Nanoparticles enable new combinations of previously immiscible metals

27-Apr-2026 - Metals have a wide range of properties. Combining these with each other opens up new perspectives for many future technologies. However, some metals cannot yet be mixed with each other. At the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), chemist Professor Claus Feldmann is using metal nanoparticles ...

Scientists discover new way metals bind oxygen, possibly starting ‘new chapter’ in chemistry

Neodymium binds dioxygen via pi interactions — a first for lanthanide chemistry

14-Apr-2026 - Iron and oxygen bind together throughout the body. Most famously, iron binds dioxygen, or two oxygens paired with each other, in hemoglobin that transports oxygen through blood. But iron-oxo compounds, as they’re called, are found in many other places throughout the body. For example, the highly ...

The nano-lasagna: Novel 2D materials gain momentum

Research team develops environmentally friendly MXene synthesis without hazardous hydrofluoric acid for industrial scaling

16-Mar-2026 - There is more than just graphene: In an interdisciplinary project, Empa researchers have focused on a new class of two-dimensional materials known as MXenes. This versatile group of materials is suitable for a wide range of applications, from energy storage to medicine. The project team has made ...

Cationic digallene breaks strong bonds

Alternative to precious metals

02-Mar-2026 - A team from the University of Freiburg led by Prof. Dr Ingo Krossing and Dr Antoine Barthélemy is researching chemical processes that could form the basis for new, more sustainable catalyst systems. In a recent study, they demonstrated that a doubly positively charged digallene can activate very ...

Engineering a low-cost alternative catalyst for producing sustainable petrochemicals

Newly identified methods to harness the properties of tungsten carbide could yield viable substitutes for precious metals

26-Jan-2026 - Important everyday products—from plastics to detergents—are made through chemical reactions that mostly use precious metals such as platinum as catalysts. Scientists have been searching for more sustainable, low-cost substitutes for years, and tungsten carbide—an Earth-abundant metal used ...

Toxic metals in wheat grain: do they come from the soil or the fertilizer?

03-Dec-2025 - Plants not only absorb nutrients through their roots, but also toxic metals. It was previously unclear whether they came from the soil or the fertilizers applied. Under the leadership of the UFZ and Duke University (USA), a research team has examined wheat grains to clarify the question and, ...

Quasiparticle solves mystery of vanishing conductivity

CAU team detects polarons in rare earth compound for the first time

31-Oct-2025 - Electrons determine the properties of all materials: they decide whether a metal conducts electricity, how a semiconductor functions or which magnetic effects occur. In some materials, the electrons behave in a particularly unusual way: they switch between different states, strongly influence ...

Novel Metal Alloy Withstands Extreme Conditions

A Chance for a Technological Leap

13-Oct-2025 - A new material might contribute to a reduction of the fossil fuels consumed by aircraft engines and gas turbines in the future. A research team from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has developed a refractory metal-based alloy with properties unparalleled to date. The novel combination of ...

Optically Active Metals for the Technologies of Tomorrow

Compound magnesium chloride defies conventional rules of metallic behaviour

02-Oct-2025 - An international research team led by the University of Bayreuth has discovered a metal that combines electrical conductivity with internal polarity. This enables it to exhibit second harmonic generation – an optical effect typically observed only in non-metals which is of particular interest for ...

Boron replaces metal: Element forms complexes with olefins

Eliminating toxic and expensive heavy metals in the chemical industry

23-Sep-2025 - The team led by chemistry professor Holger Braunschweig at the University of Würzburg is investigating the ‘metal-mimetic’ properties of main group elements such as boron. They have shown that under certain conditions, boron can mimic the reaction behaviour of metals without being toxic or as ...