Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

Administration of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles aggravates colitis in the dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) mouse model of acute colitis through activation of the nucleotide-binding oligomerisation domain receptor, pyrin domain containing (NLRP)3 inflammasome.

Titanium dioxide, one of the most-produced nanoparticles worldwide, is being used increasingly in foodstuffs. When intestinal cells absorb titanium dioxide particles, this leads to increased inflammation and damage to the intestinal mucosa in mice with colitis. Researchers at the University of Zurich recommend that patients with colitis should avoid food containing titanium dioxide particles.

The frequency of inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis has been on the rise in many Western countries for d...

Bismuth oxyiodide light absorbers. Credit: Steve Penney, University of Cambridge

Researchers have demonstrated how a non-toxic alternative to lead could form the basis of next-generation solar cells. The team from the University of Cambridge and the United States, have used theoretical and experimental methods to show how bismuth – the “green element” which sits next to lead on the periodic table, could be used in low-cost solar cells. Their results suggest that solar cells incorporating bismuth can replicate the properties that enable the exceptional properties of lead-based solar cells, but without the same toxicity concerns...

This is the exsolution of a B-site cation with oxygen from layered perovskite in a reducing atmosphere. Credit: UNIST

The commercialization of the ‘natural gas fuel cell’ has finally come to the fore, thanks to the recent development of electrode materials that maintain long-term stability in hydrocarbon fuels. Advantage of using this material includes that it uses internal transition metal as a further catalyst in a fuel cell operating condition. The collaborative results, published online in the June issue of the journal Nature Communications, have emerged as the promising candidate for the next generation direct hydrocarbon solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) technology.

A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is an electrochemical conversion device that produces electricity by oxidizing a fuel...

A density functional theory calculation showed the magnetic properties of a fluorinated sample of hexagonal boron nitride. This version is ferromagnetic, determined by how the fluorine atoms (red) attach to the boron and nitrogen matrix.
Credit: Ajayan Group/Rice University

Researchers turn common insulator, 2D hexagonal boron nitride, h-BN (white graphene) into a magnetic semiconductor. A little fluorine turns an insulating ceramic known as white graphene into a wide-bandgap semiconductor with magnetic properties. Rice University scientists said that could make the unique material suitable for electronics in extreme environments...