PCCP Blog

Yuan Tseh Lee – EMRS Plenary Lecture

11 May 2011

Yuan Tseh Lee, Nobel Prize Laureate and PCCP Honorary Board member, gave the first Plenary Lecture at the E-MRS today.

Professor Lee gave an inspiring lecture on the ‘Sustainable Development of Human Society.’

Professor Lee was the first Taiwanese to win the Nobel Prize – along with John Polanyi and Dudley R. Herschbach, they won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1986 “for their contributions to the dynamics of chemical elementary processes.”

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Going to the E-MRS in Nice?

05 May 2011

By Jane Hordern, Deputy Editor.

Then please come and see us at the RSC Publishing stand (No. 11 – next to the refreshments table!)…

talk to RSC staff about our journals
browse our RSC books collection and get great discounts
pick up free journal copies
and enter our competition to win an i-pod nano!!

Looking forward to meeting you in Nice!

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Molecular collision dynamics themed issue out now

05 May 2011

By Jane Hordern, Deputy Editor.

We are delighted to announce that the PCCP themed issue on Molecular collision dynamics has now been published online – take a look today!

The issue was Guest Edited by Piergiorgio Casavecchia, Mark Brouard, Michel Costes, David Nesbitt, Evan Bieske and Scott Kable. It will be displayed at a series of international conferences on “Collision Dynamics” in summer 2011 to maximise the visibility of the work, begining with the 24th International Symposium on Molecular Beams, Bordeaux, May 23 – 26 2011.

The issue features a broad range of papers, Perspective reviews and Communications, including this Perspective article by Mike Ashfold and colleagues:

nσ* and πσ* excited states in aryl halide photochemistry: a comprehensive study of the UV photodissociation dynamics of iodobenzene
Alan G. Sage, Thomas A. A. Oliver, Daniel Murdock, Martin B. Crow, Grant A. D. Ritchie, Jeremy N. Harvey and Michael N. R. Ashfold
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011, 13, 8075-8093
DOI: 10.1039/C0CP02390F

Take a look at the issue today!

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Paramagnetic relaxation of nuclear singlet states

04 May 2011

By Jane Hordern, Deputy Editor.

‘HOT’ Communication – read it today!

This ‘HOT’ article demonstrates in aqueous solution that nuclear singlet states are less sensitive to paramagnet-induced relaxation than ordinary Zeeman magnetization.

Paramagnetic relaxation of nuclear singlet states
Michael C. D. Tayler and Malcolm H. Levitt
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1CP20471H

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German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry (DBG) – Prizes nominations now open

04 May 2011

By Jane Hordern, Deputy Editor.

DBG Nominations are now open for the following two Deutsche Bunsen-Gesellschaft für Physikalische Chemie e. V. (DBG) Prizes:

van‘t Hoff Prize

The van‘t Hoff Prize was established in 2008 by Gerhard Ertl in remembrance of the first Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, Jacobus Henricus van‘t Hoff. The award consists of a Silver Medal, a Certificate and an amount of €20.000. It will be presented at the 111th Annual General Meeting of the German Bunsen-Society from 17-19 May 2012 in Leipzig.

The prize will be awarded for outstanding and sustained contributions to the field of Physical Chemistry to an active scientist. Suitable candidates of high international visibility in their research field will be evaluated with respect to scientific quality of their research. There are no restrictions on age, nationality or country of residence, but candidates should preferentially come from a German-speaking region in Europe. Candidates do not need to be members of the DBG.

The merits of a particular candidate should be brought to the attention of the selection panel by means of a nomination sent to the DBG. The nomination should be accompanied by a supporting statement describing fully the outstanding contributions made by the candidate, including biographical details and a list of publications. Self-nominations are not possible.

NERNST-HABER-BODENSTEIN PRIZE 2012 (In memory of Max Bodenstein, Fritz Haber and Walther Nernst)

The prize will be presented at the 111th Annual General Meeting of the German Bunsen-Society from 17-19 May 2012 in Leipzig.

The prize will be awarded to a distinguished younger scientist (of up to 40 years of age) for outstanding scientific achievements in the field of physical chemistry. Suitable candidates of international visibility in their research field will be evaluated by a high level expert selection panel with respect to the scientific quality, originality and independence of their research. Candidates should come from a German-speaking region of Europe or work there at the time of their nomination.

Nominations from established scientists in the area of physical chemistry should include a short CV of the candidate, an overview of the candidate’s scientific achievements and publications, and a supporting statement.

Nominations for both Prizes should be submitted by 1 October 2011 to:
Deutsche Bunsen-Gesellschaft
für Physikalische Chemie e. V.
Erika Wöhler
Theodor-Heuss-Allee 25
60486 Frankfurt am Main
Germany

View the exciting PCCP themed issue just published on Analysis and Control of Ultrafast Photon-Induced Reactions which will be displayed at the annual meeting of DBG in June 2011.

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Solar power textiles

21 Apr 2011

By Jane Hordern, Deputy Editor.

A high-efficiency dye-sensitised solar cell prototype has been designed and fabricated by a team in China. The working electrode and counter electrode are in direct contact and are singly twisted with the cell sealed in a capillary. The cell could be woven into fabric for solar powered smart fabrics, power suits and solar modules.

