Researchers create the most water-repellent surface ever
Aalto UniversityA revised method to create hydrophobic surfaces has implications for any technology where water meets a solid surface, from optics and microfluidics to cooking
A revised method to create hydrophobic surfaces has implications for any technology where water meets a solid surface, from optics and microfluidics to cooking
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory used carefully planned chemical design, neutron scattering and high-performance computing to help develop a new catalytic recycling process. The catalyst selectively and sequentially deconstructs multiple polymers in mixed plastics into pristine monomers. The new organocatalyst has proven to efficiently and quickly deconstruct multiple polymers — in around two hours. Such polymers include those used in materials such as safety goggles (polycarbonates), foams (polyurethanes), water bottles (polyethylene terephthalates) and ropes or fishing nets (polyamides), which together comprise more than 30% of global plastic production. Until now, no single catalyst has been shown to be effective on all four of these polymers.
Evaluation of developmental toxicity in early chicken embryos exposed to tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate
Scientists improved the method of plasma electrolytic treatment, in frames of which on the surface of sample from stainless steel they formed oxide coating. They used solutions that contained compounds of nitrogen, boron and carbon, that led to formation of corresponding modified layer under oxide coating.
Dr. Jae-Woo Choi of the Center for Water Cycle Research at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) has developed an eco-friendly metal-organic skeleton-based solid flocculant that can effectively aggregate nanoplastics under visible light irradiation.
In a finding that helps elucidate how molten salts in advanced nuclear reactors might behave, scientists have shown how electrons interacting with the ions of the molten salt can form three states with different properties.
Orange Photonics, a pioneer in analytical testing solutions, is pleased to introduce LightLab 3 Psy Analyzer
In a plant microbiome, the microbial community assembles and changes by exchanging signals between the host plant and the microbes. Researchers have gathered and filtered a large amount of data using a combination of computational approaches to identify new mechanisms in this signaling process. The study discovered a host transport mechanism and a chemical signal that influences beneficial bacterial colonization of plants’ roots.
Researchers from Iowa State University and the University of California, Santa Barbara will work together to fundamentally change the capabilities of light-based 3D printing.
Special nanoparticles could one day improve modern imaging techniques. Developed by researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the properties of these unique nanoparticles change in reaction to heat. When combined with an integrated dye, the particles may be used in photoacoustic imaging to produce high-resolution, three-dimensional internal images of the human body
Artificial intelligence is being harnessed by some scientists to predict which molecules could treat illnesses. Researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have used one such deep learning algorithm, and found that an antimalarial drug could treat osteoporosis.
The DNA double helix is composed of two DNA molecules whose sequences are complementary to each other. The stability of the duplex can be fine-tuned in the lab by controlling the amount and location of imperfect complementary sequences.
Researchers led by Prof. GAO Xiang from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof. LU Lu from the Harbin Institute of Technology have proposed a novel method to transform wastewater contaminants into valuable chemicals using sunlight, thus paving the way for sustainable and eco-friendly chemical manufacturing.
Nanozymes are synthetic materials that mimic the properties of natural enzymes for applications in biomedicine and chemical engineering. They are generally considered too toxic and expensive for use in agriculture and food science.
Latest research from Flinders University and UNSW Sydney, published in the American Chemical Society ACS Nano journal, explores switchable polarization in a new class of silicon compatible metal oxides and paves the way for the development of advanced devices including high-density data storage, ultra low energy electronics, flexible energy harvesting and wearable devices.
Researchers are preparing to use Argonne’s Aurora exascale supercomputer and artificial intelligence to accelerate the search for promising new materials for batteries, catalysts and other applications.
Argonne has partnered in the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen (MachH2) to ramp up clean hydrogen production in the Midwest. The DOE recently awarded up to $1 billion in funding to the initiative to launch a regional clean hydrogen hub in the Midwest.
This study, led by Dr Yumin Li of Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), was a collaboration between Professor Tzung-May Fu’s team at SUSTech and Professor Jian Zhen Yu’s team at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).
Newly published research on indoor air quality from Colorado State University shows wildfire smoke may linger in homes long after the initial blaze has been put out or winds have shifted.
Water films are virtually present on all minerals exposed to air moisture, from dry soils to atmospheric dust. The number of water layers that minerals can store is directly controlled by atmospheric humidity.
In a new breakthrough, researchers have used a novel technique to confirm a previously undetected physics phenomenon that could be used to improve data storage in the next generation of computer devices.
Scientists from the National University of Singapore have developed an innovative catalyst that achieves a significantly lower carbon footprint, paving the way for greener chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing processes.
Showers in bathrooms bring us comfort; showers from space bring astrophysicists joy. Osaka Metropolitan University scientists have observed, with their novel method, cosmic-ray extensive air showers with unprecedented precision, opening the door to new insights into the Universe’s most energetic particles.
New pharmaceuticals, cleaner fuels, biodegradable plastics: in order to meet society’s needs, chemists have to develop new synthesis methods to obtain new products that do not exist in their natural state.
