Stanford-SLAC team uses X-ray imaging to observe running batteries in action

20-Jul-2012 - Most electric cars, from the Tesla Model S to the Nissan Leaf, run on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries – a pricey technology that accounts for more than half of the vehicle's total cost. One promising alternative is the lithium-sulfur battery, which can theoretically store five times more ...

Vitamins doing gymnastics: Scientists capture first full image of vitamin B12 in action

Work by University of Michigan and MIT team yields new understanding of crucial reaction in the body and in CO2-scrubbing bacteria

28-Mar-2012 - You see it listed on the side of your cereal box and your multivitamin bottle. It's vitamin B12, part of a nutritious diet like all those other vitamins and minerals. But when it gets inside your body, new research suggests, B12 turns into a gymnast.In a paper published in Nature, scientists from ...

RIKEN: New Metal Hydride Clusters Provide Insights into Hydrogen Storage

26-Sep-2011 - A study published by researchers at the RIKEN Advanced Science Institute (ASI) has shed first-ever light on a class of heterometallic molecular structures whose unique features point the way to breakthroughs in the development of lightweight fuel cell technology. The structures contain a ...

PANalytical’s Empyrean wins 2011 R&D 100 Award

14-Jul-2011 - PANalytica has announced that Empyrean, it’s newly designed X-ray diffractometer, has been recognized as a 2011 R&D 100 award winner. In their 49th year the R&D 100 awards are widely recognized as the ‘Oscars of Innovation’ identifying and celebrating the top high technology products of the year. ...

Move to the red!

Design and synthesis of rigid fluorophores

15-Sep-2010 - Stable dyes with sharp absorption and fluorescence emission bands in the red or NIR region of the spectrum, combined with high molar absorption coefficients and high fluorescence quantum yields, may find extensive use in many different fields, such as optical engineering, analytical chemistry, ...

Molecules typically found in blue jean and ink dyes may lead to more efficient solar cells

02-Jul-2010 - Making better solar cells: Cornell University researchers have discovered a simple process - employing molecules typically used in blue jean and ink dyes - for building an organic framework that could lead to economical, flexible and versatile solar cells. The discovery is reported in the journal ...

The search for improved carbon sponges picks up speed

01-Jun-2010 - Jeffrey Long's lab will soon host a round-the-clock, robotically choreographed hunt for carbon-hungry materials. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory chemist leads a diverse team of scientists whose goal is to quickly discover materials that can efficiently strip carbon dioxide from a power ...

Secrets of a chiral gold nanocluster unveiled

31-May-2010 - Researchers at the Department of Chemistry and Nanoscience Center (NSC) of the University of Jyväskylä (Dr Olga Lopez-Acevedo and Professor Hannu Häkkinen) have resolved the structural, electronic and optical properties of a chiral gold nanocluster that remained a mystery for ten years. The ...

"Are your nanostructures feeling the strain?"

05-Jan-2010 - In collaboration with the Argonne National Laboratory, Dr. Marcus Newton of the Advanced Technology Institute at the University of Surrey and Professor Ian Robinson of the London Centre for Nanotechnology have for the first time mapped strain in three-dimensions in a single nanoscale ...

New hydrogen-storage method discovered

24-Nov-2009 - Scientists at the Carnegie Institution have found for the first time that high pressure can be used to make a unique hydrogen-storage material. The discovery paves the way for an entirely new way to approach the hydrogen-storage problem. The researchers found that the normally unreactive, noble ...