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Perovskite solar cells degrade when subjected to reverse bias. Jiang et al. show that relatively thick hole transport layers and metal back contacts with improved electrochemical stability afford better tolerance to reverse bias.

Predictive electrocatalyst design is challenged by uncontrollable precatalyst reconstruction during operation. Here, informed by operando spectroscopies, activation protocols are developed to stabilize surfaces and improve catalyst reliability.

Conjugation of the ubiquitin-like protein SUMO to proteins regulates many biological processes. Insights are emerging into mechanisms that regulate the SUMO modification pathway, including other post-translational modifications. Many substrates also harbour additional characteristics that facilitate their modification.

The availability of surface oxygen vacancies or electrons is often viewed as the defining factor for the reactivity of perovskite oxides. Two precisely controlled surfaces on SrTiO₃(110) show strikingly different O exchange kinetics, which the authors ascribe to the flexibility of the surface polyhedra.

The preservation of soft tissues during fossilization is the outcome of a race between decay and mineralization. Here the authors show that differential preservation of the Gaojiashan fossil Conotubus hemiannulatuswas influenced by the duration of tissue degradation through bacterial sulfate reduction.

Iridium oxide is the state-of-the-art catalyst for water oxidation in an acidic electrolyte. Now amorphous and crystalline iridium oxides are studied using operando time-resolved optical spectroscopy, together with other techniques, to reveal the nature and density of active centres and the role of adsorbate–adsorbate interactions.

Samples from the asteroid (101955) Bennu, returned by the OSIRIS-REx mission, include sodium-bearing phosphates and sodium-rich carbonates, sulfates, chlorides and fluorides formed during evaporation of a late-stage brine.

Metal toxicity is a primary source of abnormalities in aquatic organisms, and these have been used to evaluate anthropogenic heavy metal pollution. Here, the authors suggest that abnormalities in Silurian acritarchs were caused by heavy metal pollution corresponding to Early Palaeozoic extinction events.

Developing chemistries for positive electrodes with large specific capacities and high operating potentials is highly desirable for aqueous zinc batteries. Here, authors report a reversible Se electrode that undergoes ZnSe↔Se↔SeCl₄ reaction, combined with Br⁻ /Br^{n –} redox couple as Se revitalizer to enhance cycling performance.

The cellular functions of poly-SUMO chains of different compositions are not fully understood. Here, the authors characterize Arkadia/RNF111 as a SUMO-targeted ubiquitin ligase that recognizes proteins with hybrid SUMO1-capped SUMO2/3 chains and targets them for proteasomal degradation.

The age of the representative Martian meteorite NWA 5298 is determined using spatially correlated electron-beam nanostructural and uranium–lead isotopic measurements of microminerals, resolving a paradox of different age interpretations for the evolution of Martian crust.

Liu et al. reveal that human TOPORS is a SUMO1-selective SUMO-targeted ubiquitin ligase (STUbL). The parallel action of TOPORS and the STUbL RNF4 defines a general mechanistic principle governing pathways driven by direct SUMO–ubiquitin crosstalk.

The water content of arc magmas in the lower crust can reach up to 20 wt% during crystallization, according to geochemical analyses of minerals from the Kohistan palaeo-arc, Pakistan, underscoring the role of water in porphyry deposits formation.

The very low water contents of minerals in achondrite meteorites from the early Solar System show that substantial amounts of water could only have been delivered to Earth by means of unmelted material.

In lithium-metal batteries, it is vital to quantify electrolyte side reactions occurring at the metal anode surface. Here, the authors introduce an electrochemical technique, using a series of small-step lithium deposition followed by open circuit voltage analysis, to accurately measure these reactions.

Seawater electrolysis at ampere-level current densities demands durable anodes for practical hydrogen production. Here, the authors report that a single non-oxygen anion enables dual modulation of surface and interlayer structures, stabilizing layered double hydroxide anodes for over 5,000 hours.

Ultraflat metal foils are important for the growth of high quality 2D materials, but their fabrication remains challenging. Here, the authors report a surface-acoustic-wave-assisted annealing method to flatten the surface of commercial Cu foils, leading to the growth of 2D graphene and hexagonal boron nitride with enhanced anti-corrosion properties.

Trace amounts of water dissolved in minerals play an important role in global tectonics through changing the density, viscosity and melting behaviour of the Earth’s mantle. Here, the authors identify the presence of molecular hydrogen in nominally anhydrous ecolgite minerals from the Kaapvaal and Siberian cratons, indicating that the storage capacity of H in the mantle may have been underestimated.

Ziegler-type polyolefin catalysts have proven to be hard to characterize. Here the authors present a model system consisting of patterned LaOCl spherical caps, simulating bulk particles while facilitating the use of micro(-spectro)scopic characterization techniques specifically aimed at surfaces.

