PDF Summaries - Catalysis, 2D metals

Hydrogen is emerging as a crucial clean energy carrier, but its large‐scale production through conventional water electrolysis is limited by the high overpotential and sluggish kinetics of the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Small‐molecule oxidation reactions provide attractive alternative anodic pathways, enabling lower cell voltages while simultaneously co‐producing value‐added chemicals. The effectiveness of such systems strongly depends on catalyst design, particularly strategies that minimize noble‐metal usage while maintaining high catalytic activity and durability. This review highlights recent advances in transition‐metal‐based catalysts promoted by low‐loading noble metals (e.g., Pt, Pd, Ru, and Ir) for small‐molecule‐oxidation‐assisted hydrogen production. Special emphasis is placed on the underlying promotion mechanisms, including electronic modulation of the d‐band center, geometric effects that generate highly active sites, and synergistic stabilization against dissolution and oxidation. Key design strategies, such as alloying and doping, single‐atom or cluster incorporation, surface functionalization, heterointerface engineering, and in situ catalyst reconstruction, are systematically discussed. Insights from advanced in situ/operando characterization techniques and theoretical calculations are integrated to clarify structure‐activity relationships and catalytic mechanisms. Finally, current challenges and future perspectives are outlined to guide the development of efficient, durable, and cost‐effective catalysts for sustainable hydrogen production.

Both commercial and lab‐synthesized IrO 2 nanocrystals are crucial for acidic oxygen evolution reaction, which remain severely limited in practical proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) by the high overpotential and low stability. Here, we successfully construct 1D K 0.25 IrO 2 nanocrystal via K + Intercalation. Novel crystal structure will bring about novel catalytic property. Compared to traditional rutile‐type IrO 2 , DFT calculations reveal that the lattice regulation via K + Intercalation lowers the energy barrier for OER and further optimizes the adsorption energy of oxygen intermediates. Therefore, 1D K 0.25 IrO 2 presents an ultralow overpotential of 237 mV at 10 mA cm geo −2 in a three‐electrode cell, and performs excellent PEM activity with a low E cell of 1.70 V at 2 A cm geo −2 . More importantly, the practical operating stability of the 1D K 0.25 IrO 2 anode cell has been demonstrated under both industry‐level constant and dynamic operating conditions. This work develops a novel K + ‐intercalation engineering for the precise synthesis of 1D ultrathin K 0.25 IrO 2 electrocatalyst, exhibiting outstanding OER activity and stability in PEMWEs from steady‐state to fluctuating power inputs.

The dismantling and reassembly of C(sp3)-H bonds in hydrocarbons over both heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysts remain a fundamental challenge. Here we report the toluene oxidation using an atomically precise Cu4Pt2(C≡CCyOH)8 cluster (HC≡CCyOH = 1-ethynyl-1-cyclohexanol) as the electrocatalyst with an exclusive selectivity for benzaldehyde accompanied by 99% Faradaic efficiency. Results reveal the systematic cooperativity of three functional modules combined into one cluster catalyst for six temporally subsequent events: the hydroxyl ligand of this cluster can capture water and then release it to the Cu sites, and water is sequentially activated on the Cu sites to form OH radicals; Pt sites engage in the abstraction of a hydrogen atom from the methyl group of toluene; the OH radicals then flip over to the Pt sties and react with dehydro-toluene to produce benzaldehyde, which is finally disentangled from the active sites with the help of the ligand. Meanwhile, the cluster is also used to catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction at the cathode and exhibits much higher activity for hydrogen production than a typical Pt/C catalyst. Our study presents a molecular approach for designing highly active and selective catalysts for efficient inert molecule-involved reactions.

Piezocatalytic CO 2 reduction offers a sustainable route for converting mechanical energy into chemical fuels. However, its practical implementation demands catalysts that concurrently exhibit a strong piezoelectric response and high catalytic activity. Herein, we report a one‐pot synthesis of well‐defined metal–acetylide frameworks (TTED‐M‐AFs; M = Pt, Pd, Ni) incorporating M II (PEt 3 ) 2 units into an extended graphdiyne‐type scaffold via robust ─C≡C─M II (PEt 3 ) 2 ─C≡C─ linkages. These molecular metal‐bis(acetylide) motifs function as intrinsic active sites for CO 2 reduction. Under mechanical agitation, the Pt II ‐based framework achieves a CO production rate of 72.03 µmol g −1 h −1 with 92.4% selectivity, outperforming its Pd II and Ni II analogues by factors of 1.17 and 1.73, respectively—a trend consistent with their piezoelectric coefficients ( d 33 = 35, 21.9, and 12.5 pm V −1 ). Combined experimental and theoretical analyses reveal that the piezoelectric field in TTED‐Pt‐AF enhances CO 2 adsorption and promotes local electron accumulation, thereby lowering the activation energy barrier. Furthermore, in situ high‐pressure FT‐IR spectroscopy demonstrates that the Pt II ‐bis(acetylide) centers exhibit superior electronic synergy with the tetraphenylene‐derived π‐conjugated matrix under mechanical stress, inducing pronounced d–π orbital hybridization. The exceptional piezocatalytic performance, coupled with a scalable synthesis, underscores the promise of metal–acetylide frameworks as efficient platforms for mechano‐driven CO 2 valorization.

