The production of chemical substances normally requires environmentally harmful solvents. After the research group of Miriam Unterlass, professor of solid state chemistry at the University of Konstanz, produced organic substances without harmful substances for the first time by heating them in hot water, the researchers can now chalk up another success: Through hydrothermal synthesis, they succeeded in jointly forming and combining organic and inorganic substances in the same reaction vessel—specifically, an inorganic solid that encloses organic dye molecules. When exposed to light, which is by and large the most environmentally friendly energy resource, the hybrid material functions like a catalyst, i.e., a photocatalyst. Since the photocatalyst is a solid, it can be used multiple times.
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Source: Phys.org