Chemistry & Materials

3+ hour, 33+ min ago   (26+ words) A wealthy engineer bet his fortune on a hole in the ground that science said was worthless, and spent three decades proving the experts catastrophically wrong....

5+ min ago   (489+ words) Tin halide perovskites have long been the tantalizing alternative to lead-based perovskites in next-generation solar cells. They offer a narrower bandgap that is ideal for harvesting more of the solar spectrum, and they replace toxic lead with an environmentally friendlier…...

19+ min ago   (599+ words) Chemical bonds are usually treated as the fixed scaffolding of a material, the framework that determines how atoms sit relative to one another and how electrons move through the resulting structure. Yet in certain classes of matter, the bonds between…...

43+ min ago   (660+ words) Two of the most troublesome greenhouse gases, methane and carbon dioxide, can be forced to react with one another in a process known as dry reforming of methane, a reaction that converts both pollutants into valuable synthesis gas, a mixture…...

1+ hour, 25+ min ago   (55+ words) Chemists in Pakistan have shown that the secret to extracting powerful antioxidant compounds from the leaves of the lemon-scented eucalyptus tree lies in matching the polarity of the solvent to the chemistry of the target molecules. In a study published…...

1+ hour, 33+ min ago   (617+ words) A team of materials scientists has shown that ordinary green tea can do far more than steep a soothing drink: its polyphenol-rich extract can grow phase-pure nickel oxide nanoparticles that, when embedded in a biodegradable chitosan matrix, transform a humble…...

1+ hour, 36+ min ago   (72+ words) Benzene is one of the most insidious chemicals that ordinary people encounter every day. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies it as a Group 1 human carcinogen, meaning there is established evidence that it causes cancer in humans, with…...

1+ hour, 36+ min ago   (524+ words) Every year, the world brews billions of cups of coffee, and almost all of the spent grounds end up in landfills, where they slowly decompose and release methane....

1+ hour, 50+ min ago   (95+ words) Every seed is a masterpiece of biological engineering, a compact package in which molecular order and cellular design are woven together to protect and nourish a future plant. For scientists trying to understand how crops such as the yellow pea…...

1+ hour, 50+ min ago   (672+ words) Synthetic dyes are among the most stubborn pollutants humanity releases into rivers and groundwater, and azo dyes—the largest class, defined by their characteristic nitrogen–nitrogen double bond—account for an estimated 60 to 70 percent of global colorant production....