Announcements

Materials (ISSN: 1996-1944) has launched the Section “Advanced Composites”. Advanced composites are increasingly used in several industrial sectors such as transportation (airplanes, helicopters, trains, automobiles, motorbikes, and bicycles), civil construction, electrical and electronic equipment, pipes and tanks, marine, energy conversion, and consumer goods. They play a key role in the development of lightweight structures with outstanding mechanical properties, high reliability, and environmental resistance.

We are pleased to present the Editor’s Choice Articles from December 2022, a carefully curated list of high-quality articles from the Section “Advanced Composites”, as listed below:

“Nonlinear Analytical Procedure for Predicting Debonding of Laminate from Substrate Subjected to Monotonic or Cyclic Load”
by Marco Lamberti, Francesco Ascione, Annalisa Napoli, Ghani Razaqpur and Roberto Realfonzo
Materials 2022, 15(23), 8690; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15238690
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/23/8690

“Open Hole Tension of 3D Printed Aligned Discontinuous Composites”
by Narongkorn Krajangsawasdi, Ian Hamerton, Benjamin K. S. Woods, Dmitry S. Ivanov and Marco L. Longana
Materials 2022, 15(23), 8698; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15238698
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/23/8698

“Transparent Wood-Based Materials: Current State-of-the-Art and Future Perspectives”
by Alberto Mariani and Giulio Malucelli
Materials 2022, 15(24), 9069; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15249069
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/24/9069

“Polymer Composites with Self-Regulating Temperature Behavior: Properties and Characterization”
by Radu Setnescu, Eduard-Marius Lungulescu and Virgil Emanuel Marinescu
Materials 2023, 16(1), 157; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16010157
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/16/1/157

“Effective Halogen-Free Flame-Retardant Additives for Crosslinked Rigid Polyisocyanurate Foams: Comparison of Chemical Structures”
by Johannes U. Lenz, Doris Pospiech, Hartmut Komber, Andreas Korwitz, Oliver Kobsch, Maxime Paven, Rolf W. Albach, Martin Günther and Bernhard Schartel
Materials 2023, 16(1), 172; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16010172
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/16/1/172

“Microstructural Characterization and Property of Carbon Fiber Reinforced High-Density Polyethylene Composites Fabricated by Fused Deposition Modeling”
by Partha Pratim Pandit, Chang Liu, Scott Iacono, Giancarlo Corti and Yingbin Huz
Materials 2023, 16(1), 180; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16010180
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/16/1/180

“In-Service Delaminations in FRP Structures under Operational Loading Conditions: Are Current Fracture Testing and Analysis on Coupons Sufficient for Capturing the Essential Effects for Reliable Predictions?”
by Andreas J. Brunner, René Alderliesten and John-Alan Pascoe
Materials 2023, 16(1), 248; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16010248
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/16/1/248

“Improvement of the Thermal Conductivity and Mechanical Properties of 3D-printed Polyurethane Composites by Incorporating Hydroxylated Boron Nitride Functional Fillers”
by Kai-Han Su, Cherng-Yuh Su, Wei-Ling Shih and Fang-Ting Lee
Materials 2023, 16(1), 356; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16010356
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/16/1/356

Materials (ISSN: 1996-1944) has launched the Section “Quantum Materials”. This Section publishes novel scientific and applied research that significantly contributes to the understanding and discovery of quantum materials and related phenomena, functions, and applications. Quantum materials are characterized by quantum many-body-systems in a typical form of strongly correlated electrons in solids that can engender novel and remarkable properties and functions, including Mott transition, high-temperature superconductivity, topological superconductivity, colossal magnetoresistance, giant magnetoelectric effect, and so forth.

We are pleased to present the 2022 Editor’s Choice Articles, which is a carefully curated list of high-quality articles from the Section “Quantum Materials”.

