News by Subject Chemistry & Physics

Producing biogas from the bacterial breakdown of biomass presents options for a greener energy future, but the complex composition of biomass comes with challenges. Cellulose and woody lignocellulose are especially hard for bacteria to digest but pretreatment can make it easier. Researchers are testing plasma formation in biomass and finding a promising method: A plasma-liquid interaction forms reactive species that help break down the biomass and decrease the viscosity of the biomass material.

Prof. LI Chaoxu and his coworkers from the Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have proposed multifunctional liquid metal nanocapsules.

3D printing has driven innovations in fields ranging from art to aerospace to medicine. However, the high-energy ultraviolet (UV) light used in most 3D printers to cure liquid resins into solid objects limits the technique's applications. Visible-light curing, which would be more appropriate for some uses, such as tissue engineering and soft robotics, is slow. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have developed photopolymer resins that boost the speed of visible-light curing.

International scientific group compared their developed carriers for delivery of genome editing (GE) tools with other available analogues. The research of current studies were published in the in the journal Biomaterials.

Researchers develop a better understanding of how novel solar cells developed in the lab will operate under real conditions.

Measuring the temperature of objects at a nanometer-scale has been a long challenge, especially in living biological samples, because of the lack of precise and reliable nanothermometers. An international team of researchers has realized a quantum technology to probe temperature on a nanometer-scale, and have observed a 'fever' in tiny nematode worms under pharmacological treatment. This strengthens the connection between quantum sensing and biology and ushers in novel thermal imaging technologies in biomedical research.

A research team from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has successfully produced laser-induced graphene masks with an anti-bacterial efficiency of 80%, which can be enhanced to almost 100% within 10 minutes under sunlight. Initial tests also showed very promising results in the deactivation of two species of coronaviruses. The graphene masks are easily produced at low cost, and can help to resolve the problems of sourcing raw materials and disposing of non-biodegradable masks.

Cancer is one of the most frequent causes of death. Chemotherapy is often used as a treatment, but also brings side effects for healthy organs. Scientists around David Ng, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, are now trying to take a completely different approach: By means of targeted and localized disruption of the cancer cells' structure, its self-destruction mechanism can be activated. In laboratory experiments, they have already demonstrated initial successes.

A chemist from RUDN University together with colleagues created a new type of two-dimensional nanofilm from an organic material called calixarene. The invention can be used as a protective coating in electronics and as a part of molecular filters. They also suggested a way of increasing the durability of such films with UV radiation