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A composite sorbent combining LiCl with MOF material Ni₂Cl₂(BTDD) enables high water uptakes while low desorption temperature, achieving solar-driven water yield over 1 L m^‒2 day^‒1, which has been confirmed in field tests even across diverse regions.

The reverse water–gas shift reaction is crucial for CO₂ conversion using renewable hydrogen, but simultaneously achieving high activity, selectivity, and stability in catalysts remains a challenge. Here, the authors introduce a near-surface “quasi-hyperbaric” ammonia strategy that integrates atmospheric-pressure processing with in situ ammonia decomposition to synthesize a high-energy Mo₂N-based catalyst capable of overcoming these trade-offs.

Recycling lithium-ion batteries is crucial for sustainability. Here, authors develop a “Three-in-One” strategy using mechanochemical treatment to recover over 95% lithium, upgrade transition metals into catalysts, and sequester CO₂, offering an efficient and environmentally friendly recycling solution.

Developing new transformations of bulky chemicals is an important approach to expand the horizons of current chemistry. Instead of traditional hydroarylation of dienes, the authors herein demonstrate a nickel-catalyzed arylative telomerization of isoprene with high chemo- and regioselectivities.

Clusters have proven useful models to elucidate the correlation between macroscopic properties and microstructures, but the exploration of actinide clusters lags. Here, the authors report the synthesis of a tetra-shell mixed-metal cluster which features a Th₁₃ core and acts as a highly effective visible light-driven CO₂ reduction photocatalyst.

Recently superconductivity was observed in La₃Ni₂O₇ ultrathin film grown on the SrLaAlO₄ substrate with T_c ≈ 40 K at ambient pressure. Here, the authors propose that an imposed strong perpendicular electric field can strongly enhance the T_c in the single-bilayer film of La₃Ni₂O₇ at ambient pressure.

Allylic amines are versatile building blocks in organic synthesis and exist in bioactive compounds, but efficient catalytic systems for hydroaminoalkylation of alkynes are needed. Here, the authors report a late transition metal‐catalyzed hydroaminoalkylation of alkynes with N‐sulfonyl amines, providing a series of allylic amines in up to 94% yield.

Grain chalkiness is an undesirable trait that severely compromises rice quality. Here, the authors report the cloning of an E3 ubiquitin ligase encoding gene Chalk9 and reveal its crucial role in regulating grain chalkiness through mediating the ubiquitination-dependent degradation of OsEBP89.

Traditional nanopore sensors use barrel-shaped protein channels. Here, the authors report on a study into the use of globular protein, ferritin, as a nanopore sensor, demonstrating membrane insertion and sensor application, showing the potential of non-barrel-shaped proteins for nanopore sensing.

While the ligand coordination microenvironment surrounding catalytic centres influences reactivity, dynamic oxygen reconstruction during water oxidation electrocatalysis complicates structure-based mechanistic insights. Now the in situ formation of lattice O–O ligands has been shown to activate Fe centres in metal oxides and hydroxides, thereby enhancing their oxygen evolution reaction activity.

The integrated CO₂ capture and conversion (iCCC) technology has been booming for carbon neutrality. Here the authors optimized the Ni–CaO composite catalyst to promote iCCC involving consecutive high-temperature Calcium-looping and dry reforming of methane and illustrated their synergistic promotions at the suitable catalyst interface.

An electron transfer mechanism that involves a light-triggered geometric conversion between metal and oxygen redox chemistry shows superior performance compared with approaches that use either metal or oxygen redox chemistry.

Dual-atom catalysts are promising for CO₂ reduction reactions; however, sluggish kinetics limit practical applications. Now, a Ni dual-atom catalyst has been synthesized, realizing efficient electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction with a CO partial current density of ~1 A cm² at >99% Faradaic efficiency.

Selective activation of specific C–F bonds in polyfluoroarenes remains a major challenge in organic synthesis. Now, a photoexcited nickel-catalysed cross-electrophile coupling between polyfluoroarenes and aryl chlorides has been developed. This enables highly selective arylation of atypical C–F sites, facilitated by a synergistic lithium salt effect.