“Pressure-Induced Superconductivity in Iron-Based Spin-Ladder Compound BaFe_2+δ(S_1−xSe_x)₃”
by Hiroki Takahashi, Ryosuke Kikuchi, Chizuru Kawashima, Satoshi Imaizumi, Takuya Aoyama and Kenya Ohgushi
Materials 2022, 15(4), 1401; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15041401
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/4/1401

“Magnetic Properties of A₂Ni₂TeO₆ (A = K, Li): Zigzag Order in the Honeycomb Layers of Ni²⁺ Ions Induced by First and Third Nearest-Neighbor Spin Exchanges”
by Tatyana Vasilchikova, Alexander Vasiliev, Maria Evstigneeva, Vladimir Nalbandyan, Ji-Sun Lee, Hyun-Joo Koo and Myung-Hwan Whangbo
Materials 2022, 15(7), 2563; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15072563
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/7/2563

“Pressure Tuning of Superconductivity of LaPt₄Ge₁₂ and PrPt₄Ge₁₂ Single Crystals”
by Gustavo A. Lombardi, Kamal Mydeen, Roman Gumeniuk, Andreas Leithe-Jasper, Walter Schnelle, Ricardo D. dos Reis and Michael Nicklas
Materials 2022, 15(8), 2743; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15082743
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/8/2743

“Unraveling the Phase Stability and Physical Property of Modulated Martensite in Ni₂Mn_1.5In_0.5 Alloys by First-Principles Calculations”
by Xin-Zeng Liang, Jing Bai, Zi-Qi Guan, Yu Zhang, Jiang-Long Gu, Yu-Dong Zhang, Claude Esling, Xiang Zhao and Liang Zuo
Materials 2022, 15(11), 4032; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15114032
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/11/4032

“Pressure-Induced Superconductivity of the Quasi-One-Dimensional Organic Conductor (TMTTF)₂TaF₆”
by Miho Itoi, Toshikazu Nakamura and Yoshiya Uwatoko
Materials 2022, 15(13), 4638; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15134638
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/13/4638

“Effect of Silver Doping on the Superconducting and Structural Properties of YBCO Films Grown by PLD on Different Templates”
by Ilya A. Shipulin, Aleena Anna Thomas, Sigrid Holleis, Michael Eisterer, Kornelius Nielsch and Ruben Hühne
Materials 2022, 15(15), 5354; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15155354
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/15/5354

“Destabilization of the Charge Density Wave and the Absence of Superconductivity in ScV₆Sn₆ under High Pressures up to 11 GPa”
by Xiaoxiao Zhang, Jun Hou, Wei Xia, Zhian Xu, Pengtao Yang, Anqi Wang, Ziyi Liu, Jie Shen, Hua Zhang, Xiaoli Dong et al.
Materials 2022, 15(20), 7372; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15207372
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/20/7372

“Bond-Orbital-Resolved Piezoelectricity in Sp²-Hybridized Monolayer Semiconductors”
by Zongtan Wang, Yulan Liu and Biao Wang
Materials 2022, 15(21), 7788; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15217788
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/21/7788

“Critical Current Density in d-Wave Hubbard Superconductors”
by José Samuel Millán, Jorge Millán, Luis A. Pérez and Harold S. Ruiz
Materials 2022, 15(24), 8969; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15248969
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/24/8969

“Theoretical Study of Dynamical and Electronic Properties of Noncentrosymmetric Superconductor NbReSi”
by Surajit Basak and Andrzej Ptok.
Materials 2023, 16(1), 78; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16010078
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/16/1/78

We want to thank all the research groups that submitted to Materials. Please circulate this document among your colleagues and network. Furthermore, the following opportunities for collaboration may be of interest:

Submitting a manuscript:
This Section is currently open for submissions. Papers may be submitted via the following link: https://susy.mdpi.com/user/manuscripts/upload?journal=materials.

Launching a Special Issue:
You can propose hot topics and edit a Special Issue together with experts in the field.

Joining the Editorial Board:
If you are an active researcher in the field of Quantum Materials and are interested in joining the Editorial Board, please do not hesitate to get in touch (materials@mdpi.com).

