A New Kind of Copper from the Research Reactor

In front of the nuclear reactor at TU Wien
Photo Credit: © TU Wien

The copper isotope Cu-64 plays an important role in medicine: it is used in imaging processes and also shows potential for cancer therapy. However, it does not occur naturally and must be produced artificially — a complex and costly process. Until now, Cu-64 has been generated by bombarding nickel atoms with protons. When a nickel nucleus absorbs a proton, it is transformed into copper. At TU Wien, however, a different pathway has now been demonstrated: Cu-63 can be converted into Cu-64 by neutron irradiation in a research reactor. This works thanks to a special trick — so-called “recoil chemistry.” 

Two-step flash Joule heating method recovers lithium‑ion battery materials quickly and cleanly

(From left) Shichen Xu, James Tour, Alex Lathem, Karla Silva and Ralph Abdel Nour.
Photo Credit: Jared Jones/Rice University

A research team at Rice University led by James Tour has developed a two-step flash Joule heating-chlorination and oxidation (FJH-ClO) process that rapidly separates lithium and transition metals from spent lithium-ion batteries. The method provides an acid-free, energy-saving alternative to conventional recycling techniques, a breakthrough that aligns with the surging global demand for batteries used in electric vehicles and portable electronics.

Published in Advanced Materials, this research could transform the recovery of critical battery materials. Traditional recycling methods are often energy intensive, generate wastewater and frequently require harsh chemicals. In contrast, the FJH-ClO process achieves high yields and purity of lithium, cobalt and graphite while reducing energy consumption, chemical usage and costs.

“We designed the FJH-ClO process to challenge the notion that battery recycling must rely on acid leaching,” said Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Chemistry and professor of materials science and nanoengineering. “FJH-ClO is a fast, precise way to extract valuable materials without damaging them or harming the environment.”

Chemistry: In-Depth Description

Photo Credit: Artem Podrez

Chemistry is the scientific discipline dedicated to the study of matter—its composition, properties, structure, and the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions, as well as the energy that is released or absorbed during these processes. The primary goal of chemistry is to understand the behavior of matter at the atomic and molecular level and to use this understanding to discover, create, and manipulate new substances and processes.

New lightweight polymer film can prevent corrosion

MIT researchers tested the gas permeability of their new polymer films by suspending them over microwells to form bubbles. Some bubbles from 2021 experiments are still inflated. This optical micrograph shows how the films form very colorful spots when suspended over microwells.
Image Credit: Courtesy of the researchers
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

MIT researchers have developed a lightweight polymer film that is nearly impenetrable to gas molecules, raising the possibility that it could be used as a protective coating to prevent solar cells and other infrastructure from corrosion, and to slow the aging of packaged food and medicines.

The polymer, which can be applied as a film mere nanometers thick, completely repels nitrogen and other gases, as far as can be detected by laboratory equipment, the researchers found. That degree of impermeability has never been seen before in any polymer, and rivals the impermeability of molecularly-thin crystalline materials such as graphene.

“Our polymer is quite unusual. It’s obviously produced from a solution-phase polymerization reaction, but the product behaves like graphene, which is gas-impermeable because it’s a perfect crystal. However, when you examine this material, one would never confuse it with a perfect crystal,” says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.

New recharge-to-recycle reactor turns battery waste into new lithium feedstock

A photo of the electrochemical cell set-up in the Rice lab
Photo Credit: Jorge Vidal/Rice University

As global electric vehicle adoption accelerates, end-of-life battery packs are quickly becoming a major waste stream. Lithium is costly to mine and refine, and most current recycling methods are energy- and chemical-intensive, often producing lithium carbonate that must be further processed into lithium hydroxide for reuse.

Instead of smelting or dissolving shredded battery materials (“black mass”) in strong acids, a team of engineers at Rice University has developed a cleaner approach by recharging the waste cathode materials to coax out lithium ions into water, where they combine with hydroxide to form high-purity lithium hydroxide.

“We asked a basic question: If charging a battery pulls lithium out of a cathode, why not use that same reaction to recycle?” said Sibani Lisa Biswal, chair of Rice’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the William M. McCardell Professor in Chemical Engineering. “By pairing that chemistry with a compact electrochemical reactor, we can separate lithium cleanly and produce the exact salt manufacturers want.”

New material designed at OSU represents breakthrough in medical imaging

MRI contrast agent graphic
Image Credit: Courtesy of Kyriakos Stylianou / Oregon State University

Scientists at Oregon State University have filed a patent on a design for a new magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent with the potential to outperform current agents while being less toxic to patients and more environmentally friendly.

