news 2018

Why is water densest at around 4 degrees Celsius' Why does ice float? Why does heavy water have a different melting point compared to normal water? Why do snowflakes have a six-fold symmetry? A collaborative study of researchers from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the University of Göttingen and the University of Vienna and just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, provides physical insights into these questions by marrying data-driven machine learning techniques and quantum mechanics.

Conventional lithium ion batteries, such as those widely used in smartphones and notebooks, have reached performance limits. Materials chemist Freddy Kleitz from the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Vienna and international scientists have developed a new nanostructured anode material for lithium ion batteries, which extends the capacity and cycle life of the batteries.

Under the leadership of TU Graz, an international research team has developed a contrast medium concept for MRI, promising unprecedented features in medical imaging. Molecular imaging techniques are playing an increasingly important role in medical diagnostics and developing new treatment methods. An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the fields of chemistry, material sciences, biomedicine, quantum physics and toxicology has managed to develop the foundations for a novel contrast medium for in the framework of the FET Open EU excellence programme.

By Birgit Baustädter TU Graz operates two beamlines at the 'Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste' research facility in which structures and properties of materials can be investigated at the tiniest scale. The circular route around the storage ring at the centre of the Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste research facility high in the mountains above the Italian harbour city of Trieste is 280 metres long.

[ Florian Aigner "Frequency combs" are optimally suited for chemical sensors. A revolutionary technology developed at TU Wien (Vienna) now produces these laser frequencies in a much easier and more robust way. Most lasers have only one color. All the photons it emits have exactly the same wavelength.

Advances in cellular microscopy: at TU Wien (Vienna), flies were made transparent, so that individual nerve cells, marked with fluorescent molecules, can be examined directly in the animal. The nervous system of an animal can be studied by cutting it up into thin layers - however this inevitably leads to the destruction of the cellular structures in the tissue.

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is, along with DNA and protein, one of the three primary biological macromolecules and was probably the first to arise in early life forms. In the "RNA world" hypothesis, RNA is able to support life on its own because it can both store information and catalyze biochemical reactions.

An international group of researchers has achieved the world's first multi-qubit demonstration of a quantum chemistry calculation performed on a system of trapped ions, one of the leading hardware platforms in the race to develop a universal quantum computer. The research, led by Cornelius Hempel and Thomas Monz, explores a promising pathway for developing effective ways to model chemical bonds and reactions using quantum computers.

Researchers from TU Graz have described for the first time the dynamics which takes place within a trillionth of a second after photoexcitation of a single atom inside a superfluid helium nanodroplet. Additional at the end of the text In his research, Markus Koch, Associate Professor at the Institute of Experimental Physics of Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), concentrates on processes in molecules and clusters which take place on time scales of picoseconds (10 -12 seconds) and femtoseconds (10 -15 seconds).

By Birgit Baustädter Batteries are a broad field of research. Energy storage systems of the future should be more powerful, more environmentally friendly, smaller and even safer - work is being done on this at TU Graz. Batteries are many things: cylindrical metal capsules with a plus sign at the top and a minus sign at the bottom, small black packs in our mobile phones, silver buttons in all possible sizes, invisibly integrated in our electric toothbrushes or flat and stacked up in a row in our e-vehicles.

Atomically thin crystals will play an ever greater role in future - but how can their crystallisation process be controlled? A new method is now opening up new possibilities. They are among the thinnest structures on earth: "two dimensional materials" are crystals which consist of only one or a few layers of atoms.

What effect does water have on ultra-clean surfaces' Using a novel method, researchers at TU Wien and Cornell University have succeeded in demonstrating that smallest impurities can have a surprising effect. In nature there is no such thing as a truly clean surface. Contact with normal air is sufficient to coat any material with a thin layer of molecules.

Chemists from the University of Vienna finally find a surprisingly simple reaction to make a family of bioactive molecules Many natural products and drugs feature a so-called dicarbonyl motif - in certain cases however their preparation poses a challange to organic chemists. In their most recent work, Nuno Maulide and his coworkers from the University of Vienna present a new route for these molecules.

Dyes that are also of great interest for organic electronics have recently been prepared and crystallised at TU Wien. All that is required is just water, albeit under highly unusual conditions. They not only impress due to their radiant and intense colour, they also have an important technological significance: organic dyes are a class of materials with extremely special properties.

By Eberhard Schutting New types of vehicles have to prove their conformity to emission standards in thetype approval test. Previous procedures were criticized for insufficiently reflecting the real driving pattern. Thus, end of 2017, the regulatory authorities (the EC) introduced a new test procedure that includes the measurement of emissions during real¬world driving, commonly known as RDE legislation (Real Driving Emissions).

Microbioreactors with integrated sensors enable improved and well-controlled reaction conditions to be produced and are increasingly used in biocatalysis, process optimisation, diagnosis and cell culturing. Microbioreactors are miniaturised bioreactors with structures on the micrometre scale. They are a special field of microfluidics or lab-on-chip technology and consist of chambers and channels in sizes from 10 um to 3 mm and depths from 10 to 800 um.

A team at TU Wien now has the proof behind the speculations that water molecules can form complex bridge-like structures when they accumulate on mineral surfaces. Water is an extremely complex liquid. The way in which separate water molecules accumulate on various materials has a crucial impact on a great many processes, including corrosion and weathering, and is key in ensuring that catalysts function optimally.

TU Graz researchers managed for the first time ever to 'retrain' an enzyme to build ring-shaped molecular structures instead of performing its natural task of reducing double bonds. The work was published in Angewandte Chemie, and is relevant for the production of pharmaceuticals and plant protection products.

A special formula for epoxy resins has been developed at TU Wien, which can be used for fibre-reinforced composites in aerospace, shipbuilding and automotive manufacturing, or even for underwater renovation. This is achieved merely by irradiating any part of the resin with light. Within seconds the new material can be completely transformed.

During embryonic development genetic cascades control gene activity and cell differentiation. In a new publication of the journal PNAS, the team of Ulrich Technau of the Department of Molecular Evolution and Development at the University of Vienna reported that besides the genetic program, also mechanical cues can contribute to the regulation of gene expression during development.