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 ...

Lego discards plan to build bricks from recycled plastic bottles

28-Sep-2023 - (dpa) Lego is saying goodbye to its plan to manufacture building blocks from recycled PET bottles. After several years of testing, the toy company from Billund, Denmark, has decided not to pursue this project any further. This was announced by a spokesman for the Lego Group in Scandinavia on ...

Laying of the foundation stone: Vulcan builds lithium electrolysis plant in Frankfurt Höchst

Start-up company builds a central lithium electrolysis optimisation plant in Frankfurt's Industriepark Höchst

27-Sep-2023 - On Wednesday 20 September, Vulcan, headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, solemnly performed the groundbreaking ceremony for the Central Lithium Electrolysis Optimisation Plant (CLEOP) at Frankfurt's Höchst Industrial Park. The plant will convert lithium chloride into lithium hydroxide monohydrate ...

A taste for plastic

Discovered for the first time: New deep-sea enzyme breaks down PET plastic

27-Sep-2023 - Plastic pollution is increasingly affecting the health of coasts and oceans. One well-known problem is plastic bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. A new study involving scientists from Professor Ruth Schmitz-Streit's research group at Kiel University has shown for the first ...

WACKER Expands Specialty Silicone Production in China

27-Sep-2023 - Wacker Chemie AG is expanding its specialty silicone manufacturing capacities in China. A kick-off event at the Zhangjiagang site in Jiangsu Province marks the start of construction of several new production lines, where the globally operating chemical group will manufacture functional silicone ...

From sports fields to cosmetics: microplastics to be banned in the EU in the future

Granules on artificial turf fields and other sports facilities are largest source of added microplastic releases, commission says

27-Sep-2023 - (dpa) The sale of microplastics in a wide variety of areas is gradually being banned in the European Union. New rules from the EU Commission will ban the sale of microplastics as such in the future, as well as products to which microplastics have been added and which release them during use. This ...

POWTECH and PARTEC 2023 – three days of processing and particle technology at the highest level

27-Sep-2023 - From 26 to 28 September 2023, POWTECH in Nuremberg will once again become the hot spot for international experts in processing technology from a wide range of user segments, especially the food and feed, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. In four exhibition halls, 553 exhibitors from 27 ...

traceless materials secures €36.6 Million Series A to build first industry plant for bio-circular alternative to plastic

Change-enabler for driving the green transformation of the industry

26-Sep-2023 - Bioeconomy startup traceless, which produces a natural biomaterial as an alternative to plastic, announces the completion of a €36.6 million funding round. The Series A funding round is led by private equity fund UB Forest Industry Green Growth Fund (“UB FIGG”), which invests in sustainable and ...