With key data from the ALS, researchers discovered how a new, low-cost electrocatalyst enables an important oxygen reaction to proceed at an ultrafast rate. The work provides rational guidance for the development of better electrocatalysts for applications such as hydrogen-fuel production and long-range batteries for electric vehicles. Read more »
Water Improves Material’s Ability to Capture CO2
With the help of the ALS, researchers from UC Berkeley and ExxonMobil fine-tuned a material to capture CO2 in the presence of water. The parties have applied for a patent on the material, which was developed for use on the relatively humid flue gases emitted by certain natural gas power plants, a cleaner-burning alternative to coal. Read more » 
Probing the Evolution of Photovoltaic Films during the Spin-Coating Process
A new, in-beamline spin-coating platform enabled researchers to probe the structure of a promising photovoltaic material in the crucial early stages of processing. The results demonstrate the power of multimodal in situ techniques as promising tools for optimizing synthesis parameters and, thus, device performance. Read more »
New Catalyst Resists Destructive Carbon Buildup in Electrodes
Key challenges in the transition to sustainable energy can be met by converting CO2 to CO through the use of solid oxide electrolysis cells. But because these can suffer from carbon deposition at the electrodes, researchers have now identified and tested a new, cerium oxide–based catalyst that is more resistant to carbon buildup. Read more »
Crystallography Reveals How New Molecular Cages Trap Toxic Gases
Current technologies for reducing toxic gas emissions are often ineffective and wasteful. Crystallographic analyses of two new MOF materials revealed how they reversibly bind their target gases, enabling the materials to be reused over many cycles (reducing waste) and permitting subsequent conversion of the gases into valuable chemical products. Read more »
Go With the Flow: Scientists Design Better Batteries for a Renewable Energy Grid
Researchers developed a versatile yet affordable battery membrane—from a class of polymers known as AquaPIMs. This class of polymers makes long-lasting and low-cost grid batteries possible based solely on readily available materials such as zinc, iron, and water. Read more »
New MOF Can Take On Toxic Sulfur Dioxide Gas
An international team has developed a robust material that can selectively take in toxic sulfur dioxide gas at record concentrations and preserve it for use in chemical production. The researchers verified its performance using a combination of techniques that included x-ray experiments at the ALS. Read more »
Renewed Prospects for Rechargeable Mg Batteries
Contrary to previous reports, it’s possible to create a rechargeable battery using magnesium ions if the electrode material is first conditioned at high temperature. With twice the charge of lithium ions, magnesium ions hold great promise as the basis for high-energy-density batteries suitable for use in electric vehicles. Read more »
Peroxy self-reaction leading to the formation of furfural
Furan and its alkyl derivatives, such as methylfuran (2MF), have been identified as valid alternative biofuels. This study focuses on the self-reaction of the peroxy radical generated in the first oxidation step of 2MF. The mass spectrometry data reveal that furfural is the dominant product of 2MF oxidation. Various reaction mechanisms for furfural formation are proposed here. Read more »
Fingerprint Oxygen Redox Reactions in Batteries through High-Efficiency Mapping of Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering
We provide a comprehensive analysis and an explicit interpretation of the five evolving components of O-K mRIXS of the typical battery electrode that involves lattice oxygen redox reactions upon cycling. This work is the first benchmark for a complete assignment of all the important mRIXS features collected from battery materials, and thus delivers guidelines for future studies of oxygen redox reactions. Read more »
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 6
- Next Page »
