physical-chemistry

The standard physical chemistry and thermodynamics literature states that water expands upon freezing due to the crystalline structure of ice (hexagonal ice I_h), which occupies approximately 9% more volume than liquid water at the same mass. This expansion is treated as an intrinsic property of... Read more

The standard physical chemistry and thermodynamics literature states that water expands upon freezing due to the crystalline structure of ice (hexagonal ice I_h), which occupies approximately 9% more volume than liquid water at the same mass. This expansion is treated as an intrinsic property of... Read more

In computational quantum chemistry, the Born-Oppenheimer approximation (BOA) is used to determine potential energy surfaces (PES) for electronic states of molecules. It is standard practise to identify local minima on a PES with molecular structures. Molecular binding energies are identified with the difference in energy between these minima and the energies of the isolated atoms of which the mol…

The standard physical chemistry and thermodynamics literature states that water expands upon freezing due to the crystalline structure of ice (hexagonal ice I_h), which occupies approximately 9% more ...

Scientific Reports, Published online: 18 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-57572-5 Fabrication and characterization of magnetic trimetallic mesoporous nanocomposite: as an effective nanocatalyst for synthesis of bisphenol derivatives

Over on Physics.SE, a question was asked about why a noticeable gradient in color can exist for some gases in flasks. My answer was that it was probably a combination of lighting conditions, ...

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 17 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01555-2 Heterogeneous and homogeneous photocatalysts offer different strengths and weaknesses. Here, continuous-flow photocatalytic oxidation reactions are performed using covalent organic framework nanofluids that heterogenize molecular units to combine the advantages of catalyst efficiency, light utilization and easy separ…

Ultrasonic espresso’ made with cold water and high-frequency sound waves uses less energy than the traditional version – and taste tests show it’s just as good.

Non-enzymatic photoelectrochemical (PEC) glucose sensing using ZnO nanorods (ZnO NRs) is typically constrained to UV excitation, as stoichiometric ZnO possesses a wide band gap. In this work, this UV-only limitation is addressed by deliberately exploiting intrinsic defect chemistry: zinc-vacancy (VZn) defects generated during low-temperature electrodeposition are engineered as the central design …

Coffee is a key ingredient in the scientific process for many researchers, so it’s no wonder that researchers often develop an interest in the drink’s physics and chemistry. In a new study, a research team devised an objective method to test both a coffee’s strength and its roast color. The researchers used a potentiostat to […]

Lithium-metal batteries are widely regarded as one of the most promising routes toward cell-level energy densities beyond the limit of conventional graphite-based lithium-ion batteries. However, the practical energy delivered by a lithium-metal cell is not determined only by the theoretical capacity of the cathode or the low potential of lithium metal. In many cases, the accessible energy is grad…

The laws of chemistry get pushed to the limits in Jenny Bergner’s astrochemistry lab at the University of California, Berkeley, where she is pondering some of the biggest questions in the universe: How do planets form? And how did life arise in the first place? To do so, she leads a team studying the exotic chemistry that happens under the crushing cold and near-perfect vacuum of interstellar spa…

Scientific Reports, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-58077-x Schleyer hyperconjugative aromaticity as an efficient strategy to induce more delocalization in penguinone and thiopenguinone derivatives: a DFT investigation

Nature Communications, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74317-0 1,n-Difunctionalized alkyl linchpins are valuable synthetic intermediates, but current routes suffer from poor step economy and limited functional group tolerance. Here, the authors report a radical-mediated bidirectional C–C bond cleavage strategy that transforms cyclic ketones into diverse functionalized linch…

Nature Communications, Published online: 13 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74101-0 Predicting transition states of chemical reactions is demanding. A generative flow model in distance geometry space, dubbed TS-DFM, is proposed, achieving higher structural accuracy and better generalizability than Cartesian-based approaches.

Nature Communications, Published online: 13 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74340-1 Lithium metal batteries face challenges with dendritic growth. Here, authors employ in situ TEM to reveal how specific electrolyte anions dictate lithium nucleation and interphase architecture, establishing design principles for suppressing dendrites and enabling stable lithium deposition.

Synthesis and chemical/electrochemical properties of a conformationally constrained 1,5-dithiocane -3,7-dithiatricyclo[6.4.0.0 2,10 .0 9,11 ]dodecane ( norDTCO) is described. Density function theory (DFT) was used to calculate the structures of the neutral norDTCO , the radical cation norDTCO +● , and the dication norDTCO 2+ to investigate the importance of orbital orientations in the oxidation m…