Feed status
8 parsed articles
Last update: 2026-09-21
2026-09-18
Bidyut K. Kundu, Andy I. Nguyen
Peptides can assemble into two-dimensional ultrathin materials with programmable structures and functions, but maintaining crystallinity and stability is challenging. Now, a metal-directed assembly strategy enables mechanical weaving of peptides to provide highly durable and modular two-dimensional peptide crystals with molecular-level precision.
DOI: 10.1038/s41557-026-02252-02026-09-18
Patrick Alexander Hoffmann, Suchismita Saha, Steffen Volk, Jing Sun, Andreas Englert, Max von Delius
Small-molecule walkers that combine autonomy with kinetic asymmetry have remained elusive. Now, simple phosphoric acid esters are shown to drive a non-enzymatic reaction cycle that autonomously migrates a phosphate group along five hydroxy footholds, expanding the scope of synthetic molecular machinery.
DOI: 10.1038/s41557-026-02240-42026-09-17
Xiaoyuan Zhang, Danil Bukhvalov, Tiannan Su, Chenchen Fang, Liming Dai, Shuo San, Huiru Duan, Yaya Wang, Kai Liu, Junjie Cui, Yuxiang Hua, Liang Xue, Zhen Hou, Wenyao Zhang, Pan Xiong, Yongsheng Fu, Jingwen Sun, Junwu Zhu
The charge state of oxygen vacancies, manifested as distinct F centres, remains an underexplored descriptor for electrocatalytic pathway modulation. Now it has been shown that different F centres in ZrO2 regulate oxygen reduction via unique electronic behaviours, establishing F-centre identity as a key indicator for electrocatalytic selectivity.
DOI: 10.1038/s41557-026-02256-w2026-09-17
Jens Uhlig
Nitrogen fixation is a challenging, energy-intensive process. Now, iron salts and a molybdenum catalyst have been shown to drive the photosynthetic reduction of atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia using water as the terminal electron donor, suggesting a promising new pathway for one of the most important chemical reactions.
DOI: 10.1038/s41557-026-02253-z2026-09-10
Zhen-Feng Cai, Meghna A. Manae, Zi-Xi Tang, Jun-Xian Zhang, Yao Zhang, Jeremy O. Richardson, Naresh Kumar
Visualizing plasmon-enhanced H2 activation and propagation on catalytic surfaces remains challenging because conventional spectroscopies lack nanoscale resolution. Now it has been shown that tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy maps H2 activation within an Ag tip–Pt(111) nanocavity and reveals H atoms propagating hundreds of nanometres across Pt(111) through a collective crowd effect.
DOI: 10.1038/s41557-026-02245-z2026-09-08
Yu-Lin Lu, Yishuo Chen, Hang Qu, Laiyu Zhang, Megan O’Shaughnessy, Thomas Fellowes, Andrew I. Cooper
Rigid coordination bonds readily generate highly connected secondary building units in metal–organic frameworks, but weaker and less directional interactions have rarely afforded comparable architectures in molecular crystals. Now ammonium halide ion pairs are shown to aggregate into discrete clusters that function as soft secondary building units, opening a route to non-metallic organic frameworks with diverse topologies.
DOI: 10.1038/s41557-026-02248-w2026-09-07
Xiaosong Hu, William Boyd, Feihu Wang, Aaron Diefendorf, Owen Cowling, Yujie Sun
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 electrochemical hydride-based reactivity beyond proton-mediated electrocatalysis.
DOI: 10.1038/s41557-026-02243-12026-09-02
Richard Whitfield, Victoria Lohmann, Mikhail Agrachev, Hongsik Kim, Hyun Suk Wang, Nethmi De Alwis Watuthanthrige, Nghia P. Truong, Tae-Lim Choi, Gunnar Jeschke, Athina Anastasaki
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 without the need for preinstalled end-groups or sacrificial co-monomers, allowing high-yield recovery of monomers.
DOI: 10.1038/s41557-026-02232-4