Material politics Barry, Andrew; Barry, Andrew
2013., 2013, 2013-09-23
eBook
In Material Politics, author Andrew Barry reveals that as we are beginning to attend to the importance of materials in political life, materials has become increasingly bound up with the production ...of information about their performance, origins, and impact. * Presents an original theoretical approach to political geography by revealing the paradoxical relationship between materials and politics * Explores how political disputes have come to revolve not around objects in isolation, but objects that are entangled in ever growing quantities of information about their performance, origins, and impact * Studies the example of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline – a fascinating experiment in transparency and corporate social responsibility – and its wide-spread negative political impact * Capitalizes on the growing interdisciplinary interest, especially within geography and social theory, about the critical role of material artefacts in political life
Recently a new, large family of two‐dimensional (2D) early transition metal carbides and carbonitrides, called MXenes, was discovered. MXenes are produced by selective etching of the A element from ...the MAX phases, which are metallically conductive, layered solids connected by strong metallic, ionic, and covalent bonds, such as Ti2AlC, Ti3AlC2, and Ta4AlC3. MXenes combine the metallic conductivity of transition metal carbides with the hydrophilic nature of their hydroxyl or oxygen terminated surfaces. In essence, they behave as “conductive clays”. This article reviews progress—both experimental and theoretical—on their synthesis, structure, properties, intercalation, delamination, and potential applications. MXenes are expected to be good candidates for a host of applications. They have already shown promising performance in electrochemical energy storage systems. A detailed outlook for future research on MXenes is also presented.
MXenes are a new family of two‐dimensional early transition metal carbides and carbonitrides produced by etching a metal layer from ternary layered carbides called MAX phases. This review describes the progress—both theoretical and experimental—in the synthesis, understanding of structure, measuring of properties, and development of applications of MXenes. In addition, future research directions and challenging open questions are discussed.
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Focusing on everyday rituals, the essays in this volume look at spheres of social action and the places throughout the Atlantic world where African–descended communities have expressed their values, ...ideas, beliefs, and spirituality in material terms. The contributors trace the impact of encounters with the Atlantic world on African cultural formation, how entanglement with commerce, commodification, and enslavement and with colonialism, emancipation, and self-rule manifested itself in the shaping of ritual acts such as those associated with birth, death, healing, and protection. Taken as a whole, the book offers new perspectives on what the materials of rituals can tell us about the intimate processes of cultural transformation and the dynamics of the human condition.
Stretchable electronics are mechanically compatible with a variety of objects, especially with the soft curvilinear contours of the human body, enabling human‐friendly electronics applications that ...could not be achieved with conventional rigid electronics. Therefore, extensive research effort has been devoted to the development of stretchable electronics, from research on materials and unit device, to fully integrated systems. In particular, material‐processing technologies that encompass the synthesis, assembly, and patterning of intrinsically stretchable electronic materials have been actively investigated and have provided many notable breakthroughs for the advancement of stretchable electronics. Here, the latest studies of such material‐based approaches are reviewed, mainly focusing on intrinsically stretchable electronic nanocomposites that generally consist of conducting/semiconducting filler materials inside or on elastomer backbone matrices. Various approaches for fabricating these intrinsically stretchable electronic materials are presented, including the blending of electronic fillers into elastomer matrices, the formation of bi‐layered heterogeneous electronic‐layer and elastomer support‐layer structures, and modifications to polymeric molecular structures in order to impart stretchability. Detailed descriptions of the various conducting/semiconducting composites prepared by each method are provided, along with their electrical/mechanical properties and examples of device applications. To conclude, a brief future outlook is presented.
The latest research developments and progress regarding material‐based approaches for the fabrication of stretchable electronics are comprehensively reviewed. Detailed descriptions of various stretchable conducting/semiconducting composites are given, along with their electrical/mechanical properties, material processing strategies, and examples of device applications. In addition, the outlook for future research in this field is discussed.
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A new one‐step ion‐exchange/activation combination method using a metal‐ion exchanged resin as a carbon precursor is used to prepare a ultrahigh surface area and three‐dimensional hierarchical porous ...graphene‐like networks for fast and highly stable supercapacitors.
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Thin-film electrocaloric and pyroelectric sources for electrothermal energy interconversion have recently emerged as viable means for primary and auxiliary solid-state cooling and power generation. ...Two significant advances have facilitated this development: (1) the formation of high-quality polymeric and ceramic thin films with figures of merit that project system-level performance as a large percentage of Carnot efficiency and (2) the ability of these newer materials to support larger electric fields, thereby permitting operation at higher voltages. This makes the power electronic architectures more favorable for thermal to electric energy interconversion. Current research targets to adequately address commercial device needs including reduction of parasitic losses, increases in mechanical robustness, and the ability to form nearly freestanding elements with thicknesses in the range of 1–10 μm. This article describes the current state-of-the-art materials, thermodynamic cycles, and device losses and points toward potential lines of research that would lead to substantially better figures of merit for electrothermal energy interconversion.
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