The May issue of e-Polymers presents seven important contributions. The very nice contribution of Jung and Oh reports on the swelling of microgels for bioencapsulations. Gelatin methacrylate microcapsules were prepared by the microfluidic technique followed by photo-cross-linking of the resulting microcapsules. The mechanical properties of the microcapsules were examined in combination with the microencapsulation of living cells. This felicitous paper had been selected by the editors to provide the cover figure for this issue of e-Polymers. Yang et al. simulated noncovalent interactions of graphene nanosheets and polymers by force fields, which is of major importance for understanding the cut-off distance of graphene-based polymer nanocomposites. Well-dispersed complex electrospun nanofibers in PMMA matrix are carefully examined by A. Kausar. The aramid-silica-grafted-multi-walled carbon nanotubes based nanofibers, which were used for the reinforcement of PMMA, showed a significant effect on the thermal properties and the mechanical stability of this novel type of nanocomposites. Zhan et al. presents in situ prepared Fe(0) as an initiator for the living radical copolymerization of styrene and acrylonitrile. The polymerization was carried out at 25°C which could be important when temperature sensitive substrates are present. In a very detailed paper Schartel and Altstädt report on the competition of halogene-free PBT and its glass-fiber composites. Anyone interested in learning about the result of this competition is highly recommended to read this contribution carefully. What the X-band microwave is, why its shielding is so important, and how to use it by polymer-Yttrium oxide composites are reported by Faisal and Khasim. An important key here is the use of conductive polyaniline as the matrix polymer. Without a doubt mechanical properties of carbon fibers are of core interest. Jo, Lee and their colleagues discuss in their contribution the impact of the drawing process of textile-frade PAN fibers. Here, the manipulation of the dipole-dipole interactions among the nitrile groups displayed a key impact.
As already announced in the March issue the editorials will also briefly introduce the editorial team in a random fashion to the readers of e-Polymers. Here we would like to introduce our Editor Prof. Jian Ji, a very well-established scientist. Jian Ji is full Professor of Biomaterials and Biointerfaces at Zhejiang University (ZU). He obtained his bachelor degree at ZU and received his PhD from the Institute of Polymer Composites at ZU in 1997. He is mainly interested in the synthesis and properties of all kind of complex polymer structures and their application as biomaterials. He is particularly interested in biomimetic nano-carriers which are of core importance as vehicles for bioactive agents. More information about Prof. Jian Ji and his excellent research can be found at http://polymer.zju.edu.cn/english/redir.php?catalog_id=23723&object_id=34624. Prof. Jian Ji reviews scientific publications at the highest level ensuring the utmost quality of e-Polymers papers. He supports contributors together with the reviewers to ensure submissions to e-Polymers are the best possible for the broad readership in order to push science ahead significantly.
©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
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