https://phys.org/chemistry-news/materials-science/ en-us The latest news on chemistry and materials science Look closely at Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa, one of Japan's most iconic masterpieces. The brilliant white of the waves, snow on Mount Fuji and clouds above contain no white pigment. Instead, their whiteness comes from the way light scatters off the unprinted fibers of the washi paper itself. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-white-nature-sustainable-repellent-materials.html Polymers Wed, 09 Sep 2026 11:00:31 EDT news708168421 Drug discovery has traditionally followed the "rule of 5," which identifies chemical properties generally associated with good absorption of orally administered drugs, including a molecular weight below 500 daltons (Da). However, some pharmaceutical compounds fall outside these guidelines. Known as beyond rule of 5 (bRo5) molecules, these compounds can have larger, more complex structures while still exhibiting strong therapeutic activity and favorable pharmacological properties. Their size and structural complexity, however, make it difficult to characterize them using conventional methods, particularly when very small quantities are available. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-crystalline-sponge-reveals-large-molecules.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 08 Sep 2026 17:00:07 EDT news708097381 What if the key to making stronger, more sustainable plastics isn't changing their ingredients, but rearranging their molecules? Virginia Tech researchers have put that idea to the test, creating degradable polymers with a new molecular architecture that combines properties often difficult to achieve in one material: strength, toughness, flexibility and the ability to block oxygen. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-rearranged-polymer-chains-degradable-materials.html Polymers Tue, 08 Sep 2026 05:00:01 EDT news707994742 Copper has been knocked off the top of a stability ranking it had dominated for decades. Without altering the atoms directly bonded to the metal, a KAIST research team reversed the longstanding trend in which copper generally forms the most stable complexes by tuning only the weak hydrogen bonds in its surrounding environment. The findings, which appear in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could open new avenues for selective metal separation and recognition, as well as catalyst design. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-weak-hydrogen-bonds-dethrone-copper.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:00:01 EDT news708004262 A common blue pigment could help turn carbon dioxide (CO₂) from an industrial waste product into a useful fuel. A joint research team led by Tohoku University's Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR), in collaboration with Hokkaido University and startup AZUL Energy, has developed a catalyst that converts CO₂ directly into methane (CH₄) with high efficiency using copper phthalocyanine, an inexpensive and readily available blue pigment. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-inexpensive-blue-pigment-enables-efficient.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 07 Sep 2026 15:40:02 EDT news708001141 Applying pressure to luminescent organic crystals usually brings molecules closer together and weakens their fluorescence. Materials that instead brighten and undergo a large color change are rare, and clear design principles for achieving both responses in simple, rigid aromatic hydrocarbons have been lacking. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-slender-crystal-blue-yellow-invisible.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 07 Sep 2026 14:40:04 EDT news707999521 Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a fast, simple way to turn lignin, a plentiful plant-based byproduct of the papermaking industry, into potentially more valuable renewable chemicals. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-droplets-paper-higher-chemical-compound.html Analytical Chemistry Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:40:06 EDT news707739841 Glassy polymers are those whose chains become immobilized below their glass transition temperature. The immobilized chains make them hard and stiff but also brittle, causing them to fracture when stretched. One promising strategy for overcoming this trade-off is to incorporate ionic groups whose reversible electrostatic attractions form physical crosslinks that improve toughness while maintaining stiffness. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-soft-crosslinking-strategy-brittle-glassy.html Polymers Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:00:24 EDT news707738941 Patents are far more than legal documents protecting intellectual property. They are a vast source of scientific information about chemicals under development, often years before they appear in products or in the environment. That makes patents a valuable data source for early warning systems (EWS), which authorities use to identify potentially hazardous chemicals before they become a threat to human health and the environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-patent-ai-early-hazardous-chemicals.html Analytical Chemistry Fri, 04 Sep 2026 10:40:06 EDT news707734081 While studying the properties of hackmanite, researchers created a new material called davyne that changes color in the near-infrared region. The color change cannot be detected with the human eye, but only with a spectrometer or an infrared-sensitive camera. The researchers studied what caused the color change and tested the material's possible applications, for example, as an invisible anti-counterfeit tag. