Physical chemistry articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Propensity for a given Λ-doublet level is a common feature in many chemical reactions, but has so far remained unexplained. Here, the authors show how to predict computationally those propensities and relate them to the reaction mechanism on concurrent potential energy surfaces.

    • P. G. Jambrina
    • , A. Zanchet
    •  & F. J. Aoiz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Indium arsenide quantum dots are promising materials for short-wavelength infrared emissive applications. Here, the authors investigate the kinetics of indium arsenide nanocrystal growth and design large quantum dots with narrow emission wavelengths which can be used for through-skull fluorescence imaging.

    • Daniel Franke
    • , Daniel K. Harris
    •  & Moungi G. Bawendi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photocatalytic water splitting is a promising route to hydrogen generation from renewable solar power. Here, the authors report a hydrogen-evolving photochemical molecular device based on a self-assembled coordination cage, which simultaneously incorporates multiple photosensitizing and catalytic metal centres.

    • Sha Chen
    • , Kang Li
    •  & Cheng-Yong Su

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Large methane hydrates reserves are found in mud volcanoes, but climate change may lead to methane release. Here, the authors show that methane adsorption creates overpressures leading to rapid recirculation of seawater, thus reducing the melting timescales of methane hydrates from millennia to decades.

    • Silvana S. S. Cardoso
    •  & Julyan H. E. Cartwright

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molybdenum disulfide shows potential for use in nanoelectronics and optoelectronics. Here, the authors use electrochemical intercalation to tune its structural and compositional features, and show that the thermal conductivity can be effectively modified over a considerable range.

    • Gaohua Zhu
    • , Jun Liu
    •  & David G. Cahill

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The high observed abundance of atmospheric methanol over remote oceans is still not well-explained. Here the authors use quantum calculations and atmospheric modelling to show the reaction of methyl peroxy and hydroxyl radicals is a major methanol source (115 Tg/yr), comparable to global terrestrial emissions.

    • Jean-François Müller
    • , Zhen Liu
    •  & Jozef Peeters

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sulfur-substituted nucleobases are promising photo- and chemotherapeutic drugs. Here, the authors unravel the electronic and structural aspects that lead to the ultrafast population of triplet states in these molecules, providing an explanation for their efficiency as photosensitizers.

    • Sebastian Mai
    • , Marvin Pollum
    •  & Leticia González

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecules on a metal surface may be modified by the presence of oxide layers, but further mechanistic understanding is still required. Here the authors show for methanol on rutile TiO2(110) that strongly bonded adsorbates lift surface relaxations, leading to substrate-mediated interaction between adsorbates.

    • David Silber
    • , Piotr M. Kowalski
    •  & Christof Wöll

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Charge generation and transport are crucial to the performance of organic solar cells, but the mechanism remains controversial. Causa’ et al. show that the phase morphology of polymer:fullerene blends determines the exciton dissociation at femtoseconds, although the spatial separation can occur at picoseconds.

    • Martina Causa'
    • , Jelissa De Jonghe-Risse
    •  & Natalie Banerji

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photon upconversion can be used to harvest low energy photons, which are otherwise lost in solar cells. Here, Börjesson et al. use a well-oriented liquid crystal matrix to host the upconversion system in order to emit upconverted photons in a preferential direction, where the solar cells would be located.

    • K. Börjesson
    • , P. Rudquist
    •  & K. Moth-Poulsen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Protein subunits on the capsids of icosahedral viruses can form patterns with rotational symmetry, which are difficult to recreate in the laboratory. Here the authors report a strategy to construct 3D chiral polyhedra with rotational faces from 2D chiral truxene-based units through dynamic covalent chemistry.

