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Mietek Jaroniec reflects on how silicon, whether bonded with other elements in a variety of materials, in high purity for electronic devices, or in its newer 'black silicon' form, continues to be invaluable in many aspects of our lives.

Electrolysis of dirty water is an attractive route to clean hydrogen, but fluctuating surface pH quickly ruins electrodes. Here, the authors report an ion-selective polymer gate that steadies surface pH, bars harmful ions and lets seawater-fed cells run 1500 h with pure-water durability.

Donor-acceptor polymers have potential for application in photocatalysis, but often harsh synthetic conditions are required. Here, the authors report a post-synthetic method for conversion to donor-acceptor states, to give a polymer capable of enhancing photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide synthesis.

Urea electrooxidation offers an energy-saving route for hydrogen production but faces challenges from costly reactants and slow kinetics. Here, the authors introduce a chlorine-mediated electrolysis system using natural urine as feedstock, achieving enhanced and cost-effective hydrogen production.

Large-scale alkaline seawater electrolysis demands robust anodes for efficient hydrogen production. Here, the authors report a NiFe layered double hydroxide anode with intercalated phosphates, achieving stable performance at 1.0 A cm⁻² for over 1,000 hours, offering improved durability and activity.

Acidic and basic molecules are antagonistic, and keeping them in their place is no easy job — unless, it seems, one unites them under the tutelage of ordered, nanoporous materials known as organosilicas.

Direct seawater electrolysis is an approach to produce hydrogen from an abundant water source, but current catalysts face performance and durability challenges. Here Guo et al. introduce a hard Lewis acid layer on the catalyst surface that generates local alkalinity, facilitating water splitting and minimizing degradation.

Surface structure manipulation can manipulate the activity and durability of catalysts. Here, the authors report a series of one-dimensional single crystal cobalt oxide nanorods, and show that surface oxygen vacancy formation modifies electronic and adsorption properties leading to enhanced electrocatalysis.

Electrocatalytic reduction of water is a very important process for developing energy solutions. Here, the authors report a graphitic-carbon nitride/nitrogen-doped graphene composite material capable of efficiently evolving hydrogen, and experimentally and computationally probe the origin of this behaviour.

While light-driven water splitting offers a renewable means to produce fuel, the limited availability of high-performance materials inspires the search for new photocatalysts. Here, authors demonstrate two-dimensional NiPS₃ to enhance semiconductor photocatalytic H₂ evolution activities.

Urea electrosyntehsis from CO2 and NOx is a challenging reaction that is becoming increasingly important. This work uses ab initio molecular dynamics simulations to reveal the origin of C-N coupling mechanisms and reaction networks in urea synthesis.

The sulfur cathode in metal-sulfur batteries normally undergoes electrochemical reduction to form metal sulfides. Here, the authors demonstrate the electrochemical oxidation of sulfur in ionic liquid for high-voltage aluminium-sulfur batteries.

Urea oxidation could be a lower-energy alternative to water oxidation in hydrogen-producing electrolysers, but improved catalysts are required to facilitate the reaction. Geng et al. report nickel ferrocyanide as a promising catalyst and suggest that it operates via a different pathway to that of previous materials.

Most of the current understanding on electrocatalysis is obtained on bulk catalysts but has not been fully verified on nanostructured materials. An alternative alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction mechanism is proposed here for nanostructured catalysts.

The efficiencies of materials-based catalysts are determined by the surface atomic and electronic structures, but harnessing this relationship can be challenging. Here, by engineering strain into cobalt oxide, the authors transform a once poor hydrogen evolution catalyst into one that is competitive with the state of the art.

Major strategies for the preparation and rational design of nanoporous carbon spheres as well as the investigation of their properties for energy conversion and storage, catalysis and biomedical applications are now critically reviewed.

Herein, we elaborated a facile and generally applicable synthetic strategy to ensure confinement of uniformly dispersed noble-metal nanoparticles (Au, Pt, Rh, Ru, Ag, Pd and Ir) within various carbon morphologies with controlled loadings from 8 to 44%. The metal nanoparticles were small (~2 nm), but importantly were evenly distributed throughout the carbon support even at the highest loading, allowing for a significantly higher surface area for rapid and even selective catalysis.