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Accurately modeling CO2 electroreduction is key to advancing the technology and understanding its productivity and CO2 utilization trends. Now, Marcus–Hush–Chidsey theory offers accurate predictions of experimental results, leading to further insights beyond reaction kinetics.
Transitioning to more sustainable chemicals will require the challenging replacement of fossil resources with renewable carbon and energy sources in their production. Now, integrating industrial sectors offers an interim solution to mitigate emissions in the chemical industry until technologies for closing the carbon loop can be deployed at scale.
The carbon footprints of petrochemicals have large uncertainties, challenging decarbonization efforts. Now, a study identifies the main uncertainty sources and strategies for improving the accuracy of greenhouse gas emissions estimations and reporting for petrochemicals.
Liquid–liquid extraction is an indirect separation technique requiring solvent regeneration, and if a back-extraction is needed, it typically reduces the concentration. Now, using an electrochemical reaction, the concentration can be pumped up to 16 times the feed concentration.
Electric fields offer an easy means to manipulate liquid metal droplets. Now, directed droplet transfer between immersed electrodes is achieved in an alkaline electrolyte without electrical short circuit.
Properly maintaining the skin temperature is critical for wound healing, especially outdoors. Now, a lightweight and skin-friendly wound dressing is reported that can continuously cool the skin without energy input.
Conventional linearly responsive methods for quantifying host–guest complexation in supramolecular chemistry have a fairly narrow dynamic range. Now, a logarithmically responsive electrochemical method promises to facilitate the measurement of complex equilibria over a larger dynamic range in host–guest systems.
Fine chemical production mostly relies on petroleum-based chemical synthesis. Now, a process is established to produce benzyl acetate, the main fragrance molecule in jasmine scent, from renewable sugars with engineered bacteria.
Directing CO2 electroreduction toward a single C2 product poses challenges because the reaction mechanism is unclear. Now, oxygen affinity is identified as a potential key descriptor to manipulate the selectivity of ethylene versus ethanol.
Designing liquid devices with liquid pathways that can be reconfigured on-demand is important to many chemical and biological applications. Now, a facile approach enables reconfigurable liquid devices through precisely arranged connected liquid droplets that can be rapidly assembled and disassembled.
Fibers featuring anisotropic structures for liquid transport are often limited to specific liquids and are impractical for large-scale manufacturing. Now, a microfluidic fabrication technique produces continuous hemline-shaped microfibers with improved liquid transport properties and tunable flexibility.
Removing trace alkyne contaminants in crude ethylene is challenging by traditional catalytic hydrogenation. Now, adsorptive separation through advanced materials design selectively sequesters alkynes in a single-step pathway to produce high-purity ethylene from complex mixtures.
Lignin contains both C–O and C–C bonds, where C–C bonds are highly resistant to cleavage. Now, a bifunctional catalyst enables the cleavage of the challenging C–C bonds in lignin to produce biofuels.
