Pub Date : 2026-01-14DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00353-0
Thomas Dursch
Yushan Yan from the University of Delaware and Versogen, Inc. talks to Nature Chemical Engineering about his path to developing and scaling up PiperION, a globally leading anion-exchange membrane for electrochemical applications.
{"title":"Twenty years of PiperION membrane innovation","authors":"Thomas Dursch","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00353-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00353-0","url":null,"abstract":"Yushan Yan from the University of Delaware and Versogen, Inc. talks to Nature Chemical Engineering about his path to developing and scaling up PiperION, a globally leading anion-exchange membrane for electrochemical applications.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"3-5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-12DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00352-1
Andrew Livingston
Polymer membranes able to separate organic molecules present in hydrocarbon liquids were demonstrated in the 1960s and first commercialized in the 1990s. Now, a new generation of research advocates using advanced polymer membranes to separate large-scale hydrocarbon mixtures, such as crude oils. This technology holds great promise for low-energy separation applications.
{"title":"Don’t go (phase) changing","authors":"Andrew Livingston","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00352-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00352-1","url":null,"abstract":"Polymer membranes able to separate organic molecules present in hydrocarbon liquids were demonstrated in the 1960s and first commercialized in the 1990s. Now, a new generation of research advocates using advanced polymer membranes to separate large-scale hydrocarbon mixtures, such as crude oils. This technology holds great promise for low-energy separation applications.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"12-14"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049455","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-12DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00345-0
Janine K. Nunes, Howard A. Stone
Rapid prototyping of microfluidic systems has made possible an enormous array of studies enabled by controlling fluid flow and chemistry at small scales. In 1998, Whitesides and colleagues introduced manufacturing methods, such as soft lithography, that triggered a wide adoption of these approaches, which now permeate the field of microfluidics and help advance new technologies.
{"title":"Rapid prototyping for microfluidics across disciplines","authors":"Janine K. Nunes, Howard A. Stone","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00345-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00345-0","url":null,"abstract":"Rapid prototyping of microfluidic systems has made possible an enormous array of studies enabled by controlling fluid flow and chemistry at small scales. In 1998, Whitesides and colleagues introduced manufacturing methods, such as soft lithography, that triggered a wide adoption of these approaches, which now permeate the field of microfluidics and help advance new technologies.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"17-19"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-12DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00351-2
Ingo Pinnau, Yingge Wang
Conventional separations account for a large share of global energy consumption. Efficient membrane technologies have the potential to substantially reduce energy use, costs and CO2 emissions — particularly through ultramicroporous polymers, a key class of materials advancing membrane-based gas separations first reported by Budd and McKeown in 2004.
{"title":"Small pores make a big step for gas separations","authors":"Ingo Pinnau, Yingge Wang","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00351-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00351-2","url":null,"abstract":"Conventional separations account for a large share of global energy consumption. Efficient membrane technologies have the potential to substantially reduce energy use, costs and CO2 emissions — particularly through ultramicroporous polymers, a key class of materials advancing membrane-based gas separations first reported by Budd and McKeown in 2004.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"20-21"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-09DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00322-7
Nisha Modi, Raghavendra Nimiwal, Jane Liao, Yitian Li, Kyle J. M. Bishop, Allie C. Obermeyer
Membraneless organelles are essential for cellular function. These biomolecular condensates often exhibit complex morphologies in response to biological stimuli. In vitro condensate models help elucidate how these multiphase assemblies form and their possible functions. Here we use such a model to investigate the formation of hollow internal regions, or vacuoles, within condensates in response to a pH change. Fast rates of pH decrease and larger droplet sizes promote vacuole development within the condensates. We show that vacuole formation is a non-equilibrium process driven by the diffusion-limited exchange of condensate components during a rapid pH change. We develop a physics-based model that describes how associative phase-separating systems respond to rapid changes in external conditions, specifically pH. Our qualitative model agrees with experimental results, showing that rapid pH changes shift the phase boundaries, triggering spinodal decomposition and inducing vacuole formation within the condensates. Our pH-sensitive in vitro model illustrates a mechanism of vacuole formation in associative condensates and provides insights into the regulation of multiphase condensates in vivo. Rapid pH changes can trigger hollow vacuoles in associative condensates of pH-responsive biomolecules. Using a model enzyme–polymer system, how larger droplets and faster pH changes promote vacuole formation by creating unstable non-equilibrium compositions is shown. A physics-based model reproduces these observations, showing when and how vacuoles arise through spinodal decomposition.
