Polymers articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Soft elastic materials could be useful in the fabrication of brain-machine interfaces, but achieving the desirable material properties can be challenging. Here, the authors report control of the amorphous-crystalline transition of polymers to alter hydrogel properties and monitor mouse behaviour.

    • Sizhe Huang
    • , Xinyue Liu
    •  & Siyuan Rao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Selective nanofiltration membranes with accurate molecular sieving offer a solution to recover rare metals and other valuable elements from brines but this demands the development of membranes with precise sub-nanometer pores surpassing those available today. Here, the authors report a scalable approach for membrane fabrication in which functionalized macrocycles are seamlessly oriented via supramolecular interactions during the interfacial polycondensation on a polyacrylonitrile support layer.

    • Shanshan Hong
    • , Maria Di Vincenzo
    •  & Suzana P. Nunes

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Polyamide-12 is the main polymer employed to produce 3D objects by laser sintering constraining the functionality of the items produced. Here, the authors report a clean and scalable approach for the functionalization of polyamide-12 particles, yielding materials that can be printed using commercial apparatus.

    • Eduards Krumins
    • , Liam A. Crawford
    •  & Steven M. Howdle

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Supramolecular polymeric materials have exhibited attractive features such as self-healing, reversibility and stimuli-responsiveness but because of the weak bonding nature of most noncovalent interactions, constructing supramolecular polymer materials with high robustness remains challenging. Here, the authors describe the construction of highly robust stimuli-responsive supramolecular polymer networks by using only a tiny amount of metallacycles as the supramolecular crosslinkers.

    • Lang He
    • , Yu Jiang
    •  & Shijun Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The construction of three-dimensional covalent organic frameworks for gas separation is challenging due to the similar physicochemical properties of the gas mixture. Here, the authors report functional three-dimensional covalent organic frameworks by fine-tunning the pore environment with pyridine units to achieve effective separation of ethane from ethylene.

    • Yang Xie
    • , Wenjing Wang
    •  & Cheng Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sulfur-rich polymers are promising candidates for chemical recycling but lack efficient synthetic strategies for achieving diverse structures. Here, the authors report a synthesis strategy for polytrithiocarbonates which is compatible with a wide range of monomers enabling diverse structures via polycondensation of dithiols and dimethyl trithiocarbonate.

    • Jin-Zhuo Zhao
    • , Tian-Jun Yue
    •  & Wei-Min Ren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is challenging to achieve multicolor long-lived room temperature phosphorescence in intrinsic polymers, especially for white afterglow. Here, the authors report a strategy to obtain pure white afterglow micro-crosslinked polymers by covalently coupling different conjugated chromophores with precursors through a simple and rapid one-pot reaction.

    • Qingao Chen
    • , Lunjun Qu
    •  & Chaolong Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The use of membranes under harsh conditions, particularly involving the separation of complex organic solvents, remains challenging. Here the authors demonstrate an ultrathin organosiloxane polymer membrane using initiated chemical vapor deposition to effectively separate solutes within the molecular weight range of 150–300 g mol−1.

    • Jihoon Choi
    • , Keonwoo Choi
    •  & Dong-Yeun Koh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Radioiodine capture from nuclear fuel waste and contaminated water sources is of environmental importance but technically challenging. Here, the authors report covalent organic frameworks with antiparallel eclipsed stacked structures with dynamic adsorption performance for iodine pollutants under various conditions.

    • Yinghui Xie
    • , Qiuyu Rong
    •  & Xiangke Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The controllability of deformation height in reconfigurable touch displays currently limits their deliverable information. Hwang et al. present a light-triggered morphable tactile display enabling generation of refreshable, height-adjustable, and latchable 3D topologies with varying textures on a thin film surface.

    • Inwook Hwang
    • , Seongcheol Mun
    •  & Sungryul Yun

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    Chemical recycling of plastic enables renewed production of pristine materials, but generally comes at a high energy cost. This review focuses on light-driven approaches for chemically recycling and upcycling plastic waste, with emphasis on reduced energy consumption and selective transformations of challenging to recycle backbone structures.

    • Laura Wimberger
    • , Gervase Ng
    •  & Cyrille Boyer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Starting from simple building blocks with specific molecular packing geometries, here, the authors synthesized structurally complex covalent organic framework COF-305 with nine different stereoisomers of its constituents showing specific sequences on topologically equivalent sites.

    • Lei Wei
    • , Xinyue Hai
    •  & Yingbo Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mask-free multi-photon lithography allows the straightforward fabrication of nanostructures, but high precision and good resolution can be challenging to achieve. Here, the authors report a combination of photo-inhibition and chemical quenchers for improved lithography performance.

    • Lingling Guan
    • , Chun Cao
    •  & Xu Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Currently polyamide membranes fabricated by interfacial polymerization are limited by inherently negative charge as well as narrow charge tailoring window restricting the application of these membranes. Here, the authors report a facile ionic liquid-decoupled bulk/interfacial diffusion strategy to fabricate polyamide membranes which can transform on-demand from inherently negative to highly positive and near-neutral charge.

    • Bian-Bian Guo
    • , Chang Liu
    •  & Zhi-Kang Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Elastomers capable of autonomous self-healing and mechanical stimulus sensing in aquatic environments are interesting for applications in underwater soft electronics. Here, the authors present a hydrophobic-hydrolytic molecularly engineered self-healing piezo-ionic elastomer with underwater self-healing properties and mechanosensitive ion channels.

