BonLab Blog
Thoughts & Scientific Fiction
Researchers at The University of Warwick have made significant progress in the search for sustainable alternatives to conventional plastics. In response to growing environmental concerns, the move towards a circular economy and changing consumer preferences, the research team has identified that certain mixtures of small organic molecules form interesting glasses and viscous liquids. These so-called organic eutectics are promising candidates for replacing polymers in various products.
Phase change materials, also known as PCMs, can capture, store, and release energy when they undergo a phase transition. One class of PCMs with relatively high latent energy storage capabilities are alkane-based waxes. These store energy upon melting and will release it again when they solidify through crystallization. To make use of this so-called latent heat is helpful for many applications, and indeed can be found, for example, in building insulation and temperature regulation materials. If, however, we would like to use this concept in a temperature-regulating fluid, we need to disperse the PCMs into a liquid, such as water, that in itself has a high heat capacity and thus the ability to store energy.
Single-layer graphene oxide sheets are interesting as a flexible 2D material, with xy-dimensions variable up to a centimetre in length and a z-thickness of a single carbon atom. The presence of oxygen atoms with functional groups, such as hydroxy, epoxy, carboxylic acid, ketone, or aldehyde, provides graphene oxide (GO) with polarity. This unique property allows GO to disperse as single sheets in polar solvents like water or DMSO at low concentrations, in the absence of electrolytes or other colloidal particles.
