Are trees the future for the production of industrial chemicals?

Finding could help turn trees into affordable, greener industrial chemicals

22-Oct-2024 - Trees are the most abundant natural resource living on Earth’s land masses, and North Carolina State University scientists and engineers are making headway in finding ways to use them as sustainable, environmentally benign alternatives to producing industrial chemicals from petroleum. Lignin, a ...

Person with the World's Largest Negative Carbon Footprint Wins the €1 Million Millennium Technology Prize

Innovation has revolutionized the power industry

06-Sep-2024 - The 2024 Millennium Technology Prize has been awarded to Professor Bantval Jayant Baliga of North Carolina State University, United States, for his innovation that has enabled dramatic reduction in worldwide electrical energy and petrol consumption. The €1 million global award for technology ...

New technique prints metal oxide thin film circuits at room temperature

21-Aug-2024 - Researchers have demonstrated a technique for printing thin metal oxide films at room temperature, and have used the technique to create transparent, flexible circuits that are both robust and able to function at high temperatures. “Creating metal oxides that are useful for electronics has ...

Do AI-driven chemistry labs actually work?

New metrics promise answers

20-Feb-2024 - The fields of chemistry and materials science are seeing a surge of interest in “self-driving labs,” which make use of artificial intelligence (AI) and automated systems to expedite research and discovery. Researchers are now proposing a suite of definitions and performance metrics that will ...

Researchers create highly conductive metallic gel for 3D printing

Printed objects can be engineered to change shape as the gel dries; a phenomenon called '4D printing,' with the fourth dimension being time

18-Jul-2023 - Researchers have developed a metallic gel that is highly electrically conductive and can be used to print three-dimensional (3D) solid objects at room temperature. “3D printing has revolutionized manufacturing, but we’re not aware of previous technologies that allowed you to print 3D metal ...

You can make carbon dioxide filters with a 3D printer

09-Jun-2023 - In a new study, North Carolina State University researchers demonstrated that it’s possible to make carbon dioxide capture filters using 3D printing. Specifically, they printed a hydrogel material that can hold carbonic anhydrase, an enzyme that speeds a reaction that turns carbon dioxide and ...

Chemical found in common sweetener damages DNA

09-Jun-2023 - A new study finds a chemical formed when we digest a widely used sweetener is “genotoxic,” meaning it breaks up DNA. The chemical is also found in trace amounts in the sweetener itself, and the finding raises questions about how the sweetener may contribute to health problems. At issue is ...

Self-driven laboratory speeds chemical discovery

A complete wet chemistry laboratory in suitcase format: Artificial intelligence finds new materials in record time

20-Mar-2023 - A team of chemical engineering researchers has developed a self-driven lab that is capable of identifying and optimizing new complex multistep reaction routes for the synthesis of advanced functional materials and molecules. In a proof-of-concept demonstration, the system found a more efficient ...

PFAS can suppress white blood cell’s ability to destroy invaders

16-Mar-2023 - In a new study, researchers found that the PFAS chemical GenX suppresses the neutrophil respiratory burst – the method white blood cells known as neutrophils use to kill invading pathogens. The study is an important first step in understanding how both legacy and emerging PFAS chemicals might ...

Controllable ‘defects’ improve performance of lithium-ion batteries

"This technique opens the door, so to speak, for lithium ions, so it enhances the current capacity"

10-Feb-2023 - A new North Carolina State University study, performed in collaboration with battery testing researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, shows that extremely short pulses from a high-powered laser can cause tiny defects in lithium-ion battery materials – defects ...