Ammonia is a promising hydrogen carrier due to its high hydrogen density, established infrastructure, and carbon‐free decomposition, yet its practical deployment via thermal catalysis is limited by high operating temperatures, catalyst cost, durability, and purification requirements. Electrochemical coupling of the ammonia oxidation reaction (AOR) with the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) offers a low‐temperature and energy‐efficient alternative to thermocatalytic ammonia cracking, enabling indirect hydrogen release under mild conditions and effectively circumventing the limitations of thermal catalytic processes. In this work, we report a hybrid crystalline‐amorphous catalyst that merges structural order with purposeful disorder, created by seamlessly electrodepositing amorphous Ni‐P onto in situ grown NiCuO nanosheets anchored on nickel foam (NiCuO@a‐Ni‐P/NF). This architected interface delivers high activity and long‐term stability for alkaline AOR. We further design a hybrid acid/alkali electrolyzer in which anodic alkaline AOR is elegantly coupled with cathodic acidic HER, enabled by NiCuO@a‐Ni‐P/NF and Pt/C, respectively. The resulting system operates with stable performance, enduring 360 h of continuous electrolysis without discernible decay, and sustaining hydrogen generation with near‐quantitative Faradaic efficiency. These advances expand the conceptual framework and provide a viable route toward efficient, durable, and energy‐saving hydrogen production from ammonia.

Author(s): Xingding Li, Zhiyuan Cai, Shixu Liu, Haozhe Li, Yuting Sun, Xin-Gao Gong, and Ji-Hui Yang

Semilocal functionals are widely recognized as insufficient for capturing electronic structure of quantum materials due to inadequate treatment of electronic correlations, necessitating beyond-semilocal approaches. However, such beyond-semilocal functionals currently lack a scheme to compute electro…

[Phys. Rev. B 113, 184521] Published Thu May 28, 2026

Nature Communications, Published online: 29 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-73511-4

Transient absorption spectroscopy has become an increasingly accessible method for probing the fundamental mechanisms of photocatalytic reaction and has provided important mechanistic insights across a wide range of systems. However, recent studies on metal-organic framework and covalent-organic framework based photocatalysts employ transient absorption primarily as a supplementary characterization technique rather than as a tool for gaining mechanistic insight. This perspective identifies recurring limitations in current practices and outlines strategies for more deliberate application of transient absorption spectroscopy in photocatalysis. By emphasizing clarity in data presentation and interpretation, we aim to elevate transient absorption spectroscopy from a routine characterization tool to a powerful approach for elucidating mechanistic photophysics of framework materials that govern their photocatalytic performance.

Atomic-resolution imaging of battery materials is critical for identification of local defects and structural variations, which are tied to battery performance. However, since battery materials are, by design, optimized to allow ion motion in response to an applied electric field, they are also very sensitive to radiation damage by an electron beam. Image resolution is therefore severely constrained by the dose applied. Here, we show that multislice electron ptychography (MEP) can provide sub-ångström lateral resolution images of both light and heavy elements of a Li-ion battery cathode, along with nanometer-scale depth information and greater dose efficiency than conventional electron microscopy methods. Using the depth-sectioning capability of MEP, we have been able to obtain direct visualizations of Li vacancy clusters, atom column by atom column, in LixNi0.33Mn0.33Co0.33O2 (NMC111) cathodes. This capability to track Li distributions will be valuable in understanding, informing, and optimizing electrode material design for ion storage and transfer.

