Catalysts are critical components of many industrial processes. Unfortunately, many promising catalysts degrade over time. Here, researchers show that some catalysts can be protected by coating them with another material.
Category: Nanotechnology
Looking inside your TV
Ever wondered how the images on your TV or computer screen are formed? Today let’s look inside your TV and learn about the nanoparticles forming the high definition display! (Obviously without slicing it open!)
Popcorn supercapacitors – future batteries for electric cars?
Most people prefer their popcorn popped to perfection, but scientist Jianhua Hou prefers his burnt. How could the smell of burnt popcorn possibly be a good thing? Chembites investigates!
Quantum Dot Lasers: Improving Efficiency with Perovskite Shells
Lasers are cool – everyone who’s seen a sci-fi movie knows that. But we still haven’t figured out how to use them to their full potential in real life. This paper explores some ways to improve the efficiency of quantum dot lasers, which have a myriad of applications in computers to cell imaging.
Controlling Nano-Sized Machines to Deliver Drugs in the Body
Tiny machines fixing disease inside the body may not be science fiction for much longer! Let’s learn about making and controlling nanomotors that could one day deliver drugs from within!
Using Heat to turn Water into Fuel
The development of clean, efficient, and renewable forms of energy is a critical scientific challenge. Plants have already figured out how to do this via photosynthesis. Can we develop a process that mimics this?
Getting Rid of the Coffee Ring
Coffee has more to offer your brain than just yawn-free days! Transform your everyday experience with coffee and its stains to an understanding of the interesting phenomenon of coffee ring effect. Explore its implications and challenges in materials industry and learn about a simple approach to get rid of it.
Versatile Surfaces: How to Enhance the Role of Quantum Dots in Photocatalysis
There are lots of ways to use sunlight to achieve sustainable energy goals. Photocatalysts, which can use sunlight to power useful chemical reactions, are of great interest for the production of solar fuels like hydrogen. Read more about how we can use novel nanomaterials as photocatalysts in this Chembite!
Machine Learning for Understanding Materials Synthesis
Title: Materials Synthesis Insights from Scientific Literature via Text Extraction and Machine Learning Authors: Edward Kim, Kevin Huang, Adam Saunders, Andrew McCallum, Gerbrand Ceder, and Elsa Olivetti Year: 2017 Journal: Chemistry of Materials The sheer volume of publications makes scientific literature a vast sea of information…
DNA-Templated Nanomaterials for Live Cell Imaging
Researchers have developed a library-based approach to create DNA-templated carbon dot structures for biological imaging applications.
Assembling Gold Nanoparticles into 3D Structures Using DNA
How can DNA be used to enhance applications in nanotechnology? The authors here create never-before-seen optical systems by combining DNA origami with plasmonic nanoparticles.
Unveiling the Mystery of Nanomaterials
Ever wondered how and why the world of ‘nanomaterials’ is fueling the ‘big’ technological advances! Let us travel past the layers of sophisticated ingenious performance of nanomaterials and learn the fundamental reason behind their properties.
Novel Materials for Next-Generation LEDs: Embedding Light-emitting Quantum Dots in a Perovskite Matrix
Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) already bring cheap and versatile lighting to people across the world, but the latest technological advances are even more promising, embedding nanocrystals in a perovskite matrix for better LEDs.
Efficient Water Splitting Brought to You by Nickel Foam
We’d love to run cars on hydrogen, spitting only water out of the tailpipe. To produce cheap hydrogen in a green way, these researchers have developed a surprising new material to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Nanoreactors for Enzyme Cascades
What are nanoreactors and how can they enhance multi-enzyme reactions? Let’s find out!
Listen and Grow! – The Story Behind Growing Polymers with Sound
Our bones have the ability to heal themselves when exposed to mechanical stresses by forming new polymeric material, so what’s stopping scientists from doing the same synthetically?
Quantifying the Effects of Individual Nanoparticles
Title: Electrocatalytic Activity of Individual Pt Nanoparticles Studied by Nanoscale Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy Authors: Jiyeon Kim, Christophe Renault, Nikoloz Nioradze, Netzahualcóyotl Arroyo-Currás, Kevin C. Leonard, and Allen J. Bard* Publication Info: J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2016, 138 (27), pp 8560–8568 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6b03980 The mere mention of…
Stacks on stacks on stacks
Finding ways to create order is a common theme in science. Here researchers are trying to carefully arrange chromophores in order to create better solar cells (among other potential uses). In particular, these chemists are trying to make porphyrins stand up on a surface creating stacks of porphyrins that are a well defined distance from each other and from the surface they are attached to.
Electrocatalytically Active Graphene–Porphyrin MOF Composite for Oxygen Reduction Reaction
Title: Electrocatalytically Active Graphene–Porphyrin MOF Composite for Oxygen Reduction Reaction DOI: 10.1021/ja211433h Author: Maryam Jahan, Qiaoliang Bao, and Kian Ping Loh Journal: Journal of the American Chemical Society Affiliation: Graphene Research Centre, Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore Take-home Importance According to the Authors: By reacting the pyridine-functionalized graphene with…
The Computer Chemist
Chemists have limited time to do chemistry because, shockingly, they need to eat, sleep, even socialize…. but computers on the other hand…
Controlling Nanoscale Architecture – Stepping Towards Synthetic Light Harvesting Complexes
Title: Anisotropic Organization and Microscopic Manipulation of Self-Assembling Synthetic Porphyrin Microrods That Mimic Chlorosomes: Bacterial Light-Harvesting Systems Journal of the American Chemical Society Authors: Chappaz-Gillot, C., Marek, P. L., Blaive, B. J., Canard, G., Bürck, J., Garab, G., Hahn, H., Jávorfi, T., Kelemen, L., Krupke, R., Mössinger, D., Ormos,…
Continuous in situ generation and reaction of phosgene in a microflow system
Title: Continuous in situ generation and reaction of phosgene in a microflow system Authors: Shinichiro Fuse, Nobutake Tanabe, and Takashi Takahashi* Journal: Chemical Communications Affiliation: Department of Applied Chemistry, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan. Take-Home Importance according to the Authors: Continuous in situ generation of…
Molecular-scale versions of diodes invert “normal” diode behavior
Article Title: Inverse Rectification in Donor-Acceptor Molecular Heterojunctions Authors: Shannon K. Yee, Jibin Sun, Pierre Darancet, T. Don Tilley, Arun Majumdar, Jeffrey B. Neaton, and Rachel A. Segalman Journal: ACS Nano Affiliation: University of California- Berkeley: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Department of…
Tiny stamps make patterns with different energy levels for LEDs
Title: Spatially Modulating Interfacial Properties of Transparent Conductive Oxides: Patterning Work Function with Phosphonic Acid Self-Assembled Monolayers Authors: Kristina M. Knesting , Peter J. Hotchkiss , Bradley A. MacLeod , Seth R. Marder , and David S. Ginger Journal: Advanced Materials Affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, and School of Chemistry and…
Surface science and electrical properties from a nice, short “reporter” molecule on the surface of a nanocrystal
Title: Thiocyanate-Capped Nanocrystal Colloids: Vibrational Reporter of Surface Chemistry and Solution-Based Route to Enhanced Coupling in Nanocrystal Solids Authors: Aaron T. Fafarman, Weon-kyu Koh, Benjamin T. Diroll, David K. Kim, Dong-Kyun Ko, Soong Ju Oh, Xingchen Ye, Vicky Doan-Nguyen, Michael R. Crump, Danielle C. Reifsnyder, Christopher B. Murray, and Cherie R.…