Lithium-air batteries are poised to become the next revolutionary replacement for currently used lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles, cell phones and computers. Lithium-air batteries, which currently are still in the experimental stages of development, can store 10 times more...
Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and China University of Petroleum (Beijing) have demonstrated that CO2 may make a better hydraulic fracturing (fracking) fluid than water. Their research, published May 30 in the journal Joule, could help pave the way...
In high school chemistry, we all learned about chemical reactions. But what brings two reacting molecules together? As explained to us by Einstein, it is the random motion of inert molecules driven by the bombardment of solvent molecules. If...
Science fiction stories are chock full of terraforming schemes and oxygen generators for a very good reason—we humans need molecular oxygen (O2) to breathe, and space is essentially devoid of it. Even on other planets with thick atmospheres, O2 is...
Scientists at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) have developed a new three-valued memory device inspired by solid lithium-ion batteries. The proposed device, which has an extremely low energy consumption, may be...
Using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, Columbia Engineers are first to observe how CO2 is activated at the electrode-electrolyte interface; their finding shifts the catalyst design from trial-and-error paradigm to a rational approach and could lead to alternative, cheaper, and safer...
ORNL researchers have discovered a new type of quantum critical point, a new way in which materials change from one state of matter to another. Featured here are researchers Lekh Poudel (left), Andrew Christianson and Andrew May. Credit: Genevieve Martin,...
New research shows that one of the heaviest known elements can be manipulated to a greater degree than previously thought, potentially paving the way for new strategies to recycle nuclear fuel and better long-term storage of radioactive elements. An international...
Gold, silver and copper are heavy metals, but LLNL scientists can now make them nearly as light as air—in a form so tiny it can ride on a mosquito's back. The groundbreaking science, part of a joint NIF/Physical and Life...
In a breakthrough that could lead to a new class of materials with functions found only in living systems, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have figured out a way to keep certain proteins active outside of the...
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have developed a new method to analyse particulate matter more precisely than ever before. Using it, they disproved an established doctrine: that molecules in aerosols undergo no further chemical transformations because they...