Rapid and high-fidelity nanoscale 3D printing is highly desirable, but it is difficult due to the tradeoff between speed and accuracy. Although optical projection techniques can massively scale up printing, fidelity is compromised due to the difficulty in precisely controlling the light dosage over the entire field. This challenge is typically addressed by using multiple projections, but it slows down printing. Here, we present grayscale projection two-photon lithography to overcome this tradeoff. Despite using a binary mask, it enables projecting more than 15,000 focal spots, each with independently tunable intensity. It advantageously leverages constraints imposed by optical diffraction to achieve grayscale tuning over the entire field at once. By directly tuning the focal spot intensities, we demonstrate suppression of proximity effects, compensation of non-uniform illumination, compensation of stitching artefacts, and rapid 3D printing with a single femtosecond pulse per layer. We demonstrate printing of nanowires as thin as 55 nm and achieve rates of 1.7 billion voxels/s and 215 mm 3 /hr.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) demonstrate considerable clinical potential in tumor treatment by inducing apoptosis through the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and hyperthermia. However, their therapeutic efficacy is hampered by the inherent resistance of tumor cells to apoptotic pathways. Immunogenic cell death (ICD) modalities, such as ferroptosis and PANoptosis, circumvent this resistance by eliciting robust anti‐tumor immune responses. Nevertheless, conventional ICD inducers are plagued by suboptimal pharmacokinetics and dose‐dependent toxicity, necessitating the highly efficient, non‐toxic ferroptosis/PANoptosis activators. Herein, a bismuth‐based photothermal‐sensitive nano‐heterojunction (Bi 2 S 3 @Bi 2 Se 3 @Se‐PEG, BSSP) synergistically triggering ferroptosis and PANoptosis is constructed. BSSP minimizes charge recombination while enhancing catalytic activity. The pyroelectric properties of Bi 2 S 3 /Bi 2 Se 3 and selenium's photo/thermal sensitivity cooperatively amplify ROS production and achieve superior photothermal conversion efficiency to enhance both PDT and PTT. In the murine 4T1 breast cancer model, BSSP combined with near‐infrared irradiation significantly suppresses primary tumor growth, inhibits distal tumor proliferation, and attenuates pulmonary metastasis. Moreover, BSSP remodels the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment with excellent biocompatibility. The photothermally responsive nano‐heterojunction presents an innovative paradigm for the simultaneous activation of ferroptosis and PANoptosis via combined PDT and PTT, offering new avenues for semiconductor‐based cancer immunotherapy.

Nature, Published online: 29 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01630-5

The deadly disease was identified half a century ago in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is unacceptable that it continues to take lives.

Author(s): Koei Matsumoto, Takeshi Hayashida, and Tsuyoshi Kimura

We investigated the optical absorption spectra of the time-reversal-odd antiferromagnet ${\mathrm{ErCrO}}_{3}$ under an applied electric field ($\mathbf{E}$). This material, with its two distinct magnetic sites (${\mathrm{Er}}^{3+}$ and ${\mathrm{Cr}}^{3+}$), exhibits successive antiferromagnetic (A…

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 216703] Published Thu May 28, 2026

Small, EarlyView.

Advanced Functional Materials, EarlyView.

Author(s): Maximilian Graml and Jan Wilhelm

The GW plus Bethe-Salpeter equation (GW-BSE) formalism is a well-established approach for calculating excitation energies and optical spectra of molecules, nanostructures, and crystalline materials. We implement GW-BSE in the cp2k code and validate the implementation for a standard organic molecular…

[Phys. Rev. B 113, 205152] Published Thu May 28, 2026

Author(s): Yan Sun, G. Ricci, M. Monteverde, V. Derkach, T. Chanelière, E. Aldridge, D. Casanova, D. Beljonne, J. E. Anthony, and A. D. Chepelianskii

Singlet fission and triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) are spin-dependent phenomena critical to optoelectronics. The dynamics of spin populations during geminate triplet pair separation are crucial for controlling fission and TTA rates. We show that the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) induce…

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 216903] Published Thu May 28, 2026

Nature Communications, Published online: 29 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-72971-y

Computing efficiency and data security are two critical demands in the AI era. Han et al. report a ferroelectric transistor with controllable synaptic and secure functionalities. It physically hides stored data to block read attacks. Simulations show its array effectively reduces model inversion attacks.

Advanced Materials, EarlyView.

Photogenerated charge separation across micro- to nanometer scales is essential for photoelectric and photocatalytic conversion. However, identifying microstructures that sustain efficient charge separation and elucidating the underlying mechanisms remain challenging. Here, by combining surface photovoltage microscopy with optical imaging, we show that optically resonant cavity structures generate highly nonuniform light-field distributions that subsequently drive efficient charge separation through asymmetric electron and hole diffusivities. Spatiotemporal imaging of carrier dynamics from femtoseconds to seconds reveals that this charge separation originates from the combined contributions of ultrafast hot-electron diffusion (∼3 ps) and long-lived trap-limited transport (∼5 ms). Leveraging these effects, we demonstrate control over both the magnitude and direction of charge separation via optical structure engineering. These findings deepen the fundamental understanding of diffusion-driven charge separation in semiconductors and establish optical-architecture engineering as a viable approach for manipulating it, providing a blueprint for advancing solar energy conversion and optoelectronic technologies.

