Sottos Research Group - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

	How Things Work: Self-Healing Airplanes Press in Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine - August 2009

Second Internaional Conference on Self-Healing Materials

	SEE THE FORCE: MECHANICAL STRESS LEADS TO SELF-SENSING IN SOLID POLYMERS Parachute cords, climbing ropes, and smart coatings for bridges that change color when overstressed are several possible uses for force-sensitive polymers being developed by researchers at the University of Illinois. U of I News Bureau Mechanochemically Active Polymers Web Page

	Ben Blaiszik, Graduate Student, has been selected as one of eight finalists for the $30,000 Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize. The Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize is an extension of the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize, which has recognized outstanding student inventors at MIT since 1995. Ben's work with the Autonomic Materials Group seeks to impart self-healing functionality into many of today's most common materials in order to prevent catastrophic failure and heal micro-cracking damage. Self-healing materials have the potential to benefit society in a number of ways including: the prevention of weather corrosion damage on bridges, the reduction of material usage to replace worn out parts, and allowing house paint to remain aesthetically pleasing after being scratched. Link to Lemelson Illinois Prize page Click poster to see full size image

	NEW RECIPE FOR SELF-HEALING PLASTIC INCLUDES DASH OF FOOD ADDITIVE Adding a food additive to damaged polymers can help restore them to full strength, say scientists at the University of Illinois who cooked up the novel, self-healing system. (see article)

	Cover Story: Self-healing epxoy with tungsten (VI) chloride catalyst. Cover image of an exo-DCPD filled microcapsule by Jason Kamphaus. (see article)

	UI Researchers named to Scientific American 50 11 Jan 2008 - Nancy Sottos and Scott White (Aerospace) were recognized for their development of self-healing materials. Together with their colleagues Jennifer Lewis (Materials Science) and Jeffrey Moore (Chemistry) and former PhD student Katie Toohey (TAM) they recently demonstrated a new material that mimics human skin by healing itself time after time using an embedded, three-dimensional microvascular supply network. The awards list, which appears in the magazine's January 2008 issue, honors 50 individuals, teams, companies and other organizations whose accomplishments in research, business or policymaking during 2006-2007 demonstrate outstanding technological leadership. (pdf of story)

A new catalyst-free, self-healing material system developed by Jeffrey Moore, the Murchison-Mallory Professor of Chemistry at Illinois, Scott White, a professor of aerospace engineering, and Nancy Sottos, a professor of materials science and engineering, offers a far less expensive and far more practical way to repair composite materials used in structural applications ranging from airplane fuselages to wind-farm propeller blades. See News Bureau press release.

Jillian M. Franke, an undergrad working with the Sottos Group, received 3rd Place in the National Undergraduate Collegiate Poster Competition at the 2007 SWE National Conference in Nashville in October. She was presented with the award at the Celebrate SWE Banquet on Saturday, October 27, 2007.	Jillian with her poster at the meeting.

Optical image of self-healing structure after cracks are formed in the coating, revealing the presence of excess healing fluid on the coating surface [scale bar = 5 mm].	Kathleen S. Toohey, Scott R. White, Jennifer A. Lewis, Jeffrey S. Moore and Nancy R. Sottos, have developed a new generation of bioinspired materials that are able to repeatedly and autonomically heal crack damage through the incorporation of embedded microvascular networks. The work is reported in Nature Materials. [full coverage]

Cover Graphic: Benjamin Grosser, Imaging Technology Group, Beckman Institute, UIUC	Nancy Sottos, Scott White (Aero), and Jeffrey Moore (Chemistry) have found a novel way to manipulate matter and drive chemical reactions along a desired direction. The new technique utilizes mechanical force to alter the course of chemical reactions and yield products not obtainable through conventional conditions. [full coverage] Cover Caption For most chemical reactions to proceed the reactants need to surmount an energy barrier. The energy required is usually provided as heat, light, pressure or electrical potential. Now mechanical force can be added to that list - to the surprise of many a chemist. A reaction can literally be given a shove. In specially designed polymers subjected to ultrasound, rearrangement reactions are accelerated and reaction pathways can be biased to yield products not obtainable from purely thermal or light-induced reactions. The polymers contain a mechanophore positioned at a site where forces from extensional flow are greatest. Besides offering new ways of controlling chemical reactions, this work may also lead to mechanically adaptable materials, polymers that might generate a signal to warn of impending damage, undergo structure modification to slow the rate of damage, or even self-repair. [Letter p. 423; News & Views p. 381]

[link to website]

Jillian M. Franke, an undergrad working with the Sottos Group, received 3rd Place in the National Undergraduate Collegiate Poster Competition at the 2007 SWE National Conference in Nashville in October. She was presented with the award at the Celebrate SWE Banquet on Saturday, October 27, 2007.

[link to website]