Polymer science, a most colorful petal of the soft-matter flower, and certainly its economically most relevant subdiscipline, is at the core of the current challenges of humankind. Both the growing plastic pollution and climate change can be addressed by modern polymer materials being more sustainable and having wider functionality (Saalwaechter, 2022). It is thus a great pleasure for me to present our most recent Editor’s showcase of the section Polymers of Frontiers in Soft Matter, which features 7 articles that highlight the research scope and the dedication of the editors of our young journal to serve our society with innovative methods and developments, so as to address the pressing questions.
The development of new polymer materials is tightly linked to their in-depth characterization, allowing us to explore fundamental structure-dynamics-property correlations and thus to move forward in a targeted rather than trial-and-error way. In this vein, our current Showcase focuses on physical characterization techniques capable of revealing information that was not routinely accessible in the past. All contributions highlight how such enhanced understanding sheds new light on our ability to design better materials in the long run.