    • Xinchang Wang
    • , Yu Wang
    •  & Xiaoyu Cao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-molecule-terminated scanning probes typically operate under ultra-high vacuum conditions at low temperatures. Here, the authors show that tips functionalized with C60 can image single-layer graphene and MoS2with high definition in a liquid environment at room temperature

    • Peter Nirmalraj
    • , Damien Thompson
    •  & Heike Riel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Energy alignment in molecular tunnelling junctions is desirable for altering their electrical properties, however controllability is still an issue. Here the authors report a 2 orders-of-magnitude increase in the tunnelling current via chemical control of the energy-level alignment at a two-terminal junction.

    • Li Yuan
    • , Carlos Franco
    •  & Christian A. Nijhuis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photochemical dehydrogenation of anhydrous methanol is a relatively low temperature hydrogen generation process. Here, the authors report a series of compounds for room temperature anhydrous methanol dehydrogenation, together with the mechanism for the photochemical generation of hydrogen radicals.

    • Masanori Wakizaka
    • , Takeshi Matsumoto
    •  & Ho-Chol Chang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While molecular photoswitches have proven useful in many fields, selective and reversible control over multiple switches is an unsolved challenge. Here, the authors report on a system consisting of two classes of photoswitches that can be addressed orthogonally and demonstrate the applicability in phase-transfer control.

    • Michael M. Lerch
    • , Mickel J. Hansen
    •  & Ben L. Feringa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecules trapped between the layers of two-dimensional materials are thought to experience high pressure. Here, the authors report measurements of this interfacial pressure by capturing pressure-sensitive molecules and studying their structural changes, and show that it can also induce chemical reaction.

    • K. S. Vasu
    • , E. Prestat
    •  & R. R. Nair

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metal oxide semiconductors are promising materials for solar energy capture but can suffer from stability problems. Here, the authors present a methodology for evaluating corrosion mechanisms and apply it to BiVO4, revealing chemical instabilities that are not predicted from thermodynamic considerations alone.

    • Francesca M. Toma
    • , Jason K. Cooper
    •  & Ian D. Sharp

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Liquid crystals are used in many applications, such as removable adhesives, but this requires both good bonding strength, and its rapid disappearance under an external stimulus. Here, Saito and others report a dynamic liquid crystal material that loses is bonding strength under photo irradiation.

    • Shohei Saito
    • , Shunpei Nobusue
    •  & Shigehiro Yamaguchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Technetium-99 retention in spinel-containing glass is a promising strategy for radioactive waste management, but volatility is still an issue. Here, the authors show that doping magnetite with 1st row transition metals enhances technetium retention by altering the redox capacity of the Tc-containing spinel.

    • Mal-Soon Lee
    • , Wooyong Um
    •  & Vassiliki-Alexandra Glezakou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Carbon dioxide electroreduction is a promising route to hydrocarbon synthesis, but more efficient and selective catalysts are needed. Here the authors show that plasma-activated copper can catalyse the reduction of carbon dioxide to ethylene with high efficiency and reveal cationic copper as the active site.

    • Hemma Mistry
    • , Ana Sofia Varela
    •  & Beatriz Roldan Cuenya

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrode degradation due to metal-ion dissolution in conventional electrolyte hampers the performance of 5 V-class lithium ion batteries. Here, the authors employ a high concentration electrolyte to inhibit metal-ion dissolution and realize a stable high voltage LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4/graphite battery.

    • Jianhui Wang
    • , Yuki Yamada
    •  & Atsuo Yamada

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Platinum-based nanowires are promising for fuel cell applications due to their high catalytic activity. Here the authors report on hierarchical platinum-cobalt nanowires with high-index facets showing specific/mass activities for oxygen reduction reaction 39.6/33.7 times higher than commercial Pt/C catalyst.

    • Lingzheng Bu
    • , Shaojun Guo
    •  & Xiaoqing Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Replacement of platinum is important for lowering the cost of fuel-cell electrocatalysts, but less precious alternatives such as palladium are hindered by lower durability. Here, the authors show that incorporation of trace amounts of gold improves the durability of palladium based oxygen reduction catalysts.

