Browse Articles

CO is a vital building block in organic synthesis but, due to its toxicity, storage and transport can be problematic. This review focuses on the methods — both chemical and electrochemical — for the in situ generation of CO from CO₂, and its subsequent incorporation into chemicals through catalytic means.

Scaling relationships provide powerful predictive opportunities in catalysis, but at the same time also reflect the limitations related to the design of new catalytic systems. Now, theoretical studies show how mechanical strain on catalyst surfaces can be engineered to break scaling relations.

The creation of artificial reaction networks whose dynamics are programmable and predictable is a central goal in synthetic biology. This work describes an enzymatic reaction network that can generate tunable complex dynamics based on delayed and self-adapting substrate competition.

Homogeneous, heterogeneous and enzyme catalysts each provide distinct advantages and disadvantages. This Perspective discusses important approaches, benefits and challenges of constructing hybrid catalysts, revealing their potential to improve various catalytic processes.

Despite the central role that the solid electrolyte interphase plays on the efficiency of Li-ion batteries, little is known about its formation mechanism. It is now shown that LiF forms on graphite anodes as a result of the electrocatalytic transformation of HF impurities present in the electrolyte.

Plasma catalysis holds promise for overcoming the limitations of conventional catalysis. Now, a kinetic model for ammonia synthesis is reported to predict optimal catalysts for use with plasmas. Reactor measurements at near-ambient conditions confirm the predicted catalytic rates, which are similar to those obtained in the Haber–Bosch process.

Morphological changes in catalyst structure are known to occur during electrocatalysis, and understanding such changes is important to gain insight into the catalytic process. Now, in the case of iridium oxide, these surface changes are probed in atomic-scale detail during the oxygen evolution reaction, and correlated with activity and stability.

Electrochemical routes for the production of hydrogen peroxide would reduce the waste inherent in the current anthraquinone process, and also make distributed and on-site production more feasible. Here, inexpensive reduced graphene oxide is proven to be a stable and selective catalyst for oxygen reduction at remarkably low overpotentials.

Aminocarboxylic acids are used in a broad range of domestic products and industrial applications. Here, Poelarends and co-workers report a chemoenzymatic route for the asymmetric synthesis of the antibiotic co-drug candidate aspergillomarasmine A and related aminocarboxylic acids by exploiting the broad substrate promiscuity of ethylenediamine-N,N′-disuccinic acid (EDDS) lyase.

Solvents are used pervasively in catalytic studies to enhance kinetics and selectivities. Now, the analysis of biomass upgrading has been remarkably simplified by elucidating the solvation effects of dehydration for key compounds with solvent-enabled control of reactivity.

In situ studies are very important to advance our comprehension of catalytic reactions and are expected to be boosted by the development of more powerful analytical tools.

Fluctuations in the composition of reactant gas mixtures often lead to activity and selectivity variations in automotive catalysts. Now, time-resolved operando spectroscopy sheds light on the transient changes of surface species for a commercially applied catalyst and leads to process optimization.

Lyases are enzymes that catalyse the breaking of chemical bonds. Now, reversing this reaction towards carbon–nitrogen bond formation allows for the synthesis of various chiral aminocarboxylic acids such as the potential antibiotic co-drug aspergillomarasmine A.

Ammonia synthesis is an energy-intensive process due to the high activation barrier for N₂ dissociation, which is the rate-determining step on conventional catalysts. Now, a ternary intermetallic catalyst is reported to be capable of catalysing this reaction through an alternative pathway.

For practical applications, water-oxidation catalysts should be inexpensive, active and stable. Here, Cronin and co-workers dope molybdenum into the Weakley sandwich-type polyoxometalate, showing that this dramatically lowers the overpotential for the oxygen evolution reaction while maintaining the stability against oxidation.

Selective catalytic reduction is employed at the exhaust of diesel vehicles to abate nitrogen oxide emissions. Now, guided by time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy and transient experiments using Cu-SSZ-13 as the catalyst, the authors unravel important features of the reaction mechanism that allow the performance of the catalyst to be improved.