Latest Ions Stories

CANONSBURG, Pa., June 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- QUA(®), a leading-edge developer of advanced membrane products for water and wastewater treatment applications, has launched the "MEGA" line of its FEDI® Fractional Electrodeionization (EDI) products. MEGA FEDI, which will be one of the largest EDI stacks available in the global market, is available in two versions, MEGA FEDI 2 and MEGA FEDI 2-HF, designed to accommodate different feedwater chemistry. (Photo:...

A team from the University of Leicester has solved a long-standing problem in fossil research, and their novel approach will assist in the study of ancient specimens. Fossils are often coated with a very thin layer of gold to study the specimens under an electron microscope. The gold brings out otherwise invisible details. When the analysis is complete the fossils need to be returned to their natural state. However, the removal of the gold has always been difficult, expensive, and uses...

Kansas State University physicists and an international team of collaborators have made a breakthrough that improves understanding of matter-light interactions. Their research allows double ionization events to be observed at the time scale of attoseconds, which are one-billionth of a billionth of a second. The physicists have also shown that these ionization events occur earlier than thought -- a key factor to improving knowledge of correlated electron dynamics, which involve two...

Much like a meteor impacting a planet, highly charged ions hit really hard and can do a lot of damage, albeit on a much smaller scale. And much like geologists determine the size and speed of the meteor by looking at the hole it left, physicists can learn a lot about a highly charged ion's energy by looking at the divots it makes in thin films. Building upon their work for which they were recently awarded a patent, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and...

Separating carbon dioxide from its polluting source, such as the flue gas from a coal-fired power plant, may soon become cleaner and more efficient.A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researcher has developed a screening method that would use ionic liquids "” a special type of molten salt that becomes liquid under the boiling point of water (100 degrees Celsius) "” to separate carbon dioxide from its source, making it a There are major efforts to reduce CO2 emissions from burning...

Separating carbon dioxide from its polluting source may soon be cleaner and more efficient, research at a California lab indicates. A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researcher developed a screening method that would use ionic liquids -- a type of molten salt that liquefies under the boiling point of water -- to separate carbon dioxide from its source, the Livermore, Calif., lab said Wednesday in a release. The method is cleaner, more viable and more stable than what is available now,...

Experts from Queen's University Belfast have developed new agents to fight MRSA and other hospital-acquired infections that are resistant to antibiotics. The fluids are a class of ionic liquids that not only kill colonies of these dangerous microbes, they also prevent their growth.The development of these new antimicrobial agents was carried out by a team of eight researchers from the Queen's University Ionic Liquid Laboratories (QUILL) Research Centre. The team was led by Brendan Gilmore,...

Certain explosives may soon get a little greener and a little more precise.LLNL researchers added unique green solvents (ionic liquids) to an explosive called TATB (1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene) and improved the crystal quality and chemical purity of the material.This work, supported under the Transformational Materials Initiative (TMI) Laboratory Research and Development project, appears on the cover of the Sept. 1 issue of the journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics."Improving...

U.S. government scientists say they've developed a "green" method that makes some explosives safer and more stable. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers say they added unique green solvents -- ionic liquids -- to an explosive called TATB and improved its crystal quality and chemical purity. "Improving crystal quality and purity leads to explosive materials that are (less likely to react violently) when subjected to mechanical impact or heat," said Larry...

Researchers at Hampshire defense and security firm Qinetiq are currently testing ion thrusters, which they hope will one day bring spacecraft to the planets through solar energy.The ion engines create thrust by the acceleration if ions by electromagnetic forces. They make use of the fact that a current flowing across a magnetic field creates an electric field directed sideways to the current.This is used to accelerate a beam of ions of xenon away from the spacecraft, thereby providing...