Tailoring chemical bonds

Specific identification of solids that drastically change their properties during crystallisation.

25-Jan-2024 - Solids can have two structurally very different states: crystal and glass. While the short-range order of the atoms in both states is generally very similar, only the atoms of the crystal have a long-range order. The similarity of the short-range order is attributed to the similarity of the ...

Competitor for diamonds: Scientists produce superhard multifunctional carbon nitrides

19-Dec-2023 - In a groundbreaking piece of research, scientists have synthesised long-sought carbon nitrogen compounds and unlocked the potential of carbon nitrides as a new class of superhard multifunctional materials that could rival diamond. The work has now been published in the journal Advanced ...

Self-driven and sustainable removal of oil spills in water using bio-inspired textiles

18-Dec-2023 - Researchers at the ITA, the University of Bonn and Heimbach GmbH have developed a new method for removing oil spills from water surfaces in an energy-saving, cost-effective way and without the use of toxic substances. The method is made possible by a technical textile that is integrated into a ...

On the way to cell-type materials

Physicists decode the dynamic interaction between molecular machines in metal-organic frameworks

05-Jul-2022 - Molecular machines control a sizeable number of fundamental processes in nature. Embedded in a cellular environment, these processes play a central role in the intracellular and intercellular transportation of molecules, as well as in muscle contraction in humans and animals. In order for the ...

Flexible quantum sieve filters the fuel of Starship Enterprise

A novel separation mechanism for the hydrogen isotopes developed

20-Apr-2022 - Deuterium, the heavy brother of hydrogen, is considered a promising material of the future – because of its wide range of applications: in science, for energy generation, or in the production of pharmaceuticals. However, the extraction of deuterium from its natural isotope mixture has so far been ...

Programmable insulation materials

19-Oct-2020 - Innovative insulating materials made of shape memory polymers are developed and tested by the Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Polymer Research IAP, for Chemical Technology ICT and for Building Physics IBP within the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Programmable Materials CPM. The high-tech ...

A material with promising properties

Successful synthesis of an important ferromagnetic semiconductor

23-Nov-2017 - The Collaborative Research Centre CRC 1214 at the University of Konstanz has developed a method for synthesising Europium (II) oxide nanoparticles - a ferromagnetic semiconductor that is relevant for data storage and data transport Ferromagnetic semiconductors have attracted increasing attention ...

Merck: Pigments & Cosmetics business unit announces price adjustments

17-Dec-2013 - Effective January 1, 2014, the Pigments & Cosmetics business unit of Merck will raise the prices for selected parts of its portfolio of effect pigments, cosmetic active ingredients and other functional materials. Depending on the specific product group, the price may increase up to 10%. Customers ...

Better insight into molecular interactions

27-Aug-2013 - How exactly atoms and molecules in biochemical solutions or at solid-liquid interfaces do interact, is a question of great importance. Answers will provide insights at processes in catalysts, smart functional materials and even physiological processes in the body, which are essential for health. ...

Watching catalysts at work -- at the atomic scale

Innovative combination of methods at HZB leads to fundamental insights in catalyst research

29-Jul-2013 - Scientists of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and collaborators have now combined the spectroscopic method "RIXS" with so-called ab initio theory in order to describe these processes in detail for a model organometallic catalyst of great interest to catalysis research – the iron carbonyl complex. ...