{"title":"Transient pH changes drive vacuole formation in enzyme–polymer condensates","authors":"Nisha Modi, Raghavendra Nimiwal, Jane Liao, Yitian Li, Kyle J. M. Bishop, Allie C. Obermeyer","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00322-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00322-7","url":null,"abstract":"Membraneless organelles are essential for cellular function. These biomolecular condensates often exhibit complex morphologies in response to biological stimuli. In vitro condensate models help elucidate how these multiphase assemblies form and their possible functions. Here we use such a model to investigate the formation of hollow internal regions, or vacuoles, within condensates in response to a pH change. Fast rates of pH decrease and larger droplet sizes promote vacuole development within the condensates. We show that vacuole formation is a non-equilibrium process driven by the diffusion-limited exchange of condensate components during a rapid pH change. We develop a physics-based model that describes how associative phase-separating systems respond to rapid changes in external conditions, specifically pH. Our qualitative model agrees with experimental results, showing that rapid pH changes shift the phase boundaries, triggering spinodal decomposition and inducing vacuole formation within the condensates. Our pH-sensitive in vitro model illustrates a mechanism of vacuole formation in associative condensates and provides insights into the regulation of multiphase condensates in vivo. Rapid pH changes can trigger hollow vacuoles in associative condensates of pH-responsive biomolecules. Using a model enzyme–polymer system, how larger droplets and faster pH changes promote vacuole formation by creating unstable non-equilibrium compositions is shown. A physics-based model reproduces these observations, showing when and how vacuoles arise through spinodal decomposition.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"47-56"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44286-025-00322-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-29DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00336-1
Longqian Xu, Bing Zhao, Weifan Liu, Jin Zhang, Xudong Zhang, Shawon Sk Md Ali Zaker, Shihong Lin
Electrochemical systems offer a modular and tunable approach to chemical and environmental separations. However, their deployment at small scale is often hindered by the reliance on reactions at terminal electrodes, which introduce gas evolution, pH shifts and energy losses. Here we introduce flow-synchronized ring-shaped electrochemical ion pumping, which eliminates terminal electrodes entirely by arranging ion-shuttling electrodes in a ring configuration and synchronizing the switching of circuit and flow. We show that a ring configuration alone without synchronized flow switching fails to induce net ion transport because of potential symmetry. This challenge was resolved by introducing alternating air gaps that isolate inactive circuits, thereby breaking potential symmetry and enabling pseudo-continuous unidirectional ion flux. Flow-synchronized ring-shaped electrochemical ion pumping achieves effective desalination using a single power source, demonstrating high current efficiency and energy efficiency superior to state-of-the-art electrodialysis and capacitive deionization at the same scale and under comparable conditions. This study reports on flow-synchronized ring-shaped electrochemical ion pumping, which eliminates the need for terminal electrodes and enables redox-free, energy-efficient and continuous desalination across scales.
{"title":"Flow-synchronized ring-shaped electrochemical ion pumping for redox-free desalination without terminal electrodes","authors":"Longqian Xu, Bing Zhao, Weifan Liu, Jin Zhang, Xudong Zhang, Shawon Sk Md Ali Zaker, Shihong Lin","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00336-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00336-1","url":null,"abstract":"Electrochemical systems offer a modular and tunable approach to chemical and environmental separations. However, their deployment at small scale is often hindered by the reliance on reactions at terminal electrodes, which introduce gas evolution, pH shifts and energy losses. Here we introduce flow-synchronized ring-shaped electrochemical ion pumping, which eliminates terminal electrodes entirely by arranging ion-shuttling electrodes in a ring configuration and synchronizing the switching of circuit and flow. We show that a ring configuration alone without synchronized flow switching fails to induce net ion transport because of potential symmetry. This challenge was resolved by introducing alternating air gaps that isolate inactive circuits, thereby breaking potential symmetry and enabling pseudo-continuous unidirectional ion flux. Flow-synchronized ring-shaped electrochemical ion pumping achieves effective desalination using a single power source, demonstrating high current efficiency and energy efficiency superior to state-of-the-art electrodialysis and capacitive deionization at the same scale and under comparable conditions. This study reports on flow-synchronized ring-shaped electrochemical ion pumping, which eliminates the need for terminal electrodes and enables redox-free, energy-efficient and continuous desalination across scales.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 2","pages":"100-111"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44286-025-00336-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147275110","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-22DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00315-6