Materials Editorial Office

Materials (ISSN: 1996-1944) has launched the Section “Smart Materials”. This Section is a forum for the rapid publication of works pertaining to the preparation, characterization, and application of all smart materials. The scope of smart materials comprises, without being limited to, various applications in sensors and actuators, soft robotics, wearable electronics, flexible/stretchable electronics, energy generation and storage devices, displays, and shape memory polymers by utilizing the concept of smart materials.

We are pleased to present the 2022 Editor’s Choice Articles, which is a carefully curated list of high-quality articles from the Section “Smart Materials”.

“Facile Fabrication of ZnO-ZnFe₂O₄ Hollow Nanostructure by a One-Needle Syringe Electrospinning Method for a High-Selective H₂S Gas Sensor”
by Kee-Ryung Park, Ryun Na Kim, Yoseb Song, Jinhyeong Kwon and Hyeunseok Choi
Materials 2022, 15(2) 399; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15020399
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/2/399

“Investigation into the Performance of NiTi Shape Memory Alloy Wire Reinforced Sn-Bi Self-Healing Metal Matrix Composite”
by Nathan Salowitz, Shobhit Misra, Istiaque Haider, Marco Povolo and Pradeep Rohatgi
Materials 2022, 15(9), 2970; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15092970
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/9/2970

“Hinged Adaptive Fiber-Rubber Composites Driven by Shape Memory Alloys—Development and Simulation”
by Felix Lohse, Achyuth Ram Annadata, Eric Häntzsche, Thomas Gereke, Wolfgang Trümper and Chokri Cherif
Materials 2022, 15(11), 3830; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15113830
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/11/3830

“Design and Control of Magnetic Shape Memory Alloy Actuators”
by Bartosz Minorowicz and Andrzej Milecki.
Materials 2022, 15(13), 4400; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15134400
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/13/4400

“Comparison between Piezoelectric and Piezoresistive Wearable Gait Monitoring Techniques”
by Zhiyuan Zhang, Zhenyu Xu, Wenbin Chen and Shuo Gao
Materials 2022, 15(14), 4837; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15144837
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/14/4837

“Designing for Shape Memory in Additive Manufacturing of Cu–Al–Ni Shape Memory Alloy Processed by Laser Powder Bed Fusion”
by Mikel Pérez-Cerrato, Itziar Fraile, José Fernando Gómez-Cortés, Ernesto Urionabarrenetxea, Isabel Ruiz-Larrea, Iban González, María Luisa Nó, Nerea Burgos and Jose M. San Juan
Materials 2022, 15(18), 6284; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15186284
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/18/6284

“Halochromic Inks Applied on Cardboard for Food Spoilage Monitorization”
by Liliana Leite, Inês Boticas, Navarro, Luís Nobre, João Bessa, Fernando Cunha, Pedro Neves and Raúl Fangueiro
Materials 2022, 15(18), 6431; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15186431
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/18/6431

“Smart Humidly Adaptive Yarns and Textiles from Twisted and Coiled Viscose Fiber Artificial Muscles”
by Mingrui Guo, Yangyang Peng, Zihan Chen, Nan Sheng and Fengxin Sun
Materials 2022, 15(23), 8312; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15238312
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/15/23/8312

We want to thank all the research groups that submitted manuscripts to Materials. Please circulate this document among your colleagues and networks. Furthermore, the following opportunities for collaboration may be of interest:

Submitting a manuscript:
This Section is currently open for submissions. Papers may be submitted via the following link: https://susy.mdpi.com/user/manuscripts/upload?journal=materials.

Launching a Special Issue:
You can propose hot topics and edit a Special Issue together with experts in the field.

Joining the Editorial Board:
If you are an active researcher in the field of Smart Materials and are interested in joining the Editorial Board, please do not hesitate to get in touch (materials@mdpi.com).

Materials Editorial Office

As a leading open access publisher, MDPI provides scholars with a high-quality and rich academic exchange platform by continuously expanding into new and exciting research areas.

In December 2022, MDPI launched five new journals, covering multiple subjects such as life sciences, biology, medicine and pharmacology, social sciences and humanities. These new journals are being edited by established scholars across the world.

