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Revealing the structural features governing ergodicity breaking is critical to understanding glass formation. Here, the authors synthesise a family of hybrid metal halide glasses, and show that the molecular shape and polarity determine rotational disorder, enabling diverse glass-forming abilities.

Chlorine electrosynthesis from seawater is limited by poor selectivity and stability under industrial-scale conditions. Here atomic-step-enriched ultrafine high-entropy alloy nanowires enable highly efficient chlorine evolution at 10 kA m⁻² for over 5,500 h through dynamic Pt–O active sites, reducing electricity consumption and feedstock costs for next-generation chlor-alkali processes.

Electrified CO₂ capture from air could lead to net-negative emissions, yet current methods face high energy costs and sensitivity to oxygen. Here the authors introduce an electrochemical approach using MnO₂ as a stable, redox-active sorbent, achieving CO₂ capture with promising energy consumption and minimal oxygen sensitivity.

2D polymer materials are often limited in performance by insufficient in-plane conjugation and poor charge transport. Guided by theoretical calculations, the authors present diketopyrrolopyrrole-based crystalline 2D poly(arylene vinylene)s with narrow optical band gaps of 1 eV and high charge carrier mobility.

The parent diphosphene molecule is of fundamental interest, but its reactive nature renders it challenging to isolate, and current metal-stabilized derivatives are limited to complexes of p-/d-metals. Here, the authors introduce f-element diphosphene complexes, adding to f-element diazenes that were first reported over thirty years ago.

Earth-abundant cobalt-based catalysts have shown promise to replace iridium as anode catalysts in proton-exchange-membrane water electrolysers, but unfortunately they exhibit high degradation rates. Now, a lanthanum and calcium co-modification of Co₃O₄ is presented, in which lanthanum tunes the water–surface interactions to suppress cobalt dissolution and improve stability, while calcium leaching creates coordinatively unsaturated cobalt sites, leading to enhanced activity.

Single atom catalysts, comprising minute amounts of transition metals dispersed on inert substrates, have emerged as prominent materials in heterogenous catalysis but their precise arrangement on surfaces is challenging. Here, the authors introduce the on-surface synthesis of a single atom platform wherein atoms are firmly anchored to specific coordination sites evenly distributed along carbon-based polymers.

The formation of glycylglycine, a simple peptide molecule, is possible under non-aqueous interstellar conditions, according to laboratory experiments. Thus, complex organics with biological relevance may predate planetary accretion.

Recent advances in the synthesis of graphene fragments that possess unpaired π-electrons and display high-spin ground states have unlocked possibilities to explore exotic physical phenomena related to magnetism. Here, the authors demonstrate the magnetic bistability of a diradical nanographene that allows direct spin manipulation at the single-molecule level.

There has been a recent interest in control of magnetism via ionic transport. The appeal of such magneto-ionic control lies in its extent, non-volatility and potential energy-efficiency, however, the number of systems showing such behaviour is limited. Here, Tan, Ma, and coauthors demonstrate magneto-ionic control through Carbon transport.

Machine learning expands quantum chemistry’s reach, but it struggles to generalize to unseen chemistry. Here, the authors develop a real-space learning strategy based on energy densities to build highly transferable quantum-chemical models.

The development of novel two-dimensional antiferromagnets is crucial for enhancing the performance of spintronic devices. Here, authors realize the synthesis of CrOCl monolayer films and nanosheets that exhibit excellent performance.

A gas–liquid–solid triphasic etching strategy is demonstrated to obtain MXenes with uniform and tunable halogen terminations. The resulting MXenes have highly ordered structures, enhanced charge transport properties and programmable surface chemistry for advanced (opto)electronic applications.

The large-scale production of bilirubin has long been a challenge. Here, the authors engineered an in vitro enzymatic cascade through systems-level design, enabling gram-scale synthesis of bilirubin.

Synthesis of aromatic belts with embedded thiophene structures, which manifest significant optoelectronic and conductive properties, has not yet been achieved. Herein, the authors report the synthesis of thiophene-fused aromatic belts via one-step sulfur cross-linking reaction of partially fluorinated cycloparaphenylenes.

