http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A research group headed by Dr. Naoto Umezawa, a Senior Researcher at the NIMS International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), succeeded in theoretical design of a photocatalyst that enables hydrogen production by water splitting using sunlight. http://phys.org/news279361511.html Chemistry Wed, 06 Feb 2013 08:25:17 EST news279361511 Because carbon dioxide (CO2) gas is a freely available resource, there are concerted efforts worldwide to convert this molecule into a chemical feedstock. Zhaomin Hou and colleagues from the RIKEN Advanced Science Institute in Wako have made important progress toward this goal by developing the first protocol for attaching both CO2 and boron atoms to unsaturated carbon–carbon triple bonds. This procedure uses inexpensive organic–copper catalysts to construct valuable 'building blocks' for chemists under mild, one-pot conditions. http://phys.org/news278324107.html Chemistry Fri, 25 Jan 2013 08:30:01 EST news278324107 A new discovery by University of Oklahoma and North Carolina State University researchers shows a breakthrough in speeding up the process for synthesizing transition metal oxide nanostructures. What had once taken days can now be accomplished instantaneously. http://phys.org/news270983596.html Nanotechnology Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:14:12 EST news270983596 Ultra-thin inorganic oxide films are set to play vital roles in future catalytic systems, according to findings from Jaehoon Jung and Yousoo Kim at RIKEN's Advanced Science Institute in Wako and two colleagues in Japan and Korea. Through high-level computer simulations, the team discovered that small amounts of impurity atoms, or dopants, in ultra-thin oxides can systematically lower chemical reaction barriers—giving chemists a new tool for optimizing catalytic processes such as hydrogen-fuel generation. http://phys.org/news270981737.html Chemistry Thu, 01 Nov 2012 09:42:39 EST news270981737 (Phys.org)—Graphene, an atom-thin layer of pure carbon, appears to have many of the properties needed to usher in the next generation of electronic devices. The next step in building those devices, however, requires creating junctions that connect graphene to the "external world" through at least two metal wires. A "two-terminal junction" is a graphene "ribbon" with two metal contacts. A University of Arkansas researcher and his colleagues have developed a better understanding of how these graphene-metal interfaces affect the movement of electrons through two-terminal junctions. http://phys.org/news267265548.html Nanotechnology Wed, 19 Sep 2012 09:26:05 EST news267265548 A new study this week finds that "quantum critical points" in exotic electronic materials can act much like polarizing "hot button issues" in an election. Reporting in Nature, researchers from Rice University, two Max Planck Institutes in Dresden, Germany, and UCLA find that on either side of a quantum critical point, electrons fall into line and behave as traditionally expected, but at the critical point itself, traditional physical laws break down. http://phys.org/news254583865.html Physics Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:44:46 EST news254583865 Dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS) have recently been a major focus of magnetic semiconductor research. A laboratory from the University of Science and Technology of China explored the feasibility of doping manganese (Mn) into zinc sulfide (ZnS) to obtain magnetic semiconductors. http://phys.org/news248935595.html Physics Mon, 20 Feb 2012 04:46:57 EST news248935595 (PhysOrg.com) -- Conventional scientific wisdom says that the interatomic forces between ions that control high-temperature processes such as melting are insensitive to the heating of the electron "glue" that binds the ions together. In effect, traditional atomistic simulations ignore electron temperature completely. http://phys.org/news246865711.html Physics Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:48:41 EST news246865711 A study published by researchers at the RIKEN Advanced Science Institute (ASI) has shed first-ever light on a class of heterometallic molecular structures whose unique features point the way to breakthroughs in the development of lightweight fuel cell technology. The structures contain a previously-unexplored combination of rare-earth and d-transition metals ideally suited to the compact storage of hydrogen. http://phys.org/news235905255.html Chemistry Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:15:38 EST news235905255 Molecules that suddenly transform into new structures when stimulated by photons or electrons play key roles in many chemical and biological processes. Recently, chemists have discovered that adding transition metals such as copper to photo-responsive organic ligands produces materials with high solar conversion efficiencies, owing to the metal’s ready supply of light-activated electrons. But despite the interest in these substances for opto-electronic devices, their inner workings remain mostly inscrutable because the charge-transfer dynamics happen too quickly for detection by typical instruments. http://phys.org/news231760549.html Physics Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:55:59 EST news231760549 (PhysOrg.com) -- SLAC researchers have taken a big step toward making useful catalysts easier to find or create—processes that have previously relied on trial and error. As explained yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, SLAC researchers at the Center for Sustainable Energy through Catalysis, or SUNCAT, are using advances in surface chemistry research to better describe the intrinsically complex process of catalysis, a type of chemical reaction that occurs at the surfaces of materials. http://phys.org/news214063799.html Chemistry Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:00:01 EST news214063799 (PhysOrg.com) -- Particle size has a far more dramatic impact on chemical reactivity than previously thought, according to new research from UC Davis. The results have implications for understanding a wide range of vital chemical reactions, from rusting iron to the origins of life. http://phys.org/news206108799.html Chemistry Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:27:43 EST news206108799 (PhysOrg.com) -- Radioactively labeled compounds are important for use as imaging probes or radiotherapeutic agents. Most radioisotopes with suitable decay properties are transition metals or elements with metallic character. Therefore, bifunctional chelators are required for stable tethering of a given radionuclide to targeted biomolecules. However, preparing such multifunctional radioconjugates by conventional synthetic means is a significant challenge. http://phys.org/news206004639.html Chemistry Mon, 11 Oct 2010 08:34:53 EST news206004639 (PhysOrg.com) -- New research by Rice University scientists suggests that a class of material known as metallacarborane could store hydrogen at or better than benchmarks set by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen Program for 2015. http://phys.org/news205068736.html Chemistry Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:32:36 EST news205068736 Scientists have proposed a new potential catalyst for jump-starting metabolism, and life itself, on the early Earth. Transition metals like iron, copper and nickel along with small organic molecules could have catalyzed the synthesis of life's building blocks deep in the oceans around hydrothermal vents. http://phys.org/news203332175.html Chemistry Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:09:46 EST news203332175 One of the big, unsolved problems in explaining how life arose on Earth is a chicken-and-egg paradox: How could the basic biochemicals -- such as amino acids and nucleotides -- have arisen before the biological catalysts (proteins or ribozymes) existed to carry out their formation? http://phys.org/news202753830.html Chemistry Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:30:48 EST news202753830 (PhysOrg.com) -- A spoonful of sugar, a pinch of salt, and a splash of alcohol - those are the ingredients used by scientists to generate a new class of robust nanoporous metal-organic frameworks. However, the sugar is not ordinary table sugar, but γ-cyclodextrin, produced from biorenewable cornstarch. http://phys.org/news202548611.html Chemistry Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:31:35 EST news202548611 (PhysOrg.com) -- A prototype of a new type of photovoltaic (PV) cell that generates electricity from visible, infrared and ultraviolet light has been demonstrated by a group of Japanese scientists. It could lead to the development of a highly-efficient PV cell in the future, without needing multijunction cells. http://phys.org/news188637189.html Technology Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:30:01 EST news188637189 Nickel, an important trace nutrient for the single cell organisms that produce methane, may be a useful isotopic marker to pinpoint the past origins of these methanogenic microbes, according to Penn State and University of Bristol, UK, researchers. http://phys.org/news164909830.html Space & Earth Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:10:01 EST news164909830