Feature Channels: Materials Science

• share
• favorite_border

A new type of catalyst breaks down polyolefin plastics into new, useful products. This project is part of a new strategy to reduce the amount of plastic waste and its impact on our environment, as well as recover value that is lost when plastics are thrown away. The catalyst was developed by a team from the Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastic (iCOUP), a U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Frontier Research Center.

• share
• favorite_border

Below are some of the latest articles that have been added to the Chemistry news channel on Newswise.

• share
• favorite_border

At Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source and its Center for Nanoscale Materials, physicist Volker Rose’s team built a one-of-a-kind microscope. They developed techniques to combine the chemical sensitivity of synchrotron X-rays with the high spatial resolution of scanning tunneling microscopy.

• share
• favorite_border

Empa researchers have studied residues from the incineration of graphene-containing plastics. Conclusion of the study: Burned composite materials containing graphene nanoparticles can be considered harmless in case of acute exposure.

• share
• favorite_border

Reactive fabrics respond to changes in temperature

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers created a new catalyst that transforms hydrocarbons into chemicals and materials that are higher value, easier to recycle, and biodegrade in the environment. This catalyst transforms materials such as motor oil, plastics in single-use grocery bags, water or milk bottles, and their caps, and even natural gas.

• share
• favorite_border

Physicists in the U.S. jumped a major hurdle standing in the way of the commercialization of solar cells created with halide perovskites as a lower-cost, higher-efficiency replacement for silicon when generating electricity from the sun.

• share
• favorite_border

Nuclear energy provides a fifth of total U.S. electrical power and half of its clean electricity. With new results from one scientist’s study of computer vision at Argonne National Laboratory’s IVEM facility, it may do even more.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories have shown that a new 3D-printed superalloy could help power plants generate more electricity while producing less carbon.

• share
• favorite_border

Rice University scientists have figured out a way to engineer wood to trap carbon dioxide through a potentially scalable, energy-efficient process that also makes the material stronger for use in construction.

• share
• favorite_border

A good deal of research shows that surplus heat, such as from data centres, lends itself well as a heat source.

• share
• favorite_border

Since the 1970s, scientists have known that copper has a special ability to transform carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals and fuels. But for many years, scientists have struggled to understand how this common metal works as an electrocatalyst, a mechanism that uses energy from electrons to chemically transform molecules into different products.

• share
• favorite_border

The Journal of Chemical Physics and the APS Division of Chemical Physics announce Haiming Zhu as the winner of the JCP-DCP Future of Chemical Physics Lectureship in recognition of his contributions to the understanding of the photophysical properties of emerging optoelectronic materials and processes using spatio-temporal resolved ultrafast spectroscopy.

• share
• favorite_border

The cement industry emits more than 3 gigatons of carbon dioxide worldwide from the manufacturing of about 4.5 gigatons of cement every year because of its carbon-dioxide- and energy-intensive processing. This amount of cement is necessary to produce the concrete that shapes modern infrastructure.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers have produced new evidence of how graphene, when twisted to a precise angle, can become a superconductor, moving electricity with no loss of energy. In a study published today (Feb. 15, 2023) in the journal Nature, the team led by physicists at The Ohio State University reported on the key role that quantum geometry plays in allowing this twisted graphene to become a superconductor.

• share
• favorite_border

Society’s growing demand for high-voltage electrical technologies—including pulsed power systems, cars and electrified aircraft, and renewable energy applications—requires a new generation of capacitors that store and deliver large amounts of energy under intense thermal and electrical conditions. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Scripps Research have now developed a new polymer-based device that efficiently handles record amounts of energy while withstanding extreme temperatures and electric fields.

• share
• favorite_border

A team of FAMU-FSU College of Engineering researchers at the High-Performance Materials Institute completed the first-ever study on how purified boron nitride nanotubes remain stable in extreme temperatures in inert environments.

• share
• favorite_border

Georgia Tech-Europe and MIT researchers are using emerging technology to demonstrate a process that will enable more immersive and realistic virtual and augmented reality displays with the world’s smallest and thinnest micro-LEDs.

• share
• favorite_border

A new type of solar technology has seemed promising in recent years. Halide perovskite solar cells are both high performing and low cost for producing electrical energy – two necessary ingredients for any successful solar technology of the future. But new solar cell materials should also match the stability of silicon-based solar cells, which boast more than 25 years of reliability.