catalysis

Nature Communications, Published online: 08 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-77521-0 Ruthenium oxide can lower the demand for scarce iridium in acidic water electrolysis, but its long-term stability is limited. Here, the authors report a two-dimensional carbon-ruthenium oxide composite that stabilizes active sites and enables durable water-splitting performance.

Copper has been knocked off the top of a stability ranking it had dominated for decades. Without altering the atoms directly bonded to the metal, a KAIST research team reversed the longstanding trend in which copper generally forms the most stable complexes by tuning only the weak hydrogen bonds in its surrounding environment. The findings could open new avenues for selective metal separation and…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 07 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02243-1 Electrochemical CO2 reduction is typically constrained by proton-coupled electron transfer, which couples CO2 conversion with competing H2 evolution. Now it has been shown that a Janus palladium membrane electrode enables selective formate production through heterogeneous hydride transfer, providing access to el…

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 07 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01609-5 Achieving efficient electrocatalytic conversion of CO2 and CO to high-value multi-carbon products remains a major challenge. Now, plasma activation is coupled with electrocatalysis on copper to enable unexplored reaction pathways, enhancing the production rates of C3+ hydrocarbons and oxygenates.

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 07 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01605-9 Understanding the role of nickel surface species in the hydrogen evolution reaction under alkaline conditions is crucial for developing precious-metal-free water electrolysers. Now, by systematically studying well-defined Ni surfaces, the authors dissect the contribution of NiO, NiHx and Ni(OH)2 species to the h…

Scientific Reports, Published online: 07 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-68916-6 Synthesis of SAPO-34 using polyacrylamide enhances the catalyst lifetime and selectivity of light olefins in MTO

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 28 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41893-026-01928-2 Resource recovery from alcohol-laden wastewater remains challenging due to intrinsic limitations of current treatment technologies. This study introduces a membrane-free electrochemical system that safely and efficiently upcycles alcohol wastewater into valuable chemicals and hydrogen.

Nature Sustainability, Published online: 25 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41893-026-01922-8 Directly converting captured carbon dioxide into fuels and chemicals could make carbon capture more efficient by avoiding energy-intensive solvent regeneration. This Review discusses the reaction pathways, key challenges and strategies for achieving high carbon conversion.

A metal surface that becomes more active as it changes could help green hydrogen electrolyzers run harder and longer. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed an electrode that combines five metals in a high-entropy antiperovskite structure. Supported on porous nickel foam, the material helped an anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzer sustain industrially [...]

Nature Communications, Published online: 05 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-77519-8 Understanding catalytic dynamics at electrochemical interfaces is important, while reactions at individual particles remain difficult to observe. Here, the authors report an operando electrochemiluminescence microscopy approach to visualize nitrate reduction processes and monitor apparent kinetics.

By engineering oxygen vacancies in indium oxide, we uncover a non-noble-metal plasmonic catalyst that harvests near-infrared light and promotes methanol steam reforming through coupled photothermal and hot-carrier effects.

KAIST and Samsung Electronics have developed a new, long-lasting catalyst based on ‘entropy stabilization,’ a principle in which mixing multiple metal atoms together actually stabilizes the catalyst’s structure. The post KAIST Tames a Semiconductor Greenhouse Gas 6,000 Times More Potent than CO₂ with the ‘Power of Disorder’ appeared first on Semiconductor Digest .

Nature Communications, Published online: 04 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-77253-1 A redox cascade strategy converts waste chloride into reactive chlorine species during electrocatalytic treatment, achieving complete mineralization of toxic chlorinated pollutants.

Nature, Published online: 03 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11091-5 Ketone homologation via palladium-catalysed decarboxylative rearrangement

Hydrogen is a key alternative to fossil fuels and plays a crucial role in industrial hydrogenation. This study employs first-principles density functional theory (DFT) simulations to investigate transition-metal-decorated Al12N12 single-atom catalysts (SACs) for H2 adsorption and dissociation. Interaction energy calculations indicate excellent thermodynamic stability of the catalysts, with Ti@Al1…

Nature Catalysis, Published online: 02 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01602-y Geometric distortions are the prevailing approaches for engineering frontier molecular orbitals and chemical reactivity in p-block elements. Here the authors show a spirocyclic structure that exploits through-space orbital interactions in sulfur atoms to engineer highest-occupied molecular orbitals with elevated…

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 02 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02232-4 Chemical recycling of polymers has largely relied on thermally unstable tailor-made materials or highly diluted depolymerization conditions. Now, a bulk main-chain scission pathway enables the rapid, low-temperature depolymerization of polymethacrylates. This methodology can be applied to commercial polymers wit…