A research team led by Purdue University says it has found a way to make more efficient solar cells with materials previously thought to be too unstable for use. The dominant material used in solar cells is silicon, which Purdue Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering Letian Dou says, in a recent Inside Indiana Business interview, is "pretty efficient" and has a reasonable cost, but is also very heavy. However, Dou says the new materials, called halide perovskites, are soft, flexible and "extremely cheap."

Purdue Chemical Engineering alumna Dr. Jennifer Sinclair Curtis has been elected as American Physical Society (APS) Fellow in the Division of Fluid Mechanics. Dr. Curtis is a 2013 Outstanding Chemical Engineer and a 2019 College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni.

Engineering isn't easy, and academic challenges can daunt undergraduate students, prompting them to leave the discipline. Student attrition tends to peak during the "sophomore slump." But a newly published study by Allison Godwin, associate professor of engineering education and, by courtesy, chemical engineering, CISTAR Workforce Development Co-Director; and Bryan Boudouris, professor of chemical engineering, demonstrates that this trend can be reversed. The research shows that redesigning a course to add cyber-assisted and active, collaborative learning can build students' motivation, confidence, and persistence – significantly boosting academic success.

An international team of scientists, including Davidson School of Chemical Engineering Professor Jeffrey Greeley and Research Scientist Dr. Zhenhua Zeng, has unraveled mysteries of two superstar industry catalysts, which could lead to more accurate design of new catalysts to advance greener technologies by combining solar and wind energy. The Purdue researchers, in collaboration with scientists and engineers in Germany, France, and China, studied the atomic-scale structure and mechanism of complex water splitting electrocatalysts, which are used for hydrogen fuel production. The team was able to identify, for the first time, the molecular-scale features of two of the most popular such catalysts.

Purdue's Energetic Research Center (PERC), directed by Davidson School of Chemical Engineering Professor Stephen Beaudoin, is entering a three-year cooperative research agreement with the U.S. Army to advance technology associated with explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics, with an emphasis on sustainability.