intelligent Advanced Materials, Department of Biological & Chemical Engineering, Aarhus University, DK
Ever wondered why 2-ethylhexyl laureate is used in personal care products like moisturizer lotions hair shampoo, makeup, sunscreen? Small angle neutron scattering gives an answer:
Read the full study here: Small-Angle Neutron Scattering Insights into 2-Ethylhexyl Laurate: A Remarkable Bioester
The structures of ternary rare earth intermetallics appear often at first sight complex, but can many times be understood as intergrowths of well-known structure types.
Read more from the publication here: The crystal and electronic structure of RE23Co6.7In20.3 (RE = Gd–Tm, Lu): A new structure type based on intergrowth of AlB2– and CsCl-type related slabs
Plutonium chemistry is complex and there is a lot to learn, if we want to develop safe nuclear reactors and control the waste.
Looking at rare earth elements as stand-ins can help us to make informed guesses and decision. Read more in the most recent publication from our and the Rogers lab:
Here is the first paper from our group for 2024. This first paper is one of the last ones from joint work with our esteemed colleague Vitalij K. Pecharsky whom we sadly lost about a year ago and makes us grateful for all the interaction with him and collaboration with colleagues.
Mark Oct. 26-27 2023 in your calendar. It is a pleasure to invite you, for the second time, together with Mikael Friberg from Merck Group to Aarhus University, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS) – Aarhus University for a Green Chemistry and Engineering Symposium to discuss the power of science & engineering to secure a sustainable future. Come and join us for this exciting event – either online or in person – with an amazing lineup of speakers: Jia Wang , Shweta Agarwala, Julie Zimmerman, Adam Slabon, Morten Madsen, Tomislav Friscic, John Warner, Amy Cannon, Beyond Benign—Green Chemistry for a Sustainable Future together with Lars Ottosen and Brian Vinter from AU.
Adding a third partner to a family can lead to a number of new structural arrangements. We observed this in the world of Chemistry that upon adding the noble metal Pt to Sn and Nd a plethora of new compounds form. Hopefully this is a way for selective property tuning of materials.
Read the full study here: The Prolific Ternary System Pt/Sn/Nd: Insertion of Pt into the Structures of Sn/Nd Intermetallics Yields Structural Complexity and Wealth
The new phase Mg7Pt4Ge4 (≡Mg8□1Pt4Ge4; □ = vacancy) was prepared for this study. A high content of Mg vacancies results in a violation of the 18-valence electron rule. First principle density functional theory calculations on a hypothetical, vacancy-free “Mg2PtGe” reveal potential electronic instabilities at EF in the band structure and significant occupancy of states with an antibonding character resulting from unfavorable Pt–Ge interactions. These antibonding interactions can be eliminated through introduction of Mg defects, which reduce the valence electron count, leaving the antibonding states empty. Mg itself does not participate in these interactions. Instead, the Mg contribution to the overall bonding comes from electron back-donation from the (Pt, Ge) anionic network to Mg cations. These findings may help to understand how the interplay of structural and electronic factors leads to the “hydrogen pump effect” observed in the closely related Mg3Pt, for which the electronic band structure shows a significant amount of unoccupied bonding states, indicating an electron deficient system.
Read more here: Optimization of Chemical Bonding through Defect Formation and Ordering─The Case of Mg7Pt4Ge4
Hybrid perovskites have become popular for solar light harvesting as well as as light emissive systems for solid state lighting. Frequently they are based on lead – but it is possible to get stable, highly efficient materials with the non-toxic, earth abundant manganese! Read more in our latest publication:
Looking for environmentally benign ways of cooling? Then use magnetic refrigeration!
Read about the newest developments in the field and our collaborative work with colleagues from the Ames Lab (Yaroslav Mudryk and magnetic refrigeration pioneer Vitalij Pecharsky) & U Genova (Alessia Provino and Pietro Manfrinetti):
Thank you to the Independent Research Fund Denmark for sponsoring our research activities in the field:
Solubility limits, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of MoB-type GdCoxNi1−x (0.47 ≤ x ≤ 0.72)
Can natural products be a basis for green lighting technology? 8-Hydroxyquinoline is a natural product found in the fungus Cortinarius subtortus and the plant Allium stipitatum (aka the Persian shallot). 8-Hydroxyquinoline and its derivatives can act as antiseptics and disinfectants, have anti-inflammatory properties, and are heavily researched as antineurodegeneratives, antidiabetics, and anticancer agents in medicine. Its structure renders 8-hydroxyquinoline a good emitter material from the natural pool for light emission. Unfortunately, rapid proton transfer quenches the emission. This can be overcome by complexation with metal ion, such as in tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminium, which is a compound widely used in OLEDs. However, metal ions such as aluminium are suspected to cause diseases like Alzheimer’s. Thus, metal-free alternatives are more desirable. In a collaboration of chemists, physicists, and chemical engineers we now have developed 8-hydroxyquinoline into a metal-free, natural product platform molecule for true green lighting.
Read the full article here: The 8-Hydroxyquinolinium Cation as a Lead Structure for Efficient Color-Tunable Ionic Small Molecule Emitting Materials