Chemists make breakthrough in solving long-standing puzzle in polymer science

This new approach allows a fundamental and technological question that has preoccupied polymer scientists for the past 50 years to be finally answered

03-Oct-2023 - New research by the University of Liverpool’s Chemistry Department represents an important breakthrough in the field of polymer science. In a paper published in the journal Nature Chemistry and featuring on the front cover, Liverpool researchers use mechanochemistry to characterise how a polymer ...

Separating molecules requires lots of energy: This new, heat-resistant membrane could change that

The technology could lower costs for making pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and other products: Researcher plans to start a company

03-Oct-2023 - Industry has long relied upon energy-intensive processes, such as distillation and crystallization, to separate molecules that ultimately serve as ingredients in medicine, chemicals and other products. In recent decades, there has been a push to supplant these processes with membranes, which are ...

Solar cell material can assist self-driving cars in the dark

02-Oct-2023 - Material used in organic solar cells can also be used as light sensors in electronics. This is shown by researchers at Linköping University who have developed a type of sensor able to detect circularly polarised red light. Their study, published in Nature Photonics, paves the way for more ...

Intense lasers shine new light on the electron dynamics of liquids

A new spectroscopical tool to study liquids

02-Oct-2023 - The behavior of electrons in liquids determines a vast range of chemical processes and thus essential processes in organisms and the world as a whole. But electron movements are extremely hard to capture because they take place within attoseconds: the realm of quintillionths of a second. Since ...

Milestone for novel atomic clock

X-ray laser shows possible route to substantially increased precision time measurement

29-Sep-2023 - An international research team has taken a decisive step toward a new generation of atomic clocks. At the European XFEL X-ray laser, the researchers have created a much more precise pulse generator based on the element scandium, which enables an accuracy of one second in 300 billion years – that ...

Imaging the smallest atoms provides insights into an enzyme's unusual biochemistry

This could help in the design of enzymes for the chemical industry

29-Sep-2023 - When your wounds heal and your liver detoxifies a poison such as histamine you ingested, you can thank the class of enzymes known as copper amine oxidases for their assistance. Identifying the exact positions of the smallest hydrogen atoms in these enzymes is challenging with commonly used ...

Hazardous ingredients in batteries

Trust, but verify! A long and winding road to an innovative method

29-Sep-2023 - Although strict limits exist, old types of batteries can still contain too many hazardous ingredients such as mercury, cadmium and lead. The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) has therefore launched a control campaign. Empa has laid the foundations for this with a novel tailor-made method ...

How organic solar cells could become significantly more efficient

Turbocharger dyes: Organic dyes accelerate transport of buffered solar energy

28-Sep-2023 - The sun sends enormous amounts of energy to the earth. Nevertheless, some of it is lost in solar cells. This is an obstacle in the use of organic solar cells, especially for those viable in innovative applications. A key factor in increasing their performance: Improved transport of the solar ...

Intelligent Textiles as Protection against PAH Toxins

High Market Potential for Intelligent Textiles Expected

28-Sep-2023 - Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) are considered harmful to health, especially as potential carcinogens. For example, the molecular compounds of carbon and hydrogen atoms can arise in house fires when mattresses, curtains, wooden beams, plastic, or other objects made of organic materials ...

Stefanie Dehnen becomes the new President of the GDCh

“We are on the way to a new time”

28-Sep-2023 - Professor Dr. Stefanie Dehnen from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) will become President of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) on January 1, 2024. During her two-year term in office, she would like to further open up the GDCh and advance it on its path to becoming a modern, diverse ...