Researchers build atomically thin gas and chemical sensors

03-Mar-2015 - The relatively recent discovery of graphene, a two-dimensional layered material with unusual and attractive electronic, optical and thermal properties, led scientists to search for other atomically thin materials with unique properties.Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has proved to be one of the most ...

New paper-like material could boost electric vehicle batteries

Researchers create silicon nanofibers 100 times thinner than human hair for potential applications in batteries

23-Feb-2015 - Researchers at the University of California, Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering have developed a novel paper-like material for lithium-ion batteries. It has the potential to boost by several times the specific energy, or amount of energy that can be delivered per unit weight of the ...

Chemists challenge conventional understanding of how photocatalysis works

New model proposed by UC Riverside researchers could help identify better promoters for photocatalysis

21-May-2014 - Photocatalysis is a promising route to convert solar energy into chemical fuels. Particularly appealing is the possibility to use photocatalysis to split water molecules into molecular hydrogen. Although photocatalysis has been around for many years, the search for viable photocatalysts to ...

Research on nanocrystals to move from lab to market

UC Riverside and The Idea Zoo, Inc., sign license agreement to commercialize research performed in Yadong Yin's lab

30-Oct-2012 - The University of California, Riverside has granted an exclusive license to The Idea Zoo, Inc., to commercialize nanotechnology research developed in the lab of Yadong Yin, an associate professor of chemistry.The Idea Zoo, a developer and licensor of advanced materials and technologies ...

New research by UCR physicists could help develop gamma ray lasers and produce fusion power

Researchers isolate collection of “pure” or spin polarized positronium atoms for the first time

04-May-2010 - Positronium is a short-lived system in which an electron and its anti-particle are bound together. In 2007, physicists at the University of California, Riverside created molecular positronium , a brand-new substance, in the laboratory. Now they have succeeded in isolating for the first time a ...

UC Riverside researchers create first synthetic cellulosome in yeast

Discovery has potential to make renewable fuel production more efficient and economical

03-Nov-2009 - A team of researchers led by University of California, Riverside (UCR) Professor of Chemical Engineering Wilfred Chen has constructed for the first time a synthetic cellulosome in yeast, which is much more ethanol-tolerant than the bacteria in which these structures are normally found. The yeast ...

New molecules created by UC Riverside chemists have wide applications

Guy Bertrand's lab shows metal-free 'abnormal N-heterocyclic carbenes' are stable, allowing their use in numerous catalytic chemical reactions

28-Oct-2009 - Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have successfully created in the laboratory a class of carbenes, highly reactive molecules, used to make catalysts – substances that facilitate chemical reactions. Until now, chemists believed these carbenes, called "abnormal N-heterocyclic ...

UCR physicists to study attractive and repulsive forces crucial in designing nano-machines

10-Aug-2009 - The Casimir force, also known as the Casimir effect, is typified by the small attractive force that acts between two close parallel uncharged conducting plates. Today, this force has become an interdisciplinary subject of study, playing an important role in condensed matter physics, quantum field ...

UCR scientists manipulate ripples in graphene, enabling strain-based graphene electronics

Study is first to experimentally quantify thermal contraction of graphene

28-Jul-2009 - Graphene is nature's thinnest elastic material and displays exceptional mechanical and electronic properties. Its one-atom thickness, planar geometry, high current-carrying capacity and thermal conductivity make it ideally suited for further miniaturizing electronics through ultra-small devices ...

How natural oils can be hydrogenated without making unhealthy trans fats

UC Riverside researchers illustrate how controlling shape of heterogeneous catalysts can promote desired chemical reaction

28-Jan-2009 - To prolong the shelf life of foods, manufacturers often add hydrogen to natural oils, a process called hydrogenation. But hydrogenation also results in the production of trans fats, which have adverse health effects such as raising bad cholesterol and increasing the risk for coronary heart ...