Revista de Ciências e Engenharia de Materiais

The field of electronics has been rapidly evolving, driven by the constant demand for smaller, faster, and more efficient devices. Traditional electronic materials like silicon have been the cornerstone of the industry for decades, but as device dimensions approach the nanoscale, the limitations of these materials become increasingly apparent. In recent years, there has been growing interest in exploring alternative materials that can overcome these limitations and enable the development of next-generation electronics. Among these alternative materials, two-dimensional materials have emerged as promising candidates due to their unique properties and atomically thin nature.

The demand for lightweight and high-performance materials has grown significantly across various industries, including aerospace, automotive, renewable energy, and construction. Lightweight materials offer several advantages, including improved fuel efficiency, enhanced manoeuvrability, reduced environmental impact, and increased payload capacity. Among the diverse range of lightweight materials, nanocomposites have emerged as a promising class of materials for structural applications due to their unique combination of properties, including high strength-to-weight ratio, stiffness, toughness, corrosion resistance, and multifunctionality. By integrating nanoscale reinforcements into a matrix material, researchers can engineer nanocomposites with tailored properties to meet specific performance requirements for lightweight structural applications.

Corrosion is a pervasive and costly problem that affects a wide range of industries, including automotive, aerospace, marine, and infrastructure. It occurs when metals react with the surrounding environment, leading to the degradation of structural integrity and functional performance. In harsh environments characterized by exposure to moisture, salt, chemicals, and extreme temperatures, corrosion can occur more rapidly, posing significant challenges for maintaining the integrity and longevity of metal structures. Traditional corrosion protection methods, such as coatings, paints, and inhibitors, provide temporary relief but often require frequent maintenance and reapplication, leading to high costs and downtime. To address these challenges, researchers have been actively investigating the development of self-healing coatings capable of autonomously repairing and preventing corrosion damage in harsh environments.

Tissue engineering is a multidisciplinary field that aims to regenerate, repair, or replace damaged or diseased tissues using a combination of cells, biomaterials, and biochemical factors. One of the key components in tissue engineering is the scaffold, which provides structural support for cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation. Hydrogels, a class of crosslinked polymer networks capable of absorbing large amounts of water, have emerged as promising scaffold materials for tissue engineering applications due to their biocompatibility, tunable properties, and similarity to the native extracellular matrix of tissues. In recent years, there has been growing interest in designing and synthesizing biomimetic hydrogels that mimic the structural and functional properties of native tissues to improve their performance in tissue engineering applications.