If you are interested in creating more open access journals with us to publish cutting-edge research, please send your journal proposal application to newjournal-committee@mdpi.com.

MDPI is pleased to announce that we now display the co-authors’ email addresses in addition to the corresponding author’s email address on the webpage of published papers, protected by Captcha. For more information about this change, please visit the journal’s instructions for authors page. 

We believe this change will facilitate academic discussions and advance our cause of open science and research. The corresponding authors are responsible for communicating with their co-authors and indicating in our system (https://susy.mdpi.com/) if co-authors would prefer for their email addresses not to be displayed.

On 9 February 2023, Clarivate, a global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics, added the Preprint Citation Index to the Web of Science platform, streamlining the research process by allowing researchers to locate and link to preprints alongside other trusted content in the database.

The Preprint Citation Index will act as a bridge to connect cutting-edge preprints with peer-reviewed journal articles published within the Web of Science Core Collection. Alerts can be easily set to monitor new research across several repositories and authors will also be able to include preprints on their Web of Science Research Profile to more accurately display their various research outputs.

As of its launch, the Preprint Citation Index will provide nearly two million preprints from various repositories, including MDPI’s own Preprints.org.

MDPI's Preprints Platform – Preprints.org

To advance Open Science and the fast dissemination of research, MDPI offers researchers a free multidisciplinary preprint platform. Preprints.org accepts submissions from all research areas and offers authors high visibility, permanent archiving, article-level Metrics and immediately citable content by assigning a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to all preprints.

During submission to any MDPI journal, authors have the option to share their research as a preprint. After an initial screening, the manuscript is available online in 48 hours or less. Once online, preprints can be downloaded, shared, commented on, and cited, providing authors maximum visibility.

We invite you to join the ranks of the over 100k researchers using Preprints.org and share your research.

For more information, please visit Preprints.org.

We are currently recruiting Topical Advisory Panel Members for Materials (ISSN: 1996-1944). Should you decide to serve on the Topical Advisory Panel, you would be responsible for some of the following tasks, depending on your availability:

• Providing regular reviews of manuscripts;
• Setting up at least one Special Issue (SI) in partnership with a senior researcher within two years of your appointment and proposing a detailed strategy plan for the SI. The topic of the proposal should be within the scope of Materials, but broad enough to attract a reasonable number of submissions, while also narrow enough to provide a cohesive collection of articles. The Special Issue should cover a small part of the scope of Materials;
• Providing a detailed strategy plan for the SI, including assisting in preparing Special Issue/Topic titles, aims and scopes, summaries, and keywords, soliciting papers and promoting the SI;
• Providing support for the Special Issues/Topics related to your expertise when the Guest Editors are not available. This includes SI promotion via social media and advice on some scientific cases;
• Promoting our journal at conferences (adding 1–2 slides into your presentation, distributing flyers, recommending the journal to your colleagues, etc.), on social media and other relevant platforms;
• Working with Editorial Board Members or the Editorial Office to promote high-quality/featured papers (for example, writing summaries or highlights for editor-selected papers).

To qualify as a Topical Advisory Panel Member, applicants must fulfill the following criteria:

• Have expertise and experience in the field related to Materials;
• Have completed their Ph.D. in the last 10 years (approximately);
• Have published at least 6 papers in the last 5 years as a first author or corresponding author;
• Currently hold an independent research position in academia or government institute.

Each year, the journal members’ performance is evaluated, and outstanding members are promoted to the Editorial Board by the Editor-in-Chief.

You can submit your application via the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/materials/topical_advisory_panel_application. Alternatively, you may send an email to the Editorial Office (materials@mdpi.com) with your academic CV attached.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

The year 2023 marks the 15th anniversary of Materials (ISSN: 1996-1944), a peer-reviewed open access journal of materials science and engineering published semimonthly online by MDPI. To date, Materials has published more than 33,000 papers from more than 120,000 scholars. More than 45,000 reviewers and academic editors contribute to our peer review process. We sincerely appreciate the contributions and support of every author, reviewer, and academic editor. To celebrate the achievements and mark this significant milestone, we have arranged a series of special events. We hope you can join us in celebrating the 15th anniversary of our journal and enjoy the collection below.

