Pub Date : 2025-01-29DOI: 10.1038/s41929-025-01297-7
This Editorial provides a few highlights from the present issue of Nature Catalysis and reflects on some of the achievements from the editorial team in 2024.
{"title":"Reaching out","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41929-025-01297-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-025-01297-7","url":null,"abstract":"This Editorial provides a few highlights from the present issue of Nature Catalysis and reflects on some of the achievements from the editorial team in 2024.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"8 1","pages":"1-1"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41929-025-01297-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143054931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-29DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01275-5
Christoph Scheurer, Karsten Reuter
Self-driving laboratories (SDLs) represent a cutting-edge convergence of machine learning with laboratory automation. SDLs operate in active learning loops, in which a machine learning algorithm plans experiments that are subsequently executed by increasingly automated (robotic) modules. Here we present our view on emerging SDLs for accelerated discovery and process optimization in heterogeneous catalysis. We argue against the paradigm of full automation and the goal of keeping the human out of the loop. Based on analysis of the involved workflows, we instead conclude that crucial advances will come from establishing fast proxy experiments and re-engineering existing apparatuses and measurement protocols. Industrially relevant use cases will also require humans to be kept in the loop for continuous decision-making. In turn, active learning algorithms will have to be advanced that can flexibly deal with corresponding adaptations of the design space and varying information content and noise in the acquired data. Uses of machine learning and automation are increasing and these techniques are becoming popular in catalysis research. This Perspective discusses how active learning workflows and human intervention should be optimized to ensure the most efficient progress for emerging self-driving laboratories performing heterogeneous catalysis research.
{"title":"Role of the human-in-the-loop in emerging self-driving laboratories for heterogeneous catalysis","authors":"Christoph Scheurer, Karsten Reuter","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01275-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01275-5","url":null,"abstract":"Self-driving laboratories (SDLs) represent a cutting-edge convergence of machine learning with laboratory automation. SDLs operate in active learning loops, in which a machine learning algorithm plans experiments that are subsequently executed by increasingly automated (robotic) modules. Here we present our view on emerging SDLs for accelerated discovery and process optimization in heterogeneous catalysis. We argue against the paradigm of full automation and the goal of keeping the human out of the loop. Based on analysis of the involved workflows, we instead conclude that crucial advances will come from establishing fast proxy experiments and re-engineering existing apparatuses and measurement protocols. Industrially relevant use cases will also require humans to be kept in the loop for continuous decision-making. In turn, active learning algorithms will have to be advanced that can flexibly deal with corresponding adaptations of the design space and varying information content and noise in the acquired data. Uses of machine learning and automation are increasing and these techniques are becoming popular in catalysis research. This Perspective discusses how active learning workflows and human intervention should be optimized to ensure the most efficient progress for emerging self-driving laboratories performing heterogeneous catalysis research.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"8 1","pages":"13-19"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143055010","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-29DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01284-4
Michael J. Janik
Carbon dioxide electrocatalytic reduction rates are strongly impacted by the choice of electrolyte, but most studies have focused on aqueous systems. It is now reported that in non-aqueous solvents, smaller alkylammonium cations better stabilize the CO2δ– transition state on Ag electrodes.
{"title":"Clarifying cation control","authors":"Michael J. Janik","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01284-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01284-4","url":null,"abstract":"Carbon dioxide electrocatalytic reduction rates are strongly impacted by the choice of electrolyte, but most studies have focused on aqueous systems. It is now reported that in non-aqueous solvents, smaller alkylammonium cations better stabilize the CO2δ– transition state on Ag electrodes.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"8 1","pages":"9-10"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143054930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-29DOI: 10.1038/s41929-025-01296-8
The behaviour of nanoconfined water can be very different from that of the bulk and is challenging to understand at a molecular level. Now, molecular simulations and kinetic experiments provide insight into the increased activity of hydronium ions in water nanoconfined within zeolite pores.
{"title":"Molecular basis of activity changes in acid catalysis within nanoconfined water","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41929-025-01296-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-025-01296-8","url":null,"abstract":"The behaviour of nanoconfined water can be very different from that of the bulk and is challenging to understand at a molecular level. Now, molecular simulations and kinetic experiments provide insight into the increased activity of hydronium ions in water nanoconfined within zeolite pores.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"8 1","pages":"11-12"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143054929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-29DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01283-5
Maria L. Carreon
Non-thermal plasma offers a remarkable alternative to traditional catalysis methods, meeting the rising demands for essential chemicals like fertilizers and fuels. This Comment explores how this approach can support sustainability goals by promoting economic growth, and decentralizing chemical production processes.
