https://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. Using a range of advanced characterization techniques, researchers say they have developed a novel method with the potential to produce hydrogen from seawater using a process that requires less energy, resists corrosion and could support more economical hydrogen production. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-hydrogen-production-seawater-catalyst-energy.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 26 Oct 2026 16:00:09 EDT news712248317 Superconductivity has many important practical applications, including creating powerful magnets used in high-resolution medical scans, transporting electricity efficiently and building ultrasensitive measuring devices. Until now, understanding exactly what lay behind this unique phenomenon at high temperatures has eluded scientists over many decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-gun-mystery-high-temperature-superconductivity.html Superconductivity Tue, 20 Oct 2026 16:00:07 EDT news711718201 Graphene is an exceptionally useful material for creating batteries, catalysts and electronic devices. Yet producing graphene typically requires temperatures as high as 900°C (1,652°F), limiting energy efficiency and making structural control difficult. To make graphene production more practical, a recent study has overcome this long-standing temperature barrier. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-temperature-graphene-growth-route-sustainable.html Nanomaterials Fri, 28 Aug 2026 15:40:02 EDT news707128446 A joint research group from Tohoku University, Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University and the Japan Fine Ceramics Center has developed a thermal catalyst that exhibits high carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation activity under low-temperature conditions. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ligand-strategy-nanocluster-catalysts.html Nanomaterials Fri, 10 Jul 2026 09:20:03 EDT news702890090 A research team from Tohoku University and Kyocera Corp. has developed a new magneto-optical material—a nanocomposite magnetic garnet film—that can be deposited directly onto silicon substrates while delivering a magneto-optical figure of merit four times higher than conventional polycrystalline films. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-silicon-compatible-nanocomposite-garnet-enables.html Nanophysics Tue, 16 Jun 2026 15:00:01 EDT news700829521 Most of the drugs, plastics, and industrial materials widely used today are produced through chemical reactions. In general, most high-performance and sophisticated substances have complex structures, and their assembly involves multiple chemical reaction steps carried out one after another. This creates significant overhead, as each step requires specific conditions, reagents, and catalysts, as well as considerable energy and labor. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-catalyst-reactions-multiple-reaction-vessel.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 21 Aug 2025 09:44:03 EDT news674988241 Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered that the size of catalytic nanoparticles determines how their shape and structure transform during chemical reactions. With insights into the nanoparticles' atomic-scale behavior as they convert carbon dioxide into useful fuel—and a better understanding of how structural changes impact catalytic performance—researchers are newly positioned to design more effective catalysts for industrial applications. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-tiny-catalytic-particles-carbon-dioxide.html Nanophysics Thu, 07 Aug 2025 07:46:06 EDT news673771558 An international team of scientists led by Rice University's Pengcheng Dai has confirmed the existence of emergent photons and fractionalized spin excitations in a rare quantum spin liquid. Published in Nature Physics on June 19, their findings identify the crystalline compound cerium zirconium oxide (Ce₂Zr₂O₇) as a clear 3D realization of this exotic state of matter. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-physicists-elusive-quantum-liquid.html Condensed Matter Mon, 23 Jun 2025 14:49:03 EDT news669908942 A research team led by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) designed and fabricated catalysts that can increase the speed of carbon monoxide oxidation by nine times. Carbon monoxide oxidation is an important reaction used in numerous chemical industry and environmental cleaning applications. The cutting-edge fabrication approach involved making precise, atomic-level changes in catalysts to create new, performance-boosting chemical properties. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-platinum-atoms-precision-catalyst-efficiency.html Materials Science Thu, 05 Jun 2025 13:09:20 EDT news668347754 A research team has developed a "next-generation AI electronic nose" capable of distinguishing scents like the human olfactory system does and analyzing them using artificial intelligence. This technology converts scent molecules into electrical signals and trains AI models on their unique patterns. It holds great promise for applications in personalized health care, the cosmetics industry, and environmental monitoring. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-ai-powered-electronic-nose-diverse.html Bio & Medicine Fri, 02 May 2025 11:43:04 EDT news665404982 National University of Singapore (NUS) chemists have developed an "anchoring-borrowing" strategy, combined with facet engineering, to develop a new class of artful single-atom catalysts (ASACs). These catalysts are formed by anchoring foreign single atoms onto specific facets of reducible support materials, allowing them to bypass the traditional oxidative addition step in cross-coupling reactions, which are widely used in the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industries. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-artful-atom-catalysts-enable-sustainable.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 14 Apr 2025 14:25:04 EDT news663859502 Preparing catalysts by sending hot, steamy car exhaust over them could improve their efficiency and reduce the amount of rare and expensive metals required in vehicle catalytic converters and many other emission control and industrial processes. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-serendipitous-discovery-boosts-catalyst-efficiency.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 09 Apr 2025 11:01:14 EDT news663415261 Epoxy resins are coatings and adhesives used in a broad range of familiar applications, such as construction, engineering and manufacturing. However, they often present a challenge to recycle or dispose of responsibly. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-recycling-unrecyclable-method-reclaims-materials.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:42:03 EST news658068121 Noble metals such as platinum can make useful catalysts to accelerate chemical reactions, particularly hydrogenation (adding hydrogen atoms to a molecule). A research team led by Professor Bruce Gates at the UC Davis Department of Chemical Engineering is interested in making platinum catalysts that are highly efficient and stable during chemical reactions. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-nanoislands-platinum-catalyst-efficiency.html Nanomaterials Wed, 29 Jan 2025 15:54:02 EST news657388441 For the first time, an international cadre of electrical engineers has developed a new method for photonic in-memory computing that could make optical computing a reality in the near future. