An international research team has discovered a previously unknown chamber in the Cheops pyramid of Gizeh. As early as 2016 measurements had given reason to assume the existence of a hidden hollow space in the vicinity of the chevron blocks over the entrance. Now scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have used ultrasound and endoscopy to make an important contribution to confirming this assumption. The status of the Egyptian pyramid as one of the best investigated structures in the world makes this find particularly important.
N-Heterocyclic compounds are central active ingredients of many drugs and at the same time important building blocks of new organic materials for the energy transition. Researchers at the University of Bayreuth, led by Prof. Dr. Rhett Kempe, now present in "Nature Communications" a concept for the rational design of new classes of substances belonging to the group of N-heterocyclic compounds. At the same time, they present two new classes of substances synthesized on the basis of this concept. Today, innovations in fields of medical agents or functional materials rely substantially on the discovery of new classes of substances.
The University of Bayreuth is contributing its expertise in additive manufacturing to a major European project: The EU is funding the Hybrid ElectriC regional Aircraft distribution Technologies (Hecate) project with more than 34 million euros, which aims to make aviation more environmentally friendly. The Chair of Environmental Production Technology at the University of Bayreuth is responsible for sustainable components in the project.
The international research network "TADFsolutions", coordinated by the University of Bayreuth, was recently launched. It is funded by the EU with a total of about 3.1 million euros over the next four years. The network aims to develop semiconductor materials for a new generation of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). These are intended to show unprecedented luminosity and color purity, consume little energy and have a significantly longer lifetime than current commercially available light-emitting diodes.
Operational reliability, durability and high energy density: In these respects, solid-state batteries are superior in principle to conventional liquid electrolyte lithium-ion batteries. Some of the problems standing in the way of widespread industrial application – in the field of electromobility, for example – are the poor interface compatibility between cathode and electrolyte and low ionic conductivity at room temperature. An international team led by Prof. Dr. Seema Agarwal at the University of Bayreuth has now developed a solution: a very thin solid electrolyte consisting of a polymer-ceramic composite. The researchers present their discovery in the journal "Advanced Energy Materials".
At present, microbial fuel cells are mainly used in research laboratories to generate electricity. In order for industrial applications to be considered in the future, the fuel cells must be further developed so that they can produce consistently higher amounts of electricity than is currently the case. In a recent study published in the journal "Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts", a research team from the University of Bayreuth has investigated factors playing a role in this. The choice of electrode material was shown to be particularly important for increasing stability and performance.
The German Research Foundation (DFG) will fund a research group on printed organic solar cells over the next four years. Scientists from a total of seven universities are participating in this group, which is led by the TU Chemnitz. Prof. Dr. Eva M. Herzig, Junior Professor for Dynamics and Structure Formation at the University of Bayreuth, and her team are investigating the active layers of organic solar cells. Their focus is on how the conversion of sunlight into free charge carriers is influenced by the arrangement of the molecules.
Non-metal nitrides are compounds in which nitrogen and non-metallic elements are linked by covalent bonds. Because of their technologically interesting properties, they have increasingly become the focus of materials research. In the journal "Chemistry – A European Journal", an international team with researchers from the University of Bayreuth presents previously unknown phosphorus-nitrogen compounds synthesized under very high pressures. They contain structural units whose existence could not been empirically proven before. The study exemplifies the great, as yet untapped potential of high-pressure research for nitrogen chemistry.
Nature in city environs has a positive effect on people's well-being. At the same time biological diversity in urban areas continues to shrink, for example because of increasing building density. In the "Ecolopes" project, researchers led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are searching for specific solutions which will make it possible to create green infrastructure with a higher degree of biological diversity in urban areas.
Numerous plastics are principally biodegradable, but are only degraded very slowly in the open air, wastewater, or composting plants. Known enzymes with the ability to degrade plastics could solve this problem. To do so, however, they must be able to withstand high temperatures. An interdisciplinary team from the Collaborative Research Center "Microplastics" at the University of Bayreuth has now presented new methods in the journal "Biomacromolecules" that are a crucial prerequisite for protecting enzymes from high heat. If enzymes are thermally stable, they can be added to biodegradable plastics during production and later accelerate natural degradation.
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