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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

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.

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.

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.

Environment - Chemistry - 15.12.2022
Fewer and «greener» chemicals to protect biodiversity
Fewer and «greener» chemicals to protect biodiversity
Work is currently underway in Montreal at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) to negotiate a framework agreement to preserve biodiversity.

Chemistry - Environment - 08.11.2022
Sustainable scents from the mountain of the gods
Sustainable scents from the mountain of the gods
Chemist Freideriki Michailidou is developing novel processes for the sustainable production of fragrance ingredients. As a first step, she studied the scents of rare aromatic plants that grow only on Mount Olympus in Greece. To tackle this challenge, she scaled Mount Olympus this past summer. She took along one of the ETH Biocommunication group's headspace traps, a device equipped with a glass bell or a plastic bag, which is placed carefully over a plant.

Chemistry - Materials Science - 15.09.2022
Hitting the bull's eye
Hitting the bull’s eye
In the FOXIP project, researchers form Empa, EPFL and the Paul Scherrer Institute attempted to print thin-film transistors with metal oxides onto heat-sensitive materials such as paper or PET. The goal was ultimately not achieved, but those involved consider the project a success - because of a new printing ink an a transistor with "memory effect".

Chemistry - Innovation - 30.08.2022
Synthesis at the touch of a button
Synthesis at the touch of a button
In many chemical laboratories, routine chemical syntheses are performed on a daily basis, which takes up a lot of time.

Chemistry - Environment - 19.07.2022
Industrial wastewater: even state-of-the-art treatment plants do not eliminate all contaminants
Industrial wastewater: even state-of-the-art treatment plants do not eliminate all contaminants
Even though industrial wastewater is treated at state-of-the art plants, the sheer variety of synthetic organic compounds from the chemical and pharmaceutical industry which end up in surface waters are seriously underestimated.

Chemistry - 18.07.2022
Boosting learning by putting theory into practice
Boosting learning by putting theory into practice
Summer series - Master's project (3). Two groups of EPFL students turned their blueprints into functional prototypes: a self-heating food box and a self-cooling vaccine transport container. For engineers, little can be more satisfying than turning your ideas into working objects you can see and touch.

Life Sciences - Chemistry - 29.06.2022
Watching how cells deal with stress
Watching how cells deal with stress
FMI researchers developed an imaging approach that allowed them to visualize individual molecules involved in the cell's response to stress. When a cell is exposed to stressors such as toxins, it switches on pathways aimed at repairing damage. One of these pathways is called the 'unfolded protein response', which senses unfolded or misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum — a cell organelle designated for folding proteins destined to other organelles or to be secreted by the cell.

Chemistry - Environment - 28.06.2022
Aiming at an industry without CO2 emissions
Aiming at an industry without CO2 emissions
On 20 June, the Association for the Decarbonization of Industry with representatives from industry, energy suppliers, the financial sector and research adopted a joint strategy with the aim of developing holistic approaches for CO2 cuts in industrial applications that can rapidly be implemented. The focus is on high-temperature processes and logistics.

Chemistry - Event - 24.06.2022

Chemistry - Environment - 21.06.2022
We need to simplify chemistry
Making the chemical industry sustainable means reducing not only its dependence on fossil raw materials but also its toxicity footprint.

Chemistry - Computer Science - 04.04.2022
Chemical data management: an open way forward
Chemical data management: an open way forward
Writing , three scientists propose an open platform for managing the vast amounts of diverse data produced in chemical research. Based on principles of accessibility, collaboration and efficiency, the proposed platform could be spearheaded by EPFL. One of the most challenging aspects of modern chemistry is managing data.

Earth Sciences - Chemistry - 28.01.2022

Chemistry - Physics - 13.12.2021
Can oil and water mix?
Can oil and water mix?
Common experience tells us that oil and water do not mix. Yet, it turns out that they can mix when oil is dispersed as small droplets in water. This strange behavior has long vexed scientists because there is no explanation for it. A team of EPFL and ICTP scientists have studied this question using novel optical technology and discovered the mechanism by which these two neutral and immiscible compounds can in fact mix together and form emulsions.

Environment - Chemistry - 02.12.2021
Blue hydrogen can help protect the climate
Blue hydrogen can help protect the climate
An international group of researchers led by the Paul Scherrer Institute and the Heriot-Watt University has carried out in-depth analyses of the climate impact of blue hydrogen.

Physics - Chemistry - 23.11.2021
At the Dubochet Center for imaging, atoms are made visible
At the Dubochet Center for imaging, atoms are made visible
Fully operational for two weeks, the Dubochet Center for imaging was presented to the press on November 22.

