Researchers use light to convert abundant lignin into plastic that can be continually recycled

New process could advance a waste-free system of polymer manufacture and re-use

24-Feb-2023 - Lignin is arguably the most abundant component of biomass that most people have never heard of. That may be about to change. Many people are familiar with its biochemical cousin cellulose, a byproduct of paper and wood milling. But the same processes produce 50 million tons of lignin annually, ...

Researchers reveal a novel metal where electrons flow with fluid-like dynamics

"This novel liquid will flow inside the metal exactly in the same way as water flows in a pipe”

08-Sep-2021 - A team of researchers from Boston College has created a new metallic specimen where the motion of electrons flows in the same way water flows in a pipe -- fundamentally changing from particle-like to fluid-like dynamics, the team reports in Nature Communications. Working with colleagues from the ...

Tandem catalytic system efficiently converts carbon dioxide to methanol

Encapsulating multiple molecular catalysts in nanoporous metal-organic frameworks central to efficient transformation

28-Jul-2020 - Converting carbon dioxide to methanol, a potentially renewable alternative fuel, offers an opportunity to simultaneously form an alternative fuel and cut down on carbon dioxide emissions. Inspired by naturally occurring processes, a team of Boston College chemists used a multi-catalyst system to ...

Mixed halide chemistry can be used to control magnetism in ultrathin magnetic devices

02-Jul-2018 - Physicists, chemists, and materials scientists have been probing the nature of layered magnetic materials for several decades, searching for clues to the properties of these materials that are more complex than they appear. Layered material resembles the structure of a book. From a distance, it ...

New dual-atom catalyst shows promise to yield clean energy by artificial photosynthesis

Researchers from the US and China develop a dispersed catalyst featuring two atoms

07-Mar-2018 - Looking for new solutions to more efficiently harvest and store solar energy, scientists from the U.S. and China have synthesized a new, dual-atom catalyst to serve as a platform for artificial photosynthesis, the team reported today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The ...

E-selective macrocyclic ring-closing metathesis

11-Jan-2017 - Using ring-closing metathesis to exploit the properties of carbon-carbon double bonds, researchers from Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new catalytic approach for the preparation of compounds essential to drug discovery. The catalyst, which contains ...

Transition metal catalyst prompts 'conjunctive' cross-coupling reaction

05-Jan-2016 - By employing a third reactant, researchers at Boston College have developed a new type of 'cross coupling' chemical reaction, building on a Nobel Prize-winning technique that is one of the most sophisticated tools available to research chemists. A key component of that novel approach - known as ...

The behavior of charges in correlated spin-orbit coupled materials

Electronic disruption prods Mott insulator's conversion to metallic state

11-Mar-2014 - In a relatively recently discovered class of materials, known as spin-orbit Mott insulators, theorists have predicted the emergence of new properties at points just beyond the insulating state, when electronic manipulation can transform these compounds into conducting metals. A better ...

Rust can power up artificial photosynthesis

Boston College chemists produce power boost critical to novel energy harvesting applications

15-Oct-2013 - Chemists at Boston College have achieved a series of breakthroughs in their efforts to develop an economical means of harnessing artificial photosynthesis by narrowing the voltage gap between the two crucial processes of oxidation and reduction, according to their latest research, published in ...

Optical properties of a novel kind of magnetism

Researchers use low-frequency laser pulses to probe the properties of a kind of fluctuating magnetism known as a spin-liquid state

25-Sep-2013 - Using low-frequency laser pulses, a team of researchers has carried out the first measurements that reveal the detailed characteristics of a unique kind of magnetism found in a mineral called herbertsmithite. In this material, the magnetic elements constantly fluctuate, leading to an exotic state ...