Researchers at McMaster and the University of Guelph have discovered a convenient new way to track levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the bloodstream, making it much easier to access information that is critical to cardiovascular and cognitive health, but which has previously been challenging to gather. While the human body can generate most of the fats it needs, it cannot produce adequate levels of omega-3 fatty acids and must obtain them from dietary sources. Two key omega-3 fatty acids, called EPA (eicosatetraenoic acid), and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), can be derived only from certain sources, such as fish, seafood, enriched foods, and supplements, but measuring how much gets into the blood has been both difficult and invasive.
After their production, which emits a lot of carbon dioxide, cement-based building materials such as concrete absorb the climate gas again – a process that takes decades and can hardly be controlled.
The nuclear reactions that power stellar explosions involve short-lived nuclei that are hard to study in the laboratory. Researchers used a combination of methods to measure a reaction where a neutron from a deuterium target is exchanged with a proton from a radioactive projectile, a reaction equivalent to a process in exploding stars.
Killer whales are some of the oceans’ top predators, but even they can be exposed to environmental pollution. In the largest study to date on North Atlantic killer whales, researchers in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology report the levels of pollutants in 162 individuals’ blubber.
Smaller, fluorinated compounds are becoming replacements for PFAS, though research suggests these versions could also be harmful. A study in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology reports that levels of these substances indoor and human samples are similar to or higher than those of legacy PFAS.
Researchers still need to get a better understanding of how metal-organic frameworks function, especially when embedded in polymers. Reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, researchers have now developed and characterized nitric oxide-storing MOFs embedded in a thin film with novel antibacterial potential.
Russian scientists have found out that a mixture of iodine-derived organic salts and silver reduce their total catalytic activity — that is the ability to speed up chemical reactions, — but such a hybrid catalyst turned out to be more stable than corresponding organic catalysts in the absence of the metal.
Mercouri Kanatzidis, an Argonne and Northwestern University materials scientist, has studied sulfur-containing materials called chalcogenides for more than 30 years. A new chalcogenide mineral has just been named for him.
A fundamental discovery about the Fischer Tropsch process, a catalytic reaction used in industry to convert coal, natural gas or biomass to liquid fuels, could someday allow for more efficient fuel production.
A team led by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a framework for designing solid-state batteries, or SSBs, with mechanics in mind. Their paper, published in Science, reviewed how these factors change SSBs during their cycling.
Proving the technique works puts scientists one step closer to unraveling the mysteries of hydrogen transfers.
As organizations work to reduce their energy consumption and associated carbon emissions, one area that remains to be optimized is indoor heating and cooling.
To help journalists and the public understand the context of this year’s Nobel Prize, AIP is compiling a resources page featuring relevant scientific papers and articles, quotes from experts, photos, multimedia, and other resources.
Superconductors are materials that offer zero electric resistance to the flow of current on being cooled down below a certain critical temperature. Typically, superconductors have a very low critical temperature, close to absolute zero.
On behalf of the American Chemical Society (ACS), President Judith C. Giordan, Ph.D., congratulates today’s winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Moungi G. Bawendi, Ph.D., of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Louis E. Brus, Ph.D., of Columbia University; and Alexei I. Ekimov, Ph.D., of Nanocrystals Technology Inc.
A research team led by Dr. Yoo Sung Jong of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Research Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have succeeded in significantly reducing the cost of green hydrogen production by implementing an anion exchange membrane water electrolysis device with excellent performance and durability by introducing a carbon support.
PPPL was selected to lead a DOE Energy Earthshot Research Center (EERC) as part of the Hydrogen Shot™, which aims to reduce the cost of hydrogen by 80%.
In order to fulfil their function, biological cells need to be divided into separate reaction compartments. This is sometimes done with membranes, and sometimes without them: the spontaneous segregation of certain types of biomolecules leads to the formation of so-called condensates.
Chemistry graduate student Oliver Solares is working toward finding solutions for clean energy and mitigating the impacts of climate change.
Using zebrafish as a model, investigators have determined a suitable combination of chemical compounds in which to store hearts, and potentially other organs, when frozen for extended periods of time before transplantation.
Solid materials are generally known to be rigid and unmoving, but scientists are turning this idea on its head by exploring ways to incorporate moving parts into solids.
The behavior of electrons in liquids plays a big role in many chemical processes that are important for living things and the world in general. For example, slow electrons in liquid have the capacity to cause disruptions in the DNA strand.
The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been selected to lead an Energy Earthshot Research Center, or EERC, focused on developing chemical processes that use sustainable methods instead of burning fossil fuels to radically reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions to stem climate change and limit the crisis of a rapidly warming planet.
The DOE recently announced $19 million in funding for Argonne to lead the Center for Steel Electrification by Electrosynthesis. The center's aim is to develop a cost-effective process for steel making that would greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
More reliance on modeling and test tube-based data to lower reliance on test animals.