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Category: chemistry – Page 24

Hydroxyl adsorption identified as key factor in electrocatalytic ammonia production

Compared with the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process, renewable energy-driven electrocatalytic nitrate reduction reaction (NO3−RR) provides a low-carbon route for ammonia synthesis under mild conditions. Using nitrate from wastewater as the nitrogen source and water as the hydrogen source, this route has the potential to produce ammonia sustainably while mitigating water pollution.

Copper (Cu)-based catalysts show a good performance for NO3−RR to ammonia. However, they suffer from issues including high overpotential, competing nitrite (NO2–) formation, and low overall energy efficiency.

In a study published in ACS Catalysis, a team led by Prof. Bao Xinhe and Prof. Gao Dunfeng from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with Prof. Wang Guoxiong from Fudan University, proposed hydroxyl (*OH) as a selectivity descriptor for via NO3−RR over Cu catalysts.

Zigzag graphene nanoribbons create ‘string light’ configuration for tomorrow’s electronics

Organic chemistry, the chemistry of carbon compounds, is the basis of all life on Earth. However, metals also play a key role in many biochemical processes. When it comes to “marrying” large, heavy metal atoms with light organic compounds, nature often relies on a specific group of chemical structures: porphyrins. These molecules form an organic ring; in its center, individual metal ions such as iron, cobalt, or magnesium can be “anchored.”

The porphyrin framework forms the basis for hemoglobin in human blood, photosynthetic chlorophyll in plants, and numerous enzymes. Depending on which metal is captured by the porphyrin, the resulting compounds can display a wide range of chemical and physical properties. Chemists and materials scientists have long sought to exploit this flexibility and functionality of porphyrins, including for applications in .

However, for —even molecular ones—to function, they must be connected to each other. Wiring up individual molecules is no easy task. But this is precisely what researchers at Empa’s nanotech@surfaces laboratory have achieved, in collaboration with synthetic chemists from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research.

Pairing food waste and nanocatalysts to reduce carbon emissions in aviation

For researchers from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a new avenue for reducing carbon emissions can be found on the side. A side of salad dressing, that is.

In 2020, the United States federal government committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. An important step toward carbon neutrality is embracing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), an alternative to conventional jet fuel that is made from renewable feedstocks. As part of this initiative, Grainger engineers have been hard at work creating the critical nanocatalysts for converting biocrude oil from food waste such as salad dressing into sustainable aviation fuel.

Hong Yang, a professor of chemical & biomolecular engineering, and Yuanhui Zhang, a professor of agricultural & , joined forces to tackle this problem.

Synthesis of a molecule found in guava plants offers hope in fighting liver-related cancers

You may not be aware that most of the medicines that have been approved for treatment are rooted in nature. For example, the bark of willow trees has been called nature’s aspirin because it contains a chemical called salicin. The human body converts salicin into salicylic acid, which relieves pain and fights fevers.

New research by William Chain, associate professor in the University of Delaware’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and his lab, uses a molecule found in a tropical fruit to offer hope in the fight against liver-related cancers, one of the world’s top causes of cancer deaths.

Using a process called natural product , Chain and his lab group have invented a pathway that uses widely available chemicals to create molecules found in a guava plant that are known to fight these deadly cancers. The work is published in Angewandte Chemie.

Scientists harness polaritons, making a leap in molecular charge transfer

Scientists have long speculated that polaritons—hybrids of light and matter—could be harnessed to control photochemistry. Now, researchers at the City University of New York (CUNY) have shown that these fleeting states can indeed drive a fundamental type of molecular reaction.

Nuclear waste could be a source of fuel in future reactors

Terence Tarnowsky, a physicist at Los Almos National Laboratory (LANL), will present his results at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Fall 2025 is being held Aug. 17–21; it features about 9,000 presentations on a range of science topics.

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2025 — From electric cars to artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, the technologies people use every day require a growing need for electricity. In theory, nuclear fusion — a process that fuses atoms together, releasing heat to turn generators — could provide vast energy supplies with minimal emissions. But nuclear fusion is an expensive prospect because one of its main fuels is a rare version of hydrogen called tritium. Now, researchers are developing new systems to use nuclear waste to make tritium.

New formula improves accuracy of particle concentration measurements in diverse samples

Researchers can use a metric called the particle number concentration (PNC) to calculate the number of particles in a sample, such as the number of marbles in a jar.

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new mathematical formula to calculate the concentration of particles suspended in a solution. The new approach, which yields more accurate results than current methods, can be used to deliver the correct drug dosage to patients, measure the amount of nanoplastics in , and help ensure the correct level of additives in , among other applications.

The researchers have published their findings in Analytical Chemistry.

Growing ultrathin semiconductors directly on electronics could eliminate a fragile manufacturing step

A team of materials scientists at Rice University has developed a new way to grow ultrathin semiconductors directly onto electronic components.

The method, described in a study published in ACS Applied Electronic Materials, could help streamline the integration of two-dimensional materials into next-generation electronics, neuromorphic computing and other technologies demanding ultrathin high-speed semiconductors.

The researchers used (CVD) to grow tungsten diselenide, a 2D semiconductor, directly onto patterned gold electrodes. They next demonstrated the approach by building a functional, proof-of-concept transistor. Unlike conventional techniques that require transferring fragile 2D films from one surface to another, the Rice team’s method eliminates the transfer process entirely.

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