Scientists from North Carolina State University (NCSU) have figured out how to make a polymer that is highly regarded and used in many applications work with fewer complications as a surgical implant, including for spinal surgeries. The high-performance polymer often used for these implants – polyetheretherketone, or PEEK – is preferred over metallic biomaterials for [...]
Researchers Optimize Efficiency of Polymer Solar Cells
November 7, 2012 By 3 Comments
Research from physicists at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and other places is challenging a once-held belief about polymer-based solar cells, and could help those power sources be more efficient. Polymer-based solar cells use two domains, known as acceptor and donor layers. Energy particles, called excitons, must travel quickly between the layers so that they [...]
Researcher Sets Record Straight on Biodegradable Plastics
July 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
James Levis and Morton Barlaz at North Carolina State University (NCSU) had published a study a couple of months ago that analyzed the release of greenhouse gases by biodegradable plastics in landfills. Greenhouse gases contribute to climate change. Media outlets, including this blog, covered the research but with different, and often inaccurate, takes on it. [...]
Plastic Stress Sensor Fixes Itself
June 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
What good is an instrument if it breaks while in use? As an article in Plastics Today reports, researchers from North Carolina State University (NCSU) have made a new type of sensor based on polymers that can fix itself if it literally cracks under pressure. Engineers face a vexing problem when using conventional sensors for measuring the strain, [...]
Biodegradable Plastics Questioned
June 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Can we have it both ways: use plastic and save the environment at the same time? Biodegradable plastics, the kind that is supposed to break down in landfills and not languish forever as pollutants of land and sea, Â have been touted as the plastic you can use with a clear conscience. But can you? A [...]