Chemistry - 11.11.2021
3D chemistry boosts perovskite efficiency to 23.9%
3D chemistry boosts perovskite efficiency to 23.9%
An international collaboration led by EPFL chemical engineers has overcome a problem in the manufacturing of perovskites that reduces their efficiency as solar panels. The approach produced perovskite solar panels with an efficiency of 23.9% and operational stability longer than 1000 hours. Perovskites are hybrid compounds made from metal halides and organic constituents, and show great potential in a range of applications, e.g. LED lights, lasers, and photodetectors.

Environment - Chemistry - 03.11.2021
CO2 can be turned into a valuable resource
CO2 can be turned into a valuable resource
In a new study, researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI show that CO2 electrolysis can not only be profitable, but can also contribute to climate protection. With this method, carbon dioxide is captured from the atmosphere or at the point of production, such as an industrial plant. An electrolysis cell then converts the gas for industrial use, such as in chemicals production.

Life Sciences - Chemistry - 18.10.2021
A molecular biologist with a fascination for sunburn
A molecular biologist with a fascination for sunburn
Human cells are like tiny, multi-purpose factories. In his research, biologist Gabriele Alessandro Fontana investigates how cells repair damaged DNA.

Life Sciences - Chemistry - 12.10.2021

Chemistry - Electroengineering - 10.10.2021
Seeing the world through different eyes
Seeing the world through different eyes
Short-wave infrared light (SWIR) is useful for many things: It helps sort out damaged fruit and inspecting silicon chips, and it enables night vision devices with sharp images.

Life Sciences - Chemistry - 07.10.2021

Environment - Chemistry - 28.09.2021
Prestigious award for Urs von Gunten
Prestigious award for Urs von Gunten
Eawag scientist and EPFL professor Urs von Gunten is to receive the prestigious ACS Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology.

Life Sciences - Chemistry - 23.09.2021
Engineers introduce a new approach for recycling plastics
Engineers introduce a new approach for recycling plastics
Two EPFL engineers have come up with a revolutionary new method for tackling plastic pollution by harnessing the inner workings of proteins.

Astronomy / Space Science - Chemistry - 27.08.2021
Unravelling the mystery of brown dwarfs
Unravelling the mystery of brown dwarfs
An international team, led by the UNIGE, has investigated five astronomical objects that could help us understand the mysterious nature of brown dwarfs.

Chemistry - Materials Science - 30.06.2021
Fireproof and comfortable
Fireproof and comfortable
A new chemical process developed by Empa turns cotton into a fire-resistant fabric, that nevertheless retains the skin-friendly properties of cotton.

Life Sciences - Chemistry - 18.06.2021
'The term 'artificial' is often associated with risk'
’The term ’artificial’ is often associated with risk’
Is natural always good and artificial always bad? We talked to psychologist Angela Bearth and biotechnologist Sven Panke about science, scepticism, misunderstandings and how language influences the way we think.

Chemistry - Campus - 18.06.2021

Life Sciences - Chemistry - 14.06.2021
They build proteins that are not known to nature
They build proteins that are not known to nature
Using chemical synthesis, Bright Peak Therapeutics can produce proteins that have never before existed.

Physics - Chemistry - 08.06.2021

Astronomy / Space Science - Chemistry - 21.05.2021

Environment - Chemistry - 25.03.2021
Clean hydrogen can reduce the climate impact of industries
Clean hydrogen can reduce the climate impact of industries
EPFL engineers are taking part in PROMETEO - an EU research project to generate hydrogen on a large scale from renewable sources, in an effort to lower industrial carbon emissions.

Innovation - Chemistry - 19.03.2021
Mini-fuel cell delivers maximum performance
Mini-fuel cell delivers maximum performance
EPFL startup INERGIO has just unveiled a prototype for a lightweight, eco-friendly, high-performance fuel cell that can supply energy in situations where there's no power grid.

Environment - Chemistry - 18.02.2021
We need a global science panel on chemicals and waste
Chemical pollution is a global threat that demands for global action, says Zhanyun Wang. An interface body similar to the IPCC could help bridge the gap between science and policy. Chemicals are at the heart of our modern world. But the way the world deals with chemicals is highly inadequate. Over the last decades, the number and diversity of chemicals produced and traded have increased drastically, reaching several hundred thousands.

Environment - Chemistry - 25.01.2021
Saving the climate with solar fuel
Saving the climate with solar fuel
Produced in a sustainable way, synthetic fuels contribute to switching mobility to renewable energy and to achieving the climate goals in road traffic.

Electroengineering - Chemistry - 15.01.2021
Biomass-driven technology allows for enhanced energy conversion
Organic waste - whether from households, agriculture or agroforestry - can be used as energy resource, but is often underexploited.
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