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Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a potent atmospheric pollutant. Although naturally occurring, anthropogenic N₂O emissions from intensive agricultural fertilisation, industrial processes, and combustion of fossil fuels and biomass are a major cause for concern. Researchers at the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ have isolated elusive transition metal compounds of N₂O that provide clues into how it could be used in sustainable chemical technologies.

Solar cells that use mixtures of organic molecules to absorb sunlight and convert it to electricity, that can be applied to curved surfaces such as the body of a car, could be a step closer thanks to a discovery that challenges conventional thinking about one of the key components of these devices.

Two projects led by ¹û¶³´«Ã½ researchers have been shortlisted for the 2019 Newton Prize, a prestigious award which celebrates outstanding international research partnerships aimed at tackling global challenges. A project exploring innovative cancer drugs and one studying the impact of forced evictions on economically underprivileged women in Jakarta are among the final 20 which will now be reviewed by a panel of expert judges.

An innovative way to pattern metals has been discovered by scientists in the Department of Chemistry at the ¹û¶³´«Ã½, which could make the next generation of solar panels more sustainable and cheaper.

Scientists at the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ have developed a more powerful method of analysing chemical mixtures, which has been able to assign a record-breaking number of 244,779 molecular compositions within a single sample of petroleum.

Cell freezing (cryopreservation) – which is essential in cell transfusions as well as basic biomedical research – can be dramatically improved using a new polymeric cryoprotectant, discovered at the ¹û¶³´«Ã½, which reduces the amount of ‘anti-freeze’ needed to protect cells.