news 2023

Exact solutions are often impossible in materials physics. In an international research cooperation involving TU Wien and Saitama University in Japan a technique has now been developed to make unsolvable quantum calculations solvable on certain scales. In physics, one often has to deal with different scales that can be described separately from one another: For the earth's orbit around the sun, it makes absolutely no difference whether an elephant in the zoo walks to the left or to the right.

By Falko Schoklitsch The new and patented method for the production of the important mRNA vaccine component pseudouridine is more efficient, sustainable and cost-effective than the previously used chemical synthesis. Researchers from the Institute of Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering at TU Graz and the Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib) have developed a novel method for the production of central components of mRNA vaccines and applied for a patent.

Clean drinking water is essential. Therefore, an international research team led by Dominik Eder has now shown how groundwater can be efficiently freed from pollutants such as glyphosate. Contaminated drinking water poses a major threat to our health. However, various pollutants such as pesticides, herbicides, hormones, medicines and other chemical compounds cannot be completely removed from groundwater with the methods currently available.

If one converts CO2 into synthesis gas, a valuable starting material for the chemical industry can be obtained. Researchers at TU Wien show how this works even at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Thinking of CO2, terms like climate-damaging or waste product probably quickly come to mind. While CO2 has been that for a long time - a pure waste product - more and more processes are being developed with which the greenhouse gas can be converted into valuable raw materials.

By Falko Schoklitsch A new type of meta-optics from Harvard has proven its functionality in experiments at Graz University of Technology. With it, it is possible to observe the smallest structures such as nanoparticles or transistors. Developed at Harvard, and successfully tested at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), a revolutionary new meta-optics for microscopes with extremely high spatial and temporal resolution has proven its functional ability in laboratory tests at the Institute of Experimental Physics at TU Graz.

Newly developed nanoparticles in the form of tiny shag brushes effectively transport drugs through the body . Once their work is done, they are degraded into natural precursors, releasing active substances that they have brought with them, explained Ian Teasdale of the Institute of Chemistry of Polymers at Johannes Kepler University Linz.

Chemists use new method for sustainable production of cyclopropanes Tripartite ring-shaped hydrocarbons (cyclopropanes) are important structural subunits in many drugs and materials. Their production in the laboratory is challenging and usually involves the generation of various waste products. The research group led by Nuno Maulide, a chemist at the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Vienna, has now developed a new nature-inspired process for the sustainable production of cyclopropanes and presented it in the renowned journal JACS (Journal of the American Chemical Society).

Sometimes, chemical reactions do not solely run stationary in one direction, but they show spatio-temporal oscillations. At TU Wien, a transition to chaotic behavior on the nanometer scale has now been observed. Chaotic behavior is typically known from large systems: for example, from weather, from asteroids in space that are simultaneously attracted by several large celestial bodies, or from swinging pendulums that are coupled together.

How electrons and atomic nuclei make OLEDs glow Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) can be used to generate light from electricity in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. Central to this is the use of efficient dye molecules. A team of theoretical chemists from the University of Vienna has now elucidated how these molecules function by means of computer simulations.

A team of scientists from Austria and France has discovered a new abiotic pathway for the formation of peptide chains from amino acids - an important chemical step in the origin of life. The current study provides strong evidence that this crucial step for the emergence of life can indeed take place even in the very inhospitable conditions of space.

A well-known mineral is once again the center of attention thanks to applications in electronics: the Vienna University of Technology shows that mica still has surprises in store. At first glance, mica is something quite ordinary: it is a common mineral, found in granite for example, and has been extensively studied from geological, chemical and technical perspectives.

Simpler and much more efficient than ever before: A new technology for producing X-ray laser pulses has been developed at TU Wien. The X-rays used to examine a broken leg in hospital are easy to produce. In industry, however, X-ray radiation of a completely different kind is needed - namely, X-ray laser pulses that are as short and high-energy as possible.

Long-term measurements in the urban area of Innsbruck, Austria, show that the fraction of ozone near the surface tends to be overestimated in atmospheric models. Consequently, a fundamental assumption for air quality forecasting has to be reinterpreted for urban areas. Measurements by an international team led by atmospheric scientist Thomas Karl of the University of Innsbruck also show that direct nitrogen dioxide emissions are overestimated.