Researchers use electrolysis to produce dichloro and dibromo compounds in a safer and more environmentally friendly manner

01-Feb-2021

Scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and ETH Zurich have developed a process to produce commodity chemicals in a much less hazardous way than was previously possible. Such commodity chemicals represent the starting point for many mass-produced products in the chemical industry, ...

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Carbon-​neutral aviation and the use of fossil fuels are not mutually exclusive

15-Jan-2021

Carbon-​neutral aviation is possible, but in future, aircraft are likely to continue to be powered by fossil fuels. The CO2 they emit must be systematically stored underground. This is the most economical of various approaches that ETH researchers have compared in detail. It is politically agreed ...

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Start-ups made carbon-​neutral fuels and turning carbon dioxide into stone

14-Jan-2021

More and more ETH Zurich researchers are taking the plunge into entrepreneurship. By launching spin-​offs, they hope to turn their lab findings into solutions that can help stem the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide. There is no shortage of evidence for what the Fifth Assessment Report of the ...

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Scientists have generated a huge true random number using DNA synthesis: It is the first time that a number of this magnitude has been created by biochemical means.

23-Nov-2020

True random numbers are required in fields as diverse as slot machines and data encryption. These numbers need to be truly random, such that they cannot even be predicted by people with detailed knowledge of the method used to generate them. As a rule, they are generated using physical methods. ...

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Good catalytic performance is driven chiefly by processes that occur on the surface of the catalyst – and not electrochemical processes

20-Nov-2020

Splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen is an important chemical reaction, especially considering that the use of hydrogen as an energy source in sustainable mobility in the future. An international research team has now decoded how one of the catalysts used in this reaction works. Hydrogen is a ...

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Findings will help catalyst research take an important step forward

30-Oct-2020

“Titanium silicalite-1” (TS-1) is not a new catalyst: It has been almost 40 years since its development and the discovery of its ability to convert propylene into propylene oxide, an important basic chemical in the chemical industry. Now, by combining various methods, a team of scientists from ...

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Innovative bio-​propellant from gas and water

29-Oct-2020

Biodegradable plastics are very much on trend. But there are still very few sustainable alternatives for products containing foamed plastic. ETH Pioneer Fellow Zuzana Sediva is developing a process that could one day be used to make shoe soles and yoga mats from organic waste. Zuzana Sediva loves ...

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ETH spin-​offs are much more likely to make an exit than other Swiss start-​ups

08-Oct-2020

As well as generating more jobs on average than other Swiss start-​ups, ETH spin-​offsare also acquired more frequently. A decisive factor, according to University of St.Gallen’s comprehensive analysis, comes from the institutional support for entrepreneurship. With around 500 ETH spin-​offs now ...

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Membrane massively reduces volumes of waste

01-Oct-2020

The nuclear accident in Fukushima remains etched into people's memories. It was a catastrophe that caused huge amounts of radioactively contaminated water to be released, which the operators of the nuclear power plant subsequently had to clean up. One of the methods they used was reverse osmosis ...

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“Electron movements are the key events in chemical reactions”

24-Aug-2020

Electrons are able to move within molecules, for example when they are excited from outside or in the course of a chemical reaction. For the first time, scientists have now succeeded in studying the first few dozen attoseconds of this electron movement in a liquid. To understand how chemical ...

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