Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

This schematic representation illustrates the process of turning bagasse into carbon quantum dots. Credit: Elsevier

Indian researchers have found a new use for sugarcane pulp, as a source of highly fluorescent carbon quantum dots, in a study published in Applied Surface Science. This alternate use of sugarcane waste, or bagasse, could not only reduce the amount of agricultural waste contaminating the environment but also offers a new revenue stream for farmers.
“In our study, we developed a simple, low-cost and efficient method for green synthesis of fluorescent carbon quantum dots from sugarcane bagasse,” says Dr. Ravi Shankaran Dhesingh, National Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the University of Madras, Chennai, India.

These dots are tiny carbon nanoparticles, which are abou...

Researchers have discovered how to control molecules attached to graphene, paving the way for tiny biological sensors and devices to hold information.

Researchers have discovered how to control molecules attached to graphene, paving the way for tiny biological sensors and devices to hold information. Because of its unique electrical conductivity, graphene has the potential to be a base for electronic devices that are only nanometres in size. In order to tune sheets of graphene to be useful in different situations, other organic molecules are attached to the sheet, and these molecules must interact with the graphene sheet in predictable ways.

Eg. if the electric charge of molecules could be controlled, then they could be used as molecular ‘switches’...

An enzyme was created via directed evolution to make silicon-carbon bonds 15X more efficiently than the best catalysts invented

A new study is the first to show that living organisms can be persuaded to make silicon-carbon bonds – something only chemists had done before. Scientists at Caltech “bred” a bacterial protein to make the humanmade bonds – a finding that has applications in several industries. Molecules with silicon-carbon, or organosilicon, compounds ar

gricultural chemicals, paints, semiconductors, and computer and TV screens. Currently, these products are made synthetically, since the Si-C bonds are not found in nature.

The new study demonstrates biology can be used to manufacture these bonds in ways that are more environmentally friendly and potentially much less expensive...

Bottom: Platinum atoms attached to layers of lithium cobalt oxide contract when electricity is applied, boosting platinum catalytic efficiency by 90 percent. Top: Removing electrons separates the atoms and lowers efficiency by 40 percent. (1 Ångstrom = 0.1 nanometer) (Image credit: Haotian Wang)

A nanosize squeeze can significantly boost the performance of platinum catalysts that help generate energy in fuel cells, according to a new study by Stanford scientists. The team bonded a platinum catalyst to a thin material that expands and contracts as electrons move in and out, and found that squeezing the platinum a fraction of a nanometer nearly doubled its catalytic activity.

“In this study, we present a new way to fine...