Conventional carbon capture is limited by high transportation costs and the need for intensive purification. Membrane-based direct air capture is a promising alternative because capture and storage can be performed at the same remote sites, and low CO2 purity is acceptable for geological storage because the impurities are not hazardous. Molecular dynamics simulations of geological storage of CO2-N2-O2 mixtures from direct air capture demonstrated that this approach is both environmentally acceptable and economically viable.
New research shows that when water comes into contact with an electrode surface all its molecules do not respond in the same way. This can dramatically affect how well various substances can dissolve in water subject to an electrical field, which in turn, can determine how a chemical reaction will occur. And chemical reactions are a necessary component in how we make.everything. The implications of this new revelation could have a remarkable impact on all water-related processes from water purification to drug manufacturing.
Chun Shen, Ph.D., assistant professor of physics and astronomy in Wayne State University s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was awarded a five-year, $750,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy s Early Career Research Program for his project, Quantitative Characterization of Emerging Quark-Gluon Plasma Properties with Dynamical Fluctuations and Small Systems.
Physicists in Israel have created a quantum interferometer on an atom chip. This device can be used to explore the fundamentals of quantum theory by studying the interference pattern between two beams of atoms. University of Groningen physicist, Anupam Mazumdar, describes how the device could be adapted to use mesoscopic particles instead of atoms. This modification would allow for expanded applications.
A team led by Carnegie s Thomas Shiell and Timothy Strobel developed a new method for synthesizing a novel crystalline form of silicon with a hexagonal structure that could potentially be used to create next-generation electronic and energy devices with enhanced properties that exceed those of the normal cubic form of silicon used today.