Publications

63 peer-reviewed papers · 1 book · 7 patent filings · 5 other writings

The Nature of the Mechanical Bond: From Molecules to Machines. John Wiley & Sons, 2016. 761 pages https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119044123
Electronic Multi-Lamp Pen for Activating Photo-Responsive Materials. U.S. Patent 12,144,953, published 19 November 2024
Pressure-Sensitive Supramolecular Adhesives. U.S. Patent Application 18/771,169, filed 12 July 2024
Photochromic and Photoprotective Polymer Nanoparticle Pigments and Formulations for Topical Use. PCT Application PCT/US24/25637, filed 22 April 2024
Ortho-Phthalaldehyde-Functionalized Ultraviolet Absorbers and Visible Chromophores for Semi-Permanent Topical Applications. PCT Application PCT/US24/25644, filed 22 April 2024
Systems and Methods for Transferring Free Flowing Material and Facilitating the Reaction Thereof. U.S. Patent Application 18/702,885, filed 19 April 2024
Multistable Photochromic Pigments for Intradermal Use in Re-Writable Tattoos and Intradermal Ultraviolet Dosimetry. PCT Application PCT/US2022/022802, filed 31 March 2022
Ultraviolet-Absorptive Nanoparticles and Microparticles for Intradermal Use. PCT Application PCT/US2021/47941, filed 27 August 2021
Molecular Machines: Terminology in Turmoil. Chemistry World, 29 April 2025 https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/take-two-polls-to-help-iupac-define-molecular-machines/4021360.article
Editorial: Recent Advances in Mechanically Bonded Molecules. Frontiers in Chemistry 2022, 10:1095082 https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2022.1095082
Dynamic tattoos promise to warn wearers of health threats. The Conversation, 2020 https://theconversation.com/dynamic-tattoos-promise-to-warn-wearers-of-health-threats-133040
Conversation with Carson Bruns. ACS Central Science 2019, 5, 201–202. Also in Chemical & Engineering News 97(11) https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.9b00098
Can a Tattoo Help You Stay Healthy?. TEDxMileHigh, Denver, 2019 https://go.ted.com/carsonbruns
Programmable pigments: multicolor photochromic nanoparticle inks for rewritable intradermal smart tattoos. Matter & Light 2026, In Press
Clinical Evaluation of Photochromic Nanoparticle Tattoo Ink: Safety, Tolerability, and Performance of Rewritable Intradermal Implants. J. Nanobiotechnology 2026, 24:894 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-026-04755-x
Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Middle School LEGO®-Based Hands-On STEM Workshop. In 2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exhibition, Charlotte, NC: American Society for Engineering Education. 2026, In Press https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--59008
Asymmetric Doping of a Polyelectrolyte Network into a Tough Slide-Ring Hydrogel Membrane to Enhance Sustainable Osmotic Energy Harvesting. Small Science 2026 https://doi.org/10.1002/smsc.70334
Synergistic Dual Slip-Link Toughening of a Water-Rich Double Network Hydrogel Combining Slide-Ring and Highly Entangled Networks. Adv. Sci. 2026, In Press https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.75525
Design of a Robot-Assisted Chemical Dialysis System. In Companion of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI Companion '26); Association for Computing Machinery: New York, NY, USA, 2026; pp https://doi.org/10.1145/3776734.3794427
LEGO® as a versatile platform for building reconfigurable low-cost lab equipment. Plos ONE 2025, 20: e0326938 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0326938
An Analysis of Workloads Experienced by Scientists Working in the Chemical Wet Lab. 2025 International Design Engineering Technical Conference (IDETC-2025). Paper #164550 https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2025-164550
Typology Development for Synthetic Chemistry Sub-Tasks: Towards Human-Robot Collaboration Task Design in the Wet Lab. 2024 International Design Engineering Technical Conference (IDETC-2024). Paper #142677 https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2024-142677
Smart Tattoos from Intradermally Implantable Photochromic Nanosensors for Personal Ultraviolet Sensing and Dosimetry. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2024, 2405831 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202405831
Direct ink writing of viscous inks in variable gravity regimes using parabolic flights. Acta Astronautica 2024, 219 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2024.03.037
