Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

This shows the synthetic purple membrane assembly developed by Elena Rozhkova and fellow Argonne researchers. The assembly, which includes nanodiscs, titanium dioxide and platinum nanoparticles, can transform sunlight into hydrogen fuel. Credit: Argonne National Laboratory

A new way has been found to produce solar fuels by developing “synthetic purple membranes.” These membranes involve an assembly of lipid nanodiscs, man-made proteins, and semiconducting nanoparticles that, when taken together, can transform sunlight into hydrogen fuel...

One-Step Reforming of CO2 and CH4 into High-Value Liquid Chemicals and Fuels at Room Temperature by Plasma-Driven Catalysis. Angewandte Chemie, 2017; DOI: 10.1002/ange.201707131

Researchers from the University of Liverpool have made a significant breakthrough in the direct conversion of CO2 and methane (CH4) into liquid fuels and chemicals which could help industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions whilst producing valuable chemical feedstocks. In a paper published in chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie they report a very unique plasma synthesis process for the direct, one-step activation of carbon dioxide and methane into higher value liquid fuels and chemicals (e.g...

Transmittance electron microscopic image of the composite photocatalyst with two components, black phosphorus (BP) and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4). Credit: Osaka University

Researchers have developed new metal-free photocatalyst and show visible and near infrared light-driven production of hydrogen from water. “We were pleased to find a good amount of hydrogen produced from water using our new composite photocatalyst with graphitic carbon nitride and black phosphorus,” lead author Tetsuro Majima says. “But what we didn’t expect to find was that even when using low-energy light, in the near infrared, the photocatalyst continued to produce hydrogen.”

Like graphite, graphitic carbon nitride forms in large sheets, but carbon nitride sheets also have holes that can interact with hydrogen ...

Structure of ?-CuSCN and cross-sectional SEM micrograph of a complete solar cell. Credit: M. Ibrahim Dar/EPFL

Operational stability of perovskite solar cells has been achieved by cuprous thiocyanate protected by a thin layer of reduced graphene oxide. Devices lost less than 5% performance when subjected to a crucial accelerated aging test during which they were exposed for more than 1,000 hours to full sunlight at 60°C. Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) can offer high light-conversion efficiency with low manufacturing costs. But to be commercially viable, perovskite films must also be durable and not degrade under solar light over time...