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Hydrogen bonding

The Jekyll-and-Hyde electron transfer chemistry of hydrogen bonds

Nature Chemistry volume 16, pages 1746–1747 (2024)Cite this article

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Hydrogen bonds get a bad rap in electronic materials because their weak, transient structure often results in poor performance. Now, this dogma has been turned on its head by intercalating molecules into two-dimensional superlattices to generate hydrogen-bonded organic–inorganic structures that feature significantly enhanced electrical conductivity.

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Fig. 1: Cooling switches dynamic hydrogen bonds into static structures, thus suppressing electron transport.

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Acknowledgements

Research in the Malvankar lab is supported by the Department of Energy (DE-SC0025520), the US National Science Foundation (NSF-ANR 2210473), and Human Frontier Science Program award no. RGP017/2023.

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  1. Twitter / X: @NS_Malvankar

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biosciences Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA

    Peter J. Dahl

  2. Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Nikhil S. Malvankar

  3. Microbial Sciences Institute, Yale University, West Haven, CT, USA

    Nikhil S. Malvankar

Authors
  1. Peter J. Dahl
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  2. Nikhil S. Malvankar
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Correspondence to Peter J. Dahl or Nikhil S. Malvankar.

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Dahl, P.J., Malvankar, N.S. The Jekyll-and-Hyde electron transfer chemistry of hydrogen bonds. Nat. Chem. 16, 1746–1747 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-024-01656-0

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