Plasmas usually have a destructive effect on enzymes - But in this instance, they supply them with a building block for biocatalysis at the push of a button

25-Jun-2021

Enzymes can do a good job as catalysts – they can, for example, synthesise a specific product, but not its mirror image, which has to be laboriously separated in other processes. However, they are sensitive and are sometimes inactivated by the substrate they convert. Using plasma, the team of ...

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High-throughput X-ray diffraction measurements generate huge amounts of data - The agent renders them usable more quickly

21-Apr-2021

Artificial intelligence (AI) can analyse large amounts of data, such as those generated when analysing the properties of potential new materials, faster than humans. However, such systems often tend to make definitive decisions even in the face of uncertainty; they overestimate themselves. An ...

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Optimising electrochemical processes is one of the challenges in developing technologies for renewable energies. New research findings could provide assistance here.

15-Apr-2021

Electrochemical processes could be used to convert CO2 into useful starting materials for industry. To optimise the processes, chemists are attempting to calculate in detail the energy costs caused by the various reaction partners and steps. Researchers from Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and ...

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29-Mar-2021

A new catalyst for the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into chemicals or fuels has been developed by researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum and the University of Duisburg-Essen. They optimized already available copper catalysts to improve their selectivity and long-term stability. The results ...

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Complex solid solution electrocatalyst discovery by computational prediction and high‐throughput experimentation

18-Feb-2021

Finding the best material composition among thousands of possibilities is like looking for a needle in a haystack. An international team is combining computer simulations and high-throughput experiments to do this. Catalysts consisting of at least five chemical elements could be the key to ...

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Compared to previous methods, the team has achieved a high yield and selectivity under less aggressive reaction conditions

09-Feb-2021

A German-Chinese research team has found a new synthetic route to produce biofuel from biomass. The chemists converted the substance 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) produced from biomass into 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF), which could be suitable as a biofuel. Compared to previous methods, they achieved ...

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The discovery may make it possible to use oxygen-stable enzymes as hydrogen producers

04-Feb-2021

An international research team from the Photobiotechnology Research Group at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) led by Professor Thomas Happe and the Laboratoire de Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines (CNRS) in Marseille has been able to get to the bottom of this unique feature. They describe ...

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04-Jan-2021

Photosynthetic proteins can convert light energy into other forms of energy. Researchers want to make this technology usable for the industrial production of fuels, for example. A research team from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB), together with colleagues from Lisbon, has produced a ...

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Using a robotic arm

16-Dec-2020

Analyzing nanoparticles individually is a challenge precisely because they are so small. A new technique using electron microscopy and a robotic arm could make the process much easier. Precious metal-free nanoparticles could serve as powerful catalysts in the future, for example for hydrogen ...

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When water is present in tiny quantities it develops special properties

16-Dec-2020

An international research team has investigated water molecules in a tiny cage – and discovered previously unknown properties. Researchers from Bochum and Berkeley have investigated why cages can increase the catalytic activity of enclosed molecules. Using terahertz spectroscopy and complex ...

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