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Sunday, July 25, 2010

New Gas Storage Materials, Huge Potential.

a discovery that may help accelerate production of fuel cell-powered vehicles are ultra-clean hydrogen, scientists in Michigan reported development of a sponge resembling nano materials with surface areas recorded very high to hold back some gas. Sepertigapuluh only one ounce of these materials have a surface area of about - something like a football field.

Adam Matzger and colleagues explain in their new study that scientists have been trying for many - years to find an optimal material for hydrogen storage in fuel cell vehicles in the future. Besides identifying some promising material, researchers have been able to find hydrogen storage goals proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy (the DOE) regarding the storage of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, they pointed out.

They explain the development of the nano porous materials - with high pore that has never proven ability to absorb some of the gas which may help to achieve the DOE target of. This is called the University of Michigan Crystalline Material-2 (UMCM-2), which include substances nanokluster zinc oxide, the width of each - tiapnya approximately 1 / 50, 000th of a human hair, are connected together - together by organic materials to produce porous framework is perfect.

The scientists showed that UMCM-2 has a surface area of more than 5.000 m2 per gram, where the highest value was obtained.

Unity accelerate neuron toxicity testing.

Scientists in Germany have developed an alternative to animal testing of rapid screening and identification of chemical substances that contain a health risk to the nervous system. Several laboratories worldwide neurotoksinitas facing daunting challenges in screening chemicals for catalog growth for whatever identify risks to human health, with the introduction of legislation mnegacu - invitation of the EU's Reach. Toxicity testing has been done traditionally by using animals but with the cost overruns in relation to the funds and the number of animals, salinity penggujian reliable in vitro is needed. Lack of comparable readings between in vivo and in vitro systems can mnyajikan suaatu problems, said Jonathan West at the University of Dortmund, Germany, but West said he had to settle these problems by using neural network.

This new testing platform, called the network formation assay (NFA), to monitor the connection (or developments) specifically between neurons - the neurons are placed and their neighbors. Formation of some of these connections is one of the basic principles in memory and learning, and gangguannnya is often the clinical signs neurotoksinitas, said West. 'Because the NFA test the connections of neurons then presents a model in vitro are comparable with the situation in vivo', he added.

West put the neurons - in the composition of human neurons segilima using patterns of cells - the cells and subsequent formation easier to monitor its network. Composition becomes acrylamida exposure, a neurotoxin that blocks the reference compounds and network formation to distinguish between the effects of neurotoxins with cytiotoksin. Without the need to place neurons - neurons or measure the length of connections, this means that a typical arrangement should only take three hours compared with more than 200 hours in testing manually.

'Application of simple and sophisticated micro system - this engineering can significantly improve the standard biological protocol', says Marco Cecchini, an expert on high-level resolution pemolaan biomaterials, the National Enterprise for nanoscience and nanotechnology, Pisa, Italy.

'NFA will also be applied in the context of reproductive testing of toxin levels are expected mngkonsumsi approximately 60% of all animals required for Reach and further areas most needed for the new assay in vitro' add Marcel Leist, University of Konstanz, Germany , who worked on this project together with the West.

Today, the team is working with teams throughout Europe to adopt the NFA in use with a network of neuron cells but 'real acid test will digunakankah NFA or not adopted by the laboratory neurotoksikologi and accepted by the authorities,' said West.

New Catalyst For Hydrogen Production From Water Sea.

A new type of catalyst that can produce hydrogen from sea water has been developed by researchers in America. Metal-oxo complex catalyst shows catalytic activity and stability are very high, and production cost is relatively cheap, the researchers said.

Hydrogen attracted the attention of researchers due to be made as environmentally friendly fuels. Basically, the hydrogen produced by the reaction between water vapor with methane gas is by using a nickel catalyst, the lack of this method is to produce a gaseous byproduct CO2 yag can cause the greenhouse effect.

Jeffrey Long and colleagues from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, made of molybdenum-oxo complexes that act as elektrokatalis, so that it can reduce the energy needed to make hydrogen from water using mercury electrodes. As there are a lot of metal in the nature of molybdenum as compared with the mercury which for the manufacture of large-scale production required a fairly high cost.

Long explained that the stability of the catalyst due to metal ligand bonding molybdenum at five positions (pentadentat) so that such ties make complexity become strong. Complex molecule is very strong and stable in water environment for long periods of time so we do not see any degradation of catalyst activity after three days of its use, said Long.

In khsus, the catalyst that made Long also stable against impuritas contained in sea water, meaning that sea water can be directly used as production materials without prior treatment. The research team uses seawater from California and produce the same results as those using pure water at neutral pH. In addition, any addition of electrolyte is not necessary if the kit uses sea water, it may reduce production costs and eliminate the use of organic acid as solvent which has a side effect of catalyst performance is medegradasi.

Long and his team hope to be able to develop this system so that future katali is possible can be used with solar panels to generate hydrogen gas. The research team is now modifying the catalyst to reduce the potential where electrochemical reaction occurs and makes the system much better.

Jokichi Takamine, Japanese chemist Pioneer.

Name : Jokichi Takamine.

Born : 11/03/1854

Died : 22/07/1922

The main disciplines: Chemical Science.

Jokichi Takamine was born on 3 November 1854 in Takaoka, Japan. His father, Seichi, was a physician like most fathers in the family Takamine. Unlike his peers, Takamine learn English at a very young age. He attended school in Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo, graduated from the college of science and technique at the University of Tokyo in 1879. In that year, the Japanese government chose Takamine as one of 12 people receiving a scholarship to pursue advanced studies at the University of Glasgow in Scotland and the Anderson Campus. He returned to Japan in 1883 and joined the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce.

In 1884, Takamine made his first trip to the United States to follow the Cotton Exposition to 100, where he met his future wife, Caroline Field Hitch. They were married in 1884 you have two children. This family then moved to Japan, and Takamine continue working in the Department of Agriculture and Commerce as Chief of Chemical Division until the year 1887. At that time, he formed his own company, the Tokyo Artificial Fertilizer Company, where he subsequently isolating the starch digestive enzymes, Takadiastase, from a fungus.

In 1884, moved to the United States Takamine permanently, settling in New York City. He opened his own research lab and allow Parke, Davis & Company produces commercial Takadiastase. In 1901, he was to isolate and purify the hormone adrenaline in his laboratory, and became the first person to complete hormone glands.

For the rest of his life, Takamine traveling between the United States and Japan and make a real contribution to science in both countries. He also worked to enhance better understanding between the two countries, and Japan participated in a donation to charity to Washington DC. Takamine Jokichi died on July 22 in the year 1922 in New York City.