Research news

Research news in the Chemical Physics Division

X-rays indicate that water can behave like a liquid crystal

Scientists at Stockholm University have discovered that water can exhibit a similar behavior like a liquid crystal when illuminated with laser light. This effect originates by the alignment of water molecules, which exhibit a mixture of low- and high-density domains that are more or less prone to alignment. Can this discovery have future technological applications?

KAW grants awarded to three projects in which researchers from Fysikum are involved

The Knut and Alice Wallenberg fundation has announced 20 ground-breaking research projects to receive grants for a total of 640 million SEK. Among them three projects include several researchers at the Department of Physics as co-investigator.

European grant for novel sustainable energy supply and storage awarded to Fysikum

An European wide network, involving Markus Kowalewski and Michel Odelius from the Division of Chemical Physics at Fysikum, has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC). The project, which includes partners from 8 different countries, will investigate charge carrier dynamics in materials relevant for novel energy supply and storage.

En osedvanligt detaljrik inblick i vanligt vatten

Vanligt vatten är en mycket speciell vätska med hög kokpunkt och ytspänning. Dess egenskaper bestäms av hur vattenmolekylerna binder till varandra i så kallade vätebindningar, som även påverkar exempelvis biokemiska processer och molnbildning.

Vattens ultrasnabba dans

Det anses att vattenmolekyler i flytande tillstånd rör sig slumpmässigt på korta tidsskalor på grund av termiska fluktuationer. Forskare vid Stockholms universitet har nu upptäckt en oväntad korrelerad rörelse i vattendynamik på en tidsskala av 100-tals femtosekunder.

Contact

Division of Chemical Physics,
Head of division

Richard Thomas
Room C4:3053
Tel: +46 (0)8 553 787 84
E-mail: rdt@fysik.su.se