Inexpensive catalyst uses energy from light to turn ammonia into hydrogen fuel

Start-up Syzygy Plasmonics has licensed technology

28-Nov-2022 - Rice University researchers have engineered a key light-activated nanomaterial for the hydrogen economy. Using only inexpensive raw materials, a team from Rice’sLaboratory for Nanophotonics,Syzygy Plasmonics Inc.and Princeton University’sAndlinger Center for Energy and the Environmentcreated ...

Rice lab advances water-splitting catalysts

Engineers develop stable devices that don’t require expensive iridium

26-Oct-2022 - Creating ahydrogen economyis no small task, but Rice University engineers have discovered a method that could makeoxygen evolutioncatalysis in acids, one of the most challenging topics in water electrolysis forproducing clean hydrogen fuels, more economical and practical. The lab of chemical ...

Rice process aims to strip ammonia from wastewater

Ruthenium and copper catalyze a more environmentally friendly way to produce essential chemical

04-May-2022 - A dash ofrutheniumatoms on a mesh of copper nanowires could be one step toward a revolution in the global ammonia industry that also helps the environment. Collaborators at Rice University’sGeorge R. Brown School of Engineering,Arizona State Universityand Pacific Northwest National ...

Shape matters for light-activated nanocatalysts

Pointed tips on aluminum 'octopods' increase catalytic reactivity

23-Sep-2020 - Points matter when designing nanoparticles that drive important chemical reactions using the power of light. Researchers at Rice University's Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) have long known that a nanoparticle's shape affects how it interacts with light, and their latest study shows how shape ...

Boron nitride destroys PFAS 'forever' chemicals PFOA, GenX

Pollutant-destroying properties surprise Rice engineer: ‘It’s not supposed to work’

10-Jul-2020 - Rice University chemical engineers found an efficient catalyst for destroying PFAS "forever" chemicals where they least expected. "It was the control," said Rice Professor Michael Wong, referring to the part of a scientific experiment where researchers don't expect surprises. The control group is ...

Ammonia synthesis made easy with 2D catalyst

Scientists develop inorganic process for small-scale production

27-Nov-2019 - Rice University researchers have developed an inorganic method to synthesize ammonia that is both environmentally friendly and can produce the valuable chemical on demand under ambient conditions. The Brown School of Engineering lab of materials scientist Jun Lou manipulated a two-dimensional ...

Adding a porous envelope to aluminum plasmonics

Gas-trapping framework married to light-powered nanocatalysts

13-Feb-2019 - When Rice University chemist and engineer Hossein Robatjazi set out to marry a molecular sieve called MOF to a plasmonic aluminum nanoparticle two years ago, he never imagined the key would be the same process nature uses to petrify wood. In a new paper Robatjazi and co-authors with Rice's ...

Nitrogen gets in the fast lane for chemical synthesis

Chemists discover way to simplify synthesis of valuable precursor for drugs, other compounds

12-Feb-2019 - Rice University scientists have given organic chemists a boost with their latest discovery of a one-step method to add nitrogen to compounds for drugs, pesticides, fertilizers and other products. Rice synthetic organic chemist László Kürti said the method is a major step forward as it quickens ...

More effective catalyst with light

Plasmonic effect allows catalyst to work at lower energy

08-Oct-2018 - Rice University nanoscientists have demonstrated a new catalyst that can convert ammonia into hydrogen fuel at ambient pressure using only light energy, mainly due to a plasmonic effect that makes the catalyst more efficient. A study from Rice's Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) describes the ...

Nearly pure nanotubes from unusual catalyst

30-Jul-2018 - Growing a batch of carbon nanotubes that are all the same may not be as simple as researchers had hoped, according to Rice University scientists. Rice materials theorist Boris Yakobson and his team bucked a theory that when growing nanotubes in a furnace, a catalyst with a specific atomic ...