A data visualization of carbon footprints

Carbon Catalogue, breaks down the carbon footprint of a product during its entire life cycle

21-Feb-2019 - A Columbia researcher affiliated with the Data Science Institute has created a data-visualization tool that shows the carbon footprints of hundreds of consumer products. The tool makes it easy for everyone to explore the products' carbon-emission levels and the various strategies that companies ...

Elucidating the Atomic Mechanism of Superlubricity

Tribology: Design Rules for Extremely Low Coefficients of Friction

15-Jan-2019 - The phenomenon of so-called superlubricity is known, but so far the explanation at the atomic level has been missing: for example, how does extremely low friction occur in bearings? Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institutes IWM and IWS jointly deciphered a universal mechanism of superlubricity ...

Chemical synthesis of nanotubes

Nanometer-sized tubes made from simple benzene molecules

14-Jan-2019 - For the first time, researchers used benzene - a common hydrocarbon - to create a novel kind of molecular nanotube, which could lead to new nanocarbon-based semiconductor applications. Researchers from the Department of Chemistry have been hard at work in their recently renovated lab in the ...

Melting ice sheets release tons of methane into the atmosphere

08-Jan-2019 - Melting ice sheets release tons of methane into the atmosphere, study finds The Greenland Ice Sheet emits tons of methane according to a new study, showing that subglacial biological activity impacts the atmosphere far more than previously thought. An international team of researchers led by the ...

Looking at molecules from two sides with table-top femtosecond soft-X-rays

03-Jan-2019 - X-ray spectroscopy provides direct access into the nature of chemical bonds, from which the outcome of chemical reactions can be understood. For this, intense activities both at x-ray source development and implementation of new measurement methods is pursued by key research labs. Researchers at ...

Great strides for carbon capture using earth-abundant elements as photocatalytic system

04-Dec-2018 - Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology have designed a CO2 reduction method based only on commonly occurring elements. Achieving a 57% overall quantum yield of CO2 reduction products, it is the highest performing system of its kind reported to date, raising prospects for cost-effective ...

New tech delivers high-tech film that blocks electromagnetic interference

05-Nov-2018 - Electromagnetic interference (EMI), which can harm smartphones, tablets, chips, drones, wearables, and evenaircraft and human health, is increasing with the explosive proliferation of devices that generate it. Themarket for EM-blocking solutions, which employ conductive or magnetic materials, is ...

Making plastic production more energy efficient - with MOFs

30-Oct-2018 - An innovative filtering material may soon reduce the environmental cost of manufacturing plastic. Created by a team including scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the advance can extract the key ingredient in the most common form of plastic from a mixture of ...

A computational method for designing a new type of 2D carbons

16-Aug-2018 - Zeolites are porous minerals that occur both naturally but also are being synthesized artificially. Because of their stability and durability, they are used in industrial water purification, catalysis, adsorption, and even in blood-clotting powders (e.g. QuickClot used by the US military). A ...

Hybrid nanomaterials bristle with potential

16-Aug-2018 - By combining multiple nanomaterials into a single structure, scientists can create hybrid materials that incorporate the best properties of each component and outperform any single substance. A controlled method for making triple-layered hollow nanostructures has now been developed at KAUST. The ...