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Polyphosphoesters, molecules containing phosphorus as central element, are easily traceable without the need for contrast agents, thanks to developments by researchers of the University of Twente. Normally, these molecules display a similar molecular composition of our DNA, leading to considerable 'noise' in the image.

With the ever-increasing interest in renewable energy, scientists are continuously searching for new technologies to store energy. CO2 electrolysis is a promising way to store energy whilst recycling carbon dioxide. By applying electricity, CO2 and water react and produce more complex molecules. A study published in Nature Communications lead by Hugo van Montfort at TU Delft has presented a new design of electrodes that improves the efficiency of CO2 electrolysis.

An article by TU/e researcher Thijs de Groot and his team on the usefulness of a small cathode gap in alkaline electrolyzers appeared in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy recently. Green hydrogen is a serious contender to become a renewable energy carrier. For example, we could use it to store solar and wind energy during peaks in order to utilize the energy when the sun is no longer shining and the wind is calm.

Woody biomass and wheat straw are all sources of the natural polymer lignin with more than 50 megatons of lignin produced annually at commercial scale. However, most is burned to produce energy, which alternatively could be used to make useful chemicals. A major issue with producing chemicals from lignin though is that the properties of lignin vary from source to source and from season to season.

The Earth's warming climate is largely caused by the rise in greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane. However, there are additional gases capable of warming the planet. New research from climate scientists at Utrecht University reveals that emissions of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) from streams and reservoirs have more than tripled over the last century.

With novel calculations TU/e researchers reveal new properties of supercooled liquids that could be used in efficient optical materials and recyclable plastics. When cooled to their freezing point, most liquids become solids or crystallize. In other words, the molecules arrange themselves in a perfectly ordered fashion, which physicists call a crystal.

Utrecht University has appointed chemist Eefjan Breukink as professor of Microbial Membranes and Antibiotics. Breukink and his group are engaged in research aimed at finding new antibiotics that target bacterial cell membranes, the structures that separate the inside and outside of bacteria. Breukink: "It is my dream to discover an antibiotic that will truly aid us in combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria." Cell membranes are a fundamental component of all living cells, whether they are bacterial, animal, plant, or fungal.

New paper in the prestigious journal Science outlines a new catalyst that can purify exhaust gases at room temperature. Although passenger vehicle catalytic converters have been mandatory for over 30 years, there is still plenty of room for improvement. For instance, they only work correctly when the engine is sufficiently hot, which is not always the case, especially with hybrid vehicles.

Scientists from the Radboud University have developed synthetic molecules that resemble real organic molecules. A collaboration of researchers, led by Alex Khajetoorians and Daniel Wegner, can now simulate the behaviour of real molecules by using artificial molecules. In this way, they can tweak properties of molecules in ways that are normally difficult or unrealistic, and they can understand much better how molecules change.

How optical microscopes allow detailed investigations of nanoparticles for biosensing It sounds like trying to scan a record with a hammer: light is actually too "coarse" to image small particles on the nanometer scale. However, in their project "SuperCol"- funded by the European scientists want to achieve just that: investigate nanoparticles with light.

Eveline van Doremaele received her doctorate cum laude from the Department of Mechanical Engineering on Thursday, May 25. Current computer systems are very good at performing exact calculations. But as we are using more and more AI-based applications, we also need more efficient systems that are able to process data in real time with the same precision.

An international research team led by Bert Weckhuysen  (Utrecht University) and Sara Bals (University of Antwerp) has shown that a promising catalyst for clearing CO2 becomes significantly more active and selective if its pretreatment is modified. The scientists visualized the mechanism underlying this concept with unparalleled precision.

DNA replication is the process whereby cells make an exact copy of their DNA before cell division. A key part of the intricate DNA replication machinery is a molecular motor called CMG, which has the vital task of separating the two strands of the DNA double helix so that they can be copied. An interdisciplinary team of researchers from TU Delft has now developed a new methodology to assemble and image the motion of CMG with unprecedented resolution.

For his PhD research, Bas van Gorkom developed a new way to measure defects in perovskite - a material used to make solar cells more efficient. Solar energy is becoming an increasingly popular source of renewable energy. Current solar panels with silicon as their primary component are affordable and reliable.

Researchers from the University of Twente developed a new composite material that outperforms the individual compounds by one to two orders of magnitude. The composite consists of several earth-abundant elements, that could potentially be used for efficient hydrogen generation without rare and precious metals like platinum.

Previous article Next article We have been separating our waste for many years, but a large part of the waste stream cannot be recycled. Scientists at the University of Twente are researching, in collaboration with companies, how you can make new products from so-called complex and 'wet' waste streams.

Utrecht University has appointed Stefan Rüdiger as Professor of Protein Chemistry of Disease. Chemist Rüdiger and his group aim to tackle diseases that are caused by protein misfolding, such as Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease. They focus on how chaperones, proteins that aid other proteins to fold into their proper shape, control protein quality.

Many surfaces get slippery when wet. Some surfaces have the opposite behaviour: they get less slippery. UvA researchers have now shed light on why this is the case. Hydrogen bonds between the surface and the water turn out to play an important role. The research, carried out by PhD candidate Liang Peng in collaboration with five physicists and chemists from UvA, ARCNL and the German Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, was published in Physical Review Letters this week.

Researchers of the University of Amsterdam, together with colleagues at the University of Queensland and the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, have developed a strategy for assessing the toxicity of chemicals using machine learning. They present their approach in an article in Environmental Science & Technology for the special issue "Data Science for Advancing Environmental Science, Engineering, and Technology".

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope just scored another first: a molecular and chemical profile of a distant world's skies. This is shown in five new articles by an international team of scientists, including Jean-Michel Désert, Hinna Shivkumar and Saugata Barat from the University of Amsterdam are soon to be published in leading science magazines.