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-multi-breakthrough-optical-faster-efficient.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 23 Oct 2024 14:44:24 EDT news648913460 The 2011 accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi plant in Japan inspired extensive research and analysis that elevated nuclear energy into a standard bearer for safety. It also inspired a number of studies at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory. Scientists want to look more closely at nuclear fuel materials to better understand how they will behave at extremely high temperatures. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nuclear-fuel-liquid-plutonium-oxide.html Condensed Matter Thu, 05 Sep 2024 15:35:10 EDT news644769307 Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborating institutions have engineered a highly selective catalyst that can convert methane, a major component of natural gas, into methanol, an easily transportable liquid fuel, in a single, one-step reaction. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-highly-catalyst-enables-conversion-methane.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 22 Aug 2024 12:03:04 EDT news643546981 Ruddlesden-Popper compounds are a class of materials with a special layered structure that makes them interesting for numerous applications—as superconductors or catalysts, for example, or for use in photovoltaics. There have been many halides and oxides of this structural type before now, but no nitrides. Although scientists expected Ruddlesden-Popper nitrides to have outstanding material properties, they were unable to actually manufacture them. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-synthetic-pathway-nitride-compounds.html Materials Science Thu, 27 Jun 2024 09:21:25 EDT news638698883 Chemists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University (SBU), and their collaborators have uncovered new details of the reversible assembly and disassembly of a platinum catalyst. The new understanding may offer clues to the catalyst's stability and recyclability. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-reveals-reversible-platinum-catalyst.html Nanomaterials Mon, 03 Jun 2024 16:08:30 EDT news636649705 Science is taking a step forward in the quest for superconductors that will not require ultra-high pressure to function, thanks to multinational research led by Xiaojia Chen at the University of Houston. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-hydride-frontiers-accessible-superconductivity.html Condensed Matter Mon, 29 Apr 2024 12:02:03 EDT news633610921 Qubits are the building block for quantum technology, and finding or building qubits that are stable and easily manipulated is one of the central goals of quantum technology research. Scientists have found that an atom of erbium—a rare-earth metal sometimes used in lasers or to color glass—can be a very effective qubit. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-techniques-qubits-erbium.html Condensed Matter Thu, 08 Feb 2024 11:07:49 EST news626612861 Oxidation is the process where atoms lose electrons during a chemical reaction. Among the radioactive elements, neptunium and plutonium are much harder to oxidize than uranium. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-radioactive-neptunium-plutonium-chemistry.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 20 Nov 2023 10:17:18 EST news619697835 A fundamental discovery about the Fischer–Tropsch process, a catalytic reaction used in industry to convert coal, natural gas or biomass to liquid fuels, could someday allow for more efficient fuel production. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-discovery-fischertropsch-fuel-production.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 05 Oct 2023 14:00:02 EDT news615716620 A catalyst using a single or just a few palladium atoms removed 90% of unburned methane from natural gas engine exhaust at low temperatures in a recent study. While more research needs to be done, the advance in single atom catalysis has the potential to lower exhaust emissions of methane, one of the worst greenhouse gases that traps heat at about 25 times the rate of carbon dioxide. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-catalyst-methane-emissions-natural-gas.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 20 Jul 2023 11:00:01 EDT news609061134 An international research group has used theoretical predictions to identify and then fabricate a new electrocatalyst that significantly aids the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Details of their findings were published in the journal Advanced Materials on April 18, 2023. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-theory-power-effective-low-cost-rare-earth.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 21 Jun 2023 08:53:03 EDT news606556382 The so-called three-way catalytic converter in the exhaust system of a car consists of expensive materials and only works correctly when the exhaust gases have a temperature that is several hundred degrees Celsius. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-cleaner-air-cold-catalytic.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 15 Jun 2023 14:00:06 EDT news606039412 Trinity geoscientists have developed a cheap and environmentally friendly method for the synthesis of the rare earth mineral which holds promise for the treatment of diseases associated with inflammation, including cancer. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-scientists-cerium-mineral-biomedical.html Materials Science Wed, 01 Mar 2023 15:58:02 EST news596908675 Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of 17 chemically similar metals, which got their name because they typically occur at low concentrations (between 0.5 and 67 parts per million) within Earth's crust. Because they are indispensable in modern technology such as light-emitting diodes, mobile phones, electromotors, wind turbines, hard disks, cameras, magnets and low-energy lightbulbs, the demand for them has increased steadily over the past few decades, and is predicted to rise further by 2030. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-dozen-exotic-bacteria-passively-rare.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:10:01 EST news596738742 Hot gases composed of metal ions and electrons, called plasmas, are widely used in many manufacturing processes, chemical synthesis, and metal extraction from ores and welding. A collaborative research group from Tohoku University and the Toyohashi University of Technology has invented a new and efficient method to create metallic plasmas from solid metals under a strong magnetic field in a microwave resonator. They report their innovation in the journal AIP Advances. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-strong-microwave-magnetic-fields-efficient.html Plasma Physics Mon, 27 Feb 2023 09:15:22 EST news596711717 Researchers at Harvard University, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Arizona State University, and other institutes in the United States have recently observed an antiferromagnetic metal phase in electron-doped NdNiO3 a material known to be a non-collinear antiferromagnet (i.e., exhibiting an onset of antiferromagnetic ordering that is concomitant with a transition into an insulating state). https://phys.org/news/2023-02-unveils-antiferromagnetic-metal-phase-electron-doped.html Condensed Matter Thu, 23 Feb 2023 10:10:06 EST news596368309