A bionanomachine for green chemistry

With the help of an enzyme, the industry could produce valuable chemicals and drug precursors in an energy-saving and environmentally friendly conditions

16-May-2024 - Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have for the first time precisely characterised the enzyme styrene oxide isomerase, which can be used to produce valuable chemicals and drug precursors in an environmentally friendly manner. The study appears in the journal Nature Chemistry. Enzymes ...

Light amplification accelerates chemical reactions in aerosols

Temporal sequence of photochemical reaction in individual aerosol particles observed with high resolution

21-Apr-2022 - Aerosols in the atmosphere react to incident sunlight. This light is amplified in the interior of the aerosol droplets and particles, accelerating reactions. ETH researchers have now been able to demonstrate and quantify this effect and recommend factoring it into future climate models. Liquid ...

Particulates are more dangerous than previously thought

Harmful substances are already formed in the atmosphere, not just in the human body

24-Mar-2021 - Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have for the first time observed photochemical processes inside the smallest particles in the air. In doing so, they discovered that additional oxygen radicals that can be harmful to human health are formed in these aerosols under everyday ...

Nanomaterial helps store solar energy: efficiently and inexpensively

Field trials show that new catalyst material for electrolysers is reliable

19-Jul-2017 - Efficient storage technologies are necessary if solar and wind energy is to help satisfy increased energy demands. One important approach is storage in the form of hydrogen extracted from water using solar or wind energy. This process takes place in a so-called electrolyser. Thanks to a new ...

Wafer-thin Magnetic Materials Developed for Future Quantum Technologies

24-May-2017 - Two-dimensional magnetic structures are regarded as a promising material for new types of data storage, since the magnetic properties of individual molecular building blocks can be investigated and modified. For the first time, researchers have now produced a wafer-thin ferrimagnet, in which ...

Nanotechnology enables new insights into chemical reactions

Researchers have developed a novel method which may speed up the search for optimal catalytic processes

09-Jan-2017 - Eighty percent of all products in the chemical industry are manufactured using catalytic processes. Catalysis is also indispensable in energy conversion and storage and the treatment of exhaust gases. Reactions between substances are triggered or accelerated by an additional substance, the ...

Structure of 'concrete disease' solved

09-Nov-2015 - Researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) teamed up with colleagues from the Swiss Materials Science Lab Empa to study a degenerative sign of ageing in concrete: the so-called alkali-aggregate reaction (AAR). In the course of AAR, a material forms that takes up more space than the ...

Water pathways make fuel cells more efficient

28-Sep-2015 - Researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) have developed a coating technique in the laboratory that could raise the efficiency of fuel cells. Fuel cells generate electricity from hydrogen and oxygen. The gases are transported to the cell’s electrodes from the outside. However, on their ...

Tiny magnets mimic steam, water and ice

23-Sep-2015 - Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) created a synthetic material out of 1 billion tiny magnets. Astonishingly, it now appears that the magnetic properties of this so-called metamaterial change with the temperature, so that it can take on different states; just like water has a ...

BASF creates fresh impetus for electrochemistry

Company establishes international competence network with outstanding experts from academic research

13-Aug-2010 - At a kick-off meeting in Ludwigshafen, BASF and its partners launched the research network electrochemistry and batteries. The declared aim is to jointly address fundamental questions relating to materials, components and systems for electromobility and electricity storage. “In developing the ...