Inorganic ionic polymerization:A bioinspired strategy for material preparation

Bioinspired materials with excellent properties have attracted intense interests of scientists,and the methodology for rationally design of these materials is crucially important.This review briefly introduces our recent achievements on inorganic ionic polymerization for bioinspired material preparation.The inorganic ionic polymerization realized the assembly of inorganic ions in a way similar to the polymerization in polymer chemistry,overcoming the limitation by classical nucleation pathway.It enabled the moldable construction of inorganic minerals and even the reconstruction of enamel tissue,which commonly only achieved by biomineralization.In the presence of organic molecules,the inorganic ionic polymerization could participate in the organic polymerization,resulting in hybrids with molecular-scaled organic-inorganic homogeneity.And furthermore,under the regulation of bio-inspired molecules,the condensed state of the assembled inorganic ions could show unusual behaviors:such as adding the flexibility to commonly fractal inorganic minerals,and flowability to solid mineral particles.It enabled the production of flexible mineral materials as plastic substitute,and the extrusion forming of moldable minerals under room temperature.The inorganic ionic polymerization demonstrated a promising way to synthesize inorganics in a more rational way,which may shed light on more advanced bio-inspired and biomimetic material.

Occupant evacuation model based on cellular automata in fire

By applying the rules set in traffic flow and pedestrian flow models, a basic cellular automata model is presented to simulate occupant evacuation in fire. Some extended models are introduced to study the special phenomena of evacuation from the fire room. The key of the models is the introduction of the danger grade which makes the route choice convenient and reasonable. Fire not only influences the emotional and behavioral characteristics of an individual but also affects his physical constitution, which reduces his maximal possible velocity. The models consider these influence factors by applying a set of simple but effective rules. It is needed to emphasize that all rules are established according to the essential phenomenon in fire evacuation, that is, all the occupants would try to move to the safest place as fast as possible. Some simulation examples are also presented to validate the applicability of the models.

Making elastic ceramic plastic by hybrid molecules

Transformations of molecules to bulk materials constitute a unique direction for the rational design of materials,known as bottom-up syntheses[1].The regulation of the structure and performance of materials could be achieved by altering the composition and structure of molecules.Organic-inorganic hybrid materials have played indispensable roles as mechanical,optical,and electronic materials[2],but isolated organic-inorganic hybrid molecules(currently only limited in covalent compounds)are seldom presented throughout the preparation of hybrid materials.