Articles in 2024

Forward-biased bipolar membranes (FB-BPMs), which recover potential from pH gradients through ion–ion recombination, show promise for application in sustainable devices. The authors use physics-based modeling to elucidate how ion-specific phenomena dictate performance, reveal how selective ion management can mitigate energy losses and provide insights into the rational design of next-generation FB-BPMs.

In an aqueous quinone-mediated system, both pH swing and nucleophilicity swing mechanisms contribute to CO₂ capture, but traditional measurement methods report only the combined contributions, without quantifying their relative contributions. Here the authors introduce thermodynamic and kinetic analyses coupled with two in situ experimental techniques to quantify the contributions of these mechanisms.

This study reports the preparation of degradable poly(β-amino ester) microparticles as a promising replacement for nondegradable microplastics in cleansing products and food fortification, demonstrating effective cleansing, toxic element removal and robust nutrient protection with efficient release.

Preventing freezing droplet accretion on surfaces is practically important, yet challenging. Leveraging the water volume expansion during the freezing process, a structured elastic surface with spring-like pillars and wetting contrast is reported, which renders the spontaneous ejection of freezing water droplets, regardless of their impacting locations.

Biosynthesis of aromatic esters is challenged by unclear natural pathways and low efficiency. This study presents a bacterial platform for efficient production, using systematic engineering strategies including enzyme identification, reshaping enzyme tunnels and automating cellular resource allocation to enhance output.

A multistep stretch–relaxation process is used to produce critically thin polyethylene films. Several key physical properties of the polyethylene films are presented, and their potential applications in nuclear fusion and epidermal sensing are highlighted.

The development of tiny, soft and biocompatible batteries to power minimally invasive biomedical devices is of critical importance. Here the authors present a microscale soft rechargeable lithium-ion battery based on the lipid-supported assembly of silk hydrogel droplets that enables a variety of biomedical applications.

This study develops a liquid-gating topological gradient microfluidics device that generates finely tuned microbubbles in a functional liquid in a high-throughput manner for air purification in different scenarios.

Metal recycling plays a crucial role in mitigating the shortage of critical metals. Here the authors develop an electrothermal chlorination process incorporating direct electric heating into chlorination metallurgy for rapid and selective recovery of metals that are critical in electronics.

Low-temperature CO₂ methanation processes have potential for improved energy efficiency due to high equilibrium conversion but are generally limited by poor catalyst activity. Here the authors report an inverse CeZrO_x/Ni catalyst that realizes high low-temperature (200 °C) methanation activity at ambient pressure.

Gene therapies and cellular programming rely on effective cell transfection. Here it is shown that optimizing the viscosity of cell culture media to match that of biological fluids substantially enhances the transfection efficiency for various gene delivery vehicles across different cell types.

The fundamental thermodynamic principles of sulfur redox reactions in Li–S batteries are not fully understood. A ternary phase diagram is obtained after equilibrium between sulfur, lithium sulfide and dissolved polysulfides, which accurately describes the system evolution and predicts the behavior of Li–S batteries at an arbitrary given state.

Upcycling end-of-life tire waste is complex due to the recalcitrant nature of the toxic legacy additive, 6PPD. Here the authors present a new decontamination strategy that can isolate 6PPD, convert it to safe and valuable products, and valorize end-of-life tire waste.

The importance of optimizing the contact between catalyst particles, hydrogen and plastic melt in polyolefin chemical recycling has been overlooked, leading to suboptimal performance. The authors develop a criterion based on the dimensionless power number to optimize catalyst effectiveness. Stirring conditions can now be selected to treat commercial-grade polyethylene and polypropylene.

Complex organisms perceive their surroundings with sensory neurons that encode physical stimuli into spikes of electrical activities. Here a thermosensory chemical neuron based on DNA and enzymes has been reported, which spikes with chemical activity when exposed to cold.

Guiding the assembly pathway of a nanoparticle system toward multiple superstructures while visualizing in situ remains challenging. Here the authors combine liquid-cell transmission electron microscopy, scaling theory and molecular dynamics simulations to image and quantify self-assembly processes of gold nanocubes into distinct superlattices.

Identifying the optimal geometry of continuous flow reactors is a major challenge due to the large available parameter design space. Here the authors combine a machine learning-assisted methodology with computational fluid dynamics and additive manufacturing for the design of more efficient, complex coiled-tube reactors.

Understanding and preventing thermal runaway is critical to ensuring the safe and reliable operation of batteries. Here the authors demonstrate the large-scale production of a highly conductive graphene-based foil current collector to mitigate thermal runaway in high-capacity batteries.

Efficiently separating high-value targets with small structural differences in liquids is important to the chemical industry. Here the authors develop a metal–organic framework-based membrane with engineered topologic defects for accurate and prolonged sieving of species with molecular weights below 350 g mol⁻¹.

Switching between liquid capture and release is important in handling various liquids. Here the authors present connected polyhedral frames that form a network of units that capture or release liquid that is readily switchable locally, dynamically and reversibly, thus functioning as a versatile fluidic processor.