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Environment - Chemistry - 17.06.2025
Early detection for wastewater treatment plants
Early detection for wastewater treatment plants
Researchers from the Ecotox Centre, Eawag and the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland have tested combined biological and chemical online monitoring as an early warning system at a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The system is able to detect peak loads of micropollutants in treated wastewater and identify toxic pollutants in real time.

Environment - Chemistry - 16.06.2025
Renewable gas from hydrogen and CO2
Renewable gas from hydrogen and CO2
On June 16, Empa inaugurated its novel methanation plant. The move-MEGA research project is the first to demonstrate so-called sorption-enhanced methanation at pilot scale - a technology developed at Empa that makes the power-to-gas process more flexible and robust.

Chemistry - 11.06.2025
Call for Abstract - Conference on Molecular Modelling for Energy and the Environment

Chemistry - Materials Science - 10.06.2025
From Catalyst to Aerospace: How the Matrix First Method Transforms Composite Materials
"Matrix First" is a new approach to the design and production of composite materials, developed for applications in the catalytic, aerospace, and energy fields-where optimizing the thermo-mechanical, chemical, and structural properties of materials is essential.

Health - Chemistry - 04.06.2025
3R Prize: organoids to fight kidney cancer
3R Prize: organoids to fight kidney cancer

Life Sciences - Chemistry - 19.05.2025
The promise and limitations of organoids for scientific research
The promise and limitations of organoids for scientific research
Organoids are a promising breakthrough that scientists have been exploring over the past 15 years. These three-dimensional tissue cultures grown from human stem cells stand to revolutionize some aspects of biomedical research, but they won't do away entirely with the need for animal testing.

Environment - Chemistry - 08.05.2025
Water chemist Urs von Gunten retires
Water chemist Urs von Gunten retires

Chemistry - Environment - 27.03.2025
Synthetic fuels and more thanks to machine learning
Synthetic fuels and more thanks to machine learning

Chemistry - 25.03.2025
Shaping the gut: how tissue mechanics drives intestinal organoids formation
Shaping the gut: how tissue mechanics drives intestinal organoids formation
FMI researchers have shed light on how intestinal organoids form crypts, the pockets that house stem cells for gut regeneration and long-term stability.

Chemistry - 14.03.2025
’Everyone else appears to be on top of everything.’

Environment - Chemistry - 07.03.2025
Understanding how molecules and ecosystems interact
Millions of different organic compounds are found in the soil and in bodies of water. New methods are making it possible to analyse these molecules more accurately than ever before - and to decipher their role in the functioning of ecosystems and species communities. In a scientific journal, a research team from Eawag and University of Zurich therefore calls for a new "ecology of molecules".

Environment - Chemistry - 06.03.2025
Appointment of EPFL professors
Appointment of EPFL professors
The Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology has announced the appointment of professors at EPFL.

Physics - Chemistry - 04.03.2025
New WSS research center for molecular quantum systems

Life Sciences - Chemistry - 14.01.2025
The protein that revolutionized DNA sequencing
The protein that revolutionized DNA sequencing
DNA sequencing was revolutionized after scientists discovered a new bacterium in the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, and today it's a common research technique.

Chemistry - Environment - 30.10.2024
Precise layering in catalysts for building sustainable chemicals
Precise layering in catalysts for building sustainable chemicals
EPFL chemical engineers have developed a way to build metal clusters - with near atomic precision - in a method that has the potential to improve catalysts and accelerate chemical reactions including turning carbon dioxide into high value chemicals like methanol.

Materials Science - Chemistry - 24.10.2024
The fireproof battery
The fireproof battery
Originally developed for electric cars, nowadays they supply mobile phone antennas with electricity, and tomorrow perhaps entire districts: The salt battery is a safe and long-lasting battery technology with huge potential. researchers are collaborating with an industrial partner to further develop these special batteries.

Physics - Chemistry - 11.10.2024
New endowed lectureship in molecular quantum materials

Chemistry - 07.10.2024
Michele Parrinello guest at ’Il Faro’: the formula for the Nobel Prize

Research Management - Chemistry - 19.09.2024
Michele Parrinello in the Citation Laureates 2024

Chemistry - 16.09.2024
Songlan Sun joins IBRE

Materials Science - Chemistry - 13.09.2024
Novel manufacturing process for high-performance lithium-metal battery
Novel manufacturing process for high-performance lithium-metal battery
The Horizon 2020 SOLiDIFY consortium, comprised of 14 European partners, has developed a high-performance lithium-metal solid-state battery.

