Frontal Polymerization 

In this article, we perform a combined experimental, numerical, and analytical investigation of the thermal-diffusion-promoted frontal polymerization (FP) in trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) with embedded metal strips. The study reveals that the enhancement in the front velocity is mainly due to a preheating effect associated with the conductive element. Moreover, the numerical parametric study for the system size shows that the front speed increases as the system size decreases, ultimately approaching a prediction provided by a homogenized model for polymer–metal composites.

Gao et al.

Solid-State NMR Views of Plant Cell Walls and Mutants

In two recent publications, solid-state NMR and Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) techniques were used to characterize the structure of Arabidopsis and two allelic mutants for a pectin methyltranferase and the cell wall structure of wild-type and mutant rice stems without isotopic labeling. 

KIRUI ET AL.

Zhao et al.

Reaction-diffusion hydrogels from urease enzyme particles

Inspired by biofilm formation, we present a general method for the growth of hydrogels from urease enzyme-particles by combining production of ammonia with a pH-regulated polymerization reaction in solution. This approach can be exploited to create enzyme-hydrogels or chemically patterned coatings for applications in biocatalytic flow reactors.

MAI ET AL.