News by Subject Chemistry & Physics

Scientists at Stockholm University have discovered two phases of liquid water with large differences in structure and density. The results are based on experimental studies using X-rays, which are now published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology have reported a new catalyst composed of silica, a rhodium complex and tertiary amines(term1) that significantly boosts hydrosilylation reactions.

Capillary discharge plasma jets are created by a large current that passes through a low-density gas in what is called a capillary chamber. The gas ionizes and turns into plasma. When plasma expands in the capillary chamber due to arc energy heating, plasma ejects from the capillary nozzle forming the plasma jet. This week in Review of Scientific Instruments, a study examines how the dimensions of the capillary producing the plasma affect the jet's length.

Scientists at the University of Vienna have created a new structure by encapsulating a single layer of fullerene molecules between two graphene sheets. Buckyball sandwiches combine fullerenes and graphene. This structure allows to study the dynamics of the trapped molecules down to atomic resolution using scanning transmission electron microscopy. They report observing diffusion of individual molecules confined in the two-dimensional space and even find evidence for the rotation of isolated fullerenes within the structure.

The classic method for studying how electrons interact with matter is by analyzing their scattering through thin layers of a known substance. This happens by directing a stream of electrons at the layer and analyzing the subsequent deviations in the electrons' trajectories. But researchers in Switzerland have devised a way to examine the movement of low-energy electrons that can adversely impact electronic systems and biological tissue, discussed in this week's The Journal of Chemical Physics.

Chemical reactions necessarily involve molecules coming together, and the way they interact can depend on how they are aligned relative to each other. By knowing and controlling the alignment of molecules, a great deal can be learned about how chemical reactions occur. This week in The Journal of Chemical Physics, scientists from Denmark and Austria report a new technique for aligning molecules using lasers and very cold droplets of helium.