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. Methane—a potent greenhouse gas—constantly seeps from the ocean floor and can rise into the atmosphere. Now, an international team led by scientists with the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences has uncovered how tiny microorganisms work together as a living electrical network to consume some of this gas before it escapes, acting as a powerful living filter. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-microbes-electrical-networks-filter-methane.html Ecology Fri, 22 Aug 2025 14:00:04 EDT news674989562 Scientists from Bremen, Germany, have characterized novel enzymes from deep-sea microbes with a key function in the ethane degradation process, revealing surprises in the metabolism of these organisms. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-deep-metabolic-secret-ethane-consuming.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 23 Oct 2024 12:19:04 EDT news648904741 Transparent solar cells will transform the look of infrastructure by enabling many more surfaces to become solar panels. Now, materials called non-fullerene acceptors that can intrinsically generate charges when exposed to sunlight could make semitransparent organic photovoltaics easier to produce, a KAUST-led international team shows. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-closer-efficient-photovoltaics.html Condensed Matter Wed, 24 Apr 2024 13:00:02 EDT news633182006 Polyimide (PI) has emerged as a promising organic photocatalyst owing to its distinct advantages of high visible-light response, facile synthesis, molecularly tunable donor-acceptor structure, and excellent physicochemical stability. However, the synthesis of high-quality PI photoelectrode remains a challenge, and photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting for PI has been less studied. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-photoelectrochemical-donor-acceptor-polyimide.html Materials Science Wed, 17 Jan 2024 10:21:37 EST news624709295 As a combustible fuel, the burning of hydrogen gas does not contribute to global warming. Today, the majority of hydrogen gas is generated from fossil fuels, however, and this process releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Generating hydrogen gas from clean sources, such as the splitting of water molecules with electricity through electrolysis, is important to achieving future carbon neutrality, but current methods are inefficient and limit the commercial practicality of hydrogen-based technologies. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-noble-metal-free-electrocatalyst-decreases-energy-required.html Nanomaterials Thu, 19 Oct 2023 11:04:03 EDT news616932241 Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 28 –34 times that of carbon dioxide on a centennial time scale. Microbial CH4 oxidation acts as a biofilter, preventing more than 90% of CH4 from entering the atmosphere. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-conventional-aerobic-methanotrophs-metabolic-versatility.html Biochemistry Thu, 20 Apr 2023 12:36:03 EDT news601212961 Non-fused-ring organic photoactive materials have attracted broad attention in recent years due to their low synthetic cost. Different from the rigid coplanar structure of fused-ring molecules, the easily rotated conformation of non-fused-ring molecules could lead to the different energetic disorder, which greatly affects the intramolecular electron transport and thus the device performance. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-energetic-disorder-enables-efficiency-solar.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 15 Feb 2023 15:56:02 EST news595698961 Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, contributing more than 20% of global warming since preindustrial times. Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is an important methane sink, reducing methane emission from various environments to the atmosphere. Methylomirabilota bacterium (Methylomirabilis oxyfera) that can use nitrite as the electron acceptor to drive AOM has been recently reported. https://phys.org/news/2022-10-discovery-microbial-pathway-combat-methane.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 17 Oct 2022 14:25:02 EDT news585235501 An electronic mismatch in the pairs of materials used to make organic solar cells can enhance cell operation, KAUST researchers have shown. The surprise finding—published in Advanced Materials and made following a comprehensive reanalysis of state-of-the-art organic solar materials—should enable researchers to predict new organic formulations with strong solar cell performance. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-precisely-energy-solar-materials-high-performance.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 13 Sep 2022 12:12:52 EDT news582289970 Humans need oxygen molecules for a process called cellular respiration, which takes place in our cells' mitochondria. Through a series of reactions called the electron transport chain, electrons are passed along in a sort of cellular relay race, allowing the cell to create ATP, the molecule that gives our cells energy to complete their vital functions. https://phys.org/news/2021-12-tissues-oxygen.