The power conversion efficiency of one cell 9.5 cm in length can reach up to 5.41% under standard test conditions (100 mW cm^-2) and the power output may double under intense diffuse illumination.

The researchers add that as far as they know, this is the longest and most efficient fibre-shaped dye-sensitised solar cell consisting of a liquid electrolyte. The longer the fibre-shaped solar cell, the more suitable it is for woven solar power textile if it is encapsulated in a transparent flexible plastic capillary, they say.

Read the PCCP paper in full:

Reference:
Z Lv, Y Fu, S Hou, D Wang, H Wu, C Zhang, Z Chu and D Zou, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c1cp20543a

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Rideal – encapsulating catalysts

20 Apr 2011

By Jane Hordern, Deputy Editor.

Ferdi Schuth gave a very interesting lecture at the Rideal Conference this afternoon on the encapsulation of catalysts to make them thermally stable at high temperatures…

Professor Schuth also Guest Edited a recent PCCP themed issue on ‘nanocatalysis’ – take a look today!

http://pubs.rsc.org/en/journals/journalissues/cp#!issueid=cp013007&type=current

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Rideal Catalysis Conference

20 Apr 2011

By Jane Hordern, Deputy Editor.

The Rideal Conference on Catalysis began yesterday in Cardiff, UK, and has got off to a great start!

Cynthia Friend gave an interesting plenary talk on the catalytic processes in fundamental surface chemistry – highlighting her recent PCCP Perspective article:

The mystery of gold’s chemical activity: local bonding, morphology and reactivity of atomic oxygen
T. A. Baker, Xiaoying Liu and Cynthia M. Friend
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011, 13, 34-46
DOI: 10.1039/C0CP01514H, Perspective

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FD150: Frontiers in Spectroscopy – conference highlights

15 Apr 2011

By Jane Hordern, Deputy Editor.

Faraday Discussion 150: ‘Frontiers in Spectroscopy‘ took place in Basel, Switzerland from the 6th-8th April 2011.

Takeshi Oka from the University of Chicago gave an insightful introductory lecture on spectroscopy and astronomy commenting on how spectroscopy has grown hand-in-hand with astronomy. Session 1, focussing on precision spectroscopy and chaired by Gerard Meijer, got everything off to a good start and everyone quickly got into the swing of the unique way in which Faraday Discussions work! That evening we had a drinks reception at the Hotel Bildungszentrum 21 to accompany the poster session. With more than 80 posters on display it was a great turn-out and an electrifying atmosphere!

: (Left) Stefan Willitsch and co at the poster session. (Centre and right) Glorious weather at lunchtime in the gardens at Hotel Bildungszentrum 21.

Thursday was an early start for the biomolecules session chaired by John Simons and included a fascinating conversation over ways in which gas-phase and condensed-phase scientists could work together. Another notable dialogue was between Klaas Wynne and Martina Havenith over her paper. We returned to the Hotel Bildungszentrum 21 for a lovely lunch in the garden before beginning session 3 on theoretical spectroscopy, chaired by Casey Hynes.

: The large guild hall at Safran Zunft was a fantastic location for the concert and conference dinner.

The conference dinner was held at Safran Zunft and before the meal began we were treated to a concert of English and Italian duets blending the comic and tragic sides of love. The food was exceptional and after dinner the Faraday Loving Cup was circulated around the entire room. Mike Ashfold, the current President of the Faraday Division was sporting the spectacular badge of office and gave a tremendous speech despite claiming that ‘speeches weren’t his thing‘! The Skinner Poster Prize was awarded to Andreas Messmer, from Goethe-University, for his poster on structure determination of reactive catalyst-substrate complexes by 2D infrared spectroscopy.

: (Left) Mike Ashfold giving his speech as President of the Faraday division at the conference dinner. (Centre) Takeshi Oka drinking from the Loving cup with Gerard Meije getting ready for his turn. (Right) FD150 scientific committee chair John Maier presenting the Skinner poster prize to Andreas Messmer.

Luckily Friday’s session on spectroscopy for dynamics, chaired by Mike Ashfold, wasn’t quite such an early start. John Muenter was keen to point out that David Nesbitt’s paper referenced his daughter’s PhD thesis! Martin Quack summed up the conference very thoroughly in his concluding remarks, stating that it was “by far the best organised meeting I’ve seen thanks to John Maier and the organising committee“. We think everyone who attended the conference would concur that John Maier and Stefan Willitsch, along with everyone else involved, certainly did a fantastic job.

Jennifer Newton and Tina Hodkinson

Keep an eye out for the published volume of this Faraday Discussion, which will be going online this summer – or sign-up to our free contents e-alerts to have Faraday Discussion 150 delivered straight to your inbox!

We welcome your ideas, contact Faraday Discussions with your topic proposal for a future Discussion

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Yuan Tseh Lee – EMRS Plenary Lecture

Going to the E-MRS in Nice?

Molecular collision dynamics themed issue out now

Paramagnetic relaxation of nuclear singlet states

German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry (DBG) – Prizes nominations now open

Top Ten most-read PCCP articles in March

Solar power textiles

Rideal – encapsulating catalysts

Rideal Catalysis Conference

FD150: Frontiers in Spectroscopy – conference highlights

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