Electrospun polymer fibres better than non-woven polymer fibres at mopping up oil from oil spills

Chemocatalytic approach for one-pot reaction of cellulosic ethanol developed

Scientists at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a chemocatalytic approach to convert cellulose into ethanol in a one-pot process by using a multifunctional Mo/Pt/WOx catalyst. This approach opens up an alternative avenue for bi ... more

New technique prepares 2D perovskite single crystals for highest photodetectivity

A research group led by Prof. LIU Shengzhong from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dr. XU Zhuo at Shaanxi Normal University (SNNU) developed a technique to prepare large size 2D perovskite single crystals to achieve highest photodetector ... more

New class of single-atom nanozymes

Nanozymes - catalytic nanomaterials with enzyme-like characteristics - offer the advantage of low cost, high stability, tunable catalytic activity and ease of mass production. For these reasons, they have been widely applied in biosensing, therapeutics and environmental protection. However, ... more

‘Forensic fingers’ for crime scene investigation

A team of scientists in the United States has developed a wearable fingertip sensor to enable crime scene investigators to rapidly detect explosives and gunshot residue. Traditional forensic analysis is typically carried out in a central laboratory, which requires time-consuming processes s ... more

High-performance epoxy resin adhesives from renewable green starting materials

A series of epoxy resins has been synthesised by a team of chemists from Germany, who used renewable starting materials for a more environmentally friendly approach than conventional methods. The resulting epoxy resins have highly desirable mechanical properties, such as high stiffness, tha ... more

Cheap, simple and efficient molybdenum carbide electrocatalysts for hydrogen production

US scientists have made an efficient catalytic system to split water that uses molybdenum carbide nanoparticles on a carbon nanotube support. Molybdenum and carbon are both low cost and abundant elements. Water splitting using sustainable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, has be ... more

Chemical sensing with 2D materials

During the last decade, two-dimensional materials (2DMs) have attracted great attention due to their unique chemical and physical properties, which make them appealing platforms for diverse applications in opto-electronic devices, energy generation and storage, and sensing. Among their vari ... more

Atomic hydrogen interactions with gas-phase coronene cations: hydrogenation versus fragmentation

Sequential hydrogenation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) cations drives a gradual transition from a planar to a puckered geometry and from an aromatic to an aliphatic electronic structure. The resulting H-induced weakening of the molecular structure together with the exothermic nat ... more

Silver(I)-catalyzed sequential hydroamination and Prins type cyclization for the synthesis of fused benzo--sultams

An intramolecular annulation strategy has been developed for the synthesis of tetrahydrobenzo[e]pyrano[4,3-c][1,2]thiazine derivatives by means of coupling of aldehydes with 2-(4-hydroxybut-1-yn-1-yl)-N-arylsulfonamides using a catalytic amount of silver hexafluoroantimonate in toluene at 8 ... more