Plant-derived biosolvents enable the sustainable conversion of plastic waste into valuable membrane materials

10-Feb-2023

Plastic waste can be used as a raw material for making high performance porous membranes. These could then be used in the chemical industry for the energy-efficient separation of complex chemical mixtures or to clean up waste streams, furtheradding to the environmental appeal of the ...

more

“It is now possible to develop high-energy nonmetallic ion batteries that can compete with metal-ion batteries”

12-Jan-2023

Rechargeable batteries that use ammonium cations as charge carriers could provide ecofriendly and sustainable substitutes to metal-ion-based batteries, researchers at KAUST show. Metal-ion batteries, such as lithium-ion batteries, are the go-to energy storage solution. They dominate the market ...

more

A chemical sensor endowed with artificial intelligence can learn to detect certain gases in the air with high sensitivity and selectivity

16-Nov-2022

The device, developed at KAUST, uses machine learning to differentiate the gases according to the way they induce slight temperature changes in the sensor as they interact with it. Smart electronic sensors that can detect specific airborne molecules are in great demand for use in applications ...

more

Polymer-based membranes that selectively separate hydrocarbon and crude oil mixtures could eclipse current industrial thermal processes

01-Sep-2022

Polymer-based membranes developed at KAUST could enable greener and cheaper industrial separation approaches. Their stability and selectivity can be tuned by thermal crosslinking to separate simple hydrocarbon mixtures and complex crude oil fractions. Separation processes, such as distillation ...

more

Pulses from an atom-sharp tip enable researchers to break and form chemical bonds at will

31-Aug-2022

Chemical reactions often produce messy mixtures of different products. Hence, chemists spend a lot of time coaxing their reactions to be more selective to make particular target molecules. Now, an international team of researchers has achieved that kind of selectivity by delivering voltage pulses ...

more

Nanoparticle photocatalyst can generate hydrogen fuel from water more efficiently than their standard inorganic semiconductor counterparts

14-Jun-2022

Organic semiconductor-based photocatalysts conceived by a KAUST-led team could make hydrogen easier to generate from water using sunlight. Sunlight is the most abundant source of renewable energy, but its inability to produce consistent energy levels over time means it cannot meet energy needs on ...

more

Systematic study resolves a debate on the best combination of metals to catalytically clean NOx from vehicle emissions

09-Jun-2022

Smog-producing chemicals could be almost eliminated from the tailpipes of diesel cars and vans, using a new exhaust catalyst concept developed at KAUST. After systematically studying multiple catalyst compositions, the research team identified the ideal atomic recipe to catalytically remove NOx ...

more

An electrode made from inexpensive earth-abundant metals bubbles with potential for green fuel production

14-Mar-2022

A metal foam could underpin a low-cost method for generating carbon-free fuels, researchers from KAUST have shown. The team seamlessly coated the foam with iron and cobalt nanomaterials to create a highly active electrode for a device that splits water molecules to release oxygen and hydrogen, a ...

more

Waste materials are used to create an environmentally friendly filtration system for industrial applications.

31-Jan-2022

Shrimp shells, plant extracts and recycled plastic have helped KAUST researchers to build a sustainable thin-film composite membrane that could replace conventional membranes whose environmental toll is greater. Thin-film composite membranes are widely used in applications such as wastewater ...

more

Dangerous and environmentally harmful organic micropollutants can be successfully removed from wastewater using high-intensity pulses of light

12-Jan-2022

Carbon-based organic micropollutants in water can be removed by treatment with high-intensity pulses of light in a procedure developed and demonstrated by researchers at KAUST. This photodegradation process was already known to be feasible, but its use was limited by the long treatment times it ...

more