New method in the fight against forever chemicals

Researchers are for the first time using a technology known as “piezocatalysis”

17-Sep-2024 - Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a new way to break down a dangerous subgroup of PFAS known as PFOS. With the help of nanoparticles and ultrasound, piezocatalysis could offer an effective alternative to existing processes in the future. What do firefighting foam, non-stick cookware, ...

A twin pack of cooled nanoparticles

This opens up various possibilities to study quantum phenomena of such particles or to build highly sensitive sensors

23-Nov-2022 - Researchers at ETH have developed a technique to cool several nanoparticles simultaneously to temperatures of just a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero. This new method can be used to study quantum effects of several nanoparticles and to build highly sensitive sensors. Over the past ...

New photocatalyst made from an aerogel for more efficient hydrogen production

Airy and efficient

02-Dec-2021 - Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a new photocatalyst made from an aerogel that could enable more efficient hydrogen production. The key is sophisticated pretreatment of the material. Aerogels are extraordinary materials that have set Guinness World Records more than a dozen times, ...

Cooling with light

07-May-2019 - ETH researchers have cooled a nanoparticle to a record low temperature, thanks to a sophisticated experimental set-up that uses scattered laser light for cooling. Until now, no one has ever cooled a nanoparticle to such low temperatures in a photon cage: Dominik Windey and René Reimann – a ...

Nanotechnology and sunlight clear the way for better visibility

07-Mar-2019 - A new coating developed by ETH researchers prevents fogging on transparent surfaces. Rather than using electricity, the coating relies on sunlight to heat the surface. Anyone who skis, wears glasses, uses a camera or drives a car is familiar with the problem: if you come into a humid environment ...

Extremely bright and fast light emission

12-Jan-2018 - An international team of researchers from ETH Zurich, IBM Research Zurich, Empa and four American research institutions have found the explanation for why a class of nanocrystals that has been intensively studied in recent years shines in such incredibly bright colours. The nanocrystals contain ...

Universal stabilization

Microparticles with a rough, raspberry-like surface stabilise emulsions following a new principle

16-Jun-2017 - Researchers led by Lucio Isa, Professor of Interfaces, Soft Matter and Assembly at ETH Zurich's Department of Materials, have created a new type of silica particle able to stabilise emulsions in a new way. An emulsion is a finely dispersed mixture of two immiscible liquids, constituted by ...

Nanoparticles remain unpredictable

20-Apr-2017 - The way that nanoparticles behave in the environment is extremely complex. There is currently a lack of systematic experimental data to help understand them comprehensively, as ETH environmental scientists have shown in a large overview study. A more standardised approach would help to advance ...

Nanomagnets for future data storage

31-Mar-2017 - The idea is intriguing: if only a single atom or small molecule was needed for a single unit of data (a zero or a one in the case of binary digital technology), massive volumes of data could be stored in the tiniest amount of space. This is theoretically possible, because certain atoms can be ...

Sustainable ceramics without a kiln

01-Mar-2017 - The manufacture of cement, bricks, bathroom tiles and porcelain crockery normally requires a great deal of heat: a kiln is used to fire the ceramic materials at temperatures well in excess of 1,000°C. Now, material scientists from ETH Zurich have developed what seems at first glance to be an ...