The new material is based on a structure known as a metal-organic framework or MOF, whose development in the 1990s earned this year’s Nobel Prize for chemistry as MOFs’ many possible uses become increasingly apparent.

MOFs are made up of positively charged metal ions surrounded by organic “linker” molecules. They have nanosized pores and can be designed with a variety of components that determine the MOF’s properties.

How plastics grip metals at the atomic scale

Hierarchical view of polymer–alumina direct bonding across multiple length scales.
Image Credit: Osaka Metropolitan University

What makes some plastics stick to metal without any glue? Osaka Metropolitan University scientists peered into the invisible adhesive zone that forms between certain plastics and metals — one atom at a time — to uncover how chemistry and molecular structure determine whether such bonds bend or break.

Their insights clarify metal–plastic bonding mechanisms and offer guidelines for designing durable, lightweight, and more sustainable hybrid materials for use in transportation.

Combining the strength of metal with the lightness and flexibility of plastic, polymer–metal hybrid structures are emerging as key elements for building lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles. The technology relies on bonding metals with plastics directly, without adhesives. The success of these hybrids, however, hinges on how well the two materials stick together.

Scientists develop an efficient method of producing proteins from E. coli

Proteins are synthesized through two processes involving DNA: transcription, which converts DNA into mRNA; and translation, where ribosomes read the mRNA and sequentially link amino acids to form proteins. This image illustrates the translation process accelerated to produce proteins more efficiently.
 Image Credit: Teruyo Ojima-Kato

Proteins sourced from microorganisms are attracting attention for their potential in biomanufacturing a variety of products, including pharmaceuticals, industrial enzymes, and diagnostic antibodies. These proteins can also be used for converting resources into biofuels and bioplastics, which could serve as viable alternatives to petroleum-based fuels and products. Therefore, efficiently producing microbial proteins could make a significant contribution to sustainable manufacturing.

Producing proteins from Escherichia coli (E. coli) has become popular due to its cost-effectiveness and efficiency. However, yields of protein production in E. coli may be reduced depending on the specific gene sequence of the target protein.

How unlocking ‘sticky’ chemistry may lead to better, cleaner fuels

Chemistry powered by renewable electricity offers a promising route to produce sustainable fuels and chemicals.
Photo Credit: Chokniti Khongchum

In a new study, chemists have developed a novel framework for determining how effectively carbon monoxide sticks to the surface of a catalyst during conversion from carbon dioxide. 

This stickiness, known as carbon monoxide (CO) adsorption energy, is a property that can often decide the final product of a chemical reaction. Using a widely accessible advanced electroanalytical technique, researchers found that the strength of this energy actually relies on a mix of reaction factors, including the type of catalyst material, applied voltage, and the surface’s structure.

This is a major step for the field, as gaining a better understanding of how CO adsorption works in real-time can help scientists search for innovative ways to recycle its counterpart, carbon dioxide, into useful fuel products, like methanol and ethanol. By designing better catalysts, these new insights could be used to accelerate the development of cleaner technologies that support a more sustainable future, said Zhihao Cui, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral student in chemistry at The Ohio State University.

New observation method improves outlook for lithium metal battery

Stacey Bent (left), professor of chemical engineering and of energy science and engineering, Sanzeeda Baig Shuchi (right), chemical engineering PhD student, and Yi Cui (not pictured), professor of materials science and engineering and of energy science and engineering, led the research team that discovered a way to more accurately analyze key chemistries for rechargeable batteries and possibly many other chemistry applications.
Photo Credit: Bill Rivard

Stanford researchers developed a flash-freezing observation method that reveals battery chemistry without altering it, providing new insights to enhance lithium metal batteries.

In science and everyday life, the act of observing or measuring something sometimes changes the thing being observed or measured. You may have experienced this “observer effect” when you measured the pressure of a tire and some air escaped, changing the tire pressure. In investigations of materials involved in critical chemical reactions, scientists can hit the materials with an X-ray beam to reveal details about composition and activity, but that measurement can cause chemical reactions that change the materials. Such changes may have significantly hampered scientists learning how to improve – among many other things – rechargeable batteries.

To address this, Stanford University researchers have developed a new twist to an X-ray technique. They applied their new approach by observing key battery chemistries, and it left the observed battery materials unchanged and did not introduce additional chemical reactions. In doing so, they have advanced knowledge for developing rechargeable lithium metal batteries. This type of battery packs a lot of energy and can be recharged very quickly, but it short-circuits and fails after recharging a handful of times. The new study, published today in Nature, also could advance the understanding of other types of batteries and many materials unrelated to batteries.