Electrochemical hydrogenation can occur through adsorbed hydrogen or proton-coupled electron transfer from water. The authors show how competition between these pathways can be tuned by catalyst alloying, enabling selective conversion of acetylene to ethylene.

Fluorine-containing binders in battery dry electrode processing raise environmental concerns regarding restrictions on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Here, authors show that a fluorine-free binder, Parafilm, can be an alternative to enable primer-free high-loading electrodes with stable cycling for sustainable lithium-ion batteries.

Integrating CO₂ capture and electrochemical conversion avoids the thermal release of CO₂ and thus could potentially lower the energy needed to make useful products from CO₂, but choosing optimal system components is still challenging. Here the authors use piperazine alongside a nickel catalyst for capture and achieve high energy efficiency and stable CO production.

Pei et al. overcome desorption of passivating molecules under photothermal stress in wide-bandgap perovskites and achieve perovskite/Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ tandem solar cells with a certified efficiency of 27.35%.

The integration of high-κ dielectric materials with 2D semiconductors remains an important challenge for the implementation of post-silicon 2D electronics. Here, the authors report a HfSe₂ plasma oxidation method to integrate HfO₂ dielectric layers on both n- and p-type 2D semiconducting channels, showing the realisation of high-performance complementary electronic devices.

Vinyl acetate is an important polymer building block, but the mechanisms governing its catalytic production are not well understood. This study shows that dynamic palladium-acetate clusters determine catalyst efficiency and selectivity in vinyl acetate synthesis.

Nitrate contamination in water poses environmental and health risks. Here, authors design alkylated polyaniline polymers that selectively capture nitrate over chloride, improving removal efficiency and reducing costs in wastewater treatment.

The valorization of glycerol to propylene glycol is economically attractive but involves high hydrogen pressures. Here, the authors report a thermo-electroreduction strategy using a cobalt-cluster-on-copper catalyst, which enables propylene glycol production even at ampere level current density.

Conventional ammonia synthesis is energy intensive. Here the authors explore the mechanism of light-driven ammonia synthesis through in situ spectroscopy and modelling, and demonstrate that certain AuRu plasmonic alloys are promising catalysts for this potentially more sustainable process.

The synthesis of atomically precise gold nanoclusters is highly desired for fundamental studies and applications. Here, the authors report the formation of a superfluorinated gold nanocluster stabilized by a multi-branched highly fluorinated thiol ligand, and characterize its crystal structure and molecule-like spectroscopic properties.

Nanocrystal assembly is key to creating complex architectures. Here, the authors show that tuning competitive ion adsorption alters anisotropic surface potentials and electrostatic torques, directing facet attachment to enable alternative mesoscale designs.

Electrochemical hydrogenation drives a reversible conductor–insulator transition in graphene. Authors show that it is 10⁶× faster than other methods and tunable by isotope effects and lattice corrugations, enabling ionic control of 2D electronics.

Here the authors report NiGa₂O_4–x(OH)_y for light-driven CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol. The surface Lewis acid–base pairs and -OH groups act as conduits for H^- /H⁺ transport to active sites, enhancing photocatalytic methanol production.

Rechargeable zinc batteries are hindered by sluggish ion transport and unstable interfaces. Here, the authors design a zwitterionic gel-ligand-channel where molecular crowding promotes ion liberation, enabling fast ion migration and interfacial kinetics even at −60 °C.

A new class of moiré materials based on monolayers with triangular lattices and low-energy states at the M points of the Brillouin zone is introduced, demonstrating emergent momentum-space non-symmorphic symmetries, a kagome plane-wave lattice structure, and potential quasi-one-dimensionality.

The study reports a metal-organic framework (MOF) - covalent organic framework (COF) nanocomposite with dual amine sites that captures CO₂ efficiently and remains stable under humid, harsh conditions, offering a promising path for next-generation carbon capture.

The efficiency of palladium catalyzed CO₂ electroreduction is severely hindered by catalyst deactivation. Here, the authors report that engineering a palladium-fullerene interface enhances resistance to deactivation, enabling energy-efficient CO₂-to-formate conversion over a broad potential window.

