade, with applications ranging from sensing and energy harvesting to drug delivery. The coupled electrochemical and mechanical response of soft ionic polymers plays a pivotal role in the operation of many such devices and presents a significant challenge for […]
Review Paper on Soft Ionics
How can soft polymer systems create devices that process information and interact with the world around them? That is the topic of a new review paper led by Max Tepermeister and with contribution from many members of the Silberstein lab and in collaboration with the Suntivich and Tian groups and published in Frontiers in Physics. […]
Metamaterials paper published
“Examining the impact of asymmetry in lattice-based mechanical metamaterials” is now published in Mechanics of Materials. This work was led by graduate student Srikar Srivatsa and was in collaboration with the Selva group at Texas A&M. In this study we use a generative algorithm to produce lattice-based metamaterials within a confined design space. We then […]
New paper out in Advanced Materials Interfaces
The Research Article “Enabling Tunable Water-Responsive Surface Adaptation of PDMS via Metal-ligand Coordinated Dynamic Networks” is now published in Advanced Materials Interfaces. This work was led by Xinyue(Joy) Zhang. We demonstrated a new design to enable time-dependent adaptation of a polymer via dynamic functionalities. By embedding dynamic metal-ligand coordination into a PDMS matrix, a reversible hydrophobic […]
Science Perspective on tailoring elastomers
Can materials be both soft and tough? Historically, low toughness has severely limited implementation of soft materials, such as hydrogels, in emerging technologies. Our perspective “Pathways to tough yet soft materials” analyzes state-of-the-art techniques for enhancing mechanical properties of hydrogels. In this article, published in the latest issue of Science, postdoc Nikola Bosnjak discusses novel […]
New papers out on mechanoresponsive elastomer modeling
Dr. Michael Buche’s paper on statistical mechanics derived modeling of mechanoresponsive elastomers is now out in the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids. Titled “Chain breaking in the statistical mechanical constitutive theory of polymer networks,” it methodically derives a constitutive model for elastomer networks with breakable bonds that encompasses and expands beyond the […]
Mechanics for Material Design 