College of Chemistry

Scientists measure near-perfect performance in low-cost semiconductors

March 15, 2019

High-quality bespoke nanocrystalsTiny, easy-to-produce particles, called quantum dots, may soon take the place of more expensive single crystal semiconductors in advanced electronics found in solar panels, camera sensors and medical imaging tools. Although quantum dots have begun to break into the consumer market – in the form of quantum dot TVs – they have been hampered by long-standing uncertainties about their quality. Now, a new measurement technique developed by researchers at Stanford University and UC Berkeley may finally dissolve those doubts.

Hey, it's not all chemistry exams at the College

November 26, 2018

Fall Festival fun for undergraduate students

Fall was in the air on Friday night when AICHe, AXS , ACS Berkeley, and the College of Chemistry pulled out all the stops for this year's Fall Festival. About 375 undergraduate students attended the event which turned into a great evening for some fun and friendly rivalries. Everything from a (pumpkin) pie eating contest to "pin the atom on the molecule" were available.

Chemistry researchers work to develop new drug to inhibit COVID-19

May 19, 2020
Thanks to Fast Grants, a group of seven COVID-19 research projects has started at UC Berkeley that could turn up new diagnostic and potential treatments for the infection within months.

In Memoriam Rolf Hugo Muller, 1929-2020

November 1, 2021

Rolf Muller, Chemical Engineering, 1966

Rolf Hugo Muller, long time lecturer in chemical engineering at UC Berkeley, was born August 6, 1929 in Aarau, Switzerland. Pursuing his interest in science, he obtained his degrees in chemistry from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich. He emigrated to the United States in 1957, seeking wider professional opportunities. He first worked in...

Surprisingly simple explanation for alien comet ‘Oumuamua’s weird orbit

March 29, 2023

Artist's rendering of an interstellar comet

An artist’s depiction of the interstellar comet ‘Oumuamua, as it warmed up in its approach to the sun and outgassed hydrogen (white mist), which slightly altered its orbit. The comet, which is most likely pancake-shaped, is the first known object other than dust grains to visit our solar system from another star. (Image credit: NASA, ESA and Joseph Olmsted and Frank...

Meet scientist Markita Landry

February 13, 2019

Markita LandryIn this engaging article, meet Markita Landry, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, who runs the Landry Lab at UC Berkeley. Her lab works on developing nanomaterials to assist in the delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 systems in plants.

The College is deeply saddened to announce that Professor Phillip Geissler has died

July 20, 2022

Phillip Geissler 2013

Phillip Geissler (1974-2022)

Our community has been jolted by the news that Professor Phillip Geissler, 48, has died. Phill was hiking in Utah at the time of his death.

Phill was the Aldo De Benedictis Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and a renowned physical...

Watering Deserts: new ways to pluck water from desert air

February 19, 2020

water adsorption

Adsorption is a process which plucks water molecules from air that has less than 100% relative humidity by attaching them to the surface of a solid material. The molecules are held there by electrostatic connections called Van der Waals forces that link them with the molecules of the pertinent surface. To collect a lot of water this way therefore requires a material that has two properties. One is a large surface area. The other is an appropriate Van der Waals response. Experimental traps that employ this principle have been made using substances called metal-organic frameworks.

Novel method examines the gas-liquid interface in new detail

July 26, 2022

Demonstration of materials to use to create novel scatter beam

Left: a liquid dodecane flat jet produced by a microfluidic chip nozzle. Right: an incident molecular beam (red line) striking the jet surface. Researchers can analyze the velocity and angular distributions of molecules in the...

A protein voyage into cells enabled by a short helical protein

April 16, 2021

Drawing of three pathways of endocytosis

Three common pathways of endocytosis in a cell to internalize outside substances. Figure credit: scientificanimations.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Schepartz lab at UC Berkeley recently reported a way to efficiently deliver therapeutic proteins into live cells and...