Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

This is a magnified image of liquid crystals confined to spherical tactoids. Credit: Georgia Tech

A material used for coloring food items ranging from corn chips to ice creams could potentially have uses far beyond food dyes. The Georgia Institute of Technology researchers described how a class of water soluble liquid crystals, called lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals, exhibited unexpected characteristics that could be harnessed for use in sensors and other potential applications. “We were seeking to understand the aggregation and phase behavior of these plank-like molecules as a function of temperature and concentration,” said Karthik Nayani, a former Georgia Tech student who worked on the problem...

1. Scientists at Rice University and the University of Houston created a catalyst from three elements – iron, manganese and phosphorus – and then coated it evenly onto an array of titanium dioxide nanorods to create a highly efficient photoanode for artificial photosynthesis. Click on the image for a larger version. Courtesy of the Whitmire Research Group. 2. (inset) Array of titanium dioxide nanorods with an even coating of an iron, manganese and phosphorus catalyst. The combination developed by scientists at Rice University and the University of Houston is a highly efficient photoanode for artificial photosynthesis.

Lab turns transition metals into practical catalyst for solar, other applications...

An artist’s impression of the new pure and massive brown dwarf. Credit: John Pinfield

An international team has identified a record breaking brown dwarf (a star too small for nuclear fusion) with the ‘purest’ composition and the highest mass yet known. The object, SDSS J0104+1535, is a member of the so-called halo – the outermost reaches – of our Galaxy, made up of the most ancient stars. Brown dwarfs are intermediate between planets and fully-fledged stars. Their mass is too small for full nuclear fusion of hydrogen to helium (with a consequent release of energy) to take place, but they are usually significantly more massive than planets.

Located 750 light years away in the constellation of Pisces, SDSS J0104+1535 is made of gas that is around 250 times purer than the Sun, so consists of ...

Brookhaven scientists identified how a zinc/copper (Zn/Cu) catalyst transforms carbon dioxide (two red and one grey balls) and hydrogen (two white balls) to methanol (one grey, one red, and four white balls), a potential fuel. Under reaction conditions, Zn/Cu transforms to ZnO/Cu, where the interface between the ZnO and Cu provides the active sites that allow the formation of methanol.

Results will guide design of improved catalysts for transforming pollutant to useful chemicals. Capturing CO2 and converting it to useful chemicals such as methanol could reduce both pollution and our dependence on petroleum products. So scientists are intensely interested in the catalysts that facilitate such chemical conversions...