SLAC topics

Chemistry and catalysis RSS feed

Catalysts are the unsung heroes of chemistry, accelerating reactions used to make fertilizers, fuels and consumer products. Our work aims to make catalysts more efficient and reduce the use of fossil fuels.

Energy sciences

Depiction of four techniques used to study a single-atom catalyst.

News Feature

A better understanding of this phenomenon, which is crucial to many processes that occur in biological systems and materials, could enable researchers to develop...

photoexcitation
News Brief

These inexpensive photosensitizers could make solar power and chemical manufacturing more efficient. Experiments at SLAC offer insight into how they work.

Illustration of carbene reaction pathways
News Feature

In regions that lack the resources to treat the contaminated water, it can lead to disease, cancer, and even death.

Electrode tank
News Feature

What they learned could lead to a better understanding of how ionizing radiation can damage material systems, including cells.

Radiolysis
News Brief

What they learned could lead to a better understanding of how antibiotics are broken down in the body, potentially leading to the development of...

News Feature

A better understanding of these materials and how they store and transport oil and gas could one day enable more efficient fossil fuel production.

Aromatic carbon
Press Release

Called XLEAP, the new method will provide sharp views of electrons in chemical processes that take place in billionths of a billionth of a...

XLEAP illustration.
News Feature

Chemist Ben Ofori-Okai investigates what happens to matter under extreme conditions at microscopic scales to better understand its behavior at massive scales, such as...

Ben Ofori-Okai
News Feature

A study including SLAC scientists and facilities discovers a new process that shows promise in turning the greenhouse gas back into usable fuels.

Two Stanford researchers in the lab
Press Release

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
News Feature

Molecular movie-making is both an art and a science; the results let us watch how nature works on the smallest scales.

Molecular movie frames for the light-triggered transition of the ring-shaped 1,3-CHD molecule.
News Feature

A new study shows how soccer ball-shaped molecules burst more slowly than expected when blasted with an X-ray laser beam.

Buckyballs