News by Subject Chemistry & Physics

An international multi-institution team of scientists has synthesized graphene nanoribbons -- ultrathin strips of carbon atoms -- on a titanium dioxide surface using an atomically precise method that removes a barrier for custom-designed carbon nanostructures required for quantum information sciences.

Rice University researchers continue to advance the science of single-molecule machines with a new lineup of nanocars, in anticipation of the next international Nanocar Race in 2022.

A group of scientists from Korea has discovered that the amount of alkali metal introduced into crystals of flexible thin-film solar cells influences the path that charge carriers take to traverse between electrodes, thereby affecting the light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of the solar cell. Given the immense application potential that such solar cells have today, this finding could be key to ushering in a green future.

Dual-organ system enables the measurement of cardiac toxicity arising from breast cancer chemotherapy. A collaborative team, which includes a group from the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation, has developed an organs-on-a-chip system that more widely examines the responses of breast cancer and heart tissues to therapeutic breast cancer drugs.

Researchers develop a new sponge-like catalyst that is so tough it can make biodiesel from low-grade ingredients containing up to 50% contaminants. And it's so efficient it could double the productivity of manufacturing processes for transforming food scraps, microplastics and old tyres into high-value commodity chemicals.

Recent successes of several FDA-approved therapeutic nucleic acids, together with the rapid preclinical progression of nucleic acid nanoparticles (NANPs), have made it apparent that immunological effects of NANPs must be carefully assessed to permit their successful clinical translation. Based on extensive studies, a standardized protocol allowing for the assessment of NANPs' pro-inflammatory properties in validated preclinical model, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, has been developed to be highly predictive of cytokine responses.