news 2012

How can molecules be split in a controlled manner? A new experiment at the TU Vienna shows how research into ultra-short laser pulses can be combined with chemistry. Chemical reactions occur so quickly that it is completely impossible to observe their progress or to control them using conventional methods.

Vienna University of Technology has successfully clarified what it is the required operating temperatures of catalytic converters in cars depend on. Catalytic converters work poorly if they have not yet warmed up. Tiny metal particles in a catalytic converter require a minimum temperature to function efficiently.

At the Vienna University of Technology, the transition of quantum systems towards thermal equilibrium has been investigated. Scientists have detected an astonishingly stable intermediate state between order and disorder. The results have now been published in the journal "Science". Every day we observe systems thermalizing: Ice cubes in a pot of hot water will melt and will never remain stable.

Most people value large chunks of gold - but scientists at the Vienna University of Technology are interested in gold at the smallest possible scale, because single gold atoms are potentially the most reactive catalysts for chemical reactions. However, when gold atoms are placed on a surface they tend to ball up into tiny nuggets consisting of several atoms.

Methanol, water and a copper-zinc catalyst may be used to produce carbon monoxide depleted hydrogen, a power source for PEM (polymer-electrolyte-membrane) fuel cells, with high efficiency. By identifying the copper-zinc phase, which generates particularly clean hydrogen, Innsbruck scientists have cleared a hurdle for cutting-edge energy use.

Scientists at Vienna University of Technology have found a way to detect chemicals over long distances, even if they are enclosed in containers. People like to keep a safe distance from explosive substances, but in order to analyze them, close contact is usually inevitable. At the Vienna University of Technology, a new method has now been developed to detect chemicals inside a container over a distance of more than a hundred meters.