Researchers create light emitting diodes from food and beverage waste

15-Oct-2015 - LEDs are a type of device that can efficiently convert electricity to light. Unlike fluorescent and incandescent bulbs, which direct 80% of the energy consumed to producing heat, LEDs direct 80% of the energy consumed to producing light. This is made possible by the fact that LEDs do not require ...

Better catalysts, made-to-order

Scientists have taken a big step toward the rational design of catalysts

16-Feb-2015 - Most of our food, medicine, fuel, plastics and synthetic fibers wouldn't exist without catalysts, materials that open favorable pathways for chemical reactions to run forth. And yet chemists don't fully understand how most catalysts work, and developing new catalysts often still depends on ...

Squeezing light into metals

11-Mar-2014 - Using an inexpensive inkjet printer, University of Utah electrical engineers produced microscopic structures that use light in metals to carry information. This new technique, which controls electrical conductivity within such microstructures, could be used to rapidly fabricate superfast ...

Engineers show feasibility of superfast materials

'Organic topological insulators' for quantum computing

18-Feb-2013 - University of Utah engineers demonstrated it is feasible to build the first organic materials that conduct electricity on their edges, but act as an insulator inside. These materials, called organic topological insulators, could shuttle information at the speed of light in quantum computers and ...

Self-powered herbicide biosensor

31-Jan-2013 - A self-powered biosensor that can detect herbicides in water has been developed by US scientists. Most commercial herbicides act by inhibiting photosynthesis in plants. Unfortunately, photosynthetic aquatic microorganisms and aquatic plants are also similarly affected, which is why herbicides are ...

How 'random' lasers work

27-Jan-2010 - When University of Utah scientists discovered a new kind of laser that was generated by an electrically conducting plastic or polymer, no one could explain how it worked and some doubted it was real. Now, a decade later, the Utah researchers have found these "random lasers" occur because of ...

Tiny bubbles clean oil from water

New method targets oil sheen, other pollutants

17-Nov-2009 - Small amounts of oil leave a fluorescent sheen on polluted water. Oil sheen is hard to remove, even when the water is aerated with ozone or filtered through sand. Now, a University of Utah engineer has developed an inexpensive new method to remove oil sheen by repeatedly pressurizing and ...

How size matters for catalysts

Study links size, activity, electronic properties

10-Nov-2009 - University of Utah chemists demonstrated the first conclusive link between the size of catalyst particles on a solid surface, their electronic properties and their ability to speed chemical reactions. The study is a step toward the goal of designing cheaper, more efficient catalysts to increase ...

Putting a new spin on current research

18-Nov-2008 - Physicists in the USA and at the London Centre for Nanotechnology have found a way to extend the quantum lifetime of electrons by more than 5,000 per cent, as reported in Physical Review Letters. Electrons exhibit a property called 'spin' and work like tiny magnets which can point up, down or a ...

New test makes cheating with drugs in sports easier to detect

20-Jun-2008 - A new mass spectrometry test can help sports anti-drug doping officials to detect whether an athlete has used drugs that boost naturally occurring steroid levels. The test is more sensitive compared to previous alternatives, more capable of revealing specific suspicious chemical in the body, ...