Divalent cation–exchanged zeolites enable complete ambient NO₂ removal with zero NO emission, overcoming a long-standing challenge in air purification and establishing a scalable pathway for zero-emission NO_x filtration.

Thymine DNA glycosylase (TDG) was identified as a synthetic-lethal target in p53-deficient cancers through alterations in double-stranded RNA accumulation. A covalent small-molecule inhibitor of TDG exhibited potent efficacy against p53-deficient tumors.

Controlling the morphology of Pt-based nanostructures can provide a great opportunity to boost their catalytic activity and durability. Here the authors report anisotropic mesoporous Pt@Pt-skin Pt₃Ni core-shell framework nanowires for oxygen reduction reaction with enhanced mass activity and stability.

Development of suitable methanol oxidation reaction catalysts for direct methanol fuel cells is challenging due to sluggish kinetics. Herein, authors show that four-coordinate nickel atoms form charge-transfer orbitals near the Fermi energy level, leading to remarkable methanol oxidation activity.

An acid-free atmospheric leaching process extracts 97.4% Ni and 98.8% Co from critical minerals, limits iron dissolution (4.7%), and reduces CO₂ emissions by 59.5%, offering a sustainable alternative for battery-grade metal production.

A template-assisted route inspired by coordinating etching was utilized for the synthesis of noble metal-free, ternary through octonary, hollow HEO nanocubes through optimization of the coordinating etchant and reaction conditions.

Although structurally ordered intermetallic nanocrystals are promising electrocatalysts for fuel cells, their high-temperature large-scale preparation has proved challenging. A low-melting-point-metal-induced bond strength weakening strategy to promote alloy catalyst ordering is now proposed.

Coupled oxygen evolution mechanism provides an optimized electron transfer route during oxygen evolution process, but the underlying structure-activity relationship is still unclear. Here the authors investigate the role of eg* band broadening on the coupled oxygen evolution mechanism-based activities for Fe-doped NiOOH materials.

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.

Copper isotopes in the martian mantle are heavier than those in chondritic precursors, indicating that sulfides extracted isotopically light copper into the core during planetary differentiation. This process resulted in a sulfur-poor mantle and a sulfur-rich core, accounting for the observed depletion of chalcophile elements in the mantle. Isotopic evidence and modeling further reveal the history of martian differentiation, providing new insights into the early evolution of Mars.

Catalysts with improved hydrogen activation and substrate adsorption are required for advanced hydrogenation applications. Here, the authors fabricate metal organic framework coated platinum–nickel catalyst exhibiting enhanced hydrogenation activity and substrate selectivity due to molecular sieving effects.

Hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells operating in alkaline electrolyte are more cost-effective than their proton exchange membrane counterparts, but their performance is still considerably lower. Now, a Ni–Mo–Nb metallic glass is put forward as a hydrogen oxidation reaction catalyst with high activity and stability in alkaline electrolyte.

The authors develop a miniaturized Mg3Bi2-based thermoelectric cooler, achieving a high cooling power density of 5.7 W cm-2 and a cooling speed of 65 K s-1, demonstrating great promise for localized thermal management in electronics.

Integrating CO₂ capture and electrochemical conversion avoids the thermal release of CO₂ and thus could potentially lower the energy needed to make useful products from CO₂, but choosing optimal system components is still challenging. Here the authors use piperazine alongside a nickel catalyst for capture and achieve high energy efficiency and stable CO production.

Undercoordinated metal sites with well-defined structures and stability are desired properties for catalysts. Here, the authors construct a class of inorganic-organic hybrid electrocatalysts with enzyme-like properties, which exhibit enhanced electrochemical oxidation of 25 different organics.