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 29 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02166-x

Ketones are versatile, but converting them to ketyl radicals typically requires harsh conditions. Now a mild method using a bifunctional silyl reagent has been shown to generate ketyl-type radicals through a radical translocation strategy, enabling redox-neutral Pd-catalysed ketone–olefin couplings to give diverse alkenylation and allylation products without requiring organometallic reagents.

Advanced Science, EarlyView.

Advanced Materials, EarlyView.

Advanced Materials, EarlyView.

Nature Communications, Published online: 29 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-73698-6

PEG is an important component in lipid nanoparticles but can cause anti-PEG antibody responses. Here, the authors develop biodegradable poly-DL-serine lipids as PEG replacements and demonstrate mRNA delivery with limited immunogenicity, demonstrating improved safety.

Small, EarlyView.

Author(s): W. F. Yuan, B. B. Liu, N. Li, G. Y. Ding, W. Q. Ding, H. J. Du, J. C. Li, G. Chen, H. Jing, F. Zhou, Shi-Lei Su, and M. Feng

Entanglement generation is a cornerstone of quantum information science, yet its speed in Hermitian systems is fundamentally constrained by the coupling strength, a restriction known as the quantum speed limit. Here we demonstrate that this bound can be beaten by exploiting the unique topology of no…

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 210201] Published Thu May 28, 2026

Author(s): Neli Laštovičková Streshkova and Martin Kozák

Coherent control of ultrafast quantum phenomena benefits from pulse-shaping capabilities allowing to modulate the envelope and instantaneous phase of optical fields on femtosecond timescales. While such control is available for optical fields, an analogy of a pulse shaper for freely propagating elec…

[Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023222] Published Thu May 28, 2026

Science Advances, Volume 12, Issue 22, May 2026.

Author(s): D. Baillie

Recent experiments with degenerate molecular gases dressed by elliptically polarized microwave fields have enabled new control of dipolar interactions via engineered anisotropy. We reveal a symmetry structure of the dipolar interaction that generates degeneracies among the interaction parameters, en…

[Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023219] Published Thu May 28, 2026

Author(s): Ze-Zhou Zhang, Hong-Gang Luo, and Wei Wu

Quantum Mpemba effect describes an anomalous phenomenon of accelerated relaxation, which is of fundamental interest in the field of nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Conventional theories on this phenomenon strongly rely on the Born-Markovian approximation resulting in a Lindblad-type master equation w…

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 210402] Published Thu May 28, 2026

Advanced Science, EarlyView.

Science Advances, Volume 12, Issue 22, May 2026.

Advanced Materials, EarlyView.

Author(s): Adolfo del Campo, András Grabarits, Dmitrii E. Makarov, and Seong-Ho Shinn

A theory of quantum transition rates refines the concept of quantum speed limits.

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 210202] Published Thu May 28, 2026

Advanced Science, Volume 13, Issue 30, 28 May 2026.

Author(s): Laya Parkavousi and Suropriya Saha

In passive phase-separating mixtures, the average density of each component can be tuned to control the composition of the coexisting bulk phases. This concept extends to active systems. For example, in a nonreciprocal mixture of two species, changing the average density of either species alters the…

[Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023223] Published Thu May 28, 2026

Science Advances, Volume 12, Issue 22, May 2026.

Advanced Functional Materials, EarlyView.

Nature Energy, Published online: 29 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41560-026-02080-z

The IMO Net-Zero Framework promotes adoption of low climate impact marine fuel through combination of pricing mechanism and fuel standard; however, fuel choice depends on competition for clean energy across sectors. Policies must consider life cycle perspective to avoid shifting impacts to the fuel supply chain and address wider environmental impacts, including land use and mineral resource depletion.

Nature Energy, Published online: 29 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41560-026-02079-6

Shipping is a hard-to-decarbonize sector that is competing for energy and requires effective policies to cut emissions. This study shows that combining fuel standards and levies speeds up the adoption of low-carbon fuels such as ammonia but may increase other environmental impacts.

Author(s): Lennart Bittel and Lorenzo Leone

Randomness is a fundamental resource in quantum information, with crucial applications in cryptography, algorithms, and error correction. A central challenge is to construct unitary $k$ designs that closely approximate Haar-random unitaries while minimizing the costly use of non-Clifford operations.…

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 210802] Published Thu May 28, 2026

Author(s): Alexandra Jurgens and James P. Crutchfield

A prediction makes a claim about a system's future given knowledge of its past. A retrodiction makes a claim about its past given knowledge of its future. The bidirectional machine is an ambidextrous hidden Markov chain that does both optimally by making explicit in its state structure all statistic…

[Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023218] Published Thu May 28, 2026

Submitted on 2026-05-29, refereeing deadline 2026-05-29.

Advanced Science, EarlyView.

Advanced Science, EarlyView.

Advanced Science, EarlyView.