All Sustainability articles
View all stories with this category.
-
-
Research
Photocatalytic process picks out precious metals from waste electronics
Silver, gold, platinum and palladium can be retrieved sequentially from circuit boards and catalytic convertors
-
Feature
Getting to the root of soil nitrogen
The farming industry’s reliance on nitrogen compounds is altering the environment, but Ian Le Guillou finds a better understanding of the interplay between plants and microbes could help to reduce the impact
-
Research
High performance fabric that can be made from plastic bags could slash fashion’s huge emissions
Polyethylene yarn can create clothes that are stain resistant, cool the wearer and are simple to recycle
-
Opinion
Solving solar panel waste highlights the need for sustainable thinking
Moving to a circular economy requires political, economic and scientific cooperation
-
Feature
Sustainable solar power
Getting energy from the sun isn’t renewable until the panels are recyclable. James Mitchell Crow talks to the scientists making it happen
-
Research
Photosensitive monomer allows polyurethanes to be degraded by light
Polymer designed to have a cleaving point after every second monomer unit
-
Research
Catalyst turns mixed plastic waste into natural gas
Swiss researchers are now scaling-up the technology
-
Opinion
Business as usual?
The pandemic has shown that we can react quickly to complex problems – can we do it to avert a climate crisis?
-
Business
Hoxton Farms grows animal fat for meat substitutes
Covid-19 pandemic motivated friends to combine their expertise in cell biology and mathematical modelling, and realise company they had being discussing for years
-
Research
Mechanochemical oxidation turns a profit from battery recycling
New lithium extraction method follows principles of green chemistry
-
Feature
How rubber is bouncing back
From their colonial roots to future alternatives, Kit Chapman looks at the chemistry of natural elastomers
-
Research
Snail slime central to sustainable strategy for making wound-healing gold nanoparticles
Nanoparticles made using mucus could be developed into acne treatments
-
Business
Taking plastic out of performance paper coatings
SGMA’s silicate sol-gel is a sustainable alternative for packaging such as coffee cups
-
Opinion
Chemistry and global challenges
To inspire students to study chemistry at university, school curricula need to do more to place the subject in context
-
Feature
The drive to recycle lithium-ion batteries
Electric vehicles are surging in popularity but Patrick Hughes asks what happens once their batteries are no longer fit for purpose
-
Research
Aluminium–nitrogen batteries offer alternative ammonia synthesis
Battery simultaneously stores energy and harnesses nitrogen to produce aluminium nitride
-
Research
Noble metals dissolved without aqua regia
Decades-old study inspires acidic salt solutions for recovering gold and platinum group metals from catalytic waste
-
Research
Designer plastic can be recycled over and over again
Bicyclic thiolactone building block makes for high-quality polymers with chemical recyclability
-
Feature
Ammonia synthesis goes electric
James Mitchell Crow finds that the outlook for renewables-powered electrochemical ammonia production is beginning to brighten
