Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

Researchers for the first time apply catalytic chemical reactions to 2D sheets to generate flows that transform these sheets into mobile, 3D objects. The “magic carpet” featured in tales from “One Thousand and One Nights” to Disney’s “Aladdin” captures the imagination not only because it can fly, but because it can also wave, flap, and alter its shape to serve its riders...

Chloride-free electrolyte and organic cathode boosted energy density, stability. Researchers from the University of Houston and the Toyota Research Institute of America have discovered a promising new version of high-energy magnesium batteries, with potential applications ranging from electric vehicles to battery storage for renewable energy systems.

The battery, reported Dec. 21 in Joule, is the first reported to operate with limited electrolytes while using an organic electrode, a change the researchers said allows it to store and discharge far more energy than earlier magnesium batteries...

University of Colorado Boulder chemistry researchers have developed a novel way to synthesize and optimize a naturally-occurring antibiotic compound that could one day be used to fight lethal drug-resistant infections such as Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA.

Antibiotic-resistant infections afflict over 2 million people annually and result in over 23,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A 2018 study by the CDC’s European counterpart found that drug-resistant superbugs were responsible for 33,000 deaths across Europe in 2015.

Researchers have previously identified thiopepti...

Scientists at Stanford University have designed an electrocatalytic mechanism that works like a mammalian lung to convert water into fuel. Their research, published December 20 in the journal Joule, could help existing clean energy technologies run more efficiently.

The act of inhaling and exhaling is so automatic for most organisms that it could be mistaken as simple, but the mammalian breathing process is actually one of the most sophisticated systems for two-way gas exchange found in nature...