An AMI project on the cover of the Journal of Physical Chemistry

Ilya Martchenko, Hervé Dietsch and team published an article in the Journal of Physical Chemistry this month. The article is available online and will be highlighted on the front cover of the ACS Journal on December 15, 2011. « Dynamical behavior of ellipsoidal and spherocylindrical-shaped particles in solution was predicted already more than 70 years ago. In this work, we experimentally validated the mathematical models using Depolarized Dynamic Light Scattering on monodisperse anisometric silica coated hematite with different coating thickness and so different aspect ratios » says Hervé. Click here to read the full article

AMI on Swiss German Television

The Swiss German Television forecasted a 5 minutes report on the AMI this month. The TV show named “Einstein” visited the Institute to get an overview of its research on ‘smart materials’. A self-healing material or a polymer changing its color when heated, many of our current projects have been explained in this TV show. Scientists often struggle to explain their projects in a clear way. Einstein used cool animations to explain complex reactions clearly to any audience. Click on the link to have a look at this report (German/Swiss German only).

Prof. Alke Fink and Prof. Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser join the Adolphe Merkle Institute (AMI)

Professors Alke Fink and Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser share the chair “Bionanomaterials” at the Adolphe Merkle Institute since July 1st, 2011. The Bionanomaterials chair is one of three current positions funded by the Adolphe Merkle Institute for Nanotechnology.

The Bionanomaterials group envisages all concepts of nanoscience. By combining various aspects of this emerging scientific discipline, the group of Prof. Alke Fink and Prof. Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser are in a unique position to study and develop bio(nano)materials from their initial synthesis and characterization, to thorough understanding how they may interact with biological systems.

In this newly formed research group, the chair position is shared equally between Prof. Alke Fink and Prof. Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser. This situation is a fresh, novel and exciting perspective upon scientific research in an academic setting, enabling the unification of two different scientific backgrounds together in order to make a truly strong interdisciplinary research group.

A smart material with shape memory technology changes its rigidity on command

An innovation by the Adolphe Merkle Institute Researchers

In the scope of the National Research Programme "Smart Materials" (NRP 62), researchers from the Adolphe Merkle Institute in Fribourg are taking cues from sea cucumbers to develop shape memory polymers. An initial application could comprise the development of artificial bait for fishing. The researchers from Fribourg are also planning further, more high-tech applications in the medical field.

When Johan Foster, a group leader from the Adolphe Merkle Institute (AMI) puts an artificial worm at the end of a fishing hook, the bait is perfectly inert. But once it is in the water it starts to wiggle, thus wondrously imitating its natural counterpart. The explanation: when it comes into contact with water, this piece of shape memory polymer regains its initial geometry.

Although fishing lures might indeed be an easy-to-realize first product, the artificial worms were primarily made to demonstrate the properties and potential of the new water-activated shape-memory materials. Christoph Weder and Johan Foster are considering more sophisticated applications of their new materials in the biomedical area.

A scratched coating heals itself

Research by Adolphe Merkle Institute Researchers and partners published in the journal Nature.

Together with partners in the USA, researchers at the Adolphe Merkle Institute have developed a polymer-based material that can heal itself when placed under ultraviolet light for less than a minute. Their findings were published in the April 21st issue of Nature.

The scientists envision that healable materials like theirs could be used in automotive paints, varnishes for floors and furniture, and many other applications. Their polymers aren’t ready for commercial use, they acknowledge, but prove that the concept works. The new materials were created by a mechanism known as supramolecular assembly. Unlike conventional polymers, which consist of long, chain-like molecules with thousands of atoms, they are composed of smaller molecules, which are assembled into longer, polymer-like chains using metal ions as “molecular glue”. The result: the new materials, which the scientists call “metallo-supramolecular polymers”, behave in many ways like normal polymers. But when irradiated with intense ultraviolet light, the assembled structures are temporarily unglued. This transforms the originally solid material into a liquid that flows easily. When the light is switched off, the material re-assembles and solidifies again: the original properties are restored.