prof. dr. ir. Stefan Bon 🏳️‍🌈🎸🐕

MSc Emulsion Polymerization lab crowd at the University of Warwick Dec 2025

Today our MSc student felt the sensation of emulsion polymerization.

Well, I will update here in January along the way...

Haha, may be I should bring a hammer and ban electronic devices (apart from a calculator) ;-)

Yes I do, but will the students have that too? Can I snap them out of a five second attention span? Can I get them to dive into complex material without moaning it's too hard? Will they actually look up the literature references provided to enrich the concepts that have been highlighted?

All material is recorded and provided online. All classes involve discussions and in class short group assignments. What they get from being in class? F-2-f interactions with people.

There are no chalk boards in our teaching rooms. All classes are recorded. I often sketch and write out concepts on a visualiser (similar but less dusty). Agree on PowerPoint.

Next term I will be teaching year 1 and year 2 undergraduate students. Have a bet with my colleagues to get >80% attendance in class. It seems doomed from the start as currently only around 30% of students go to lectures.....what a challenge it will be! 🥽🍎🧪

£2.3M boost to revolutionize optical and mechanical metamaterials — BonLab Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Warwick have secured £2.3M in UKRI funding to create materials with radically new optical and mechanical properties, that can be prod...

www.bonlab.info/blog/2025/11... 🧪🍎🥽

Absolutely loved teaching emulsion polymerization today. Changed teaching style to become way more interactive asking for active engagement of participants. Teach them how to think and discover, rather than simple data transfer of facts. Thanks to everyone involved today! It was a blast. 🥽🍎🧪

Had a fantastic day at Cambridge University to kick off our collaborative new large Reconstructable Nano-Opto-Mechanical Metamaterials (ReNOMMs)project. Ready for some fantastic and fun science the years ahead.

Sun beams through foggy UK grass land

Sunrise with early morning fog in a UK park.

Beautiful walk this morning.

Welcome to all new students to the University of Warwick the coming week. In Chemistry around 200 UGs and 60 PGs will join our vibrant community. I am looking forward to meeting and interacting with many of you. Let's do great science, together! 🧪🍎🥽

The entitled salary of the UK's PM is £172,153. It is time we cap the salaries of university management in the UK well below this threshold. Now there is a start to save on running costs.

May be see if a "Klamm" is nearby. Still a water adventure then :-)

Any airborne particle (aerosol) is obviously good (what the study does). Studying shape variation would be great, away from spheres. I mean inhalation of natural asbestos dust or other silicates is far from pleasant. The word microplastics IMO is just thrown into it.

This theory study looks through modeling how spherical particles could be taken up. It does not look at microplastics but any hypothetical spherical particle. It seems to suggest that the denser the particle, the worse. So why not focus on silicates and metal oxides instead? Clickbait. #plastic

4) Help with teaching some polymer chemical engineering and physics to a 3rd year module discussing gels and solubility, and leading several labs on radical polymerization in homogeneous and heterogeneous systems. 🥽🍎🧪

3) My module on "polymer colloids" revised with a new textbook draft and some new sections. Open to higher year science UGs and all PG students. We discuss, emulsion polymerization, colloid motion and stability, rheology, industrial applications, and environmental fate and sustainability. 🧪🍎🥽

2) A module "chemical reaction engineering and data processing". Here we will introduce to science students a chemical engineering way of thinking to chemical reactions highlighting reactor design and choice and how to interpret data to existing or new models. 🥽🍎🧪

1) A module "plastics: the good, the bad, the future" is open to ALL at the Warwick on both UG and PG level. Here we will teach polymer science, engineering, and manufacturing. How polymers are made and why these materials are chosen. We will discuss societal and circularity challenges.

A key objective of a university is to teach the next generation. To transfer knowledge in a way that students learn how to reason and innovate. It is not just data transfer. To reinforce this, I will be teaching a lot in the coming academic year, with pleasure. @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social

Afbouw van plastic kan alleen als er afbouw komt van de consumptiemaatschappij en de economische verslaving daaraan. Simpelweg zeggen minder plastic is makkelijk; waar vervang je het mee? Precies, de enige 'groene' mogelijkheid is, met niks. Maar tja, dat willen die 120 landen helaas niet....

The actual word has been around for centuries, though recently it features in many, many papers. I wonder why? Could it be AI? Haha.

On page 180 and counting. I guess I will end up around 300.

The use of the word ubiquitous in scientific papers of the last couple of years is indeed ubiquitous. Sigh. 🧪🍎🥽

The letter states that due to polymer processing by others it becomes unfeasible. This is where a lot of the problems are. During processing into products additives, pigments etc are added. Mostly unregulated and by many small companies all doing something different. Recycling becomes a nightmare.

Interesting discussion with @jamestapper.bsky.social today on the Global Plastics Treaty. The elephant in the room: consumerism and the global economy addicted to it. Without addressing the need to go for durable and repairable products and not opt for "fast" or "single use", humanity will be lost.

Added a small extra chapter after colloid motion...rheology of dispersions.

Yes, it will be a textbook for people who wish to get into the field.

Chapters will be: 1) Introduction to colloids. 2) Emulsion polymerization. 3) On colloid motion. 4) On colloid stability. 5) Industrial applications 6) Sustainability and Environmental Fate.

Five years ago, during the COVID lockdown I wrote the first version of my polymer colloids course as an online e-book. I am finally converting and updating it to a (digital) textbook, and try it out this fall/winter. After that, the plan is to release it. 🥽🍎🧪