Enzymes instead of highly toxic cyanide

Researchers develop biocatalytic process for nitrile production

20-Jun-2024 - A research team from TU Graz and the Czech Academy of Sciences has used two enzymes to eliminate the need for highly toxic cyanide in the production of nitriles. If the household cleaner emits a lemon-like odour, this may be due to a nitrile called citronellyl nitrile. These versatile chemical ...

Researchers tailor main-group catalyst with atomically dispersed in sites for highly efficient oxidative dehydrogenation

08-Sep-2022 - Transition metal oxides are a kind of catalysts for oxidative dehydrogenation of alkanes. However,they suffer from inferior alkenes yield due to the trade-off between conversion and selectivity induced by more reactive alkenes than alkanes. Recently, a research group led by Prof. WANG Xiaodong ...

A “fairly simple” breakthrough makes accessing stored hydrogen more efficient

New catalyst extracts hydrogen from hydrogen storage materials easily and efficiently

15-Feb-2022 - A new catalyst from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and collaborators extracts hydrogen from hydrogen storage materials easily and efficiently. The process occurs at mild temperatures and under normal atmospheric conditions, without using metals or additives. The breakthrough ...

Catalyzing a zero-carbon world by harvesting energy from living cells

Scientists have achieved a breakthrough in converting energy-deficient metabolites to a biorenewable resource thanks to a versatile catalyst

16-Nov-2020 - The imminent environmental crisis calls for an urgent transition to a green economy. A team of scientists at Nagoya University, Japan, led by Professor Susumu Saito, has recently found an interesting way to make this happen -- by leveraging an important metabolic pathway in living cells. Their ...

Tips for making nanographene

A new and efficient way to create nanographene for power and display devices

12-Nov-2020 - Nanographene is a material that is anticipated to radically improve solar cells, fuel cells, LEDs and more. Typically the synthesis of this material has been imprecise and difficult to control. For the first time, researchers have discovered a simple way to gain precise control over the ...

Self-healing catalyst for potential large-scale use in hydrogen production

12-Apr-2019 - Researchers working within NCCR MARVEL have discovered a self-healing catalyst that can be used to release hydrogen through the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane. The catalyst, SION-X, is based on the abundant mineral Jacquesdietrichite, is sustainable, air stable and can be easily ...

Scientists pioneer new low-temperature chemical conversion process

05-Apr-2019 - Chemists spend a great deal of time and energy trying to get chemical reactions to begin or to speed up -- but sometimes it can be just as important to stop them before they go too far. In a recent study from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, chemists have ...

Cheaper and easier way found to make plastic semiconductors

26-Apr-2018 - Cheap, flexible and sustainable plastic semiconductors will soon be a reality thanks to a breakthrough by chemists at the University of Waterloo. Professor Derek Schipper and his team at Waterloo have developed a way to make conjugated polymers, plastics that conduct electricity like metals, ...

Channeling graphene to understand filtration and ion transport into cells

12-Dec-2017 - Tiny pores at a cell's entryway act as miniature bouncers, letting in some electrically charged atoms--ions--but blocking others. Operating as exquisitely sensitive filters, these "ion channels" play a critical role in biological functions such as muscle contraction and the firing of brain cells. ...

Customized catalysts to boost product yields, decrease separation costs

20-Oct-2017 - For some crystalline catalysts, what you see on the surface is not always what you get in the bulk, according to two studies led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The investigators discovered that treating a complex oxide crystal with either heat or chemicals caused ...