{"title":"Plasma-driven decentralized production of essential chemicals","authors":"Maria L. Carreon","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01283-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01283-5","url":null,"abstract":"Non-thermal plasma offers a remarkable alternative to traditional catalysis methods, meeting the rising demands for essential chemicals like fertilizers and fuels. This Comment explores how this approach can support sustainability goals by promoting economic growth, and decentralizing chemical production processes.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"8 1","pages":"2-7"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143054932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-28DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01281-7
Di Deng, Zhihui Jiang, Lixin Kang, Langxing Liao, Xiaodong Zhang, Yuben Qiao, Yang Zhou, Liulin Yang, Binju Wang, Aitao Li
Haem peroxygenases are attractive biocatalysts for incorporating oxygen into organic molecules using H2O2. However, their practical applications are hindered by irreversible oxidative inactivation due to exogenous H2O2 usage. Here we present an alternative catalytic route in haem peroxygenases that uses O2 and small-molecule reductants such as ascorbic acid and dehydroascorbic acid (DHA) to drive reactions. Our experimental and computational studies indicated that DHAA, the hydrated form of DHA, serves as the key co-substrate that activates oxygen to generate the active oxyferryl haem compound I. We also demonstrate the broad applicability of this O2/reductant-dependent route across various haem peroxygenases, highlighting its biological significance for mono-oxygenase functionality. Importantly, this innovative route avoids the use of H2O2, thereby preventing the risk of irreversible enzyme inactivation. Finally, scaled-up reactions yielded chiral, value-added products with excellent productivity, underscoring the synthetic potential of this developed peroxygenase technology for sustainable chemical transformations. H2O2-dependent haem-peroxygenase-catalysed C–H bond oxyfunctionalization reactions have attracted much attention, but elevated concentrations of H2O2 are detrimental to the enzyme. Now, it is reported that this biocatalyst can operate via an alternative pathway using O2 and small-molecule reductants.
{"title":"An efficient catalytic route in haem peroxygenases mediated by O2/small-molecule reductant pairs for sustainable applications","authors":"Di Deng, Zhihui Jiang, Lixin Kang, Langxing Liao, Xiaodong Zhang, Yuben Qiao, Yang Zhou, Liulin Yang, Binju Wang, Aitao Li","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01281-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01281-7","url":null,"abstract":"Haem peroxygenases are attractive biocatalysts for incorporating oxygen into organic molecules using H2O2. However, their practical applications are hindered by irreversible oxidative inactivation due to exogenous H2O2 usage. Here we present an alternative catalytic route in haem peroxygenases that uses O2 and small-molecule reductants such as ascorbic acid and dehydroascorbic acid (DHA) to drive reactions. Our experimental and computational studies indicated that DHAA, the hydrated form of DHA, serves as the key co-substrate that activates oxygen to generate the active oxyferryl haem compound I. We also demonstrate the broad applicability of this O2/reductant-dependent route across various haem peroxygenases, highlighting its biological significance for mono-oxygenase functionality. Importantly, this innovative route avoids the use of H2O2, thereby preventing the risk of irreversible enzyme inactivation. Finally, scaled-up reactions yielded chiral, value-added products with excellent productivity, underscoring the synthetic potential of this developed peroxygenase technology for sustainable chemical transformations. H2O2-dependent haem-peroxygenase-catalysed C–H bond oxyfunctionalization reactions have attracted much attention, but elevated concentrations of H2O2 are detrimental to the enzyme. Now, it is reported that this biocatalyst can operate via an alternative pathway using O2 and small-molecule reductants.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"8 1","pages":"20-32"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143050532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The selective extraction of urea from urine under mild conditions is essential for urban wastewater treatment. Here we devise an in situ electrochemical technique that converts urea, a nitrogen-rich waste, into percarbamide, a crystalline peroxide derivative of urea. This process simultaneously facilitates urine treatment and transforms waste into a valuable product. Using modified graphitic carbon-based catalysts, which are engineered with optimized active sites and structures, the system solidifies hydrogen peroxide and accelerates urea conversion. Precise control of temperature and urea concentration further enhances catalytic performance. The optimized process achieves near 100% purity in percarbamide precipitation from both human and mammalian urine. The collected percarbamide demonstrates remarkable potential for applications in various domains. This approach establishes a closed-loop system for production, utilization and recovery, offering a scalable solution for large-scale urine treatment with important economic and environmental value. The extraction of urea is an important part of wastewater purification and a potential source of valuable fixed nitrogen. Here the authors combine electrocatalytic oxygen reduction with precipitation of urea from urine in the form of a solid peroxide (percarbamide) and demonstrate several potential applications.