Scientists discover clean and green way to recycle Teflon®

The Newcastle research team (L-R): Dr Matthew Hopkinson, Dr Roly Armstrong and Matthew Lowe.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Newcastle University

New research demonstrates a simple, eco-friendly method to break down Teflon® – one of the world’s most durable plastics – into useful chemical building blocks.

Scientists from Newcastle University and the University of Birmingham have developed a clean and energy-efficient way to recycle Teflon® (PTFE), a material best known for its use in non-stick coatings and other applications that demand high chemical and thermal stability.

The researchers discovered that waste Teflon® can be broken down and repurposed using only sodium metal and mechanical energy – movement by shaking - at room temperature and without toxic solvents.

Publishing their findings today (22 October) in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), researchers reveal a low-energy, waste-free alternative to conventional fluorine recycling.

New AI Model for Drug Design Brings More Physics to Bear in Predictions

This illustration shows the mesh of anchoring points the team obtained by discretizing the manifold, an estimation of the distribution of atoms and the probable locations of electrons in the molecule. This is important because, as the authors note in the new paper, treating atoms as solid points "does not fully reflect the spatial extent that real atoms occupy in three-dimensional space."
Image Credit: Liu et al./PNAS

When machine learning is used to suggest new potential scientific insights or directions, algorithms sometimes offer solutions that are not physically sound. Take for example AlphaFold, the AI system that predicts the complex ways in which amino acid chains will fold into 3D protein structures. The system sometimes suggests "unphysical" folds—configurations that are implausible based on the laws of physics—especially when asked to predict the folds for chains that are significantly different from its training data. To limit this type of unphysical result in the realm of drug design, Anima Anandkumar, Bren Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences at Caltech, and her colleagues have introduced a new machine learning model called NucleusDiff, which incorporates a simple physical idea into its training, greatly improving the algorithm's performance.

Unmasking the Culprits of Battery Failure with a Graphene Mesosponge

Photo Credit: Roberto Sorin

To successfully meet the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we need significant breakthroughs in clean and efficient energy technologies. Central to this effort is the development of next-generation energy storage systems that can contribute towards our global goal of carbon neutrality. Among many possible candidates, high-energy-density batteries have drawn particular attention, as they are expected to power future electric vehicles, grid-scale renewable energy storage, and other sustainable applications.

Lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) batteries stand out due to their exceptionally high theoretical energy density, which far exceeds that of conventional lithium-ion batteries. Despite this potential, their practical application has been limited by poor cycle life and rapid degradation. Understanding the root causes of this instability is a critical step toward realizing a sustainable and innovative energy future.

Helping farmers, boosting biofuels

Doug Collins and Teal Potter, co-authors on the new paper, stand in a field of triticale. The cover crop was grown to study its viability as a biofuel source.
Photo Credit: Chad Kruger/WSU

New research has found cover crops that are viable in Washington’s normal “off season” don’t hurt the soil and can be sold as a biofuel source.

After harvest, farmland often sits fallow and unused until growers seed in the next crop. Soil can erode, weeds can take root, and farmers don’t make any money during that time. Cover crops can eliminate or reduce some of those issues, but many farmers have concerns about their effects on soil quality, a reduced growing window for their primary crop, and the inability to sell the cover crop.

In a paper recently published in the journal Biomass and Bioenergy, a team led by Washington State University scientists looked at four cover crops grown for multiple years in western and central Washington fields. Two showed promising results.

Binding power of trapped water demonstrated for the first time

Water molecules are a driving force in the formation of molecular bonds, such as in proteins.
Image Credit: INT, KIT

Water is everywhere – it covers most of the earth, circulates in the human body and can be found in even the smallest molecular niches. But what happens if water does not flow freely but is trapped in such structures? Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Constructor University in Bremen have proven for the first time that "locked" water can influence its environment and strengthen the bond between molecules. This finding could open new avenues for the development of drugs and materials.

Some of the water on Earth is found in tiny nooks and crannies – enclosed in molecular pockets, such as protein binding sites or synthetic receptors. Whether this water behaves neutrally in the presence of other molecules or influences their binding has so far been controversial. "Water molecules usually interact most strongly with each other. However, experimental data showed that water behaves unusually in such narrow pockets", says Dr. Frank Biedermann from KIT's Institute of Nanotechnology. "We have now been able to provide the theoretical basis for these observations and prove that the water in the molecular pockets is energetically tense."

Russian Physicists Found a Way to Speed Up the Process of Developing Solar Panels

According to Ivan Zhidkov, this method allows for the quick selection of only promising materials.
 Photo Credit: Rodion Narudinov

Physicists at Ural Federal University and their colleagues from the Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Science (IPCP RAS) have found a way to significantly reduce the thousands of hours required for developing perovskite solar panel technology. Scientists have proposed a method that allows us  to determine in a few hours whether solar panels will fail quickly or if the development is promising with a potentially long service life. The test results were published in the journal Physica B: Condensed Matter.

