Carbon's New Champion Rice University theorists calculate atom-thick carbyne chains may be strongest material ever.Image: Rice University researchers have determined from first-principle calculations that carbyne would be the strongest material yet discovered.The carbon-atom chains would be difficult to make but...

A Tandem for Biomass Catalytic tandem reaction for the conversion of lignin and bio-oil by hydroxylation of phenols to form arenes.Image: The conversion of lignin into low-boiling-point arenes instead of high-boiling-point phenols could greatly facilitate conventional refinery processes.A new procedure for the depolymerization...

Direct Imaging of Covalent Bond Structure Atom by atom, bond by bond, a chemical reaction caught in the act - Berkeley Lab scientists make the first-ever high-resolution images of a molecule as it breaks and reforms chemical bonds.Image: The original reactant molecule, resting on a flat silver surface, is imaged...

Add Boron for Better Batteries Rice University theorists say graphene-boron mix shows promise for lithium-ion batteries.Image: A theory developed at Rice University determined that a graphene/boron compound would excel as an ultrathin anode for lithium-ion batteries. The compound would store far more energy than...

Nano-forest for Solar Water-splitting Berkeley Lab researchers report first fully integrated artificial photosynthesis nanosystem.Image: This is a schematic of the nanoscale tree-like heterostructures used for solar-driven water splitting in which TiO2 nanowires are grown on the upper half of a Si nanowire, and the...

Beautiful Nano-Flowers Elaborate nanostructures blossom from a chemical reaction perfected at Harvard.Image: Collage of Crystalline - these false-color SEM images reveal microscopic flower structures created by manipulating a chemical gradient to control crystalline self-assembly.[Credit: Wim L. Noorduin, Harvard...