Volume 4 Issue 10, October 2020

The formation of nanobubbles can limit the efficiency of nanoelectrodes. Molecular simulations can provide important physical insights on the nanobubble nucleation process that results in the current insensitivity to applied potential.

Single-molecule conductance measurements enable different conformers of cyclohexane to be observed at room temperature.

High pressure leads to striking new chemistry. Many new compounds with atypical compositions and a plethora of novel chemical species can be stabilized by the formation of homonuclear bonds and the activation of core electrons, non-valence and non-atomic orbitals.

Metal–ligand complexes undergo diverse charge-transfer processes when stimulated by light or electric fields. This Perspective describes how these processes can be exploited in photosensitizers, luminophores and resistive memory materials.

Iron–sulfur enzymes catalyse multielectron redox reactions in nature. This Perspective describes the in vitro methodologies by which we study these enzyme biosyntheses and compares the way in which different active sites are constructed.

This Perspective discusses the prospects of assembling multiple molecular machines within ordered frameworks, with the goal of producing artificial molecular factories in which molecular motions are coupled, synchronized and amplified across multiple length scales, leading to robust and stimuli-responsive solids.