Metals
The latest chemistry news and research on metals, including metallurgy, alloys and corrosion, from the Royal Society of Chemistry's magazine, Chemistry World
- 
      
        
      
      OpinionGoing round in circles over skills
Closing skills gaps in key professional groups requires collaboration between government, industry and educators
 - 
      
        
      
      ResearchTale of Britain’s post-Roman economic crash overturned by ancient metal pollution discovery
Analysis points to metal-working industry continuing long after Romans left
 - 
      
        
      
      WebinarExploring the frontiers of the periodic table: bismuth catalysis and its applications
Learn about state-of-the-art synthesis coming from one of the world’s leading catalysis research groups
 - 
      
        
      
      ResearchUnrecovered byproducts from US mines could meet the country’s demand for dozens of critical materials
Huge quantities of metals and other elements are discarded each year in mining waste
 - 
      
        
      
      ResearchScientists turn to candles to make complex multi-metal nanoparticles
Method could be a simple and cheap way to make electrocatalysts with up to 25 metals
 - 
      
        
      
      ResearchGold samples heated to 19,000K without losing their crystalline structure
Ultrafast lasers used to superheat gold films faster than they can melt
 - 
      
        
      
      OpinionCritical metals supply strained
Conflict - both military and political - is having profound effects on supplies of a wide range of materials
 - 
      
        
      
      BusinessMilitary demand strains metal supply chains
Conflict and trade disputes have disrupted global supplies of specialist metals like hafnium, antimony and rare earths
 - 
      
        
      
      BusinessCongo’s cobalt conundrum
DRC government is intervening to revive prices and stabilise supply chains
 - 
      
        
      
      ResearchMetal layers just a few angstroms thick display unusual electronic properties
2D metals created for first time by pressing samples between two sapphire anvils
 - 
      
        
      
      NewsFusion-grade steel made on industrial scale in a UK first
Material can survive high temperatures and intense neutron radiation
 - 
      
        
      
      OpinionWood’s metal and the evolution of fusible alloys
Invented by American dentist Barnabas Wood (1819–1875), whose life is shrouded in mystery
 - 
      
        
      
      BusinessOpposition to lithium mines hampers green technology supply chain
Europe and US seek to escape Chinese dominance in critical minerals
 - 
      
        
      
      ResearchSunlight-powered device harvests lithium from salty water
Low-energy device is a ‘step forward’ for sustainable lithium mining
 - 
      
        
      
      ResearchAlloys made direct from metal oxides offer more sustainable route to advanced materials
New approach to metallurgy is less energy intensive with a smaller carbon footprint
 - 
      
        
      
      ResearchWater-splitting reaction reversal could extract lithium more sustainably and cheaply
Environmentally-friendly electrochemistry could cut extraction costs by 40%
 - 
      
        
      
      ResearchLayered material displays strength of ceramic with toughness of metal
Lattice-matching prevents brittleness usually associated with ceramics
 - 
      
        
      
      
     - 
      
        
      
      BusinessWorkers killed in two US incidents, with several others hospitalised
H2S exposure at a sugar refining plant and a fire at a metal hardening plant each led to one worker death
 - 
      
        
      
      FeatureOne of these vials is contaminated with nanoplastics. Chemistry can tell us which one
Nina Notman talks to the scientists finding where nanoplastics come from and where they end up