Autonomous measuring instruments systematically detect new materials

A new algorithm measures materials libraries up to four times faster than before: It’s based on machine learning

03-Nov-2023 - Researchers are working tirelessly to find new materials for future technologies that are essential for the energy transition – as electrocatalysts, for example. Due to their versatile properties, materials consisting of five or more elements are of great interest for this purpose. With approx. ...

Catalytic activity of individual cobalt oxide nanoparticles determined

Using a robotic arm

16-Dec-2020 - Analyzing nanoparticles individually is a challenge precisely because they are so small. A new technique using electron microscopy and a robotic arm could make the process much easier. Precious metal-free nanoparticles could serve as powerful catalysts in the future, for example for hydrogen ...

Catalyst deposition on fragile chips

17-Feb-2020 - Electrocatalysts can help to obtain chemicals from renewable raw materials or to use alternative energy sources. But testing new catalysts brings challenges. Researchers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and the University of Duisburg-Essen have developed a new method of depositing catalyst ...

Determining the activity of noble-metal-free catalyst particles

08-Oct-2019 - Noble-metal-free nanoparticles could serve as catalysts for the production of hydrogen from water. Because they are so small, their properties are difficult to determine. Chemists have developed a new method with which they can characterise individual noble-metal-free nanoparticle catalysts. The ...

Examining silver nanoparticles in natural environments

28-Feb-2019 - Thanks to their antibacterial properties, the particles are used in many products. Their effect on the environment is largely unexplored. This is mainly due to the lack of suitable analytical methods. Researchers from the Resolv Cluster of Excellence at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have developed a ...

"Funnel" attracts bonding partners to biomolecule

Water movement as detection aid for molecules

26-Sep-2014 - Water is a ubiquitous solvent in all life sciences – sometimes referred to as the "matrix of life". Contrary to earlier assumptions, it is not a passive witness of biochemical processes; rather, it participates in them actively. By influencing the movement of water molecules surrounding their ...

Why fish don't freeze in the Arctic Ocean

Chemists unmask natural antifreeze

27-Aug-2010 - Together with cooperation partners from the U.S., the researchers surrounding Prof. Dr. Martina Havenith (Physical Chemistry II of the RUB) describe their discovery in a so-termed Rapid Communication in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS). The journal's independent reviewers ...

How to count the messenger out

Mapping the structure of protonated water clusters

26-Aug-2010 - Water molecules are continuously forming short-lived networks called clusters. These can in turn bind positively charged protons, and such clusters can provide active functional groups in proteins. Using infrared spectroscopy, it is possible to determine the bond strengths, geometrical structures ...

Supercomputer provides new insights into the vibrations of water

Biomolecular solutes perturb choreography

25-Jun-2010 - Using Terahertz spectroscopy, RUB-chemists recently detected the surprisingly long-ranged influence of solvated biomolecules on the “dance” of surrounding water molecules. With extensive simulations on a supercomputer, they now succeeded in describing this choreography in detail. In the virtual ...

“Two in One” enzyme: unusually flexible Scientists from the RUB have solved the structure of a viral protein

The Journal of Biological Chemistry has ranked this documentation as “Paper of the Week.”

09-Oct-2008 - A virus that infects the marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus can produce specific pigments more effectively than its host can. It requires only one enzyme, in contrast to the host Prochlorococcus, which needs two enzymes. The virus makes use of phycoerythrobilin synthase, a “two in one” enzyme. ...