Flexible biomimetic block copolymer composite for temperature and long-wave infrared sensing.

Biological compounds often provide clues to advance material designs. Replicating their molecular structure and functional motifs in artificial materials offers a blueprint for unprecedented functionalities. Here, we report a flexible biomimetic thermal sensing (BTS) polymer that is designed to emulate the ion transport dynamics of a plant cell wall component, pectin.

Spin-phonon coupling and dynamic zero-field splitting contributions to spin conversion processes in iron(II) complexes.

Magnetization dynamics of transition metal complexes manifest in properties and phenomena of fundamental and applied interest [e.g., slow magnetic relaxation in single molecule magnets, quantum coherence in quantum bits (qubits), and intersystem crossing (ISC) rates in photophysics].

Defining the Catechol-Cation Synergy for Enhanced Wet Adhesion to Mineral Surfaces.

Mussel foot proteins (Mfps) exhibit remarkably adaptive adhesion and bridging between polar surfaces in aqueous solution despite the strong hydration barriers at the solid-liquid interface. Recently, catechols and amines-two functionalities that account for >50 mol % of the amino acid side chains in surface-priming Mfps-were shown to cooperatively displace the interfacial hydration and mediate robust adhesion between mineral surfaces. Here we demonstrate that (1) synergy between catecholic and guanidinium side chains similarly promotes adhesion, (2) increasing the ratio of cationic amines to catechols in a molecule reduces adhesion, and (3) the catechol-cation synergy is greatest when both functionalities are present within the same molecule.