SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis

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June 22, 2020
News Feature
SLAC and Stanford scientists home in on pairs of atoms that boost a catalyst’s activity
They discovered the messy environment of a chemical reaction can actually change the shape of a catalytic nanoparticle in a way that makes it more active.
Illustration of catalyst nanoparticle and car with exhaust emissions
October 14, 2019
Press Release
Study shows a much cheaper catalyst can generate hydrogen in a commercial device
Replacing today’s expensive catalysts could bring down the cost of producing the gas for fuel, fertilizer and clean energy storage.
Grad student McKenzie Hubert watches electrolyzer at work
September 16, 2019
News Feature
A new route to carbon-neutral fuels from CO2
SLAC/Stanford scientists and their colleagues find a new way to efficiently convert CO2 into the building block for sustainable liquid fuels.
Graves-Bajdich-Machalo
September 9, 2019
News Feature
Plastics, fuels and chemical feedstocks from CO2? They’re working on it.
SUNCAT researchers discover a way to improve a key step in these conversions, and explore what it would take to turn the climate-changing gas into valuable products on an industrial scale.
Diagram of scheme for turning CO2 from smokestacks into products
August 13, 2019
News Feature
How the catalytic converters in cars go bad and why it matters
A new way to arrange the hard-working atoms in this part of an exhaust system could lower the cost of curbing pollution from automotive engines.
July 31, 2017
Press Release
Scientists Watch ‘Artificial Atoms’ Assemble into Perfect Lattices with Many Uses
A serendipitous discovery lets researchers spy on this self-assembly process for the first time with SLAC’s X-ray synchrotron. What they learn will help them fine-tune precision materials for electronics, catalysis and more.
Illustration of nanocrystals forming into superlattices at SLAC's SSRL
June 19, 2017
News Feature
Discovery Could Lead to Sustainable Ethanol Made from Carbon Dioxide
A recent discovery by scientists from the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis could lead to a new, more sustainable way to make ethanol without corn or other crops.
May 18, 2017
News Feature
Scientists Use Nanotechnology to Boost the Performance of a Key Industrial Catalyst
A tiny amount of squeezing or stretching can produce a big boost in catalytic performance, according to a new study led by scientists at Stanford and SLAC.
April 24, 2017
News Feature
Machine Learning Dramatically Streamlines Search for More Efficient Chemical Reactions
An advance by SLAC and Stanford researchers greatly reduces the time needed to analyze complex catalytic reactions for making fuel, industrial chemicals and other products, and should improve computational analysis throughout chemistry.
April 4, 2017
News Feature
Can We Use Solar Energy to Make Fertilizer Right on the Farm?​
Stanford and SLAC researchers are leading a multi-year effort to produce nitrogen-based fertilizers in a sustainable way, by inventing a solar-powered chemistry technology that can make it right on the farm and apply it directly to crops, drip-irrigation style.

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