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A primary objective in solar energy conversion is to achieve long-lived light-driven redox separation. Now a modular self-assembly strategy has been developed to construct molecular p/n junctions surface-bound to transparent conducting ITO nanoparticle electrodes. Both photoanode and photocathode assemblies achieved remarkably long-lived redox separation lifetimes without making use of traditional wide-bandgap semiconductors.

A high-throughput method is presented for the synthesis and testing of alloy electrocatalysts for gas phase CO₂ electrolysis. Active ternary alloy catalysts were discovered and their structures characterized by X-ray pair distribution functional analysis.

The electrolysis of water provides a link between electrical energy and hydrogen, a high-energy-density fuel and a versatile energy carrier, but the process is expensive. Splitting the electrolysis reaction into two steps through an electrochemical 'buffer' offers a new way to think about improving the cost and efficiency of electrolysers.

Intercalation in graphite is generally driven by partial oxidation or reduction of the graphene sheets. Now, it has been shown that graphite microcrystals can be intercalated by Brønsted acids by heating a liquid suspension to dryness. The intercalated acid molecules interact weakly with the carbon sheets but assist in their exfoliation to single- and few-layer graphene.

An inorganic semiconductor can take the place of the liquid electrolyte typically used in dye-sensitized solar cells. This achievement points the way to making these devices more easily manufactured and more stable. See Letter p.486

Moving towards renewable energy sources requires pathways for efficiently converting electricity to chemicals, and gas-fed CO₂ electrolysers show promise. Now, the layer-by-layer assembly of a weak-acid cation exchange layer has been shown to affect the local pH in a bipolar-membrane-based gas-fed CO₂ electrolyser, improving the conversion efficiency of CO₂ to CO by suppressing the competing hydrogen evolution reaction.

Solid–electrolyte interphase is crucial for stabilizing lithium metal anodes for rechargeable batteries. A molecular-level design using a reactive polymer composite is now shown to effectively construct a stable SEI layer and suppress electrolyte consumption upon cycling.

Targeted delivery of microparticles is desirable for rapid, sensitive biological assays or self-assembly process. Here Daset al. use catalytic reactions on the surface of microfluidic chambers to generate unidirectional flows that carry and deposit microparticles to selective regions of the chamber.

Self-powered micropumps that are turned on by the presence of their respective substrates are formed from surface-immobilized, ATP-independent enzymes. Coupling substrate-sensing with transport enables the design of devices that deliver cargo in response to specific stimuli. Demonstrated here is the release of insulin at a rate proportional to ambient glucose concentration.

Topological magnetic monopoles are non-local spin textures that are robust to thermal and quantum fluctuations, but they are difficult to study at the nanoscale in real space. Now, soft X-ray vector ptycho-tomography is demonstrated to determine the three-dimensional magnetization vector and emergent magnetic field of such magnetic monopoles in a ferromagnetic meta-lattice.

So far, reports of molecular electrochemical water oxidation have involved catalytic transition metal complexes. Now it is demonstrated that water can be oxidized, and oxygen evolved, using a simple organic, flavin derivative.

Photocatalytic water splitting produces clean H₂ gas by converting light to chemical energy. In this Primer, Nishioka et al. describe reliable methods for conducting experiments and the proper characterization and evaluation techniques to improve reproducibility in this field.

Natural photosynthetic systems harvest light to perform selective chemistry on atmospheric molecules such as CO₂. This Review discusses the implementation of bioinspired concepts in engineered light harvesting and catalysis.

Low-molecular-weight compounds, which form physical gels, are called ‘gelators’ and have received a great amount of scientific and technological interest. The physical gelation by gelator results from non-covalent bonds, represented by hydrogen bond. Molecules of gelator are first self-assembled in cooling process, producing fibrous assemblies. Then, these fibrous assemblies form a three-dimensional network structure, and gelation occurs by trapping solvent in the networks. Fibrous assemblies can be observed by electron microscope. This is a transmission electron microscopy image of tetrachloromethane gel formed by N-octadecylamide of N-benzyloxycarbonyl-L-isoleucine.