Carbon recycling instead of plastic trash

Iron electrocatalysis breaks down polystyrene and delivers green hydrogen

14-Nov-2024 - Plastics are inescapable in our daily lives. The vast amounts of plastic garbage heaped in landfills and in the environment, however, are as problematic as the plastics are useful. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a German research team has now introduced a new method for recycling polystyrene ...

Two hundred times better catalysts thanks to carbon

“For a long time, the use of carbon as a carrier material for catalysis had something almost magical”

12-Nov-2024 - When you place metal nanoparticles on carbon, they become much more active. What was previously only assumed based on experience could now be explained in detail for the first time at TU Wien (Vienna). Precious metals play an important role in the chemical industry as catalysts: With the help of ...

Hydrogen: Breakthrough in alkaline membrane electrolyzers

31-Oct-2024 - A team from the Technical University of Berlin, HZB, IMTEK (University of Freiburg) and Siemens Energy has succeeded in developing an alkaline membrane electrolyzer that comes close to the performance of established PEM electrolyzers. The special feature: The anode catalyst consists of ...

Towards new reaction pathways

Insights on molecular dynamics in the ultrashort time window following UV excitation

30-Oct-2024 - The Attosecond Science group at the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science at DESY has developed a novel light source capable of producing extremely short pulses for the investigation of UV-induced molecular dynamics with unprecedented temporal resolution. Scientists from DESY and the University ...

Mechanism of Cobalt-Manganese Catalysts Deciphered

Combination of different methods was the key to success

22-Oct-2024 - The energy carrier hydrogen can be obtained from water by electrolysis. This works particularly well with Cobalt spinel electrocatalysts containing manganese. However, it was unclear why. Conventional catalysts for hydrogen production via water electrolysis usually contain precious metals and are ...

Advancing Catalysis Research: Essential Data Practices for Future Scientific Success

This research promising to accelerate discoveries and innovations in chemistry and beyond

21-Oct-2024 - Researchers from the Department of Inorganic Chemistry at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society have made a groundbreaking advancement in the field of data management for catalysis research. Their latest study, “Advancing catalysis research through FAIR data principles implemented ...

Black Magic for Greener Chemistry

Markus Antonietti receives Arkema Prize from the French Académie des Sciences

21-Oct-2024 - The prestigious 25,000-euro prize recognizes Prof. Markus Antonietti's groundbreaking research in carbon catalysis. He is developing materials with tailored properties for more sustainable chemical synthesis: carbon materials are abundant in nature, consume less energy than metal catalysts, and ...

Cobalt-copper tandem successfully converts carbon dioxide to ethanol

Sustainability in the focus of chemical research

14-Oct-2024 - The continuing release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is a major contributor to global warming and climate change with increased extreme weather events. Scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have now presented a method for effectively converting carbon dioxide into ...

How catalysts remove dangerous nitrogen oxides

”If we know exactly where the reaction takes place, the production of catalysts can be controlled accordingly”

11-Oct-2024 - Catalysts belonging to the zeolite family help to remove toxic nitrogen oxides from industrial emissions. Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have now discovered that their complex nano porous structure is crucial. Specifically, individual iron atoms sitting in certain neighbouring ...

Synthesizing fine chemicals: Technological Advance in Production of Pharmaceuticals

04-Oct-2024 - Production of fine chemicals such as those used in pharmaceuticals is typically complex and laborious. An interdisciplinary team of Fraunhofer researchers worked together across different projects to devise a method modeled on a cascade, in which multiple successive stages of synthesis proceed ...