Together with Matt Baker (MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine, Maastricht University) Maarten is co-organising a focus session during the next NWO Chains conference. Their focus session is entitled Dynamic Polymers for Advanced Materials, is scheduled for Wednesday December 9, from 14.15-15.35h, and will host a combination of international and national speakers.
While traditional polymeric materials are built from static covalent bonds, the incorporation of dynamic, responsive and reversible bonds into polymeric materials provides enhanced properties for many fields. In particular, very recently the use of dynamic covalent bonds, which combine robustness (due to the covalent nature of the bond) with reversibility, has opened up the routes towards new functional polymers, even beyond the scope attainable through –by now– classical supramolecular bonds. These materials range from recyclable and self-healing materials, to dynamic and stimuli-responsive smart systems, smartly designed dynamic polymers are beginning to impact our lives in applications from manufacturing to biomedical implants. This session will focus on recent developments in the use of dynamic covalent motifs as the reversible units within materials.
Make sure to register for Chains, if you want to attend this focus session.