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The stability of PEM water electrolysers is severely affected by the purity of the water employed. Here a cobalt-doped RuO₂ catalyst is developed to operate with water treated with reverse osmosis, which contains a significant amount of residual ions, achieving a degradation rate of only 10 μV h⁻¹ after 2,000 h of continuous operation at 1 A cm⁻².

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.

Ion–solvent interactions at battery interfaces share parallels with solvation effects in catalysis. This analysis examines how interfacial solvation structures influence interphase formation and charge transfer, offering insights into electrochemical behaviour under complex conditions.

Aqueous zinc–iodine batteries offer an inexpensive, safe technology for energy storage, but using inactive host materials limits the energy density and polyiodide shuttling reduces cycling lifetimes. Now it has been shown that integrating electroactive ferrocene into cathodes offers additional capacity to enhance energy density and enables shuttle-free operation.

The controlled synthesis of monodisperse nanospheres faces a number of difficulties, such as extensive crosslinking during hydrothermal processes. Here, the authors show a route for the controlled synthesis of mesoporous polymer nanospheres, which can be further converted into carbon nanospheres through carbonization.

As part of the first anniversary issue of Nature Chemical Engineering, we present a collection of opinions from 40 researchers within the field on what they think are the most exciting opportunities that lie ahead for their respective topics.

Stabilizing sulfur dopants on metal surfaces is important but challenging in acidic CO₂ to HCOOH electrolysis, especially under high current densities. Here the authors present phase engineered SnS pre-catalyst with stronger intrinsic Sn-S binding strength for CO₂ conversion to HCOOH at > 1 A cm⁻² in acidic medium.

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.

Urea electrooxidation reaction is of great importance in energy related applications and devices but is limited by competing oxygen evolution reaction. Here, the authors report oxyanion-engineered nickel catalysts that can achieve efficient urea oxidation while suppressing oxygen evolution reaction.

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.

Aqueous sodium-ion batteries show promise for large-scale energy storage, yet face challenges due to water decomposition, limiting their energy density and lifespan. Here, the authors report a cathode surface coating strategy in an alkaline electrolyte to enhance the stability of both electrolyte and battery.

A transition metal/carbon nanocomposite material has been designed for positive electrodes in Li||S batteries. It enables Li||S batteries to be fast charged–discharged in <5 min, which represents a breakthrough in the development of high-power Li||S batteries.

Incomplete conversion of sodium polysulfides represents a significant issue in room-temperature sodium-sulfur batteries. Here, the authors propose Mo₅N₆ as an electrocatalyst for efficient Na₂S electrodeposition and improved cell cycling performances.

Extensive first principles calculations carried out show that the relative stability of facets of anatase can be switched by terminating the surfaces with fluorine. It is then demonstrated that uniform anatase single crystals with a high percentage of {001} facets can be generated using hydrofluoric acid as a structure directing agent. Subsequently, surfaces can be freed of fluorine using a simple heat treatment.

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.

RuO₂ is a promising anode catalyst for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers but suffers from poor catalytic stability. Here the authors present a rhenium-doped RuO₂ with a unique dynamic electron accepting-donating that adaptively boosts activity and stability in acidic water oxidation.

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) are attractive for a variety of applications but their synthesis remains challenging. Now, a scalable and economical 3D-printing approach has been developed for producing libraries of SACs using a variety of metals, coordination environments and spatial geometries.

It is of high interest to convert CO₂ into valuable ethanol product. Here the authors demonstrate the asymmetric C-C coupling triggered on Ag-modified oxide-derived Cu sites can accelerate and steer the reaction pathway for ethanol production with high faradaic efficiency and current density.

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.

A navigation and positioning strategy is proposed for the scalable synthesis of a series of heteronuclear dual-atom catalysts via irradiation. It is shown that photo-induced electron accumulation at the M₁ site can attract an M₂ metal cation, forming heteronuclear dimers with high purity.

Solar hydrogen production through photocatalytic water splitting requires active and stable co-catalysts to replace platinum. Here, the authors use DFT to identify Ti₃C₂nanoparticles as potential co-catalysts, and assess their photocatalytic hydrogen production activity.

Metal-free doped-graphene materials are emerging as electrocatalysts for energy conversions, but their activity remains low. Here, Jiao et al. explore the origins of catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution, suggesting pathways to metal-free catalysts with activity to rival metal-containing benchmarks.

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.

Specific forms of nitrogen doping can endow carbon-based metal-free materials with electrocatalytic activity. Now, introducing sp-hybridized nitrogen atoms into some acetylenic sites of ultra-thin graphdiyne — a highly π-conjugated lamellar carbon allotrope — has led to excellent oxygen reduction reaction activity.

Achieving long-term stability of water oxidation electrocatalysts remains a formidable challenge. Now, an in situ electrochemical reduction strategy to revivify mixed Ni–Fe hydroxide catalysts by reversible phase segregation is presented.

Post-lithium metal||S batteries show promise for practical applications, but limited understanding of cell parameters and sulfur electrocatalytic conversion hampers progress. This Perspective provides critical insights on potential research directions for designing practical post-lithium metal||S batteries.

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.