New catalyst can turn smelly hydrogen sulfide into a cash cow
Rice engineers and scientists and collaborators have discovered an efficient, one-step process for converting hydrogen sulfide gas into clean-burning hydrogen fuel.
Rice lab grows macroscale, modular materials from bacteria
Rice bioscientists have created bacteria that self-assembles into a material like putty that could soak up pollutants.
Bird’s enzyme points toward novel therapies
Rice University chemists find a rare genetic pathway that helps mammalian cells become drug factories or sensors by synthesizing noncanonical amino acids. The clues came from an uncommon bird.
Solvent study solves solar cell durability puzzle
Rice engineers simplify the manufacture of high-efficiency perovskite solar cells.
Optical rule was made to be broken
Engineers at Rice University find a way to identify nanophotonic materials with the potential to improve screens for virtual reality and 3D displays along with optical technologies in general.
ROBE Array could let small companies access popular form of AI
A breakthrough by Rice computer scientists could allow more labs and companies to use artificial intelligence.
New weapon targets antibiotic resistance
A new class of molecular motors triggered by visible light kills harmful bacteria by generating reactive oxygen species. The new strategy could be a weapon against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Brushing thin films onto electrodes preserves batteries
Brushing powdered phosphorus and sulfur into lithium anodes helps keep them from forming damaging dendrites in rechargeable batteries.
2D boundaries could create electricity
Rice engineers lead study to create piezoelectricity in two-dimensional phase boundaries. They could power future nanoelectronics like sensors and actuators.
Water can’t touch this sanded, powdered surface
Rice scientists and engineers develop a one-step method involving sandpaper and powder to make robust superhydrophobic materials.
Strain-sensing smart skin ready to deploy
Carbon nanotubes’ natural fluorescence enables a method to detect high strain concentrations, which can lead to damage that threatens the integrity of critical infrastructure like aircraft, buildings, pipelines, bridges and ships.
Flashing creates hard-to-get 2D boron nitride
Rice University chemists use their flash Joule heating process to synthesize 2D flakes of boron nitride and boron carbon nitride, highly valued for lending thermal and chemical stability to compounds.
Boron nitride nanotube fibers get real
Rice scientists create the first boron nitride nanotube fibers using the custom wet-spinning process they developed to make carbon nanotube fibers.
SeqScreen can reveal ‘concerning’ DNA
Rice computer scientists and collaborators develop a program to screen short DNA sequences, whether synthetic or natural, to determine their toxicity.
Rice lab’s quantum simulator delivers new insight
A Rice University quantum simulator is giving physicists a clear look at spin-charge separation, a bizarre phenomenon in which two parts of indivisible particles called electrons travel at different speeds in extremely cold 1D wires. The research is published this week in Science and has implications for quantum computing and electronics with atom-scale wires.
