Scientific Highlights

7th August 2020
Surface pattered with 3D soft mushroom features showing adhesion via mechanical interlocking of mushroom features onto a textile fabric. Copyright: Wageningen University & Research

3D Printed Bioinspired Surface Patterning for Soft Robotics

Research work by Wageningen University and Groningen University shows that 3D mushroom-shaped surface features have desirable mechanical functionality to adhere to soft and rough surfaces such as fabrics via mechanical... (Read more)
7th August 2020

Designing Optimal Super-liquid-repellent Surfaces

Scientist from Durham University research into doubly reentrant surfaces designed for optimal water... (Read more)
3rd August 2020
A flexible membrane ring is pulled or pushed (indicated by arrows) by internal self-propelled filaments. Filaments mutually interact repulsively via membrane deformation, and thereby align parallel to each other in clusters. Copyright: Utrecht University/Forschungszentrum Jülich

Artificial Cells and Soft Microrobots: Controlling Shape, Motility, and Sensing

Scientists at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, propose that engineered flexocytes with desired mechanosensitive capabilities enable the construction of soft-matter microrobots... (Read more)
3rd August 2020
Schematic representation of the tube dilation in linear-linear and star-linear blends. The undilated tube has a diameter and increases with time as a consequence of constraint release (CR) – relaxation of a given chain driven by the motions of surrounding chains. Copyright: University of the Basque Country

Direct Observation of Tube Dilation in Polymer Blends

Scientists of the University of the Basque Country and Forschungszentrum Jülich exploited the spatial and time resolution of neutron spin echo (NSE) to directly probe the time-dependent tube dilation in blends of entangled... (Read more)