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Electrochemical C–N coupling of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural with methylamine offers a sustainable route to produce value-added amines. Here, the authors present a facet-controlled Ag catalyst that tunes the substrate adsorption geometry and hydrogenation propensity for promoted selectivity.

This work describes a Pd−B diatomic catalyst that can selectively catalyze the photosynthesis of glycine via C−N coupling reaction between PET-derived ethylene glycol and nitrate, achieving a yield of 2.9 mmol g_cat⁻¹ h⁻¹ and selectivity of 92%.

Nucleophilic oxidation in electrosynthesis is hindered by slow dehydrogenation and the competing oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Here an oxyanion-stabilized low-coordinated Ni catalyst suppresses OER and Ni over-oxidation, enabling co-production of H₂ and valuable organic compounds.

We asked a group of chemical engineering educators with a broad set of research interests to reimagine the undergraduate curriculum, highlighting both current strengths and areas of needed development.

Electrocatalytic CO₂-to-acetate remains challenging for metal catalysts due to the linear scaling relationship. Here, the authors report a deposition-etching strategy to modulate sp²/sp³ carbon hybridization in diamond, regulating adsorption equilibrium of key intermediates for acetate formation.

Incorporating CO₂ into propane dehydrogenation (PDH) offers great potential for propylene production while simultaneously utilizing greenhouse gases; however, a key challenge is suppressing the undesired dry reforming of propane. Here, the authors present a coupled strategy that combines PDH with the reverse water–gas shift reaction through a tandem catalytic system.

A cluster randomized trial in China shows that telemedicine-based, village doctor-led delivery of integrated care reduced the occurrence of adverse cardiovascular events and hospitalizations in older adults with atrial fibrillation.

Developing low-cost, high-performance, and stable photoanodes is crucial for solar-driven photoelectrochemical energy conversion. Here, the authors report a semi-transparent photoanode design that enhances carrier mobility for unassisted water splitting by using an Ag layer and a p-n heterojunction.

CO₂-assisted alkane dehydrogenation faces sluggish reactions and limited yields. Here, a PtSn/SiO₂+nano-CaCO₃ tandem catalyst achieves superior ethylene yields by coupling ethane dehydrogenation with RWGS, effectively surpassing the equilibrium limit of nonoxidative ethane dehydrogenation process.

Electrochemical epoxidation by water is mainly hindered by the sluggish activation of C₂H₄ and the stiff formation of *OH intermediate. Here, the authors report an Ag/SnO₂ interface to promote C₂H₄ adsorption and electrophilic *OH generation, leading to promoted production of ethylene oxide.

Orbital torque, arising from the orbital Hall effect, allows for the manipulation of magnetic order. Crucially, many light elements have large orbital Hall effects and therefore large orbital torques. Here, Zhang, Wei, Duan, Chen, and coauthors demonstrate efficient magnetization switching of Fe3GaTe2 using orbital torque.

While the reduction of CO₂ to specific products offers a valuable approach mitigating gas emissions, it is challenging to control the formation of crucial intermediates. Here, authors report a strategy to promote the formation of oxygen-bound intermediates and boost the methanol production.

Accurately genotyping structural variations (SVs) from short-read sequencing data is challenging. Here, the authors introduce SVLearn for precise genotyping of bi-allelic SVs, demonstrating robust cross-species generalizability across multiple coverage levels.

Regulation of Cu facets to promote electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction is interesting and challenging. Here the authors describe a deposition-etch-bombardment synthetic approach to prepare Cu(100)-rich thin film electrodes for CO₂ electroreduction with over 50% ethylene Faradaic efficiency at a total current of 12 A.

Here, the authors report a Si photoanode coated with a TiO₂/stainless steel bilayer to inhibit chloride adsorption and facilitate stable alkaline seawater splitting for over 50 h with an applied bias photon-to-current efficiency of 2.62%.

The mechanism of how interfacial wettability impacts the CO₂ electcgq Herein, the authors describe the design and realization of controllable equilibrium of kinetic controlled *CO and *H to reveal its contribution to ethylene and ethanol pathways.

Electroreductive coupling of benzaldehyde is mainly hindered by the mismatch between initial formation and subsequent dimerization of the ketyl intermediates. Here the authors report a strategy to balance the active sites for the generation and dimerization of the ketyl intermediates, leading to promoted production rate of hydrobenzoin.

Conversion of CO₂ into value-added products with renewable energy provides a promising route to realize carbon neutrality. Here, authors design and construct a Si photoelectrochemical flow cells for CO₂ reduction reaction to achieve a high solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of blindness worldwide. Here, the authors carry out a two-stage genome-wide association study for AMD and identify three new AMD risk loci, highlighting the shared and distinct genetic basis of the disease in East Asians and Europeans.

Intermetallic alloys (IMAs) hold significant potential for catalysis. Here, the authors present a robust gas-migration method for synthesizing stable and uniform IMAs, which exhibit exceptional stability over 1300 h in propane dehydrogenation.

The active sites over oxide-derived copper (OD-Cu) catalysts for CO₂ electroreduction are unclear. Here, the authors show atom-level product-specific active sites on OD-Cu surface models, where planar and convex square sites are responsible for ethylene while the step square site favours alcohols generation.

Manganese oxides typically undergo irreversible phase transformations during redox reactions due to the Jahn-Teller effect. This study introduces adjacent B-Ni single-atomic sites as an electron reservoir to precisely control electron transfer pathways, enabling both high catalytic activity and stability.