Perovskite films are promising energy converters for various photoelectronic devices, such as solar cells, LEDs, and photodetectors. They have excellent optoelectronic properties and can be grown relatively easily at a low production cost.

Extra Silver Atom Sparks Breakthrough in Photoluminescence of Silver Nanoclusters

Structural architectures of anion-templated (a) Ag78 and (b) Ag79 NCs. Hydrogen atoms are omitted for clarity.
Image Credit: ©Yuichi Negishi et al.

A team of researchers from Tohoku University, Tokyo University of Science, and the Institute for Molecular Science have uncovered how the precise addition of a single silver (Ag) atom can dramatically transform the light-emitting properties of high-nuclear Ag nanoclusters (NCs). The study reports a remarkable 77-fold increase in photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) at room temperature - a milestone that paves the way for practical applications in optoelectronics and sensing technologies. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Photoluminescence quantum yield is an important metric used to evaluate the efficiency of photoluminescence, which is how well a material can absorb energy and convert it into light. Improving PLQY positively impacts technology such as OLEDs in TV screens.

Microwaves for energy-efficient chemical reactions

Microwave reactions.
Ideally the microwave reactions can be driven by green energy, in which case the system could help reduce carbon dioxide by converting it into other useful chemicals.
Image Credit: ©2025 Kishimoto et al.
(CC BY-ND 4.0)

Some industrial processes used to create useful chemicals require heat, but heating methods are often inefficient, partly because they heat a greater volume of space than they really need to. Researchers including those from the University of Tokyo devised a way to limit heating to the specific areas required in such situations. Their technique uses microwaves, not unlike those used in home microwave ovens, to excite specific elements dispersed in the materials to be heated. Their system proved to be around 4.5 times more efficient than current methods.

While there’s more to climate change than power generation and carbon dioxide (CO2), reducing the need for the former and the output of the latter are critical matters that science and engineering strive to tackle. Under the broad banner of green transformation, Lecturer Fuminao Kishimoto from the Department of Chemical System Engineering at the University of Tokyo and his team explore ways to improve things like industrial processes. Their latest development could impact on some industries involved in chemical synthesis and may have some other positive offshoots. And their underlying idea is relatively straightforward.

Chemists create red fluorescent dyes that may enable clearer biomedical imaging

Caption:MIT chemists have created a fluorescent, boron-containing molecule that is stable when exposed to air and can emit light in the red and near-infrared range. The dye can be made into crystals (shown in these images), films, or powders. The images at top were taken in ambient light and the images at bottom in UV light.
Image Credit: Courtesy of the researchers
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

MIT chemists have designed a new type of fluorescent molecule that they hope could be used for applications such as generating clearer images of tumors.

The new dye is based on a borenium ion — a positively charged form of boron that can emit light in the red to near-infrared range. Until recently, these ions have been too unstable to be used for imaging or other biomedical applications.

In a study appearing today in Nature Chemistry, the researchers showed that they could stabilize borenium ions by attaching them to a ligand. This approach allowed them to create borenium-containing films, powders, and crystals, all of which emit and absorb light in the red and near-infrared range.

That is important because near-IR light is easier to see when imaging structures deep within tissues, which could allow for clearer images of tumors and other structures in the body.

“One of the reasons why we focus on red to near-IR is because those types of dyes penetrate the body and tissue much better than light in the UV and visible range. Stability and brightness of those red dyes are the challenges that we tried to overcome in this study,” says Robert Gilliard, the Novartis Professor of Chemistry at MIT and the senior author of the study.

Rapid flash Joule heating technique unlocks efficient rare‑earth element recovery from electronic waste

The research team’s method uses flash Joule heating.
Photo Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University.

A team of researchers including Rice University’s James Tour and Shichen Xu has developed an ultrafast, one-step method to recover rare earth elements (REEs) from discarded magnets using an innovative approach that offers significant environmental and economic benefits over traditional recycling methods. Their study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Sept. 29, 2025.

Conventional rare earth recycling is energy-heavy and creates toxic waste. The research team’s method uses flash Joule heating (FJH), which rapidly raises material temperatures to thousands of degrees within milliseconds, and chlorine gas to extract REEs from magnet waste in seconds without needing water or acids. The breakthrough supports U.S. efforts to boost domestic mineral supplies.

“We’ve demonstrated that we can recover rare earth elements from electronic waste in seconds with minimal environmental footprint,” said Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Chemistry, professor of materials science and nanoengineering and study corresponding author. “It’s the kind of leap forward we need to secure a resilient and circular supply chain.”