Science News

Researchers at the NOMAD Laboratory at the Fritz Haber Institute have been engaged in describing how surfaces change in contact with reactive gas phases under different temperature and pressure conditions. For this purpose, they have developed the so-called replica exchange grand canonical method (REGC). The results were published in the journal Physical Review Letters on 17 June. more

Sugars, amino acids, drugs - chiral molecules are everywhere. Researchers in the AQUACHIRAL project at the Fritz-Haber-Institut have used X-rays to study hair-thin liquid jets of these molecules. Using a new method, they can now for the first time distinguish their components in liquid form – and more effectively than ever before. more

Using a new experimental method, a team led by physicist Sandra Eibenberger-Arias of the Fritz-Haber-Institut has transferred the mirror-image forms of chiral molecules into different rotational states more efficiently than ever before. This opens doors to a deeper understanding and manipulability of this common type of molecule for future applications. more

Since 2020, the NOMAD Laboratory at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, together with other universities and research institutes, has been developing an AI-supported research database for the field of materials science and solid-state physics. In a recent "Perspectives" article in the renowned scientific journal "Nature", the scientists involved present the concept of their data infrastructure NOMAD/FAIRmat.
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In order to successfully shape the energy transition and achieve CO₂ neutrality in society, it is important to develop technologies through which the greenhouse gas CO₂ can be efficiently converted into chemical raw materials and fuels. The electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction can fulfil this task by using electricity from renewable sources. more

The experimental elucidation of the structures at the interface between a working catalyst and the reacting molecules is the key to a fundamental understanding of heterogeneous catalysis. Researchers from the Department of Inorganic Chemistry have reassigned the vibrational spectrum of vanadium pentoxide, an important catalyst for the synthesis of valuable products through the reaction of organic molecules with gas-phase oxygen, and have thus been able to elucidate which centres are involved in the activation of the oxygen molecule and the oxidation of hydrocarbons.
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In an international collaboration led by scientists from the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin, a novel approach to controlling the speed of magnetic processes has been developed. more