Electronic and Self-healing Properties of Polymer-Inorganic Hybrids Enabled by Vapor Phase Infiltration.

149 p.In this thesis we have developed a concept for the self-healing of metal oxides, which is the most challenging type of material in this research area. This concept consists of growing metal oxide nanoparticles inside the bulk of halogenated polymers via vapor phase infiltration and their subsequent entropy-driven migration to externally induced defect sites, which eventually leads to the recovery of the defect. The hybrid material, i.e., the polymer matrix with dispersed NPs, can serve as a reservoir with healing agents for the repair of a cracked MeO film. The self-healing of inorganic materials and structures was realized also without liquid agents by making use of the mobility of inorganic NPs within polymers, as the spatial distribution of NPs can be tuned by means of harnessing both enthalpy and entropy. Herein we present an expansion of the pool of self-healing materials to semiconductors such as indium, zinc, indium tin and zinc indium oxides, thereby allowing to increase the reliability and sustainability of future functional materials. We revealed that not only the morphology, but also the electrical properties of ITO can be largely restored upon healing.CICnanoGUN

Gaining momentum: Popularization of Epilobium angustifolium as food and recreational tea on the Eastern edge of Europe

The local use of wild food plants represents a reservoir for the biocultural diversity of human diet and is therefore being extensively studied; yet the effects of the introduction of novel uses into specific biocultural conditions have been little researched. Rosebay willowherb Epilobium angustifolium L. has been intensively promoted in Europe since the mid-18th century. The expert recommendations did not provide any links to local uses thus raising the question of the legitimacy and diffusion of its food use in modern times. To understand if and to what extent those recommendations have influenced local uses, we compared them with the results of our ethnobotanical field study and the ethnographic literature in Russia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. Of the 599 people interviewed, nine used E. angustifolium as a food and 59 as a recreational tea. Thirty-four of those who claimed to use E. angustifolium lived in two regions of Russia. The majority of the recorded tea uses were of recent origin, following a popular trend. Few food uses of E. angustifolium were recorded in Finland, where a trend towards culinary experimentation coincides with a general trend toward the consumption of healthy wild food; yet these uses are difficult to maintain due to the problems in recognizing the plant during its early stages of growth. The popularization of E. angustifolium as a food had more effect in times of hardship, when it was seen as a means of survival and its promotion was advocated. The translation error repeatedly appeared in botanical and later popular literature, whose authors did not clearly differentiate at that time between local uses and suggestions