Chemistry - Innovation - 28.08.2024
Iron as an inexpensive storage medium for hydrogen
Iron as an inexpensive storage medium for hydrogen
Researchers at ETH Zurich are using iron to store hydrogen safely and for long periods. In the future, this technology could be used for seasonal energy storage.

Environment - Chemistry - 17.07.2024
Prize-winning thesis: oxidation done properly!
Prize-winning thesis: oxidation done properly!

Environment - Chemistry - 10.06.2024
Hydrogen, the net-zero hero?
Hydrogen, the net-zero hero?
Green hydrogen could transform our energy system and solve many supply and emissions challenges. Whether this happens will depend on how economically it can be produced and attractive it will be to consumers.

Environment - Chemistry - 05.06.2024
How EPFL will make the most of its carbon emissions
How EPFL will make the most of its carbon emissions
By supporting a large-scale research project for carbon capture, utilization and storage, EPFL will shrink its carbon footprint while giving a boost to emerging technology.

Chemistry - Life Sciences - 14.05.2024
A bionanomachine for green chemistry
A bionanomachine for green chemistry
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have for the first time precisely characterised the enzyme styrene oxide isomerase, which can be used to produce valuable chemicals and drug precursors in an environmentally friendly manner. The study appears today in the journal Nature Chemistry . Enzymes are powerful biomolecules that can be used to produce many substances at ambient conditions.

Materials Science - Chemistry - 02.05.2024
Perovskite-based tandem solar cells
Perovskite-based tandem solar cells
All-perovskite tandem solar cells could soon pick up where silicon solar cells reach their limits. These highly efficient, lightweight and flexible cells have already proven themselves in the laboratory - now, researchers are working on scaling them up and making them ready for the real world. Roof tiles are becoming a thing of the past: Today, more and more Swiss roofs boast large black and blue rectangles that convert sunlight into electricity.

Chemistry - Materials Science - 25.04.2024
A brief history of perovskites
A brief history of perovskites
The word "perovskite" describes a naturally occurring mineral, but also a whole range of highly specialized synthetic compounds that have promising applications in electronics and photovoltaics. But what do they actually have in common? Who discovered them? And how are researchers using them to create innovative technology? This is the focus of the new issue of Empa Quarterly.

Environment - Chemistry - 08.03.2024
Recycling plastic is not a quick fix
Recycling is an accepted formula for sustainable resource use, but in the case of plastic it can have serious side effects, says - and uses the example of plastic flooring in Switzerland to illustrate the dilemma. Considering the climate crisis and worldwide plastic pollution, many people believe that recycling materials, in particular plastic, is the solution to our problems.

Health - Chemistry - 07.03.2024
New paper on inflammasome activation
The inflammasome plays a pivotal role in our immune system, essentially serving as an intricate alarm mechanism within our cells that combats infections and diseases.

Chemistry - Innovation - 07.03.2024
Getting hydrogen out of ammonia
Getting hydrogen out of ammonia
Kevin Turani-I-Belloto has developed a low-cost method for breaking down ammonia to produce hydrogen.

Materials Science - Chemistry - 27.02.2024
Packaged in beer
Packaged in beer
Researchers have extracted nanocellulose from a waste product of beer brewing and processed it into an aerogel.

Environment - Chemistry - 16.02.2024
Urs von Gunten, the unsung hero of water treatment
Urs von Gunten, the unsung hero of water treatment
For a scientist who's won numerous international honors for his research, Urs von Gunten, a professor at EPFL and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), is disarmingly modest.

Chemistry - Materials Science - 30.01.2024
When serendipity meets excellence
When serendipity meets excellence
Two outstanding publications by young researchers were honored with the Empa Research Award. The recipients, Amogh Kinikar and Shih-Chi Yang, wrote their award-winning papers during their doctoral studies at Empa.

Materials Science - Chemistry - 14.11.2023
This is a battery
This is a battery
Non-toxic and scalable water-based flow batteries would be a good solution for storing renewable energy in urban areas - if it weren't for their very low energy density.

