Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

Schematic illustration of polypyrrole-manganese dioxide (PPy-MnO2) coaxial nanotubes to accommodate sulfur for high-performance Li–S battery. Comparison of cyclic performance of S/PPy-MnO2 and S/PPy at 0.2C. (Reprinted with permission by American Chemical Society) (click on image to enlarge) Read more: Improving the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries with coaxial nanotubes

University of Texas team has found that using coaxial nanotubes can improve the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries (Li-S).They used Polypyrrole-MnO2 coaxial nanotubes to overcome obstacles to using Li-S batteries in commercial products. Prior research has shown that Li-S batteries would offer users of electronics more energy storage—as much as 5X that of lithium-ion batteries...

Electrostatic levitation. The UV source causes the metal to be ionized, giving it an electric charge and causing levitation in between the electrodes. The laser melts the metal. The new project involves electromagnetic in stead of electrostatic levitation. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Twente

Crystals that don’t experience mechanical stress during growth, will be of superior quality. Levitate the liquid metal, is the idea behind the new project ‘Perfecting metal crystals’. UT scientists want to grow crystals from a metal melt that is levitated by an electromagnetic field, under vacuum conditions. The liquid is no longer kept within a container and isn’t mechanically stressed by the walls of this container...

Graphic depicts the tethered enzymes and free-floating enzymes. Credit: Cornell University

Just like workers in a factory, enzymes can create a final product more efficiently if they are stuck together in one place and pass the raw material from enzyme to enzyme, assembly line-style. That’s according to scientists at Cornell’s Baker Institute for Animal Health, the first team to recreate a 10-step biological pathway with all the enzymes tethered to nanoparticles. They were inspired to study how nanoparticles could gain biological functions through the enzymes that drive sperm tails, which turn sugar into lactate and energy so quickly that sperm can speed along at 5 body lengths/s

“Sperm have a highly efficient energy-producing system,” said Chinatsu Mukai, a postdoctoral research associate...

This is an illustration of proton hopping during catalytic reaction. Credit: Waseda University

Simpler process and higher efficiency creates great expectations for consumer market. Waseda University researchers have developed a new method for producing hydrogen, which is fast, irreversible, and takes place at much lower temperature using less energy. This innovation will improve fuel cell systems for automobiles and homes. Hydrogen has normally been extracted from methane and steam using a nickel catalyst at temperatures of over 700°C. However, the high temperature creates major challenges for widespread use.

The group led by Professor Yasushi Sekine, Waseda developed a method which allows hydrogen extraction at temperatures as low as 150~200°C...