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3+ hour, 57+ min ago (828+ words) In a groundbreaking study set to be published in 2025, researchers have unveiled a novel biochar hydrogel composite that presents a dual solution to two significant challenges in agricultural soils: the problematic accumulation of cadmium and the essential need for phosphate supplementation. Conducted by a team led by Borgohain, Baruah, and Gogoi, this innovative approach [] In a groundbreaking study set to be published in 2025, researchers have unveiled a novel biochar hydrogel composite that presents a dual solution to two significant challenges in agricultural soils: the problematic accumulation of cadmium and the essential need for phosphate supplementation. Conducted by a team led by Borgohain, Baruah, and Gogoi, this innovative approach demonstrates the potential to enhance soil quality and crop yield while simultaneously addressing a pressing environmental concern. Cadmium, a heavy metal primarily introduced to agricultural lands through the use of certain fertilizers…...

7+ hour, 19+ min ago (442+ words) A material best known for keeping eggs from sticking to frying pans may help solve one of clean energy's biggest challenges. Researchers have discovered that a simple Teflon-based coating can boost hydrogen production in water electrolyzers by about 40%, using a method that is cheap, practical, and easy to scale up. The study was led by Professors Jungki Ryu and Dong Woog Lee from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST in South Korea. Their work was published in Advanced Science and selected as a cover article, highlighting its significance for future energy technologies. Water electrolyzers produce hydrogen by using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This process is central to "green hydrogen," which can store renewable energy and power industries without carbon emissions. However, electrolyzers face a surprisingly simple problem: hydrogen bubbles. As hydrogen forms on…...

18+ hour, 7+ min ago (775+ words) A new thermoelectric device boosts the electricity generation capability of a little-known solar technology by 15 times. Instead of relying on conventional solar cells, it pulls electricity straight from heat created by concentrated sunlight. The prototype belongs to a class of solar thermoelectric generators, devices that turn heat differences from sunlight into electricity. By increasing how much usable power comes out of a device this size, the team shows that an old idea can be pushed further. Most home solar panels turn sunlight directly into electricity inside semiconductor wafers. Solar thermoelectric devices, instead, use a temperature difference across special materials to generate a steady electric current. When one side is hotter than the other, the Seebeck effect, a thermoelectric process where heat drives charge, pushes carriers toward the cooler side. As that imbalance grows, a voltage builds up and can be…...

18+ hour, 25+ min ago (290+ words) The key to the paper is Zirconium - not an element typically associated with cosmochemistry. However, it has one particular isotope - Zr-96 - that is only created in supernovae. So Dr. Bizzarro and his team decided to look for evidence of it in some meteorites to see where in their structure the Zr-96 was hiding. To do so, they took samples of a wide range of types of meteorites, and exposed them to weak acetic acid. This dissolved any material associated with water (including clays) while leaving the hard "rocky" grains of the meteorite's body untouched.They then measured the concentrations of Zr-96 in the dissolved water as well as the rocky residue. They found that concentrations of Zr-96 were up to 5000 ppm higher in the leachates (i.e. the parts dissolved in acid) than in the rock. This seems to prove that ice…...

20+ hour, 2+ min ago (748+ words) Engineers in Australia have built a sodium battery that keeps working for more than 5,000 hours in lab tests.It uses a solid, plastic-like core instead of flammable liquid, which makes the whole system much harder to overheat. The prototype, developed at the University of Queensland, targets battery banks for storing renewable energy on the grid. By swapping scarce lithium for common table-salt sodium, it promises lower costs and less supply-chain stress for many countries. Sodium sits just below lithium on the periodic table, but it is more abundant and easier to source. Several research groups now argue that sodium based batteries could cut material costs for large storage projects. The work was led by Dr Cheng Zhang at the University of Queensland's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN). His research focuses on solid-state batteries that pair safer electrolytes with…...

