Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

An illustration of the ice’s molecular configuration.

Uni of Nebraska-Lincoln-led research team has predicted a new molecular form of the slippery stuff that even Mother Nature has never borne. The proposed ice would be 25% less dense than a record-low form synthesized by a European team in 2014. If synthesized, it would become the 18th known crystalline form of water—and the 1st discovered in the US since before World War II, lowest-density ice to date.

This newest finding represents the latest in a long line of ice-related research from Zeng, who previously discovered a 2D “Nebraska Ice” that contracts rather than expands when frozen under certain conditions.
This new study used a computational algorithm and molecular simulation to determine the ranges of extreme pressure and temperatu...

This scanning electron microscope image shows bee pollen studied for potential use as electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. Color was added to the original black-and-white image. Credit: Purdue University image/ Jialiang Tang

Pollen could represent a boon for battery makers: Recent research has suggested their potential use as anodes in Li-ion batteries. “Our findings have demonstrated that renewable pollens could produce carbon architectures for anode applications in energy storage devices,” said A/Prof Vilas Pol. The anodes in most of today’s lithium-ion batteries are made of graphite. Lithium ions are contained in electrolyte, and these ions are stored in the anode during recharging.

The researchers tested bee pollen- and cattail pollen-derived carbons as anodes...

Researchers have calculated the dust chemistry of the solar nebula (thin dusty ring around young sun) Image credit: NASA/FUSE/Lynette Cook

Using sophisticated computer simulations, team has discovered new insights into the chemical composition of the dust grains that formed in the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. Researchers from Swinburne Uni of Technology, Melbourne and the Uni of Lyon, France, calculated a 2D map of the dust chemistry in the solar nebula, the thin dusty disk that surrounded the young sun and out of which the planet formed.

It is expected that refractories (high temperature materials) should be located close to the young sun, while volatile materials (such as ices and sulphur compounds) should form far from the sun where temperatures are cooler...

The researchers from the Faculty of Physics of the Moscow State University have grown organic crystals that allow creating flexible electronic devices. Credit: Dmitry Yu. Paraschuk et al.

Scientists from Faculty of Physics Moscow State University have grown organic semiconductor crystals which can reduce the cost of the process of creating light, flexible and transparent light-emitting electronic devices of the new generation. It has high light-emitting efficiency that promise a bright future for wet-processed organic optoelectronics. They also made a double breakthrough using much simpler and cheaper technologies that previously were considered impractical.

The organic optoelectronics is a rapidly growing area including organic light-emitting transistors (OLET) and organic lasers pumped b...