New, non-toxic synthesis method for “miracle material” MXene

No more toxic hydrofluoric acid

16-Apr-2025 - The nanomaterial MXene is used for battery technology or as a high-performance lubricant. Until now, its production was difficult and toxic. New methods have been developed at TU Wien. It is one of the most significant trends in materials science: materials that consist of only a single layer of ...

Oxygen for Mars

Direct splitting: electrochemical process uses carbon dioxide to produce oxygen

27-Mar-2025 - To mitigate global climate change, emissions of the primary culprit, carbon dioxide, must be drastically reduced. A newly developed process helps solve this problem: CO2 is directly split electrochemically into carbon and oxygen. As a Chinese research team reports in the journal Angewandte ...

Solving the case of the missing platinum

25-Feb-2025 - For nearly two decades, scientists have tried to understand how negatively polarized platinum electrodes corrode, a costly mystery that plagues water electrolyzers, a promising energy technology for making hydrogen, as well as electrochemical sensors using platinum electrodes. Now, a close ...

Quantum technology and AI: the key to safe second-life applications for lithium-ion batteries

Innovative rapid test method for precise determination of battery condition for industrial use

31-Jan-2025 - To promote the sustainability of electromobility and enhance resource efficiency, upcycling of lithium-ion batteries is gaining increasing importance. Efforts are focused on slowing down material cycles by repurposing used batteries from electric vehicles for new applications instead of ...

European Consortium Launches DELYCIOUS Research Project to Optimize Operation of Renewable Hydrogen Production Units

31-Jan-2025 - A consortium of eight European partners announces the launch of DELYCIOUS (Diagnostic tools for ELectrolYsers: Cost-efficient, Innovative, Open, Universal and Safe) research project on 1 January, 2025 – aimed at developing advanced diagnostic and monitoring tools for water electrolysers. The ...

How to recycle CO2 from flue gases

Design and process control are the be-all and end-all when it comes to reducing CO2 from flue gases or the atmosphere

22-Jan-2025 - In order to protect the climate, the aim is to recover CO2 from combustion processes for valuable materials. This is challenging because there are other gases in flue gases besides CO2. An international research team led by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schuhmann from the Center for Electrochemistry at ...

High Performance in Frosty Conditions

Materials with negative thermal expansion as electrodes for lithium-ion batteries

14-Jan-2025 - Most solids expand as temperatures increase and shrink as they cool. Some materials do the opposite, expanding in the cold. Lithium titanium phosphate is one such substance and could provide a solution to the problem of steeply declining performance of lithium-ion batteries in cold environments. ...

From CO2 to acetaldehyde: Towards greener industrial chemistry

This breakthrough tackles two environmental issues at once

07-Jan-2025 - Acetaldehyde is a vital chemical used in making everything from perfumes to plastics. Today, its production largely relies on ethylene, a petrochemical. But increasing environmental concerns are pushing the chemical industry to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, so scientists have been ...

Oxygen and chlorine evolution without noble metals

Electrode potential transforms surfaces

19-Dec-2024 - They are highly selective and can be easily separated from the reaction mixture: single-atom catalysts combine the advantages of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. Until now, their production has generally been associated with precious metals that are anchored to a solid substrate. ...

World's first center for solar batteries

Direct electrochemical storage of energy from sunlight

29-Nov-2024 - The world's first center for solar batteries and optoionic technologies is being established in Bavaria. The Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Max Planck Society (MPG) have set the course for this with the support of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs. With the SolBat Center, a ...