The team says the high-energy compound only combusts upon contact with an ignition agent, such as kerosene.<\/p>\n
This\u00a0means a rocket can use less fuel to achieve the same performance, freeing up space for more mission-critical supplies and equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn rocket ships, space is at a premium. Every inch must\u00a0be packed\u00a0efficiently, and everything onboard needs to be as light as possible,\u201d\u00a0said Michael Yeung, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University at Albany, US.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-9_edited.png\" "\\"Rocket")
The Yeung Lab\u2019s arc melter synthesizes manganese diboride. Right: Molecular model of manganese diboride. (Photos by Brian Busher)<\/p>\n
Heated to an extreme level<\/p>\n
Chemists have long theorized that diboride compounds possess unusual properties, but studying these properties was impossible because\u00a0the compounds could not be created.<\/p>\n
Thanks to new technology, scientists could successfully synthesize the unstable and highly energetic manganese diboride.<\/p>\n
The synthesis process itself is an exercise in extreme\u00a0chemistry.<\/a><\/p>\n Manganese and boron powders were pressed\u00a0into a pellet, which was then heated to an extreme 3,000\u00b0C using an\u00a0\u201carc melter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The resulting molten material is rapidly cooled, which locks in the unique atomic structure.\u00a0<\/p>\n In this structure, a central manganese atom is unusually bonded to many other atoms, creating an overly crowded and strained configuration \u2014 much like a tightly coiled spring, ready to release energy.<\/p>\n \u201cSuccessfully synthesizing pure manganese diboride is an exciting achievement in and of itself. And now, we can test it experimentally and discover new ways to put it to use,\u201d\u00a0said UAlbany PhD student Joseph Doane.\u00a0<\/p>\n Computational modeling of structure <\/p>\n Further insights into the\u00a0compound\u2019s\u00a0properties came from computational modeling led by PhD student Gregory John and computational chemist Alan Chen.<\/p>\n The models revealed a subtle\u00a0\u201cdeformation\u201d\u00a0in the molecular structure. It showcased an atomic skew that directly accounts for the high potential energy stored within the material.<\/p>\n \u201cOur model of the manganese diboride compound looks like a cross-section of an ice cream sandwich, where the outer cookies\u00a0are made\u00a0of a lattice structure comprised of interlocking hexagons,\u201d\u00a0said John.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you look closely, you can see that the hexagons\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0perfectly symmetrical;\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0all a little skewed.\u00a0This\u00a0is what we call\u00a0\u2018deformation.\u2019\u00a0We can use this measure as a proxy to determine the amount of energy stored in the material by measuring the extent of deformation. That skew is where the energy is stored,\u201d\u00a0John\u00a0explained.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n The versatile boron-based structure is also being explored for its potential in creating more durable catalytic converters for automobiles and as a catalyst for breaking down plastics.<\/p>\n This research highlights how scientific breakthroughs can happen unexpectedly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new high-energy compound has\u00a0been synthesised\u00a0with the potential to improve rocket fuel efficiency. The University at Albany chemists…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[18,23861,19,2928,17,23862,452,23863,133,451],"class_list":{"0":"post-30039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-high-energy-compound","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-inventions-and-machines","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-manganese-diboride-mnb2","14":"tag-physics","15":"tag-rocket-fuel","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-space"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}