Rust – iron oxide – is a poor conductor of electricity, which is why an electronic device with a rusted battery usually won't work. Despite this poor conductivity, an electron transferred to a ...

A multi-institutional team has directly observed electron hopping in iron oxide particles, a phenomenon that holds huge significance for a broad range of environment- and energy-related applications.

Using pictures with atomic resolution, the mechanism of an important chemical reaction has finally be explained: When platinum nanoparticles act as catalysts on an iron oxide surface, the surface ...