Despite extensive structural studies elucidating how antigens are anchored to antigen-presenting molecules and presented to T cells, little is known about the display mechanism of the lipid-antigen-presenting molecule CD1c. Here, by combining structural immunology, lipidomics, and biophysical analysis, the authors reveal that the CD1c binding cleft accommodates two different lipids, one of them with a bulky headgroup positioned sideways for display to T cells, rather than upwards, different from the conventional upright antigen-presentation mode

Zinc and manganese are commonly used reductants but their redox potentials in organic solvents have not been studied. Now, these redox potentials have been measured, revealing the impact of solvents and additives. The reductant potential substantially influences the performance of nickel-catalysed cross-electrophile coupling reactions, highlighting the merits of tunable electrochemical reduction.

The synthesis of heterocyclic moieties pertaining to biologically active molecules from biomass-based starting compounds is very attractive yet underexplored. Herein, the authors report an electrocatalytic Achmatowicz reaction for the synthesis of hydropyranones from biomass-derived furfuryl alcohols.

The textile dyeing industry requires an easy-operation, atom economical, and efficient one-pot, one-step strategy for biosynthesizing indigoids. Here, the author report the engineering of artificial biosynthesis pathway to enable simultaneous production and in-situ bio-dyeing of indigoids for textiles.

Solid oxide cells are limited by slow oxygen exchange reaction kinetics at the oxygen electrode. Operando X-ray absorption and electrochemical analysis show that surface modification with a praseodymium oxide layer induces interfacial charge transfer and accelerates the surface kinetics.

Electrochemical conversion of nitrate into ammonia offers a method for mitigating nitrate pollution in water. Here the authors report the electrochemical nitrate-to-ammonia conversion using high-entropy oxide Mg_0.2Co_0.2Ni_0.2Cu_0.2Zn_0.2O and find that the Co spin states are crucial for synergistic ammonia generation.

 Centimetre-sized single-crystal rhombohedral boron nitride layers are achieved through bevel-edge epitaxy, and the resulting material exhibits robust, homogeneous and switchable ferroelectricity with a high Curie temperature.

Spontaneous scrolling in two-dimensional polar van der Waals materials, driven by intrinsic out-of-plane electric polarization, enables the scalable production of nanoscrolls and their heterostructures.

Using AI and computer simulations, this study finds that the Earth’s inner core may have a cubic structure, which better matches how seismic waves travel through it than the hexagonal form found in pure iron.

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%.

Developing efficient strategies to realize divergent arylation of dienes has been a longstanding synthetic challenge. Herein, a nickel-catalyzed divergent Mizoroki–Heck reaction of 1,3-dienes has been demonstrated through the modification of ligands and additives.

Polymerization-driven removal of pollutants in advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) allows for sustainable contamination abatement and resource recovery. Here, authors achieved pollutant removal via complete polymerization by tailoring d-band center of high-valent metal-oxo species.

Long-lasting oxygen catalysts are crucial for rechargeable zinc-air batteries. Here, the authors report that placing tungsten atoms next to iron atoms within N₄ units creates durable Fe-N₄/W-N₄ diatomic sites, enabling a zinc-air battery to cycle reliably for more than 10,000 h.

Viral proteins can achieve high multifunctionality, but mechanisms are poorly understood. This study shows structural flexibility of rabies virus P protein enables RNA binding and phase separation to expand functions by infiltrating host condensates.

Synthesizing functionalized polyethylenes via ethylene coordination copolymerization using vinyl polar monomers is challenging. Here, the authors present an approach utilizing binuclear Ni catalysis for ethylene/acrylamide copolymerization to synthesize cyano-functionalized polyethylenes.

In this work, a library of several hundred million compounds was computationally docked to a cryoEM structure of the orphan G protein-coupled receptor GPR139, leading to the discovery of a potent agonist with in vivo effects and insights into GPR139 signalling.

The transformation induced plasticity phenomenon is usually diffusionless. Here, the authors introduce elemental partitioning mediated crystalline-to-amorphous phase transformation in a crystal-glass nanolaminated composite, realizing ultrahigh strength and large plasticity.