Chemistry News

1. Flexible circuits made with silk and graphene on the horizon

   Ultra-thin layers of silk deposited on graphene in perfect alignment represent a key advance for the control needed in microelectronics and advanced neural network development.

2. Measuring how much wood a wood shuck shucks with all-new wood shuck food

   Researchers want to transform the natural and abundant resource wood into useful materials, and central to that is a molecular machine found in fungi that decomposes the complex raw material into its basic components. Researchers have come up with a test feed for the fungal molecular machine that allows them to observe its close-to-natural action, opening the door to improving it and to putting it to industrial application.

3. Graphite oxidation experiments reveal new type of oscillating chemical reaction

   A reaction that puzzled scientists for 50 years has now been explained by researchers at Ume University. Rapid structural snapshots captured how graphite transforms into graphite oxide during electrochemical oxidation, revealing intermediate structures that appear and disappear over time. The researchers describe this as a new type of oscillating reaction.

4. New technology produces ultrashort ion pulses

   New technology has allowed scientists to create ultra short ion pulses, with a duration of less than 500 picoseconds. This can be used to analyze materials or even make chemical reactions visible in real time.

5. Moving particle simulation-aided soil plasticity analysis for earth pressure balance shield tunnelling

   Understanding the relationship between plasticity of muddy soil and earth pressure can be crucial to maintaining tunnel stability and predicting ground behavior during earth pressure balance (EPB) shield tunnelling, a common underground excavation method. Researchers developed small-scale model experimentation combined with moving particle simulation-based computer-aided engineering analysis that reliably predicted soil's plasticity and its correlating factors without having to deal with the cost and time of on-ground field analysis.

6. In step toward solar fuels, durable artificial photosynthesis setup chains two carbons together

   A key step toward reusing CO2 to make sustainable fuels is chaining carbon atoms together, and an artificial photosynthesis system can bind two of them into hydrocarbons with field-leading performance.

7. Synthetic mini-motor with enormous power developed

   Researchers developed an artificial motor at the supramolecular level that can develop impressive power. This wind-up motor is a tiny ribbon made of special molecules. When energy is applied, this ribbon aligns itself, moves like a small fin and can thus push objects. The energy for this comes from a chemical fuel.

8. Using sunlight to turn two greenhouse gases into valuable chemicals

   Researchers harnessed the power of sunlight to transform two of the most harmful greenhouse gases into valuable chemicals. The discovery could help combat climate change and provide a more sustainable way to produce certain industrial products.

9. Contrail avoidance is less likely to damage climate by mistake than previously thought, study finds

   A new study allays fears that rerouting flights to avoid forming climate-warming contrails could result in inadvertently making climate warming worse.

10. Beyond displays: Liquid crystals in motion mimic biological systems

    Under the right conditions, liquid crystals condense into astonishing structures, spontaneously generating filaments and flattened discs that can transport material from one place to another, much like complex biological systems. The insight may lead to self-assembling materials, new ways to model cellular activity and more.