News by Subject Chemistry & Physics

The development and implementation of innovative integrated methods to increase oil recovery is one of the key approaches to solving existing problems in the oil industry. Residual oil in the water-filled formations is kept stationary by surface capillary forces on the scale of individual pores and low permeability inclusions, as well as viscous forces on the scale of low-permeability differences and layers of the formation.

Using polymers and natural stone slurry waste, UBC Okanagan researchers are manufacturing environmentally friendly stone composites. These new composites are made of previously discarded materials left behind during the cutting of natural structural or ornamental blocks for buildings, construction supplies or monuments. While reusing the waste material of natural stone production is common in cement, tile and concrete, adding the stone slurry to polymers is a new and innovative idea, explains Engineering Professor Abbas Milani.

'DNA mechanotechnology' is a new field to engineer DNA machines that generate, transmit and sense mechanical forces at the nanoscale.

Nature has evolved a dazzling array of materials that help organisms thrive in diverse habitats. Sometimes, scientists can exploit these designs to develop useful materials with similar or completely new functions. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have made a durable and flexible super-water-repelling material inspired by spiky porcupinefish skin.

Chemists uncover a mechanism behind doping organic semiconductors

A titanium oxide nanofiber sheet was developed by a FAPESP-funded research group through electrospinning and atomic layer deposition.