{"title":"In situ electrochemical production of solid peroxide from urine","authors":"Xinjian Shi, Yue Jiang, Bailin Zeng, Zhuoyue Sun, Maojin Yun, Peng Lv, Yu Jia, Xiaolin Zheng","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01277-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01277-3","url":null,"abstract":"The selective extraction of urea from urine under mild conditions is essential for urban wastewater treatment. Here we devise an in situ electrochemical technique that converts urea, a nitrogen-rich waste, into percarbamide, a crystalline peroxide derivative of urea. This process simultaneously facilitates urine treatment and transforms waste into a valuable product. Using modified graphitic carbon-based catalysts, which are engineered with optimized active sites and structures, the system solidifies hydrogen peroxide and accelerates urea conversion. Precise control of temperature and urea concentration further enhances catalytic performance. The optimized process achieves near 100% purity in percarbamide precipitation from both human and mammalian urine. The collected percarbamide demonstrates remarkable potential for applications in various domains. This approach establishes a closed-loop system for production, utilization and recovery, offering a scalable solution for large-scale urine treatment with important economic and environmental value. The extraction of urea is an important part of wastewater purification and a potential source of valuable fixed nitrogen. Here the authors combine electrocatalytic oxygen reduction with precipitation of urea from urine in the form of a solid peroxide (percarbamide) and demonstrate several potential applications.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"8 1","pages":"67-78"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142990880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-20DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01286-2
Yaoyu Liang, Jie Luo, Cai You, Yael Diskin-Posner, David Milstein
Using water as a hydrogen or oxygen source in organic synthesis has enabled various reductive and oxidative transformations, but incorporation of both hydrogen and oxygen atoms into the same molecule, representing an atom-economic and environmentally benign process, has scarcely been explored. Here we report a hydrogenative oxidation strategy using water as both a source of H2 and formal oxidant, enabling the direct synthesis of lactams from N-heteroarenes and thereby eliminating the need for additional reductants and oxidants and minimizing waste generation. The reaction can be initiated either under low H2 pressure or with a catalytic amount of H2, leading to the efficient transformation of various N-heteroarenes into lactams in excellent yield thanks to an in situ-generated, piperidine-based, ruthenium pincer complex that balances the hydrogenation and dehydrogenation processes. This study will promote the design of other hydrogenative oxidation reactions using water.
{"title":"A hydrogenative oxidation strategy for the single-step synthesis of lactams from N-heteroarenes using water","authors":"Yaoyu Liang, Jie Luo, Cai You, Yael Diskin-Posner, David Milstein","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01286-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-024-01286-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Using water as a hydrogen or oxygen source in organic synthesis has enabled various reductive and oxidative transformations, but incorporation of both hydrogen and oxygen atoms into the same molecule, representing an atom-economic and environmentally benign process, has scarcely been explored. Here we report a hydrogenative oxidation strategy using water as both a source of H<sub>2</sub> and formal oxidant, enabling the direct synthesis of lactams from <i>N</i>-heteroarenes and thereby eliminating the need for additional reductants and oxidants and minimizing waste generation. The reaction can be initiated either under low H<sub>2</sub> pressure or with a catalytic amount of H<sub>2</sub>, leading to the efficient transformation of various <i>N</i>-heteroarenes into lactams in excellent yield thanks to an in situ-generated, piperidine-based, ruthenium pincer complex that balances the hydrogenation and dehydrogenation processes. This study will promote the design of other hydrogenative oxidation reactions using water.</p><figure></figure>","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":37.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142989812","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Electrochemical interfaces between polymer electrolytes and electrodes are central to electrochemical devices in the global transition towards renewable energy. Here we show that the adsorption and desorption of sulfonates in Nafion on Pt(111) involve distinct elementary steps, with the latter proceeding through a coupled cation–electron transfer. Adsorbed sulfonates not only block a fraction of surface Pt sites but, more importantly, generate two additional types of surface adsorbate, OHNafion and ONafion, which exhibit distinct kinetic properties from adsorbed OH and O on bare Pt(111), respectively. The impact of the adsorption of sulfonate groups in Nafion on the activity of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on Pt cannot be rationalized by existing thermodynamic descriptors. The reduced ORR activity on the Nafion-covered Pt(111) is caused by the kinetically hindered *O→*OH conversion and *OH reduction on sites close to adsorbed sulfonates. The understanding of electrochemical interfaces between polymer electrolytes and metal electrodes, which is critical to many practical devices, remains limited. Now, the interaction between Nafion’s sulfonate groups and platinum and its impact on the oxygen reduction reaction is studied in detail, and a distinct coupled cation–electron transfer mechanism is identified.
{"title":"Coupled cation–electron transfer at the Pt(111)/perfluoro-sulfonic acid ionomer interface and its impact on the oxygen reduction reaction kinetics","authors":"Kaiyue Zhao, Mingchuan Luo, Yongfan Zhang, Xiaoxia Chang, Bingjun Xu","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01279-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01279-1","url":null,"abstract":"Electrochemical interfaces between polymer electrolytes and electrodes are central to electrochemical devices in the global transition towards renewable energy. Here we show that the adsorption and desorption of sulfonates in Nafion on Pt(111) involve distinct elementary steps, with the latter proceeding through a coupled cation–electron transfer. Adsorbed sulfonates not only block a fraction of surface Pt sites but, more importantly, generate two additional types of surface adsorbate, OHNafion and ONafion, which exhibit distinct kinetic properties from adsorbed OH and O on bare Pt(111), respectively. The impact of the adsorption of sulfonate groups in Nafion on the activity of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on Pt cannot be rationalized by existing thermodynamic descriptors. The reduced ORR activity on the Nafion-covered Pt(111) is caused by the kinetically hindered *O→*OH conversion and *OH reduction on sites close to adsorbed sulfonates. The understanding of electrochemical interfaces between polymer electrolytes and metal electrodes, which is critical to many practical devices, remains limited. Now, the interaction between Nafion’s sulfonate groups and platinum and its impact on the oxygen reduction reaction is studied in detail, and a distinct coupled cation–electron transfer mechanism is identified.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"8 1","pages":"46-57"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142968209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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