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 03 Dec 2021 09:10:55 EST news557745049 As sunlight filters through a forest canopy, chlorophyll is hard at work capturing the energy of photons. Inspired by nature, researchers at NTNU are working on light-capturing dyes for solar cells to generate electricity. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-capturing-energy-sunlight-dyes-nature.html Materials Science Wed, 24 Mar 2021 10:09:25 EDT news535799358 Creating the next generation of solar cells and sensors requires a close look at how light interacts with light-responsive materials. Research at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory is advancing this understanding toward a future with flexible, highly efficient solar cells and cutting-edge optical tools. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-plumbs-molecular-blocks-light-responsive-materials.html Materials Science Wed, 17 Mar 2021 08:28:50 EDT news535188523 From 1995-2015, fullerene derivatives had been the dominating electron acceptors in organic solar cells (OSCs) owing to their performance superiority to other acceptors. However, the drawbacks of fullerenes, such as weak visible absorption, limited tunability of electronic properties and morphological instability, restrict further development of OSCs toward higher efficiencies and practical applications. Therefore, the development of new acceptors beyond fullerenes is urgent in the field of OSCs. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-fused-ring-electron-acceptors.html Materials Science Fri, 12 Mar 2021 10:22:28 EST news534766944 Photosynthesis is the primary source of energy for almost all life-on-earth. A new study, published in Nature, provide new insight into how evolution has optimized the light-driven movements of electrons in photosynthesis to achieve almost perfect overall efficiency. https://phys.org/news/2020-12-high-reveals-protein-photosynthesis.html Biochemistry Thu, 03 Dec 2020 10:45:23 EST news526214719 Understanding how particles travel through a device is vital for improving the efficiency of solar cells. Researchers from KAUST, working with an international team of scientists, have now developed a set of design guidelines for enhancing the performance of molecular materials. https://phys.org/news/2020-11-small-molecules-key-efficiency-solar.html Materials Science Tue, 24 Nov 2020 09:16:16 EST news525431774 Insight into energy losses that affect the conversion of light into electricity could help enhance organic solar cell efficiencies. A KAUST-led team of organic chemists, materials engineers, spectroscopists and theoretical physicists from six research groups has extensively evaluated efficiency-limiting processes in organic photovoltaic systems. https://phys.org/news/2020-10-efficiency-loss-solar-cells.html Materials Science Mon, 26 Oct 2020 13:20:12 EDT news522937206 In paddy fields, water management creates long-term anaerobic conditions in which soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralisation is largely coupled with redox processes. Iron oxides are one of the main minerals in paddy soils, and over 80% of soil anaerobic respiration depends on iron reduction. https://phys.org/news/2020-10-microbial-biomass-shifts-role-iron.html Earth Sciences Fri, 16 Oct 2020 13:18:47 EDT news522073116 In the last couple of years, organic solar cells (OSCs) based on non-fullerene (NF) acceptors have demonstrated tremendous progress in power conversion efficiency (PCE). The majority of state-of-the-art OSCs in the lab is based on the so-called bulk heterojunction (BHJ) architecture consisting of a photoactive layer in blend of an electron donor and acceptor. The presence of numerous microscopic p-n junctions in BHJs enables sufficient surface areas where charge separation occurs, so that the photocurrent and PCE are increased. The device characteristics in BHJ-OSCs are critically affected by the nanostructure or morphology of BHJ films, featuring interpenetrating and continuous networks with domain sizes ideally comparable to the exciton diffusion length. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-molecular-dispersion-quasi-bilayer-solar-cells.html Materials Science Thu, 27 Aug 2020 12:32:24 EDT news517750341 Electrons spin. It's a fundamental part of their existence. Some spin "up" while others spin "down." Scientists have known this for about a century, thanks to quantum physics. https://phys.org/news/2020-07-rock-breathing-bacteria-electron-doctors.html Biochemistry Fri, 10 Jul 2020 08:31:27 EDT news513588684 A type of anaerobic bacteria responsible for more than 50 percent of nitrogen loss from marine environments has been shown to use solid-state matter present outside their cells for respiration. The finding by KAUST researchers adds to knowledge of the global nitrogen cycle and has important energy-saving potential for wastewater treatment. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-anammox-bacteria-energy-wastewater.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 29 Jun 2020 11:57:58 EDT news512650674 Recently, Professor Zhan Xiaowei's group from the College of Engineering at Peking University made progress in non-fullerene acceptors for organic solar cells (OSCs). They developed a new fluorinated fused-ring electron acceptor (FREA) with 3-D stacking and exciton and charge transport (Adv. Mater., DOI: 10.1002/adma.202000645). https://phys.org/news/2020-04-fused-ring-electron-acceptor-d-exciton.html Materials Science Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:45:19 EDT news506940317 Deep sea alkaline hydrothermal vents have been theorized to be a place where life could have originated. The elevated temperature, alkaline pH, and unique vent action concentrate minerals and create local energetic gradients that can promote primitive metabolic reactions. Although sometimes overlooked, the extreme hydrostatic pressures found in deep sea vents can also facilitate various kinds of molecular assembly that would not otherwise spontaneously occur at sea level. https://phys.org/news/2020-03-pressure-lessons-cradle-life.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 20 Mar 2020 08:50:01 EDT news503909685 Electrons spin. It's a fundamental part of their existence. Some spin "up" while others spin "down." Scientists have known this for about a century, thanks to quantum physics. https://phys.org/news/2020-03-rock-breathing-bacteria-electron-doctors.html Condensed Matter Fri, 06 Mar 2020 08:03:26 EST news502704202 A solar energy material that is remarkably durable and affordable is regrettably also unusable if it barely generates electricity, thus many researchers had abandoned emerging organic solar technologies. But lately, a shift in the underlying chemistry has boosted power output, and a new study has revealed counterintuitive tweaks making the new chemistry successful. https://phys.org/news/2019-12-tweaks-rebirth-discarded-solar-technologies.html Materials Science Thu, 19 Dec 2019 12:23:40 EST news495980614 Light-emitting exciplex complexes can form over far greater distances than ever suspected, a RIKEN-led team has shown. This discovery could lead to highly sensitive sensors and photodetectors. https://phys.org/news/2019-12-exciplex-emission-longer-distances-previously.html Materials Science Fri, 06 Dec 2019 08:19:35 EST news494842769 Organic solar cells are steadily improving as new materials are developed for the active layer, particularly when materials are stacked in a bulk heterojunction design that takes advantage of multiple combined absorption windows to use photons at more parts of the spectrum. https://phys.org/news/2019-11-ternary-acceptor-donor-materials-photon.html Condensed Matter Tue, 26 Nov 2019 11:00:10 EST news493973784 Researchers at Institute for Molecular Science in Japan report that organic solar cells (OSCs) with high mobility and highly crystalline donor (D) and acceptor (A) materials were able to reduce an open-circuit voltage (VOC) loss. The origin of the high VOC was that the highly crystalline D/A interface reduced the energy loss related to charge recombination. The results demonstrate that careful design of the D/A interface enables high power conversion efficiencies in OSCs. https://phys.org/news/2019-10-open-circuit-voltage-loss-solar-cells.html General Physics Thu, 17 Oct 2019 10:03:22 EDT news490525388 Inkjet printing is expected to fast track the commercialization of organic solar cells. Researchers from the KAUST Solar Center have exploited this technique to generate high-efficiency solar cells at large scales. https://phys.org/news/2019-06-ready-jet.html Engineering Mon, 03 Jun 2019 12:28:59 EDT news478783733 Underwater vehicles, diving robots, and detectors require their own energy supply to operate for long periods independent of ships. A new, inexpensive system for the direct electrochemical extraction of energy from seawater offers the advantage of also being able to handle short spikes in power demand, while maintaining longer term steady power. To do so, the system can autonomously switch between two modes of operation, as researchers report in the journal Angewandte Chemie. https://phys.org/news/2019-05-energy-seawater-power-autonomously-functional.html Materials Science Mon, 13 May 2019 12:32:23 EDT news476969536 A collaborative research effort between the Departments of Chemistry at the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) and University of Jyväskylä (Finland) has resulted in the discovery of a gold compound exhibiting nucleophilic behaviour hitherto unknown for molecular gold. The research enables new opportunities in applying gold compounds, for example, as catalysts in novel chemical reactions. https://phys.org/news/2019-01-nucleophilic-gold-complex.html Materials Science Tue, 22 Jan 2019 08:47:38 EST news467369253