Latest news with #AngewandteChemieInternationalEdition
NDTV
06-08-2025
- Science
- NDTV
In A Breakthrough, US Scientists Accidentally Create Gold Hydride While Forming Diamonds
For the first time, researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California led an international team that successfully created solid binary gold hydride, a compound composed solely of gold and hydrogen atoms. This breakthrough occurred while the team was studying diamond formation from hydrocarbons under extreme pressure and heat. The study's findings, published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, offer insight into how chemistry's fundamental rules shift under extreme conditions, such as those found in certain planets or hydrogen-fusing stars. "It was unexpected because gold is typically chemically very boring and unreactive—that's why we use it as an X-ray absorber in these experiments. These results suggest there's potentially a lot of new chemistry to be discovered at extreme conditions where the effects of temperature and pressure start competing with conventional chemistry, and you can form these exotic compounds," said Mungo Frost, staff scientist at SLAC who led the study. How was the study conducted? As per the researchers used a diamond anvil cell to squeeze hydrocarbon samples to pressures exceeding those in Earth's mantle, then heated them to over 3,500°F with X-ray pulses from the European XFEL. By analysing how the X-rays scattered off the samples, the team tracked the structural transformations. The X-ray scattering patterns confirmed the formation of diamond structures from carbon atoms. However, unexpected signals revealed hydrogen atoms reacting with the gold foil to form gold hydride. Under extreme conditions, the hydrogen exhibited a "superionic" state, flowing freely through gold's lattice and increasing the gold hydride's conductivity. Hydrogen's light nature makes it hard to study with X-rays, but in this case, the superionic hydrogen's interaction with gold atoms allowed researchers to observe its effects on the gold lattice's X-ray scattering. This enabled the team to indirectly track hydrogen's behaviour, with one researcher noting they could use the gold lattice as a "witness" for hydrogen's actions. The gold hydride provides a unique opportunity to study dense atomic hydrogen in a laboratory setting, which could shed light on the interiors of certain planets and nuclear fusion processes in stars like the sun. This research could also lead to breakthroughs in harnessing fusion energy on Earth.
Time of India
26-07-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Scrapped batteries could power India's lithium boom
Gujarat is set to give the ' Atmanirbhar Bharat ' mission a significant push in lithium - the 'white gold' indispensable for powering gadgets and e-vehicles - while also extracting the metal without polluting the environment. Scientists at the Bhavnagar-based Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) developed a clean, fast, and selective method to extract lithium from disposed batteries. This discovery could significantly reduce India's import bills as the country imports 100% of its lithium requirement. This study was recently published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, a leading peer reviewed chemistry journal by the German Chemical Society. Scientists say the technology will give momentum to India's shift to green energy. On average, one ton of lithium requires processing about 28 tons of battery waste. The metal is recovered only after several stages of processes that are slow, inefficient, and costly, often resulting in metal contamination and loss, and the purity is also not high. This also deters battery producers from extracting lithium from waste. The conventional process, after recovering the black powder, first involves leaching all metals like nickel, cobalt, and manganese in the battery's cathode, resulting in significant loss and contamination. If scaled up after commercial application, businesses handling waste batteries could get a big encouragement and better price. At present, waste battery handling is not a lucrative business due to pollution and the small quantity of lithium obtained. CSMCRI's scientists have turned the problem on its head. Instead of lithium coming out last, their new method pulls lithium out first-with purity. After recovering the black powder from used lithium-ion batteries, anthraquinone salt and hydrogen peroxide are applied to selectively extract lithium. Kannan Srinivasan, director of CSIR-CSMCRI, said, "This method avoids the harsh chemicals and high-energy use of existing processes." Lead researcher and Principal Scientist Alok Ranjan Paital said, "We achieved 97% lithium leaching efficiency in just one hour. Also, compared to 2-3 days required by traditional methods to extract one ton of lithium, this new technique delivers the same results in just 2-3 hours with higher purity."