The insoluble organic matter in primitive carbonaceous chondrites has a systematic large enrichment in deuterium and several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this. Here, the authors demonstrate that irradiation from the protosun could quantitatively explain the deuteration.

High thermal conductivity electronic materials are critical for next-generation electronics and photonics. Here, the authors report isotropic high thermal conductivity of 3C-SiC wafers exceeding 500 W m⁻¹K⁻¹.

Organisms regulate biogenic crystal properties for various functions. Here the authors reveal the genetic and biochemical control of crystal morphogenesis in zebrafish iridophores, showing that the chemical composition, influenced by enzyme expression, determines crystal morphology and functionality.

Here, authors report a linear functionalized solvent through molecular hybridization. Complementary ethers and carbonates are integrated into a single molecule, exhibiting properties suited for high-energy and high safety lithium metal batteries.

Metal halide perovskites have wide tunability in both material and device structure. Here Zhao et al. fabricate heterojunctions of colloidal perovskite quantum dots with different composition using layer-by-layer deposition and demonstrate improved photovoltaic performance with enhanced photocarrier harvesting.

Dark melanin pigment was detected in the fossilized skin of three distantly related marine reptiles (a leatherback turtle, mosasaur and ichthyosaur); benefits of thermoregulation and/or crypsis may have contributed to this melanisation, which therefore has implications for our understanding of how these animals may have lived.

The use of a dimensionally graded 2D perovskite interface and passivation results in perovskite solar cells with very low photovoltage loss.

Hybrid metal halide semiconductors typically rely on chiral A-site ammonium cations for chiral induction in the lattice. Now it has been shown that chirality in low-dimensional achiral metal halide semiconductors can be induced by non-ammonium, non-A-site chiral molecules through remote stereocontrol of the inorganic framework.

Selenium passivates defects in CdSe_xTe_1−x solar cells, improving performance. Bowman et al. used photoluminescence to show that whilst Se reduces grain boundary defects, it increases grain interior defects, possibly limiting efficiency gains.

Analysis of dendrite initiation, owing to filling of pores with lithium by means of microcracks, and propagation, caused by wedge opening, shows that there are two separate processes during dendrite failure of lithium metal solid-state batteries.

Low-temperature operation remains challenging for batteries. Here, the authors report an electrolyte solvation structure design strategy to break solvation dominance of ethylene carbonate to facilitate the desolvation process that improves the low-temperature performance of lithium-ion batteries even below −100 °C.

Quartz-rich clasts in Martian meteorite NWA 7533 indicate the presence of granitic rocks on early Mars that formed via hydrothermal activity and impact melting, according to petrologic and in situ geochemical analyses.

Understanding the corrosion mechanism of aqueous silicate glass is crucial for the long-term durability of nuclear waste glasses. This mechanism is generally thought to be associated with chemical affinity, but it is now demonstrated that morphological transformations also have an important role in the leaching kinetics of these glasses.

Low-bandgap tin–lead perovskites are key to all-perovskite tandem solar cells but simultaneous improvement in efficiency and stability has proven challenging. Now, Li et al. fabricate tin–lead perovskite cells with reduced methylammonium content that are 20.4% efficient and stable under illumination for 450 h.

Developing innovative materials for reduced energy consumption in phosphor converted white light-emitting diodes remains a challenge. Here, the authors report a narrow band red-emitting oxonitride material with a highly symmetrical Sr2 + coordination for energy efficient white light-emitting diodes.

The homogeneity of Aluminium-26 (Al-26) isotope distribution in the accreting solar nebula is debated. Here, the authors show that the age determination of meteorite Erg Chech 002, compared with other igneous meteorites, indicates that Al-26 was heterogeneously distributed in the early Solar System.

A comprehensive understanding of soot nucleation in flame combustion is still lacking. Here the authors identify homo- and heterodimers of small-to-moderate size polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the gas to soot transition region of a laminar diffusion methane flame as viable intermediates in the soot nucleation process.

Red-emitting perovskite LEDs were fabricated by stabilizing their octahedral structure with a ligand to yield devices with enhanced efficiency, spectral stability and lifetime.

A power conversion efficiency of 33.89% is achieved in perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells by using a bilayer passivation strategy to enhance electron extraction and suppress recombination.

The introduction of 3TPYMB, an n-type molecule into inverted perovskite solar cells, enables a power conversion efficiency of 25.6%, with devices maintaining up to 98% of the initial efficiency after 1,800 h of operation.

The stability of perovskite photovoltaics under reverse bias is limited and thus an issue for real-world applications. Nengxu Li and colleagues report the underlying degradation mechanism at the cathode side and a multilayer barrier to minimize it.

Piracetam improves wide-bandgap perovskite crystallinity and uniformity, enabling monolithic all-perovskite tandem solar cells with efficiencies of 28.71% (0.07 cm²) and 28.20% (1.02 cm²), ensuring minimal efficiency loss during scale-up.