New material with exceptional negative compressibility

09-Sep-2016

Our intuition tells us that a sample of material compressed uniformly from all sides should reduce its dimensions. Only a few materials subjected to hydrostatic compression exhibit the opposite behaviour, expanding slightly in one or two directions. At the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the ...

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01-Sep-2016

Alexander Filippou, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Bonn, Germany, received the 2016 WACKER Silicone Award. The award was presented at the eighth European Silicon Days in Poznań, Poland. The Munich-based chemical group thereby recognizes Filippou’s groundbreaking work in the ...

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15-Aug-2016

Unique optical features of quantum dots make them an attractive tool for many applications, from cutting-edge displays to medical imaging. Physical, chemical or biological properties of quantum dots must, however, be adapted to the desired needs. Unfortunately, up to now quantum dots prepared by ...

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22-Apr-2016

The chaos typical of liquid molecules, and the ordering characteristics of crystals. There are states of matter connecting such contradictory features: liquid crystals. Thanks to an innovative application of antimatter, it has been demonstrated at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish ...

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11-Apr-2016

Objects of the quantum world are of a concealed and cold-blooded nature: they usually behave in a quantum manner only when they are significantly cooled and isolated from the environment. Experiments carried out by chemists and physicists from Warsaw have destroyed this simple picture. It turns ...

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04-Mar-2016

Theoretical chemists from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences have found how to synthesize the first binary compound of krypton and oxygen: a krypton oxide. It turns out that this exotic substance can be produced under extremely high pressure, and its production ...

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Maybe so, thanks to the Sun and photocatalysts!

09-Feb-2016

We associate refineries with crude oil and a dense tangle of technical fittings. They may, however, change in the future - if crude oil is replaced by lignin, a product currently treated as industrial waste. The research route leading towards this goal is being paved by new photocatalysts, ...

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02-Feb-2016

The iron Fe2+ atom embedded in a semiconductor exhibits a single non-degenerate ground state of zero magnetic moment. A team of scientists from the University of Warsaw has just shown that by using sufficiently large strain it is possible to tailor the energy spectrum of the iron atom to obtain ...

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18-Jan-2016

Perovskites, substances that perfectly absorb light, are the future of solar energy. The opportunity for their rapid dissemination has just increased thanks to a cheap and environmentally safe method of production of these materials, developed by chemists from Warsaw, Poland. Rather than in ...

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27-Nov-2015

Iron oxides occur in nature in many forms, often significantly different from each other in terms of structure and physical properties. However, a new variety of iron oxide, recently created and tested by scientists in Cracow, surprised both physicists and engineers, as it revealed features ...

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