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Researchers pioneer breakthrough that could change how medicine is made: 'These ... drive desired reactions forward'
Researchers at the University of Missouri have developed a chemical tool that uses "soapy" water and electricity that can reduce the cost of medicine manufacturing and enhance clean energy technology, according to Traditionally, medicine is made through electrochemistry. However, this process uses toxic solvents such as chloroform. University of Missouri associate professor Sachin Handa and graduate student Karanjeet Kaur collaborated with Novartis Pharmaceuticals to develop sustainable substances known as micelles, which are derived from naturally occurring amino acids and coconut oil. These micelles, with an appearance of soapy water, have a unique structure that can be used efficiently in electrochemical reactions without the need for toxic solvents or electrolytes. "These micelles drive desired reactions forward," explained Mizzou's Sachin Handa. "But they don't react with anything and remain stable, making them unique from ionic micelles." Because the chemical reactions are highly efficient, it could lower the cost of manufacturing certain medicines, "such as the NS5A of the Hepatitis C virus." According to Handa, it can also "be used to treat hyperproliferative, inflammatory and immunoregulatory diseases." In addition to medicine manufacturing, the micelles could also help develop clean energy technologies like hydrogen fuel. "This process, known as electrocatalysis, also plays a key role in clean energy production," Handa said. "With the same approach, hydrogen—in situ generated from water—can potentially be used as a clean fuel. Plus, we can use hydrogen to break down harmful PFAS chemicals, transforming them into useful hydrocarbons while simultaneously releasing oxygen into the air." The study was published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Medicine prices have risen by 15.2% year over year between 2022 and 2023, according to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. The advancement of this technology could lower the costs of manufacturing drugs, which could lower the costs of drugs for consumers. Should the government be able to control how we heat our homes? Definitely Only if it saves money I'm not sure No way Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. However, as senior faculty editor, Harvard Health Publishing's Robert H. Shmerling pointed out, there is no evidence of a connection between development costs for drugs and the drug price. Still, the micelles could lower toxic chemicals and the "environmental impact of traditional chemical processes" used in the production of medicine, according to the University of Missouri. And the micelles can contribute to clean energy tech. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, hydrogen fuel could have many uses, from fueling vehicles and power plants to energy storage and heating. Hydrogen fuel can be produced through different means, including thermal, solar, biological, and electrolytic processes, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. This new process, using the micelles from the University of Missouri and a type of electrolytic process, could help increase the production of hydrogen fuel, reducing the need for dirty energy, such as coal and gas, which contribute to planet-warming pollution and extreme weather events. Many companies are producing and testing systems of hydrogen fuel, including Honda and Hypermotive, which are collaborating on a fuel cell for vehicles. Other companies are working to test hydrogen fuel in ships and planes. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Chinese Research Group Unveils New Lithium-Hydrogen Battery System
A research team at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has published a study that supports use of a new type of chemical battery system for energy storage and electric vehicles. The USTC team, in their report published in the Angewandte Chemie International Edition, said the system utilizes hydrogen gas as the anode instead of conventional lithium derivatives. The group noted that hydrogen (H2) in recent years has been shown to be a stable and cost-effective renewable energy carrier due to its favorable electrochemical properties. Current hydrogen-based batteries primarily utilize H2 as a cathode. This system the battery's voltage range to 0.8-1.4 V and limits energy storage capacity, as the batteries can only operate within a limited voltage window, and that caps how much energy they can store and deliver. The USTC team said its findings show the Li-H battery would allow EVs to charge more quickly, and the charge would last longer. The team said they suggest using hydrogen as the anode to improve energy density and the battery's working voltage. (Editor's note: More information from the authors of the report is available here. A video explaining the technology is available here.) The team in its report said a prototype battery system was engineered with a configuration that allows efficient lithium-ion transport while minimizing undesired chemical interactions. The Li-H prototype includes a lithium metal anode, a platinum-coated gas diffusion layer that serves as the hydrogen cathode, and a solid electrolyte. The group said its testing showed the new battery model has a theoretical energy density of 2,825 watt-hours per kilogram, with steady operational voltage of about three volts. The researchers wrote that the battery showed round-trip efficiency, or RTE—a measure of energy delivered versus energy used to charge the battery—at 99.7%, signifying minimal energy dissipation during charge and discharge cycles. The group said the battery also would have long-term operational stability. The team also developed an anode-free Li-H battery variant that it said eliminates the need for pre-installed lithium metal. The battery variant facilitates the deposition of lithium sourced from lithium salts, specifically LiH2PO4 and LiOH, during the charging cycle. The variant provides additional benefits while keeping the advantages of the Li-H battery, according to the group. —Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.
