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ScienceDaily: Chemistry News

• New way to study ground fractures
  Geophysics researchers have created a new way to study fractures by producing elastic waves, or vibrations, through using high-intensity light focused directly on the fracture itself.
  
  
• Building a better light bulb: Energy efficient organic LEDs
  Incandescent light bulbs are energy hogs, but many people prefer them for the cozy quality of light they emit. Scientists in Germany have set out to build energy efficient organic LED (OLED) lights that could rival incandescent bulbs in white-light color quality.
  
  
• Self-assembling nanorods: Researchers obtain 1-, 2- and 3-D nanorod arrays and networks
  Researchers have developed a relatively fast, easy and inexpensive technique for inducing nanorods to self-assemble into aligned and ordered macroscopic structures. This technique should enable more effective use of nanorods in solar cells, magnetic storage devices and sensors, and boost the electrical and mechanical properties of nanorod-polymer composites.
  
  
• Nano-oils keep the electronic devices really cool
  Scientists have created a nano-infused oil that could greatly enhance the ability of devices as large as electrical transformers and as small as microelectronic components to shed excess heat.
  
  
• Perfect nanotubes shine brightest: Researchers show how length, imperfections affect carbon nanotube fluorescence
  A painstaking study has brought a wealth of new information about single-walled carbon nanotubes through analysis of their fluorescence. The researchers found that the brightest nanotubes of the same length show consistent fluorescence intensity, and the longer the tube, the brighter.
  
  
• Microscopy reveals 'atomic antenna' behavior in graphene
  Atomic-level defects in graphene could be a path forward to smaller and faster electronic devices. With unique properties and potential applications in areas from electronics to biodevices, graphene, which consists of a single sheet of carbon atoms, has been hailed as a rising star in the materials world. Now, a new study suggests that point defects, composed of silicon atoms that replace individual carbon atoms in graphene, could aid attempts to transfer data on an atomic scale by coupling light with electrons.
  
  
• Oxygen molecule survives to enormously high pressures
  Using computer simulations, researchers have shown that the oxygen molecule (O₂) is stable up to pressures of 1.9 terapascal, which is about nineteen million times higher than atmosphere pressure. Above that, it polymerizes, i.e. builds larger molecules or structures.
  
  
• Kitchen gadget inspires scientist to make more effective plastic electronics
  A kitchen gadget that vacuum seals food in plastic inspired a physicist to improve the performance of organic transistors for potential use in video displays.
  
  
• Protein purification alternatives
  Protein purification, often referred to as downstream processing, is the most costly and time-consuming process in the manufacture of bio-molecules. EU-funded researchers integrated materials science with process development to produce novel low-cost materials and methods for selective purification with a focus on chromatography, membrane separation and extraction.
  
  
• How seawater could corrode nuclear fuel
  Japan used seawater to cool nuclear fuel at the stricken Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant after the tsunami in March 2011 -- and that was probably the best action to take at the time, say experts. But researchers have since discovered a new way in which seawater can corrode nuclear fuel, forming uranium compounds that could potentially travel long distances, either in solution or as very small particles.