Bacterial cells use both a virus — traditionally thought to be an enemy — and a prehistoric viral protein to kill other bacteria that competes with it for food according to an international team of researchers who believe this has potential implications for future infectious disease treatment.
New organic materials for creating advanced, flexible, light-weight solar cells and electronics for military and civilian use in remote areas away from power grids will be the focus of a new research center directed by Enrique Gomez, professor of chemical engineering and materials science and engineering at Penn State.
PoreDesigner, a fully automated computational workflow process for altering the pore size of a bacterial channel protein, is the result of a collaboration between researchers from Penn State and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This process enables assembly of the proteins into artificial membranes for precise sub-nanometer scale separation of solutes of marginal size difference, which can improve water purification and bioseparations.
Rechargeable lithium metal batteries with increased energy density, performance, and safety may be possible with a newly-developed, solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI), according to Penn State researchers.
Careful sample preparation, electron tomography and quantitative analysis of 3D models provides unique insights into the inner structure of reverse osmosis membranes widely used for salt water desalination wastewater recycling and home use, according to a team of chemical engineers.
Dramatic improvements have been made to the process of converting carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, to methanol, a fuel and building block for a wide range of everyday materials, according to Penn State researchers.
A precise, chemical-free method for etching nanoscale features on silicon wafers has been developed by a team from Penn State and Southwest Jiaotong University and Tsinghua University in China.
Transporting methane from gas wellheads to market provides multiple opportunities for this greenhouse gas to leak into the atmosphere. Now, an international team of researchers has taken the first step in converting methane directly to electricity using bacteria, in a way that could be done near the drilling sites.
A team of Penn State engineering and business students will serve as one of five teams representing the United States at the 2017 National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Global Grand Challenges Summit Student Day Competition on July 18 in Washington, D.C.
Bacterial resistance does not occur only through genetic adaptation to antibiotics. Sometimes the bacteria simply avoid antibiotics by going to sleep. An international team of researchers is looking at compounds that attack bacteria's ability to go dormant using a system of toxin and antitoxin, and has identified the first such system that is sensitive to oxygen.
Controlling the way fluorinated polymer chains twist and turn may enable fast and flexible electrical circuits, according to collaborative research conducted at Penn State. The findings may offer substantial impact on the development of new polymer-type materials used in flexible electronic applications.
Five Penn state faculty members have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the organization announced.
Low cost, durable, commercially viable polymer-based anion-exchange membranes, a critical component in fuel cells and other energy-conversion devices, are the focus of a $2,300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to an industry, government, university collaboration including Penn State.
Researchers at Penn State, the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company have developed methods to control defects in two-dimensional materials, such as graphene, that may lead to improved membranes for water desalination, energy storage, sensing or advanced protective coatings.
Penn State will lead a University Coalition for Fossil Energy Research (UCFER) that will identify, select, execute, review and disseminate knowledge from research that will advance basic and applied research for clean energy in support of the U.S. Department of Energy mission. UCFER will identify, select, execute, review and disseminate knowledge from research that will improve the efficiency of production and use of fossil energy resources while minimizing the environmental impacts and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
