Unlocking the Potential of Nickel

New Study Reveals How to use Single Atoms to Turn CO2 into Valuable Chemical Resources

03-Dec-2024 - A study published in Physical Review Letters by the Interface Science Department at the Fritz Haber Institute has unveiled new insights into the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2using nickel-based catalysts. The research, led by Dr. Janis Timoshenko and Prof. Dr. Beatriz Roldán Cuenya, marks a ...

Combating climate change: Recyclable batteries remove CO2 from the atmosphere

Female scientists at Paderborn University awarded research prize

26-Nov-2024 - With the new Climate Protection Act, Germany has committed to achieving greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045. To achieve this, emissions must be avoided, CO2 removed from the atmosphere and fossil fuels replaced with renewable energy sources. According to experts, however, it will still be necessary ...

Mechanism of Cobalt-Manganese Catalysts Deciphered

Combination of different methods was the key to success

22-Oct-2024 - The energy carrier hydrogen can be obtained from water by electrolysis. This works particularly well with Cobalt spinel electrocatalysts containing manganese. However, it was unclear why. Conventional catalysts for hydrogen production via water electrolysis usually contain precious metals and are ...

How catalysts remove dangerous nitrogen oxides

”If we know exactly where the reaction takes place, the production of catalysts can be controlled accordingly”

11-Oct-2024 - Catalysts belonging to the zeolite family help to remove toxic nitrogen oxides from industrial emissions. Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have now discovered that their complex nano porous structure is crucial. Specifically, individual iron atoms sitting in certain neighbouring ...

Evidence stacks up for poisonous books containing toxic dyes

21-Aug-2024 - If you come across brightly colored, cloth-bound books from the Victorian era, you might want to handle them gently, or even steer clear altogether. Some of their attractive hues come from dyes that could pose a health risk to readers, collectors or librarians. The latest research on these ...

Sodium-ion batteries: How doping works

Three years of experiments at BESSY II, PETRA III, and SOLARIS

23-Feb-2024 - Sodium-ion batteries still have a number of weaknesses that could be remedied by optimising the battery materials. One possibility is to dope the cathode material with foreign elements. A team from HZB and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin has now investigated the effects of doping with Scandium and ...

Molecular orbitals determine stability

The results could also help industry to optimise the stability of coordination polymers

14-Feb-2024 - Carboxylic acid dianions (fumarate, maleate and succinate) play a role in coordination chemistry and to some extent also in the biochemistry of body cells. An HZB team at BESSY II has now analysed their electronic structures using RIXS in combination with DFT simulations. The results provide ...

Electron bubbles modelled from X-ray laser data

An international team of scientists uncovers a groundbreaking model for the effects of radiation in water systems

06-Feb-2024 - What happens when radiation hits water? This is a question that has an impact every time you get an X-ray at the doctor’s office, given you are mostly made of water. A team of theoretical physicists at DESY has worked on data taken by colleagues from Argonne National Laboratory in the US at the ...

Bane and boon of oxygen mediating the performance of nickel catalysts in dry reforming of methane

Fundamental insights into the processes occurring at the catalyst surface

22-Jan-2024 - Catalysis is one of the key technologies in the chemical industry and has a wide-reaching impact on various aspects of our daily lives, including plastics manufacturing, drug synthesis, and production of both fertilizers and fuels. It is estimated that over 90% of chemical products are nowadays ...

Green hydrogen: Improving the stability of iridium catalysts with titanium oxides

High relevance for practical use

18-Dec-2023 - Anodes for the electrolytic splitting of water are usually iridium-based materials. In order to increase the stability of the iridium catalyst, a team at HZB and a group at HI-ERN have now produced a so-called material library: a sample in which the concentration of iridium and titanium oxides is ...