20+ hour, 10+ min ago (171+ words) If you are worried about, or hoping for, a post with an LGBT topic: No, this is about flamingos. And the chemistry behind their color. Flamingoes get their color from their food, but then also convert some of the relevant substances before depositing them in their feathers. The reddish-pink color of marine organisms such as freshwater algae, shrimp, lobster, and salmon mainly comes from astaxanthin. Flamingos eat algae and brine shrimp, thus taking up astaxanthin. Then, some of this astaxanthin is converted into a similar molecule, canthaxanthin, in their livers, in a reaction that chemically can be described as a reductive dehydroxylation (the hydroxyl groups at two carbon atoms are converted into hydrogen). This is catalyzed by carotenoid dehydrogenases/oxidases. The canthaxanthin is then deposited into the feathers of the flamingos, which is the main contributor to the pink color…...

1+ day, 58+ min ago (1139+ words) In a remarkable breakthrough that could redefine the future of wearable and flexible electronics, a team of researchers led by Yang, Liu, and Pan has developed highly foldable and leakage-free electrodes leveraging ultrathin liquid metal micromeshes. Published in npj Flexible Electronics, this cutting-edge study addresses some of the longstanding challenges related to flexibility, conductivity, and [] In a remarkable breakthrough that could redefine the future of wearable and flexible electronics, a team of researchers led by Yang, Liu, and Pan has developed highly foldable and leakage-free electrodes leveraging ultrathin liquid metal micromeshes. Published in npj Flexible Electronics, this cutting-edge study addresses some of the longstanding challenges related to flexibility, conductivity, and durability in the domain of advanced electronic materials. Flexible electronics have attracted substantial interest due to their potential applications in healthcare, robotics, and consumer electronics. However, a persistent obstacle has…...

1+ day, 5+ hour ago (671+ words) The method involves applying a specialized coating to critical components to prevent hydrogen bubbles from adhering, thereby enabling smoother hydrogen release. Researchers have found that a unique type of coating can boost efficiency of hydrogen production. They revealed that the common non-stick coating used in cookware boosts hydrogen production efficiency by 40% in water electrolyzers.The research team claimed that their innovation involves applying a specialized coating to critical components to prevent hydrogen bubbles from adhering, thereby enabling smoother hydrogen release.The research team achieved a substantial performance improvement through a simple spray coating polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), widely known as Teflon, onto the porous transport layer (PTL), a vital component of water electrolyzers.The team also pointed out that water electrolyzers produce hydrogen by splitting water molecules using electricity. During operation, hydrogen forms on the catalyst surface of the electrodes. However, when…...

1+ day, 16+ hour ago (696+ words) Researchers in Finland have shown that simple molecules related to everyday oils, plus visible light, can dissolve silver without relying on harsh chemicals." The same chemistry can pull silver from waste and then return it as solid metal ready for reuse. Today, only around one fifth of global silver supply comes from recycling. This is despite the fact that demand keeps rising in electronics and solar panels." Scientists call this urban mining, recovering metals from discarded products instead of digging new ore. The new chemistry helps make that recovery even more practical. Work on the new recycling route was led by postdoctoral researcher An'e Zupanc at the University of Helsinki. His research focuses on using simple organic molecules as tools for cleaner metal recovery. For more than a century, many mines have used cyanide leaching to pull metals from crushed…...

1+ day, 17+ hour ago (1226+ words) In a groundbreaking study, researchers have embarked on a mechanistic exploration of bisphenol A (BPA) and its notorious link to primary Sj'gren's syndrome, a chronic autoimmune disorder that significantly impacts the quality of life for millions of individuals globally. This meticulous investigation, conducted by Wang et al., utilizes advanced methodologies such as network toxicology, molecular [] In a groundbreaking study, researchers have embarked on a mechanistic exploration of bisphenol A (BPA) and its notorious link to primary Sj'gren's syndrome, a chronic autoimmune disorder that significantly impacts the quality of life for millions of individuals globally. This meticulous investigation, conducted by Wang et al., utilizes advanced methodologies such as network toxicology, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulations, coupled with experimental validation, to unravel the underlying mechanisms by which BPA drives this complex disease. Join us as we delve into the findings that…...