Fingertip Wearable High Resolution Electro-Hydraulic Interface for Multi-modal Haptics. 2023 IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC), Delft, Netherlands, 2023 https://doi.org/10.1109/WHC56415.2023.10224383
Micromechanics and Damage in Slide-Ring Networks. Phys. Rev. E 2023, 107, 044501 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.107.044501
Pressure-Sensitive Supramolecular Adhesives Based on Lipoic Acid and Bio-Friendly Dynamic Cyclodextrin and Polyrotaxane Cross-Linkers. ACS Appl. Mater. Interf. 2023, 15 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.3c00927
A Transient Printed Soil Decomposition Sensor based on a Biopolymer Composite Conductor. ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 2023, 10, 2205785 https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202205785
A Reactive Inkjet Printing Process for Fabricating Biodegradable Conductive Zinc Structures. Adv. Eng. Mater. 2023, 25: 2200529 https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202200529
Slide-Ring Materials Based on Self-Assembled Polyrotaxane “Molecular Necklaces”. In Supramolecular Nanotechnology. Advanced Design of Self-Assembled Functional Materials. M Conda-Sheridan, O Azzaroni (Eds.) Weinheim: Wiley-VCH GmbH, 2023 https://doi.org/10.1002/9783527834044.ch21
Moving Forward in the Semantic Soup of Artificial Molecular Machine Taxonomy. Nature Nanotechnol. 2022, 17 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-022-01247-5
Wax Blends as Tunable Encapsulants for Soil-Degradable Electronics. ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 2022, 4 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.2c00833
Redox-Switchable Host-Guest Complexes of Metallocenes and [8]Cycloparaphenylene. Nanoscale 2022, 14 https://doi.org/10.1039/d2nr03852h
Chemorheological Monitoring of Cross-Linking in Slide-Ring Gels Derived from -Cyclodextrin Polyrotaxanes. Front. Chem. 2022, 10:923775 https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2022.923775
A Photochromic Intradermal Smart Tattoo Based on Diarylethene-Doped Polystyrene Nanoparticles for Personal γ-Ray Dosimetry. ACS Applied Nano Materials 2022, 5 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.2c01554
All-Conjugated Cycloparaphenylene-Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Host-Guest Complexes Stabilized by CH–π Interactions. Nano Research 2022, 15 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4145-5
Scalable Synthesis of [8]Cycloparaphenyleneacetylene via Alkyne Metathesis and Bromination/ Dehydro-bromination. Chem. Commun. 2021, 57 https://doi.org/10.1039/D1CC04776K
Electriflow: Augmenting Books With Tangible Animation Using Soft Electrohydraulic Actuators. SIGGRAPH ’21 Labs, August 09-13, 2021, Virtual, USA https://doi.org/10.1145/3450616.3464523
Electriflow: Soft Electrohydraulic Building Blocks for Prototyping Shape-changing Interfaces, In Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021 (. DIS ’21), June 28-July 2, 2021, Virtual Event. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 10 pages https://doi.org/10.1145/3461778.3462093
Soft Electrohydraulic Actuators for Origami Inspired Shape-Changing Interfaces. In. CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts (CHI '21 Extended Abstracts), May 8–13, 2021, Yokohama, Japan. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 6 pages https://doi.org/10.1145/3411763.3451590
Post-Synthesis Modification of Slide-Ring Gels for Thermal and Mechanical Reconfiguration. Soft Matter 2021, 17 https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SM02260H
Mechanochemistry Activated Covalent Conjugation Reactions in Soft Hydrogels Induced by Interfacial Failure. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2021, 13 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c18432
Solar Freckles: Long-Term Photochromic Tattoos for Intradermal UV Radiometry. ACS Nano 2020, 14 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c05723
Poly(lactic acid)-Based Ink for Biodegradable Printed Electronics With Conductivity Enhanced Through Solvent Aging. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2020, 12 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c05196
Exploring and Exploiting the Symmetry-Breaking Effect of Cyclodextrins in Mechanomolecules. Symmetry 2019, 11 https://doi.org/10.3390/sym11101249
Dynamic Force Spectroscopy of Synthetic Oligorotaxane Foldamers. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2018, 115 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1712790115
Synthetic Oligorotaxanes Exert High Forces When Folding Under Mechanical Load. Nat. Nanotech. 2018, 13 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-017-0033-7
