Exploring the structures of xenon-containing crystallites

20-Aug-2024 - Noble gases have a reputation for being unreactive, inert elements, but more than 60 years ago Neil Bartlett demonstrated the first way to bond xenon. He created XePtF6, an orange-yellow solid. Because it’s difficult to grow sufficiently large crystals that contain noble gases, some of their ...

One more clue to the Moon’s origin

Researchers from ETH Zurich discover the first definitive proof that the Moon inherited indigenous noble gases from the Earth’s mantle

18-Aug-2022 - The discovery represents a significant piece of the puzzle towards understanding how the Moon and, potentially, the Earth and other celestial bodies were formed. Humankind has maintained an enduring fascination with the Moon. It was not until Galileo’s time, however, that scientists really began ...

A thermometer for the oceans

Measurement of noble gases in Antarctic ice cores

08-Jan-2018 - The average sea temperature is an essential parameter of the global climate – but it is very difficult to measure. At least until now, because an international team of researchers including Empa scientists have now developed a novel method using the concentration of noble gases in the eternal ...

Scientists discover helium chemistry

08-Feb-2017 - Although helium is the second most-abundant element (after hydrogen) in the universe, it doesn't play well with others. It is a member of a family of seven elements called the noble gases, which are called that because of their chemical aloofness -- they don't easily form compounds with other ...

How X-rays in matter create genetoxic low-energy electrons

02-Feb-2017 - Researchers led by Kiyoshi Ueda of Tohoku University have investigated what x-rays in matter really do and identified a new mechanism of producing low-energy free electrons. Since the low-energy electrons cause damage to the matter, the identified process might be important in understanding and ...

Joint study to design nanoporous materials to carry small molecules

01-Dec-2016 - Prof. Ryotaro Matsuda, the Graduate School of Engineering at Nagoya University, and Prof. Susumu Kitagawa, the Department of Synthetic Chemistry & Biological Chemistry and the Director of the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences at Kyoto University, won the contest "Air Liquide ...

Superman can start worrying - we've got the formula for (almost) kryptonite!

04-Mar-2016 - Theoretical chemists from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences have found how to synthesize the first binary compound of krypton and oxygen: a krypton oxide. It turns out that this exotic substance can be produced under extremely high pressure, and its production ...

A noble gas cage

New material traps gases from nuclear fuel better and uses less energy than currently available options

29-Jul-2014 - When nuclear fuel gets recycled, the process releases radioactive krypton and xenon gases. Naturally occurring uranium in rock contaminates basements with the related gas radon. A new porous material called CC3 effectively traps these gases, and research appearing in Nature Materials shows how: ...

How to count the messenger out

Mapping the structure of protonated water clusters

26-Aug-2010 - Water molecules are continuously forming short-lived networks called clusters. These can in turn bind positively charged protons, and such clusters can provide active functional groups in proteins. Using infrared spectroscopy, it is possible to determine the bond strengths, geometrical structures ...

Attosecond real-time Observation of a Quantum Hole

09-Aug-2010 - For the first time ever, physicists from the Laboratory for Attosecond Physics (LAP) at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have observed what occurs inside an atom from which a single electron has been ejected. An international team from the Laboratory for Attosecond Physics, led by ...