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Improving the performance of commercial three-way catalysts like rhodium on alumina is a major challenge considering the limited design space allowed for such systems. Now, solution atomic layer deposition is used to incorporate titania or zirconia promoters into this catalyst, leading to remarkable improvements in its overall performance.
Platinum plays a crucial role in various electrocatalytic systems, but its scarcity and cost limit its practical application. Now, a single-atom tailoring strategy applied to platinum nanowires maximizes their specific and mass activities for the hydrogen evolution and methanol and ethanol oxidation reactions.
While converting methane to methanol is an attractive process, making a catalytic—and commercially viable—route has presented severe difficulties. Here van Bokhoven and co-workers discuss the successes, problems and misconceptions in the field, focusing on the reaction with molecular oxygen over zeolites.
The preeminent Haber–Bosch process has been feeding humankind for more than one hundred years. Are electrochemical pathways for ammonia synthesis able to compete with it in the future? Electrocatalysts, electrolytes and novel cell design may be key.
Electrochemical water splitting in acidic conditions is limited by the lack of inexpensive and stable anode catalysts. Now, Simonov and colleagues report a non-noble metal-based oxygen evolution catalyst formed in situ that exhibits high stability for acidic water oxidation due to a self-healing mechanism.
Electromicrobial production can replace fossil carbon with CO2 and electricity as feedstocks for chemical production. This work analyses and compares different electromicrobial production approaches, providing a data-driven roadmap for the sustainable and efficient implementation of this technology.
The availability of Lewis antigens allows the investigation of their important biological functions, but site-specific fucosylation for their synthesis is challenging. This work reports an enzymatic platform for the synthesis of complex Lewis antigens, offering an opportunity to explore the Lewis antigen related glycome.
For hydrogen to become a direct, portable fuel source, the difficulties with its storage and subsequent release must be addressed. Here ethylene glycol is shown to act as an efficient, reversible liquid-to-liquid hydrogen carrier—particularly attractive due to its theoretical H2 capacity of 6.5 wt%.
H2 is a promising mediator of electrons from electrodes to microbes for chemicals production from CO2—but its low solubility limits the productivity. This work reports nanoemulsions as H2 carriers that improve the solubility and transfer kinetics of H2, increasing the productivity of the system.
Given the fact that sodium is the most abundant alkali metal on Earth, the direct and indirect use of organosodium compounds in palladium-catalysed carbon–carbon bond forming reactions is an attractive alternative for sustainable organic synthesis.
Good durability and activity of single Ru atom catalysts is critical for their large-scale utilization in electrochemical water splitting. Now, both of these properties can be better controlled through compressive strain engineering.
High-yield production of a functionally active mimic of particulate methane monooxygenase in Escherichia coli has been presented. Investigation of its catalytic mode clarifies the role of duroquinol in biomimetic methanol production.
The diversity of engineered amine dehydrogenases for reductive amination remains limited. Now, native amino dehydrogenases offering a different sequence space and catalytic features are discovered — enhancing and broadening the biocatalysis toolbox.
Peer review has established itself as a crucial validation mechanism for modern science. Despite the disadvantages associated with its practice, it remains a powerful method to add value to scientific publications.
CO2 hydrogenation is frequently acclaimed as a strategy for greenhouse gases mitigation, although the carbon footprint of the corresponding electrocatalytic or thermocatalytic process is often neglected. This Perspective analyses the amount of CO2 generated during methanol production for different catalytic processes and hybrid thereof.