PFAS chemicals do not last forever

The use of sulfite and iodide under ultraviolet light can destroy PFAS in water in a few hours

25-May-2022 - Once dubbed “forever chemicals,” per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, might be in the market for a new nickname. That’s because adding iodide to a water treatment reactor that uses ultraviolet (UV) light and sulfite destroys up to 90% of carbon-fluorine atoms in PFAS forever chemicals in ...

Scientists develop fully solar-driven autonomous chemical mini-plant

Production of fine chemicals in remote locations on Earth, and possibly even on Mars - also facade could make chemicals

18-Oct-2021 - Professor Timothy Noël and co-workers in the Flow Chemistry group of the University of Amsterdam's Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences have developed a fully operational standalone solar-powered mini-reactor which offers the potential for the production of fine chemicals in remote ...

Manganese could make luminescent materials and the conversion of sunlight more sustainable

06-Aug-2021 - University of Basel researchers have reached an important milestone in their quest to produce more sustainable luminescent materials and catalysts for converting sunlight into other forms of energy. Based on the cheap metal manganese, they have developed a new class of compounds with promising ...

Novel approach to the storage of solar energy

Molecular approach enables light-driven photochemistry in the dark for the first time

21-Sep-2020 - Using the energy from the sun as efficiently as nature does and converting it into chemical energy could drastically reduce global CO2 emissions. A research team from the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (Leibniz IPHT) and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena has now come one step ...

Visible light and nanoparticle catalysts produce desirable bioactive molecules

Simple photochemical method takes advantage of quantum mechanics

01-Nov-2019 - Northwestern University chemists have used visible light and extremely tiny nanoparticles to quickly and simply make molecules that are of the same class as many lead compounds for drug development. Driven by light, the nanoparticle catalysts perform chemical reactions with very specific chemical ...

An ultrafast glimpse of the photochemistry of the atmosphere

15-Oct-2019 - Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have explored the initial consequences of the interaction of light with molecules on the surface of nanoscopic aerosols. The nanocosmos is constantly in motion. All natural processes are ultimately determined by the interplay between ...

Harnessing the power of light to tackle asymmetrical molecules

06-Feb-2019 - No, molecules do not actually have hands. But scientists refer to them in this way when looking at asymmetric molecules that are mirror images of one another and therefore are not superimposable. Whether a molecule is a "lefty" or "righty" also influences how they behave -- critical information ...

More effective catalyst with light

Plasmonic effect allows catalyst to work at lower energy

08-Oct-2018 - Rice University nanoscientists have demonstrated a new catalyst that can convert ammonia into hydrogen fuel at ambient pressure using only light energy, mainly due to a plasmonic effect that makes the catalyst more efficient. A study from Rice's Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) describes the ...

New cost-effective instrument measures molecular dynamics on a picosecond timescale

19-Jul-2018 - Studying the photochemistry, or chemical results of light, has shown that ultraviolet radiation can set off harmful chemical reactions in the human body and, alternatively, can provide "photo-protection" by dispersing extra energy. To better understand the dynamics of these photochemical ...

Team achieves two-electron chemical reactions using light energy, gold

16-May-2018 - Scientists are one step closer to building a carbon-recycling system that can harvest solar energy to efficiently convert CO2 and water into liquid fuels. By optimizing many parts of the system, the researchers say, they can now drive two-electron chemical reactions, a substantial advance over ...