    • Deli Wang
    • , Sufen Liu
    •  & Héctor D. Abruña

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Unassisted water splitting by tandem photoelectrochemical and photovoltaic devices requires optimization of the absorbance and transmittance properties of the front photoelectrode. Here, Shi et al. use a conductive distributed Brag reflector to harvest photons of different wavelengths in the two subcells.

    • Xinjian Shi
    • , Hokyeong Jeong
    •  & Jong Hyeok Park

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Water oxidation is a key component of water splitting, but more effective catalysts for the process are still required. Here the authors synthesize a monolayer nickel-vanadium layered double hydroxide material showing high activity for water oxidation owing to enhanced conductivity and abundant active sites.

    • Ke Fan
    • , Hong Chen
    •  & Licheng Sun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Up conversion is an Anti-Stokes luminescent process by which photons of low energy are piled up to generate light at a higher energy. Here, the authors report a supramolecular assembly of fluoride-bridged erbium complexes which exhibit this behaviour in D2O solution at room temperature.

    • Aline Nonat
    • , Chi Fai Chan
    •  & Loïc J. Charbonnière

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Epitaxial crystal growth attracts significant interest. Here, the authors use Bragg Coherent Diffraction Imaging to demonstrate calcite crystal precipitation on self-assembled monolayers exhibiting single dislocation loops with different geometries to those generated in conventional epitaxial thin films.

    • Johannes Ihli
    • , Jesse N. Clark
    •  & Fiona C. Meldrum

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Long-term durability is crucial for heavy-duty usage of lithium ion batteries; however, electrode failure mechanisms are still unknown. Here, the authors reveal the fracture mechanisms of single crystal silicon electrodes over extended cycling, and show how electrolyte additives can heal electrode cracks.

    • Feifei Shi
    • , Zhichao Song
    •  & Kyriakos Komvopoulos

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Gold nanoclusters are important nanomaterials but their structural assignment can be challenging if single crystals can’t be grown. Here, the authors use pair distribution function analysis of X-ray powder diffraction data for Au144(SR)60nanoclusters, and show that they exhibit polymorphism.

    • Kirsten M.Ø. Jensen
    • , Pavol Juhas
    •  & Simon J. L. Billinge

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Suppressing dendrite formation at lithium anodes during cycling is critical to development of lithium battery technology. Here, the authors show that immersion of lithium electrodes in ionic liquid electrolytes prior to battery assembly produces a durable and lithium ion permeable solid-electrolyte interphase.

    • A. Basile
    • , A. I. Bhatt
    •  & A. P. O’Mullane

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In organic photovoltaics, the best performing devices usually involve low-bandgap polymers whose limited solubility and stability constrain the scalability of organic solar cells. Here, Holliday et al. develop a new acceptor and pair it with canonical P3HT to obtain 6.4% efficient and stable devices.

    • Sarah Holliday
    • , Raja Shahid Ashraf
    •  & Iain McCulloch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rechargeable sodium-sulfur batteries able to operate stably at room temperature are sought-after platforms as they can achieve high storage capacity from inexpensive electrode materials. Here, the authors use rationally selected cathode and electrolyte materials to design a room temperature Na-S battery.

    • Shuya Wei
    • , Shaomao Xu
    •  & Lynden A. Archer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Flow of electricity between two electrodes can be tuned by monolayers of organic compounds. Here, Pourhossein et al. show that the tunnelling current of such molecular junctions can be modulated rapidly by illumination, using nanoskived gold wires separated by a self-assembled monolayer of hemicyanine dyes.

    • Parisa Pourhossein
    • , Ratheesh K. Vijayaraghavan
    •  & Ryan C. Chiechi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Strong electronic correlations in 5d materials such as osmates may combine with spin-orbit coupling to yield novel order. Here, the authors demonstrate how spin-orbit coupling in pyrochlore Cd2Os2O7generates magnetic order and excitations associated with a magnetic metal-insulator transition.

    • S. Calder
    • , J. G. Vale
    •  & A. D. Christianson

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