Biomolecules identified at the nanoscale

New method for measuring amino acids

22-Feb-2024 - For the first time, a team of scientists has been able to identify individual amino acids in a peptide, a combination of several amino acids, on the surface of a single molecule. This means that one of the basic building blocks of life can now be studied down to the nanometre level. Led by ...

Microscopic Transformations of Electrocatalyst Surfaces

Researchers reveal the disordering of copper surfaces during catalysis

24-Aug-2023 - Developing technologies that can convert CO2 into synthetic fuels and base chemicals is of key importance for reaching the climate goals. The electrochemical reduction of CO2 at copper electrodes allows to do this directly with electric power from renewable sources which could be used for the ...

Next generation solar fuels: How a record-breaking copper catalyst converts CO₂ into liquid fuels

Researchers have made real-time movies of copper nanoparticles as they evolve to convert carbon dioxide and water into renewable fuels and chemicals

21-Feb-2023 - Since the 1970s, scientists have known that copper has a special ability to transform carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals and fuels. But for many years, scientists have struggled to understand how this common metal works as an electrocatalyst, a mechanism that uses energy from electrons to ...

New discoveries made about a promising solar cell material, thanks to new microscope

23-Nov-2022 - A team of scientists from the Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory developed a new characterization tool that allowed them to gain unique insight into a possible alternative material for solar cells. Under the leadership of Jigang Wang, senior scientist from Ames Lab, the team ...

Previously unseen processes reveal path to better rechargeable battery performance

A new electron microscopy technique allows to collect images of the inner workings of batteries

14-Nov-2022 - To design better rechargeable ion batteries, engineers and chemists from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign collaborated to combine a powerful new electron microscopy technique and data mining to visually pinpoint areas of chemical and physical alteration within ion batteries. A study ...

Sharper than ever: Physicists make molecular vibrations more detectable

The new method will improve the understanding of interactions in molecular systems and to further develop simulation methods

22-Sep-2022 - In molecules, the atoms vibrate with characteristic patterns and frequencies. Vibrations are therefore an important tool for studying molecules and molecular processes such as chemical reactions. Although scanning tunnelling microscopes can be used to image individual molecules, their vibrations ...

A New Tool for Cryo-Electron Microscopy

New method that combines cryo-EM with a method otherwise used in materials research

12-Sep-2022 - Researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf led by Prof. Dr. Carsten Sachse are using cryo-electron microscopy, or cryo-EM for short, to make biomolecules visible at the atomic level. In a paper now published in the journal Nature Methods, they present a new ...

New Insights into the Interaction of Topological Insulators

26-Aug-2022 - Tungsten di-telluride (WTe2) has recently proven to be a promising material for the realization of topological states. These are regarded as the key to novel "spintronic" devices and quantum computers of the future due to their unique electronic properties. Physicists at Forschungszentrum Jülich ...

Visualization of the origin of magnetic forces by atomic resolution electron microscopy

Accelerating research and development on state-of-the-art materials such as magnets, semiconductors and quantum technology

28-Feb-2022 - The joint development team of Professor Shibata (the University of Tokyo), JEOL Ltd. and Monash University succeeded in directly observing an atomic magnetic field, the origin of magnets (magnetic force), for the first time in the world. The observation was conducted using the newly developed ...

A unique scanning tunnelling microscope with magnetic cooling to study quantum effects developed

"Adiabatic cooling is a real quantum leap for scanning tunneling microscopy"

02-Sep-2021 - Scanning tunnelling microscopes capture images of materials with atomic precision and can be used to manipulate individual molecules or atoms. Researchers have been using the instruments for many years to explore the world of nanoscopic phenomena. A new approach by physicists at Forschungszentrum ...