A human research team and a machine learning algorithm have found that we need to rethink much of what we know about iridium oxide

14-Oct-2020

Iridium oxide is an excellent catalyst for electrochemical reactions, and is typically used for the production of energy carriers such as hydrogen from water. Now it turns out that research on iridium oxide carried out so far has been based on a wrong basic assumption: The arrangement of the ...

more

Research team discovered a remarkable echo effect - it offers exciting new possibilities for working with quantum information

28-Sep-2020

Small particles can have an angular momentum that points in a certain direction - the spin. This spin can be manipulated by a magnetic field. This principle, for example, is the basic idea behind magnetic resonance imaging as used in hospitals. An international research team has now discovered a ...

more

Electrochemical reactions, which will play an important role in the future of energy supply, can now be explained in detail

25-Sep-2020

Electrochemistry is playing an increasingly important role: Whether it is fuel cells, electrolysis or chemical energy storage, chemical reactions controlled by electric current are used. The decisive factor in all these applications is that the reactions are as fast and efficient as possible. An ...

more

Why do different measurements of material properties sometimes give different results?

02-Sep-2020

It is very hard to take a photo of a hummingbird flapping its wings 50 times per second. The exposure time has to be much shorter than the characteristic time scale of the wing beat, otherwise you will only see a colorful blur. A very similar problem is encountered in solid-state physics, where ...

more

Scientists photographed, for the first time, individual atoms floating less than a thousandth of a millimeter above a light-conducting glass fiber

06-Aug-2020

The first photograph of a single trapped atom represented a milestone for quantum research. This breakthrough was made possible because the atom was captured in a vacuum using electric fields and held far from surfaces whose scattered light could blind the camera. Scientists at Humboldt ...

more

The Art of Making Tiny Holes: Scientists developed a technique for processing surfaces on an atomic scale

04-Aug-2020

Nobody can shoot a pistol bullet through a banana in such a way that the skin is perforated but the banana remains intact. However, on the level of individual atomic layers, such a feat has now been achieved - a nano-structuring method has been developed at TU Wien (Vienna), with which certain ...

more

Chemist from the TU Wien was awarded an Elise-Richter scholarship: She is conducting research in catalysis with ultra-small gold clusters

17-Jul-2020

Nanometer-sized gold particles consisting of only a few atoms can be used as catalysts for important chemical reactions. Noelia Barrabés from the Institute of Materials Chemistry at TU Wien has been researching new methods of adapting and precisely controlling such tiny gold clusters for years. ...

more

How can surfaces be studied as gently as possible on an atomic scale?

10-Jun-2020

Oxygen is highly reactive. It accumulates on many surfaces and determines their chemical behavior. At the Vienna University of Technology, scientists study the interaction between oxygen and metal oxide surfaces, which play an important role in many technical applications - from chemical sensors ...

more

With new nickelates and the predictive power of supercomputers to the superconductor without any cooling

29-Apr-2020

Nickel is supposed to herald a new age of superconductivity – but this is proving more difficult than expected. Scientists at TU Wien (Vienna) can now explain why. Last summer, a new age for high-temperature superconductivity was proclaimed - the nickel age. It was discovered that there are ...

more

Water replaces toxins: Green production of plastics using hydrothermal synthesis

22-Apr-2020

Although organic plastics are not harmful to the environment themselves, toxic substances are often used during their synthesis. TU Wien shows - there is another way. Many materials that we use every day are not sustainable. Some are harmful to plants or animals, others contain rare elements that ...

more