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-davyne-human-sight-path-invisible.html Analytical Chemistry Fri, 04 Sep 2026 10:00:06 EDT news707732161 Biodegradable plastics should be tough enough for use yet able to break down at an appropriate rate afterward. Researchers at the University of Osaka show that changing the size of rings threaded onto a biodegradable polymer can tune both its toughness and enzymatic degradation, offering a way to design material lifetimes. The study is published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-built-size-tunes-biodegradable-plastic.html Polymers Thu, 03 Sep 2026 18:20:02 EDT news707664601 Among the gases used in semiconductor manufacturing, tetrafluoromethane (CF₄) is a greenhouse gas more than 6,000 times as potent as carbon dioxide. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-power-disorder-cf-semiconductor-greenhouse.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 03 Sep 2026 16:30:01 EDT news707669882 Chemical reactions at surfaces play a central role in many processes, including catalysis and materials synthesis. It is well known that the outcome of these reactions is influenced by the translational, vibrational and rotational motions of atoms and molecules. Now, a study shows that electron spin, another fundamental property of matter, also influences how chemical reactions at surfaces unfold. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-electron-magnetic-hydrogen-surface-reactions.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 03 Sep 2026 05:00:07 EDT news707491382 Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is usually discussed as something the world needs to get rid of. Activities such as the burning of fossil fuels for daily use, including electricity and transportation, and industrial applications release significant amounts of CO₂, and the gas enters the atmosphere. Researchers are now asking whether this road could have a roundabout. What if CO₂, which is at the center of the climate crisis, could be turned into something useful and put back into the industrial cycle? https://phys.org/news/2026-09-metal-2d-catalysts-extra-electrical.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 02 Sep 2026 19:40:01 EDT news707583901 Copper roofs lose their reddish color over time because a pale green layer of copper oxide forms on their surface, protecting the roof from further corrosion for many years. But what exactly happens during the first steps of this process? Might it even be possible to stop it? This question has become increasingly urgent since copper containers have come to be regarded as one of the best options for storing nuclear waste. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-copper-oxygen-rich-early-oxidation.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 02 Sep 2026 18:20:04 EDT news707582581 A good adhesive is unequivocally sticky. A great adhesive is sticky until you don't want it to be sticky anymore—a label on cardboard until it's time to recycle it. Medical tape on a cut until the wound heals. A GWAR poster on a bedroom wall until your parents kick you out. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-chemists-extra-sticky-adhesives-degrade.html Polymers Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:20:01 EDT news707560441 Turning carbon dioxide into industrial chemicals used in everything from synthetic fuels to plastics and pharmaceuticals is costly. But new research shows it does not have to be. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-larger-catalyst-batches-carbon-recycling.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 01 Sep 2026 16:40:04 EDT news707486761 A tedious process of trial and error is normally required to discover ceramic materials that generate electricity under mechanical stress. Known as piezoelectric ceramics, these valuable next-generation materials can replace batteries that power small electronic devices, like sensors. To streamline the research process, a team led by materials science researchers at Penn State introduced a new framework that combines an existing artificial intelligence (AI) model with human expertise to uncover these materials. To test the new approach, researchers developed a new piezoelectric composite and incorporated it into an energy harvester, which converts vibrations or movements into electricity. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-ceramics-generate-electricity.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 31 Aug 2026 09:00:10 EDT news707385241 Researchers at the University of Osaka have developed a catalyst that uses mechanical vibration to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into carbon monoxide (CO), an important chemical feedstock. The catalyst consists of barium titanate (BaTiO3) coated with a metal-organic framework (MOF)—a porous material that captures and concentrates CO2 near the catalyst surface—and incorporates isolated copper (Cu) atoms as reaction sites. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mof-coated-catalyst-faster-ultrasonic.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 27 Aug 2026 17:40:05 EDT news707064301 Machine learning doesn't replace human intelligence, but it can outlast human endurance, which makes it a helpful tool for chemistry and materials discovery. Scientists know machine learning models can make predictions based on the vast reams of data they are trained on, but can they take it a step further and massively scale up testing those predictions? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-machine-methods-labs-closer-materials.