Lecture

Responsive Systems to Sustainable Materials

Graph Chat

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

Description

This lecture by Dr. Céline Calvino explores the transition from stimuli-responsive systems to sustainable materials, focusing on stimuli-responsive materials, dynamic bonds for functional polymers, mechanochromic materials, and the development of reinforced bio-sourced nanocomposite materials. The presentation covers the principles behind smart materials, the use of dynamic covalent bonds, and the application of aggregachromic chromophores in materials science. Dr. Calvino also discusses the challenges and opportunities in utilizing cellulose nanocrystals for reinforcement and the vision for greener polymer networks in a circular economy.

Official source

Related concepts (32)

Polymer

A polymer (ˈpɒlᵻmər; Greek poly-, "many" + -mer, "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic and natural polymers play essential and ubiquitous roles in everyday life. Polymers range from familiar synthetic plastics such as polystyrene to natural biopolymers such as DNA and proteins that are fundamental to biological structure and function.

Branching (polymer chemistry)

In polymer chemistry, branching is the regular or irregular attachment of side chains to a polymer's backbone chain. It occurs by the replacement of a substituent (e.g. a hydrogen atom) on a monomer subunit by another covalently-bonded chain of that polymer; or, in the case of a graft copolymer, by a chain of another type. Branched polymers have more compact and symmetrical molecular conformations, and exhibit intra-heterogeneous dynamical behavior with respect to the unbranched polymers.

Polymerization

In polymer chemistry, polymerization (American English), or polymerisation (British English), is a process of reacting monomer molecules together in a chemical reaction to form polymer chains or three-dimensional networks. There are many forms of polymerization and different systems exist to categorize them. In chemical compounds, polymerization can occur via a variety of reaction mechanisms that vary in complexity due to the functional groups present in the reactants and their inherent steric effects.

Sustainable design

Environmentally sustainable design (also called environmentally conscious design, eco-design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability and also aimed at improving the health and comfort of occupants in a building. Sustainable design seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment, the health and well-being of building occupants, thereby improving building performance.

Sustainable packaging

Sustainable packaging is the development and use of packaging which results in improved sustainability. This involves increased use of life cycle inventory (LCI) and life cycle assessment (LCA) to help guide the use of packaging which reduces the environmental impact and ecological footprint. It includes a look at the whole of the supply chain: from basic function, to marketing, and then through to end of life (LCA) and rebirth.

Related lectures (64)

Polymer Synthesis: Basics and Techniques

Explores polymer synthesis basics, including step and radical chain polymerization, molecular weight control, copolymerization, and crosslinked polymers for microengineering.

Circular Economy for Sustainable Composites

Delves into sustainability strategies, the circular economy, and challenges in the composites industry, addressing climate change effects and the role of composites.

Polymer Brushes: Surface-Initiated Polymerization

Explores the synthesis and properties of polymer brushes formed through surface-initiated polymerization.

Renewable Materials: Chemical Recycling and Polymer Networks

Explores renewable materials, chemical recycling of plastics, and polymer networks with photoswitchable motifs for recyclable adaptive materials.

Rubber Elasticity: Theory and Applications