Chemists have fabricated for the first time plasmonic color-switchable films of silver nanoparticles. Until now, such color changing of nanoparticles was mainly achieved in liquids, limiting their potential for practical applications. The technology has a number of applications: product authentication, color displays, signage, sensors, and information encryption.
Read moreResearchers have found it can significantly boost an existing polymer's ability to selectively remove carbon dioxide out of gas mixtures by first submerging the material in liquid water.
Read moreLiquid and solid – most people are unaware that there can be states in between. Liquid crystals are representative of one such state. While the molecules in liquids swim around at random, neighboring molecules in liquid crystals are aligned as in regular crystal grids, but the material is still liquid.
Read moreAccording to Einstein, light consists of particles (photons) that transfer only quantized energy to the electron of the atom. If the photon's energy is sufficient, it knocks the electrons out of the atom. But what happens to the photon's momentum in this process? Physicists are now able to answer this question. To do so, they developed and constructed and new spectrometer with previously unattainable resolution.
Read moreHigh value chemicals used to make pharmaceuticals could be made much cheaper and quicker thanks to a series of new catalysts.
Read moreScientists have measured how the super-plastic material ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene, commercially known as Dyneema or Spectra, interacts when bolted to other materials. The research has established guidelines and failure maps for use of the material in joints with steel bolts. The research shows that while the material deforms at the joints, it's incredible difficult to actually break the fibers.
Read moreBorophene has a nearly perfect partner in a form of silver that could help the trendy two-dimensional material grow to unheard-of lengths.
Read moreMany natural compounds used in medicine have complex molecular architectures that are difficult to recreate in the lab. Help could come from a small hydrocarbon molecule, called tetravinylallene, which has been synthesized for the first time by scientists. Tetravinylallene can be used to construct complex molecular frameworks more quickly and with less environmental impact than by using established methods.
Read moreResearchers have built a new tool to study molecules using a laser, a crystal and light detectors. This new technology will reveal nature's smallest sculptures — the structures of molecules — with increased detail and specificity.
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