Anniversary Video from the Editors of Materials

Development and Achievements

View the 15-year timeline infographic below. Trace the development of Materials from its origins and through key events.

Anniversary Special Issues

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of our journal Materials, we launched a series of anniversary Special Issues. For more details, please click here.

Collection of Excellent Works

Please click the covers above for details. For more collections of excellent works, please click here.

Issue Covers

Please click the covers above for details. For more issue covers, please click here.

Materials (ISSN: 1996-1944) received its first Impact Factor of 3.748 in 2022 and is now published semi-monthly. Since it was first established, Materials has aimed to provide a professional publishing service to the scientific community and has strived towards the effective dissemination of high-quality scientific work.

Materials is a peer-reviewed, open access journal of materials science and engineering published semi-monthly online by MDPI. The Portuguese Materials Society (SPM), Spanish Materials Society (SOCIEMAT) and Manufacturing Engineering Society (MES) are affiliated with Materials and their members receive a discount on the article processing charges.

In order to support the scientific community and contribute to the faster distribution of important scientific research, Materials has cooperated with various academic conferences and is now seeking cooperation with additional academic conferences. The journal is open to a diverse range of collaborations, such as media partnerships, awards, exhibitions, and publications.

The scope of Materials includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Publishing research related to all classes of materials, including ceramics, glasses, polymers (plastics), composites, semiconductors, magnetic materials, biological and biomimetics materials, silica, dots, and carbon materials, metals, and alloys from nanoscale to bulk alloys. All kinds of functional materials used for the development of medical implants in medicine and dentistry, coatings and films, pigments, ionic crystals, covalent crystals, metals, and intermetallics are also considered;
• Covering all aspects of materials science or materials engineering, including nanoscience and nanotechnology;
• Contributing to the advancement of material characterization techniques, such as electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, calorimetry, nuclear microscopy and spectroscopy, laser technology, optical fibers, Rutherford backscattering, and neutron diffraction, among others;
• Inciting fundamental research in condensed matter physics and materials physics, continuum mechanics and statistics, mechanics of materials, tribology (friction, lubrication and wear), solid-state physics, etc.

We welcome consultations with any conferences related to materials. If you are interested in collaborating with Materials, please contact us at materials@mdpi.com.

We are currently recruiting Editorial Board Members (EBMs) for Materials (ISSN: 1996-1944). If you are interested in serving on the Editorial Board, or have potential candidates to recommend, please do not hesitate to contact the Editorial Office (materials@mdpi.com).

The Editorial Board Members will be responsible for final decisions on manuscripts in their field of expertise, editing Special Issues, and they may be invited to review manuscripts.

The initial term is for 2 years, which entails the following responsibilities:

• Pre-screening and making decisions on new submissions related to your research interests;
• Setting up at least one Special Issue during your term on a topic related to your research interests (or supervising Special Issues related to your research field);
• Providing input or feedback regarding journal policies;
• Helping to promote the journal among your peers or at conferences;
• Attending board meetings to suggest journal development strategies;
• Reviewing manuscripts.

As an Editorial Board Member, you would have the following benefits:

• Publishing one paper free of charge in Materials per year, and also publishing extra papers with special discounts;
• Publishing one paper free of charge in your own Special Issue per year;
• A travel grant opportunity will be offered to Editorial Board Members that make significant contributions to the journal;
• Recommending/inviting your colleagues to submit full research articles or review papers with special discounts.

Materials is an open access journal that publishes spotlights, reviews, original research contributions, and short communications. The scientific community is encouraged to submit the details of both their experimental and theoretical results of any length to Materials. The aims and scope of the journal can be found on the following website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/materials/about. Materials is abstracted and indexed within Scopus, SCIE (Web of Science), PubMed, PMC, Ei Compendex, CaPlus/SciFinder, Inspec, Astrophysics Data System, and other databases. The impact factor of the journal is 3.748.

We look forward to hearing from you.