The authors report a Fe–N₄ single-atom catalyst decorated with SiO₂ nanoparticles acting as radical scavengers, which reduce harmful byproducts and stabilize active sites, improving durability and activity for oxygen reduction.

A two-dimensional van der Waals material, NbOCl₂, that simultaneously exhibits near-unity linear dichroism (~99%) over 100 nm bandwidth in ultraviolet regime and large birefringence (0.26–0.46) within a wide visible–near-infrared transparency window is reported.

Spontaneous scrolling in two-dimensional polar van der Waals materials, driven by intrinsic out-of-plane electric polarization, enables the scalable production of nanoscrolls and their heterostructures.

Sustainable catalysts based on main-group elements, such as frustrated Lewis pairs, have emerged as alternatives to precious metal systems. Here the authors show that the charge-transfer band between P(mes)₃ and B(C₆F₅)₃ can be analyzed by supramolecular UV-vis spectroscopic techniques to provide the key thermodynamic parameter for the active encounter complex.

Metal–organic chemical vapour deposition enables the wafer-scale growth of hexagonal boron nitride with an AA stacking sequence that was previously considered thermodynamically unfavourable.

The authors develop a molecular dopant to avoid the dimerization of the electron-selective material phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester, resulting in enhanced stability and efficiency in inverted perovskite solar cells.

Proving sustainable chemical plastic recycling must rely on realistic feedstocks and sustainability-driven catalyst design. Here, the authors report titania-supported Ru–Ni alloy nanoparticles achieving up to 55% liquid (C6 to C45) products for low-carbon and profitable polyethylene hydrogenolysis and determine a metric for sustainable product distributions.

Here the authors report the synthesis of defect-rich boron nitride by flux reconstruction method, which exhibited good reactivity for semihydrogenation of low concentration acetylene in ethylene-abundant gas stream.

A robust pyrazolate metal–organic framework acts as both an adsorbent for perfluorooctanoic acid and a catalyst for degradation under mild conditions, providing an integrated approach for the capture and destruction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Traditional thermocatalytic production of ethylene is hindered by high energy penalty and carbon footprint. Here, the authors report an ambient bipolar ethylene electrosynthesis system by coupling oxidative decarboxylation of propanoic acid biowaste with CO₂ electroreduction.

An atomic stencilling method based on the co-adsorption of iodide and 2-naphthalenethiol on gold is described, yielding more than 20 different types of nanoparticle with masked and painted regions and patchy particle morphologies not reported previously.

Here, Ni-anchored Ru/RuO₂ heterostructure nanosheets serve as CO-tolerant hydrogen oxidation catalyst delivering a peak power density of 1.76 W cm^-2, along with long-term stability in an alkaline exchange membrane fuel cell operating under H₂/Air conditions.

The authors report non-adiabatic first principles molecular dynamics to show how an achiral molecule can be converted to a chiral one upon photoexcitation. These results demonstrate the possibility of asymmetric photochemistry starting from achiral reactants.

A manually operated portable water disinfection system can rapidly inactivate pathogens in water, offering a promising approach for safe water treatment in low-resource settings.

By carefully dispersing small amounts of Ir into the RuO₂ lattice, a Ru₆IrOₓ catalyst reduces Ir usage by 80% while still running stably for over 1,500 h at 2 A cm⁻² in both laboratory- and industrial-scale proton-exchange membrane water electrolysers.

Efficient voltage-controlled regulation of water and ion transport was achieved in stable Zr₄-Ti₃C₂T_x membranes. Under negative voltage, water diffusion was enhanced while ion transport was suppressed. This provides a promising strategy to overcome the intrinsic permeability– selectivity trade-off.

The high-voltage oxygen redox activity of Li-rich layered oxides enables additional capacity beyond conventional transition metal redox contributions. Here, authors investigate the correlation between oxygen redox activity and superstructure units. They prove that an excess of LiNiMn5 hinders the extraction/insertion of lithium ions.