Transition metal carbides exhibit outstanding performance in the selective hydrogenation of acetylene, but carburizing Pd-based intermetallic compounds has been challenging. Here, the authors present a successful synthesis of Pd₃ZnC_x intermetallic carbide for selective hydrogenation of acetylene through a one-step co-infiltration of zinc and carbon using syngas.

Interpretable machine learning offers a powerful method for accelerating catalyst design. Here the authors report an interpretable descriptor model to unify activity and selectivity prediction for multiple electrocatalysis using only easily accessible intrinsic properties.

The catalytic partial oxidation of methane (POM) is a promising technology for synthesizing syngas but suffers from severe over-oxidation on the catalyst surface. Here the authors demonstrate that regulating O* occupation in an atomically dispersed MoNi alloy can achieve high catalytic performance for POM.

The electrochemical reduction of CO for sustainable fuel production has gained attention, but the reaction mechanism needs further clarification. Here the authors delve into the discussion regarding whether the rate-determining step for the generation of multi-carbon products is the C-C coupling or the hydrogenation of CO, and provide evidence for dimerization of two *CO as the pivotal step in this process.

Through the use of a plasmon-active atomically sharp tip and an ultrathin insulating film, and precise junction control in a highly confined nanocavity plasmon field at the scanning tunnelling microscope junction, sub-nanometre-resolved single-molecule near-field photoluminescence imaging with a spatial resolution down to ∼8 Å is achieved.

The heterogeneous catalytic dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons usually suffers from a negative pressure dependence on H₂. Now it has been shown that for propane dehydrogenation on gallium oxide-based catalysts, a positive activity dependence on H₂ partial pressure arises from a metastable hydride-mediated catalysis in which gallium hydrides promote C–H activation.

Hydrogen-bonds are widely found in many systems, such as DNAs and supramolecular assemblies, but it remains challenging to detect their dynamics at a molecular level. Here, Zhou et al. study the stochastic arrangement of hydrogen bonds using single-molecule junctions connected to graphene electrodes.

A simple descriptor called degree-of-isolation is proposed to describe the microenvironment and determine the effectiveness of active sites in single-site alloys. For a single-site alloy with a high degree-of-isolation, alternation of the active centre strongly affects the selectivity.

Non-oxidative dehydrogenation technologies suffer from the thermodynamic equilibrium limitations and severe coking. Here, the authors report the intensified propane dehydrogenation to propylene by the chemical looping engineering on nanoscale core-shell redox catalysts.

A MoO₃-Fe₂O₃ redox catalyst with dispersed Mo species on γ-Fe₂O₃ is synthesized for the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane via chemical looping. Acid sites and lattice oxygen regulation promote the production of and selectivity for propylene.

Multicomponent colloidal nanostructures have topologically dependent chemical and physical properties, but are difficult to synthesise with high order complexity. Here, Nie and co-workers show a general and scalable route to synthesise such structures with unique coaxial-like construction.

Nanoscale copper catalysts are useful for the selective hydrogenation of carbon–oxygen bonds, although they may be deactivated under harsh conditions. Here the authors report the enhanced activity and stability of core-sheath copper-phyllosilicate nanoreactors due to electronic and morphological effects.

Preparation of inorganic protective layers for photoelectrodes requires high-quality deposition techniques. Here, the authors report a spin-coated organic protective layer that enables Si photocathodes to realize stable solar water splitting.

Electroreduction of CO₂ is heavily investigated but its reaction mechanism needs to be further explored. Here, the authors investigate pH dependency and kinetic isotope effect with respect to the rate expression of CO₂ electroreduction to gain further insights into the rate-limiting step.

Enhancing the catalytic activity of noble-metal alloys is frequently accompanied by side reactions. Here, the authors describe an approach to break the scaling relationship for propane dehydrogenation, by assembling single atom alloys, to achieve simultaneous enhancement of propylene selectivity and propane conversion.

Solution-phase welding of nanoparticles to form larger structures typically requires that the particles are the same type, limiting the diversity of possible products. Here, the authors report a welding process between gold and chalcogenide nanoparticles in dispersion that leads to asymmetric hybrid nanoparticles with two distinct domains.

Solar energy conversion may provide a renewable means to store energy as fuels, although there are a limited range of suitable photocatalysts. Here authors develop germanium and silicon based 2D materials with tunable bandgaps for high-performance photocatalytic water and CO₂ reduction.

Titanium dioxide is a promising photocatalyst for water splitting, although it suffers from low visible light activity. Here, the authors fabricate sub-10 nm rutile nanoparticles and investigate the role of surface/sub-surface defects in band-gap narrowing and enhanced charge-carrier separation.

A strategy is reported for developing heterogeneous catalysts by deriving descriptors for their activity, selectivity and stability.

Food production in a given solar footprint is limited by the efficiency of natural photosynthesis. Now, a hybrid electrochemical–biological artificial photosynthesis system demonstrates the potential for food synthesis from CO₂ and electricity, enabling a paradigm shift in food production.

A combination of two different types of sites shows high catalytic performance for selective hydrogenation due to hydrogen spillover.

Light-driven carbon dioxide conversion into fuels provides a nature-inspired strategy to combat climate change, but how materials do so remains a challenge. Here, the authors prepare metal–semiconductor composites and find platinum-nanoparticle size controls fuel selectivity and activity.

Photocatalytic systems for CO₂ conversion to fuels tend to suffer from low selectivity, and sacrificial reagents or external bias are often required to make the reaction work. Now, a wireless and stand-alone photocatalyst device is demonstrated that converts CO₂ and water into formate and O₂ using solar energy without external bias.