Materials Science - Chemistry - 07.11.2023
What is the battery of the future made of?
What is the battery of the future made of?
The Empa research group led by Maksym Kovalenko is researching innovative materials for the batteries of tomorrow. Whether it's fast-charging electric cars or low-cost stationary storage, there's a promising material or a novel manufacturing process for every application. What are the hallmarks of a good battery? Is it its capacity? How fast it charges? Or its price? The answer depends on where the battery is used, says Empa researcher Kostiantyn Kravchyk.

Event - Chemistry - 27.10.2023
Timothy Richmond honoured with highly endowed WLA prize
Timothy Richmond honoured with highly endowed WLA prize

Chemistry - 26.10.2023
10 million euros for the search for new electrocatalysts
An international group of researchers with participation from the University of Bern is using new concepts to search for efficient and durable electrocatalysts for the energy transition.

Materials Science - Chemistry - 24.10.2023
Battery-go-round
Battery-go-round
Empa and Kyburz Switzerland AG are looking for ways to recycle end-of-life lithium-ion batteries in an efficient and resource-saving way. A specially developed experimental facility breaks down the old batteries into their components so that materials can be recovered as clean as possible. Everyone is familiar with this phenomenon from their cell phone or laptop: Over time, the capacity of the battery decreases, so that you have to reach for the charger more and more often.

Chemistry - 07.09.2023
Cacao -fingerprints- for better chocolate
Cacao -fingerprints- for better chocolate

Environment - Chemistry - 14.08.2023
Trees are not always a miracle cure for improving air quality
Master's project series (7). Donato Kofel has quantified the positive and negative effects of trees on outdoor air quality in Geneva Canton.

Chemistry - Research Management - 08.08.2023
Until the chemistry is just right
Until the chemistry is just right
At Empa, Dorina Opris is researching how to synthesize complex electroactive polymers for robotic components, sensors or batteries - a promising project that the European Research Council (ERC) is currently funding with one of its prestigious ERC Consolidator Grants.

Chemistry - 24.07.2023
More than just winning medals
More than just winning medals

Environment - Chemistry - 21.07.2023
EPFL Carbon Team aims to capture CO2 with sieves and sponges
EPFL Carbon Team aims to capture CO2 with sieves and sponges
The team of students is working on a unique prototype that uses graphene membranes combined with a porous, sponge-like material to pull carbon from the atmosphere.

Chemistry - 13.07.2023
First time in Switzerland: the 55th Chemistry Olympiad
First time in Switzerland: the 55th Chemistry Olympiad

Environment - Chemistry - 20.06.2023
To achieve climate neutrality in the chemical industry, we must also cut demand
Innovative production technologies are crucial to the chemical industry's net-zero endeavour - but they're not always enough, says Paolo Gabrielli. Chemical products, such as plastics, fertilisers and solvents pervade our modern lifestyle. The vast majority are derived from crude oil or natural gas - and producing them generates around 5 percent of global CO2 emissions.

Chemistry - Physics - 27.03.2023
When disorder helps solving our energy problems
When disorder helps solving our energy problems
Empa researcher Amy Knorpp wants to bring systematics into the young research field of high-entropy oxides.

Chemistry - Environment - 14.02.2023
'I would like to familiarise students with the topics of environmental chemistry at an early stage.'
’I would like to familiarise students with the topics of environmental chemistry at an early stage.’

Materials Science - Chemistry - 07.02.2023
Crystalline light catchers
Crystalline light catchers
Three institutes in the ETH Domain are conducting research on so-called perovskite-based optoelectronics, such as solar cells, photodetectors, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In a project called AMYS, labs of EPFL, ETH Zurich and Empa have now joined forces for four years to explore new chemical compositions, but also simple and scalable low cost production methods.

Environment - Chemistry - 17.01.2023
Robust and flexible to synthetic methane
Robust and flexible to synthetic methane
Synthetic energy carriers are carbon-neutral and make renewable energy transportable and storable in the long term. Synthetically produced methane is one of them. The problem: The production involves rather high energy losses; moreover, existing processes require the methane to be purified. To change this, researchers have developed a new, optimized reactor concept for methanation.
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