Systematic Evaluation of Structure-Property Relationships in Heteroacene-Diketopyrrolo-pyrrole Molecular Donors for Organic Solar Cells. J. Mater. Chem. A 2017, 5 https://doi.org/10.1039/C7TA02037F
Rotaxane Probes for Protease Detection by 129Xe HyperCEST NMR. Chem. Commun. 2017, 53 https://doi.org/10.1039/C6CC09302G
Rotaxane-Mediated Suppression and Activation of Cucurbit[6]uril for Molecular Detection by 129Xe HyperCEST NMR. Chem. Commun. 2016, 52 https://doi.org/10.1039/C5CC10410F
Near-Quantitative Aqueous Synthesis of Rotaxanes via Bioconjugation to Oligopeptides and Proteins. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138 https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6b10231
Self-Assembling Tripodal Small-Molecule Donors for Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells. J. Phys. Chem. C 2016, 120 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b10064
Tunable Solid-State Fluorescent Materials for Supramolecular Encryption. Nat. Commun. 2015, 6, 6884 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7884
Emergent Ion-Gated Binding of Cationic Host-Guest Complexes Within Cationic M12L24 Molecular Flasks. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja505296e
Rotaxane-Based Molecular Muscles. Acc. Chem. Res. 2014, 47 https://doi.org/10.1021/ar500138u
Redox Switchable Daisy Chain Rotaxanes Driven by Radical-Radical Interactions. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja500675y
An Electrochemically and Thermally Switchable Donor-Acceptor [c2]Daisy Chain Rotaxane. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2014, 53 https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201308498
Mechanically Interlaced and Interlocked Donor-Acceptor Foldamers. Adv. Polym. Sci. 2013, 261 https://doi.org/10.1007/12_2013_245
Ground-State Kinetics of Bistable Redox-Active Donor-Acceptor Mechanically Interlocked Molecules. Acc. Chem. Res. 2014, 47 https://doi.org/10.1021/ar400161z
Rationalizing Molecular Design in Electrodeposition of Anisotropic Lamellar Nanostructures. Chem. Mater. 2013, 25 https://doi.org/10.1021/cm402505p
Stepwise Self-Assembly to Improve Solar Cell Morphology. J. Mat. Chem. A 2013, 1 https://doi.org/10.1039/C3TA12411H
Solution-Processed Small Molecule:Fullerene Bulk-Heterojunction Solar Cells: Impedance Spectroscopy Deduced Bulk and Interfacial Limits to Fill-Factor. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2013, 15 https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CP52363B
Ex2Box: Interdependent Modes of Binding in a Two-Nanometer-Long Synthetic Receptor. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja4052763
Molecular Machines Muscle Up. Nat. Nanotech. 2013, 8 https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2012.239
Synthesis and Solution-State Dynamics of Donor-Acceptor Oligorotaxane Foldamers. Chem. Sci. 2013, 4 https://doi.org/10.1039/C3SC00015J
ExBox: A Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Scavenger. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja307360n
The Mechanical Bond: A Work of Art. Top. Curr. Chem. 2012, 323 https://doi.org/10.1007/128_2011_296
Modular Synthesis of Bipyridinium Oligomers and Corresponding Donor-Acceptor Oligorotaxanes with Crown Ethers. Org. Lett. 2012, 14 https://doi.org/10.1021/ol302301r
A Neutral Naphthalene Diimide [2]Rotaxane. Org. Lett. 2012, 14 https://doi.org/10.1021/ol3022963
The Chameleonic Nature of Diazopyrenium Recognition Processes. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2012, 51 https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201205089
Rapid Thermally Assisted Donor-Acceptor Catenation. Chem. Commun. 2012, 48 https://doi.org/10.1039/C2CC34427K
Ground-State Thermodynamics of Redox-Active Donor-Acceptor Mechanically Interlocked Molecules. Acc. Chem. Res. 2012, 45 https://doi.org/10.1021/ar3000629
A Naphthodithiophene-Diketopyrrolopyrrole Donor Molecule for Efficient Solution-Processed Solar Cells. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja202791n
Improved Synthesis of 1,5-Dinaphtho[38]Crown-10. Tetrahedron Lett. 2010, 51 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tetlet.2009.12.060
Directed Self-Assembly of a Ring-in-Ring Complex. Chem. Commun. 2010 https://doi.org/10.1039/C0CC00776E
Synthesis and Biological Activities of Azalamellarins. Chem. Asian J. 2010, 5 https://doi.org/10.1002/asia.201000237

Carson J. Bruns, Associate Professor, ATLAS Institute and the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder.

Carson J. Bruns

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