    • Zhengyang Kong
    • , Elvis K. Boahen
    •  & Do Hwan Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dielectric constant of non-fullerene acceptors plays a critical role in organic solar cells in terms of exciton dissociation and charge recombination. Here, authors report selenium substitution on central core of acceptors to improve dielectric constant, realizing devices with efficiency of 19.0%.

    • Xinjun He
    • , Feng Qi
    •  & Wallace C. H. Choy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Organic afterglow materials have potential in self-monitoring applications but it is challenging to design materials with desired properties. Here, the authors report the development of a lifetime tunable organic afterglow system for use in mechanical self-monitoring 3D printed structures.

    • Rongjuan Huang
    • , Yunfei He
    •  & Wei Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    3D printing has potential in designing personalised scaffolds, but minimally invasive implantation is still challenging. Here, the authors report the development of a polyurethane material with temperature triggered shape memory and water triggered deformation that allows for transcatheter delivery.

    • Bo Liu
    • , Hui Li
    •  & Xiaoli Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Extracting rare earth elements (REEs) from wastewater is essential for the growth of an eco-friendly sustainable economy but separating individual rare earth elements remains challenging. Here, the authors report a REE nanotrap that features dense uncoordinated carboxyl groups and triazole N atoms in a two-fold interpenetrated metalorganic framework which is highly responsive to the size variation of rareearth ions.

    • Qing-Hua Hu
    • , An-Min Song
    •  & Jian-Ding Qiu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Relating the degree of network crosslinking as a descriptor to the desalination performance of crosslinked polymer membranes remains challenging. Here, the authors introduce a parameter based on distinct amide bonds per unit mass of polyamide, to unravel the relationship between the crosslinked networks of polyamide membranes and their desalination performance.

    • Yu-Ren Xue
    • , Chang Liu
    •  & Zhi-Kang Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although several advances have been made in chemical Polyethylene (PE) re- and upcycling, energy-efficient and selective catalytic processes are still lacking. Here, the authors show coupling of an industrially relevant coordination copolymerization olefins with a functionalized chain-transfer agent, followed by modular assembly of the resulting telechelic polyolefin building blocks by polycondensation to afford ester-linked PE-based random and block copolymers which exhibit full chemical circularity.

    • Xing-Wang Han
    • , Xun Zhang
    •  & Yong Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The role of polymers in stabilizing liquid crystal (LC)-water interfaces is well studied but how the LC affects stabilizers is not fully explored yet. Here, Ma et al. show that amphiphilic polymers change their behavior when the LC is heated towards its transition to the isotropic state, and propose that this is due to an entropic repulsion active at low temperatures where the orientationally ordered LC restricts the mobility of the flexible polymer chains.

    • Xu Ma
    • , Yucen Han
    •  & Jan P. F. Lagerwall

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Obtaining high-temperature phosphorescence in organic materials can potentially lead to broader applications, but can be challenging to achieve. Here, the authors report the use of rigid molecules as both host and guest to give temperature resistance and therefore high-temperature phosphorescence.

    • Kaijun Chen
    • , Yongfeng Zhang
    •  & Xiang Ma

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The development of heterogeneous photocatalysts applicable under harsh conditions is challenging. Here the authors report the conversion of imine linkages into quinoline groups in triphenylamine incorporated photosensitive covalent organic frameworks to develop robust heterogeneous photocatalysts for photocatalytic applications in harsh conditions.

    • Jia-Rui Wang
    • , Kepeng Song
    •  & Yanli Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tissue adhesives have received significant interest for their clinical utility but are typically incompatible with advanced manufacturing methods. Here, the authors introduce a 3D printable tissue adhesive for the fabrication of patches and devices for diverse biomedical applications.

    • Sarah J. Wu
    • , Jingjing Wu
    •  & Xuanhe Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ionic skins have potential in long-term physiological monitoring, but do not always achieve a desirable balance of viscosity and elasticity. Here, the authors report a material with hierarchical topological entanglements allowing desirable viscoelastic properties.

    • Huating Ye
    • , Baohu Wu
    •  & Peiyi Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Artificial ion channels have potential in a range of applications, but achieving performance comparable to biological channels has been challenging. Here, the authors report an artificial, light-driven chloride pump, inspired by halorhodopsin, with a helical porphyrin channel array.

    • Chao Li
    • , Yi Zhai
    •  & Lei Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lightweight flexible piezoelectric polymers are demanded for various applications, but restricted by the low instinctively piezoelectric coefficient and complex poling process. Here, the authors develop a high performance lightweight, flexible self-poled piezoelectric polymer composite towards sustainable self-powered sensing and energy harvesting.

    • Zhao-Xia Huang
    • , Lan-Wei Li
    •  & Jin-Ping Qu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is unclear whether microbes can efficiently degrade biodegradable plastics in the extreme environmental conditions of the seafloor. Here, Omura et al. show that biodegradable plastics can be degraded by the action of microorganisms on the deep-sea floor, although with much less efficiency than in coastal settings.

    • Taku Omura
    • , Noriyuki Isobe
    •  & Tadahisa Iwata

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