Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

Researchers team up with national lab for innovative look at copper reactions      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers are working to get a better look at how peroxides on the surface of copper oxide promote the oxidation of hydrogen but inhibit the oxidation of carbon monoxide, allowing them to steer oxidation reactions.

Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Technology Engineering: Nanotechnology
Published

Cryo-imaging lifts the lid on fuel cell catalyst layers      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Thanks to a novel combination of cryogenic transmission electron tomography and deep learning, EPFL researchers have provided a first look at the nanostructure of platinum catalyst layers, revealing how they could be optimized for fuel cell efficiency.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Batteries Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Greener batteries      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Our modern rechargeable batteries, such as lithium-ion batteries, are anything but sustainable. One alternative is organic batteries with redox-organic electrode materials (OEMs), which can be synthesized from natural 'green' materials. A team has now introduced a new OEM for aqueous organic high-capacity batteries that can be easily and cheaply recycled.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Molecular Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Computer Science: General Engineering: Nanotechnology
Published

Reinforcement learning: From board games to protein design      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An AI strategy proven adept at board games like Chess and Go, reinforcement learning, has now been adapted for a powerful protein design program. The results show that reinforcement learning can do more than master board games. When trained to solve long-standing puzzles in protein science, the software excelled at creating useful molecules. In one experiment, proteins made with the new approach were found to be more effective at generating useful antibodies in mice than were previous methods. If this method is applied to the right research problems, it likely could accelerate progress in a variety of scientific fields.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Molecular Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Mathematics: Modeling Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

AI system can generate novel proteins that meet structural design targets      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new machine-learning system can generate protein designs with certain structural features, and which do not exist in nature. These proteins could be utilized to make materials that have similar mechanical properties to existing materials, like polymers, but which would have a much smaller carbon footprint.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Alternative Fuels Engineering: Graphene Environmental: General Geoscience: Geochemistry Physics: Optics
Published

New findings pave the way for stable organic solar cells that may enable cheap and renewable electricity generation      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Organic solar cells show great promise for clean energy applications. However, photovoltaic modules made from organic semiconductors do not maintain their efficiency for long enough under sunlight for real world applications. Scientists have now revealed an important reason why organic solar cells rapidly degrade under operation. This new insight will drive the design of more stale materials for organic semiconductor-based photovoltaics, thus enabling cheap and renewable electricity generation.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Engineering: Nanotechnology
Published

Novel nanocages for delivery of small interfering RNAs      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are novel therapeutics that can be used to treat a wide range of diseases. This has led to a growing demand for selective, efficient, and safe ways of delivering siRNA in cells. Now, in a cooperation between the Universities of Amsterdam and Leiden, researchers have developed dedicated molecular nanocages for siRNA delivery. In a paper just out in the Journal Chem they present nanocages that are easy to prepare and display tuneable siRNA delivery characteristics.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Alternative Fuels Environmental: General Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Using machine learning to find reliable and low-cost solar cells      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Hybrid perovskites are organic-inorganic molecules that have received a lot of attention over the past 10 years for their potential use in renewable energy. Some are comparable in efficiency to silicon for making solar cells, but they are cheaper to make and lighter, potentially allowing a wide range of applications, including light-emitting devices. However, they tend to degrade way more readily than silicon when exposed to moisture, oxygen, light, heat, and voltage. Researchers used machine learning and high-throughput experiments to identify perovskites with optimal qualities out of the very large field of possible structures.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Chemistry: Thermodynamics Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Technology Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

A solar hydrogen system that co-generates heat and oxygen      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have built a pilot-scale solar reactor that produces usable heat and oxygen, in addition to generating hydrogen with unprecedented efficiency for its size.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Physics: Optics
Published

Luminous molecules      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Twisted molecules play an important role in the development of organic light-emitting diodes. A team of chemists has managed to create these compounds with exactly the three-dimensional structure that they wanted. In so doing, they are smoothing the path for new and better light sources.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

Scientists use peroxide to peer into metal oxide reactions      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers to get a better look at how peroxides on the surface of copper oxide promote the oxidation of hydrogen but inhibit the oxidation of carbon monoxide, allowing them to steer oxidation reactions.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Physics: Optics
Published

Toward tunable molecular switches from organic compounds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Newly synthesized organic molecules can be tuned to emit different colors depending on their molecular structures in crystal form.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Engineering: Nanotechnology Mathematics: Modeling Physics: General
Published

New atomic-scale understanding of catalysis could unlock massive energy savings      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In an advance they consider a breakthrough in computational chemistry research, chemical engineers have developed a model of how catalytic reactions work at the atomic scale. This understanding could allow engineers and chemists to develop more efficient catalysts and tune industrial processes -- potentially with enormous energy savings, given that 90% of the products we encounter in our lives are produced, at least partially, via catalysis.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Technology Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Long-forgotten equation provides new tool for converting carbon dioxide      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

To manage atmospheric carbon dioxide and convert the gas into a useful product, scientists have dusted off an archaic -- now 120 years old -- electrochemical equation.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

DMI allows magnon-magnon coupling in hybrid perovskites      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international group of researchers has created a mixed magnon state in an organic hybrid perovskite material by utilizing the Dzyaloshinskii--Moriya-Interaction (DMI). The resulting material has potential for processing and storing quantum computing information.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Environmental: General Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Scientists use computational modeling to design 'ultrastable' materials      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers developed a computational approach to predict which metal-organic framework (MOF) structures will be the most stable, and therefore the best candidates for applications such as capturing greenhouse gases.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Discovery of crucial clue to accelerate development of carbon-neutral porous materials      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A recent study has provided a library of those various molecular clusters for future metal building blocks of MOFs, and suggested practical synthetic strategies.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Batteries Energy: Technology
Published

Major storage capacity in water-based batteries      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Chemical engineers have discovered a 1,000% difference in the storage capacity of metal-free, water-based battery electrodes.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Engineering: Graphene Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Strong ultralight material could aid energy storage, carbon capture      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Materials scientists showed that fine-tuning interlayer interactions in a class of 2D polymers can determine the materials' loss or retention of desirable mechanical properties in multilayer or bulk form.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Engineering: Biometric
Published

Can investigators use household dust as a forensic tool?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

It is possible to retrieve forensically relevant information from human DNA in household dust.