Quantitative molecular characterization of polyolefin recyclates

13-Aug-2024 - Polyolefin waste is largely only recycled thermally. Material downcycling dominates here. From an economic and legislative point of view, more upcycling, i.e. the use in product categories of equal or higher value, is urgently required. However, information on the molecular structure of ...

Researchers develop a detector for continuously monitoring toxic gases

The material could be made as a thin coating to analyze air quality in industrial or home settings over time

22-May-2024 - Most systems used to detect toxic gases in industrial or domestic settings can be used only once, or at best a few times. Now, researchers at MIT have developed a detector that could provide continuous monitoring for the presence of these gases, at low cost. The new system combines two existing ...

Bottled water can contain hundreds of thousands of previously uncounted tiny plastic bits

A new microscopic technique zeroes in on the poorly explored world of nanoplastics, which can pass into blood, cells and your brain

11-Jan-2024 - In recent years, there has been rising concern that tiny particles known as microplastics are showing up basically everywhere on Earth, from polar ice to soil, drinking water and food. Formed when plastics break down into progressively smaller bits, these particles are being consumed by humans ...

Programmable DNA hydrogels for advanced cell culture and personalized medicine

21-Aug-2023 - The team of Dr. Elisha Krieg at the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden has developed a dynamic DNA-crosslinked matrix (DyNAtrix) by combining classical synthetic polymers with programmable DNA crosslinkers. DNA’s highly specific and predictable binding gives researchers unparalleled ...

Mussel-inspired membrane can boost sustainability and add value to industrial wastewater treatment

New nanoporous membrane allows highly efficient separation of wastewater components for future reuse, offering industries sustainability and added-value benefits

08-Aug-2023 - Engineers have developed a new kind of membrane that separates chemicals within wastewater so effectively that they can be reused, presenting a new opportunity for industries to improve sustainability, while extracting valuable by-products and chemicals from wastewater. Created for use in ...

International Research Team Develops Method to Characterize Nanomaterials

06-Apr-2023 - Researchers from Paderborn University, the Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRiM),Italy’s national metrology institute, the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), National Metrology Institute of Germany, have studied sequential infiltration ...

Molecules have an orientation, and scientists have a new way to measure it

Molecular orientation is key to designing better materials

12-Dec-2022 - In some materials, the molecules line up in a regular, repeating pattern. In others, they all point in random directions. But in many advanced materials used in medicine, computer chip manufacturing and other industries, the molecules arrange themselves in complex patterns that dictate the ...

White, red, and blue signals alert you to dangerous germs!

A simple, rapid method to simultaneously identify multiple food poisoning bacteria

01-Sep-2022 - Osaka Metropolitan University scientists have developed a simple, rapid method to simultaneously identify multiple food poisoning bacteria, based on color differences in the scattered light by nanometer-scaled organic metal nanohybrid structures (NHs) that bind via antibodies to those bacteria. ...

Nano-Rust: Smart Additive for Autonomous Temperature Control

A new, versatile method for temperature monitoring in materials

11-Jul-2022 - The right temperature matters – whether in technical processes, for the quality of food and medicines, or the lifetime of electronic components and batteries. For this purpose, temperature indicators record (un)desired temperature increases that can be read out later. Researchers in the group led ...

Microplastics found in human bloodstream

PET detected most

29-Mar-2022 - A research team led by ecotoxicologist Heather Leslie and analytical chemist Marja Lamoree have become the first to demonstrate that plastic particles from our living environment end up in the human bloodstream. The results of the research project, called Immunoplast, were published today in the ...