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 26 Aug 2026 16:50:01 EDT news706981081 A research team led by Professor Sung Beom Cho of the School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), in collaboration with the teams of Professors Jin Sung Park and Hyunsouk Cho of Ajou University and Professor Ju Li of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has developed a "closed-loop materials synthesis planning platform" that uses a large language model (LLM) to propose synthesis conditions and procedures for complex new materials and iteratively refine them based on experimental results. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-llm-based-platform-generating-materials.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 26 Aug 2026 10:20:01 EDT news706956541 The most common scientific approach for thinking about how condensation, freezing and other phase transitions begin is based in classical nucleation theory, which was developed about a century ago. Thousands of experiments have supported a key equation describing how initial ordered seeds, called nuclei, form within disordered matter. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-3d-atomic-imaging-reveals-pathway.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 25 Aug 2026 18:00:03 EDT news706887052 Researchers from the Department of Chemistry at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), led by Professor Jian He and collaborators, have developed a new light-driven method for constructing three-dimensional molecular building blocks that could give medicinal chemists greater flexibility in designing new drug candidates. The approach broadens the range of starting materials that can be used while suppressing unwanted polymerization, overcoming key limitations of existing synthetic methods. The findings have been published in Nature Chemistry. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-chemists-harness-3d-molecular-drug.html Biochemistry Tue, 25 Aug 2026 15:40:05 EDT news706878361 Some of the world's brightest colors don't just reflect light; they create it. Scientists and museum conservators are now uncovering why these luminous pigments fade and how to preserve them for future generations. The findings could help protect artwork while informing the development of longer-lasting phosphorescent materials for a variety of applications, from fashion runways to airport runways. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-hidden-chemistry-dark-art.html Materials Science Tue, 25 Aug 2026 05:00:12 EDT news706777134 Researchers at TU Dortmund University, Paderborn University, the University of Duisburg-Essen, and the University of Oxford have developed a new method for selectively modifying the internal structure of specific types of glass. The study, published in the journal Nature Materials, shows how adding an organic molecule during melting causes the chemical bonds in the material to rearrange. The process reduces the required processing temperature, prevents the substance from decomposing, and allows the magnetic and optical properties to be precisely tuned. These specialized glasses are used, among other things, in gas storage, batteries, optical applications and catalysis. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-molecular-door-generation-glass.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 24 Aug 2026 18:10:01 EDT news706807741 Since the COVID-19 pandemic, developing surfaces that can inactivate viruses upon contact has become an important goal in public health care. Ideally, such surfaces would work on their own without requiring chemical disinfectants, so they could offer consistent protection in hospitals, public transportation and other shared spaces. This has driven scientists worldwide to search for durable antiviral materials that can be used in everyday surfaces. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ball-milling-antiviral-inexpensive-inorganic.html Biochemistry Mon, 24 Aug 2026 16:10:02 EDT news706804921 Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have used a theoretical framework to derive design rules for creating new thermoelectric materials. The efficiency of converting thermal energy to electricity is often determined by parameters that strongly depend on each other, making it difficult to identify ideal recipes. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-scientists-thermoelectric-materials.html Materials Science Mon, 24 Aug 2026 10:00:03 EDT news706783960 A global symbol of parties and celebrations but an environmental headache, the humble balloon is undergoing a green revolution thanks to U.K. researchers. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-humble-balloon-green-makeover.html Materials Science Sun, 23 Aug 2026 05:40:03 EDT news706681775 Ammonia is one of the most important chemicals produced in the world, ranking second only to sulfuric acid in the total volume produced each year. It is used mostly to make fertilizer, which is essential to feeding the world's population. Yet its production accounts for up to 2% of the world's energy consumption and about 1.5% of greenhouse gas emissions, so the search has been underway for ways to produce ammonia more sustainably. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-catalysts-fossil-fueled-ammonia-production.html Analytical Chemistry Sat, 22 Aug 2026 17:00:04 EDT news706462942 Rice University researchers have developed a way to stabilize diamond during high-temperature and low-pressure processing, creating a strong bulk composite and discovering that high-speed collisions can rapidly transform diamond into graphite. Their study is published in Materials Today. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-hypersonic-impact-rapidly-diamond-graphite.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:00:06 EDT news706448761