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A team of researchers led by Prof. Andre Geim from the National Graphene Institute (NGI) have discovered that nanoripples in graphene can make it a strong catalyst, contrary to general expectations that the carbon sheet is as chemically inert as the bulk graphite from which it is obtained. Published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the research has shown that graphene with nanoscale corrugations of its surface can accelerate hydrogen splitting as well as the best metallic-based catalysts.

Researchers at EPFL and KAIST have developed a new AI model that significantly improves the understanding of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), promising materials for hydrogen storage and other applications. How does an iPhone predict the next word you're going to type in your messages? The technology behind this, and also at the core of many AI applications, is called a transformer; a deep-learning algorithm that detects patterns in datasets.

When it comes to studying particles in motion, experimentalists have followed a 100-year-old theory that claims the microscopic motion of a particle is determined by random collisions with molecules of the surrounding medium, regardless of the macroscopic forces that drive that motion.

In a major joint project with top Indian scientists, PSI researchers have determined why smog forms at night in the Indian capital New Delhi, contrary to all the rules of atmospheric chemistry. Their results have now been published in the journal Nature Geoscience . For the past three years, New Delhi has been ranked the world's most polluted capital.

The nitrate runoff problem, a source of carcinogens and a cause of suffocating algal blooms in U.S. waterways, may not be a harbinger of doom. A new study led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) demonstrates an approach for the integrated capture and conversion of nitrate-contaminated waters into valuable ammonia within a single electrochemical cell.

Computational chemists design better ways of discovering and designing materials for energy applications. Close Swift and significant gains against climate change require the creation of novel, environmentally benign, and energy-efficient materials. One of the richest veins researchers hope to tap in creating such useful compounds is a vast chemical space where molecular combinations that offer remarkable optical, conductive, magnetic, and heat transfer properties await discovery.

Mass spectrometers are high-tech machines that play an important role in our society. They are highly sensitive analytical instruments that are indispensable in areas such as medical diagnostics, food quality control and the detection of hazardous chemical substances. The research group led by Dr Jonas Warneke at the Wilhelm-Ostwald-Institute for Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at Leipzig University is working to modify mass spectrometers so that they can be used for a completely different purpose: the chemical synthesis of new molecules.

Newly developed nanoparticles in the form of tiny shag brushes effectively transport drugs through the body . Once their work is done, they are degraded into natural precursors, releasing active substances that they have brought with them, explained Ian Teasdale of the Institute of Chemistry of Polymers at Johannes Kepler University Linz.

Significantly increased efficiency of fluorescence - Wide range of applications in everyday life Fluorescence is a fascinating natural phenomenon. It is based on the fact that certain materials can absorb light of a certain wavelength and then emit light of a different wavelength. Fluorescent materials play an important role in our everyday lives, for example in modern screens.

A mystery about how a chemical compound found in nature could be synthesised in the lab may have been solved, scientists say - a breakthrough which could unlock new developments in medicine. Scientists from universities and research institutions in Scotland and Germany are behind the discovery, published in the journal Nature Chemistry .

MIT chemists show the Australian wildfires widened the ozone hole by 10 percent in 2020. Close A wildfire can pump smoke up into the stratosphere, where the particles drift for over a year. A new MIT study has found that while suspended there, these particles can trigger chemical reactions that erode the protective ozone layer shielding the Earth from the sun's damaging ultraviolet radiation.

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ÜBerkeley Lab) have developed a conductive polymer coating - called HOS-PFM - that could enable longer lasting, more powerful lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. "The advance opens up a new approach to developing EV batteries that are more affordable and easy to manufacture,” said Gao Liu, a senior scientist in Berkeley Lab's Energy Technologies Area who led the development of the material.

Despite considerable advances in research, there is still no cure for many age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer-s. One hypothesis for the development of Alzheimer's is the aggregation of peptides, i.e. their -clumping-, in the brains of people with the disease. But stress has also been suspected as a possible trigger.

Plants have a powerful warning system in case of attack, based on a sophisticated communication mode. In a study published in the journal "Cell", the group of Prof. Edward Farmer of the University of Lausanne details the mechanism of propagation of the electrical signal essential to this defense process .

Chemists use new method for sustainable production of cyclopropanes Tripartite ring-shaped hydrocarbons (cyclopropanes) are important structural subunits in many drugs and materials. Their production in the laboratory is challenging and usually involves the generation of various waste products. The research group led by Nuno Maulide, a chemist at the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Vienna, has now developed a new nature-inspired process for the sustainable production of cyclopropanes and presented it in the renowned journal JACS (Journal of the American Chemical Society).

Previous article Next article We have been separating our waste for many years, but a large part of the waste stream cannot be recycled. Scientists at the University of Twente are researching, in collaboration with companies, how you can make new products from so-called complex and 'wet' waste streams.

A specialized laboratory setup at JPL removes the chemical influence of modern organisms so scientists can study the chemistry that may have led to life's emergence. In the Origins and Habitability Lab at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, you can find a world in a test tube - specifically, a simplified simulation of early Earth.

Sometimes, chemical reactions do not solely run stationary in one direction, but they show spatio-temporal oscillations. At TU Wien, a transition to chaotic behavior on the nanometer scale has now been observed. Chaotic behavior is typically known from large systems: for example, from weather, from asteroids in space that are simultaneously attracted by several large celestial bodies, or from swinging pendulums that are coupled together.

In early Earth simulation co-led by researchers at Johns Hopkins, scientists gain insights into how amino acids shaped the genetic code of ancient microorganisms By simulating early Earth conditions in the lab, researchers have found that without specific amino acids, ancient proteins would not have known how to evolve into everything alive on the planet today-including plants, animals, and humans.

Studying radioactive materials is notoriously difficult due to their radiation-induced toxicity and risk of contamination when handling. The cost of the radioactive isotopes used in research also is a major barrier, with some costing more than $10,000 per microgram. Certain radioisotopes also cannot be produced in sufficient quantity so it is simply impossible for researchers to study them with current laboratory techniques.