Grant M. Landwehr, Bastian Vogeli, Cong Tian, Bharti Singal, Kyle Zolkin, Irene Martinez, Anika Gupta, Rebeca Lion, Edward H. Sargent, Ashty S. Karim, Michael C. Jewett
Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) can produce important one-carbon (C1) feedstocks for sustainable biomanufacturing, such as formate. Unfortunately, natural formate assimilation pathways are inefficient and constrained to organisms that are difficult to engineer. Here we establish a synthetic reductive formate pathway (ReForm) in vitro. ReForm is a six-step pathway consisting of five engineered enzymes catalyzing nonnatural reactions to convert formate into the universal biological building block acetyl-CoA. We establish ReForm by selecting enzymes among 66 candidates from prokaryotic and eukaryotic origins. Through iterative cycles of engineering, we create and evaluate 3,173 sequence-defined enzyme mutants, tune cofactor concentrations and adjust enzyme loadings to increase pathway activity toward the model end product malate. We demonstrate that ReForm can accept diverse C1 substrates, including formaldehyde, methanol and formate produced from the electrochemical reduction of CO2. Our work expands the repertoire of synthetic C1 utilization pathways, with implications for synthetic biology and the development of a formate-based bioeconomy. Cost-effective, environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient ways to address rising atmospheric CO2 levels are urgently needed. Here the authors combine electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate with biosynthetic conversion of formate to the universal building block acetyl-CoA using a synthetic metabolic pathway called ReForm.
{"title":"A synthetic cell-free pathway for biocatalytic upgrading of formate from electrochemically reduced CO2","authors":"Grant M. Landwehr, Bastian Vogeli, Cong Tian, Bharti Singal, Kyle Zolkin, Irene Martinez, Anika Gupta, Rebeca Lion, Edward H. Sargent, Ashty S. Karim, Michael C. Jewett","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00315-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00315-6","url":null,"abstract":"Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) can produce important one-carbon (C1) feedstocks for sustainable biomanufacturing, such as formate. Unfortunately, natural formate assimilation pathways are inefficient and constrained to organisms that are difficult to engineer. Here we establish a synthetic reductive formate pathway (ReForm) in vitro. ReForm is a six-step pathway consisting of five engineered enzymes catalyzing nonnatural reactions to convert formate into the universal biological building block acetyl-CoA. We establish ReForm by selecting enzymes among 66 candidates from prokaryotic and eukaryotic origins. Through iterative cycles of engineering, we create and evaluate 3,173 sequence-defined enzyme mutants, tune cofactor concentrations and adjust enzyme loadings to increase pathway activity toward the model end product malate. We demonstrate that ReForm can accept diverse C1 substrates, including formaldehyde, methanol and formate produced from the electrochemical reduction of CO2. Our work expands the repertoire of synthetic C1 utilization pathways, with implications for synthetic biology and the development of a formate-based bioeconomy. Cost-effective, environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient ways to address rising atmospheric CO2 levels are urgently needed. Here the authors combine electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate with biosynthetic conversion of formate to the universal building block acetyl-CoA using a synthetic metabolic pathway called ReForm.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"57-69"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-19DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00324-5
Zeyan Liu, Edward H. Sargent
Reducing energy consumption is a key priority in carbon capture and release. Now, a thermally responsive pH-swing mediator for CO2 capture is presented that operates at an impressively low regeneration temperature of 60 °C, making it compatible with a solar-driven capture–release cycle.
{"title":"Heat-driven pH swing for efficient CO2 capture and release","authors":"Zeyan Liu, Edward H. Sargent","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00324-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00324-5","url":null,"abstract":"Reducing energy consumption is a key priority in carbon capture and release. Now, a thermally responsive pH-swing mediator for CO2 capture is presented that operates at an impressively low regeneration temperature of 60 °C, making it compatible with a solar-driven capture–release cycle.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"22-23"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-19DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00332-5
Kathryn A. Whitehead
Effective delivery has long constrained RNA therapeutics. A 2008 combinatorial chemistry approach transformed lipid discovery and testing, establishing a paradigm that is still contributing to the clinical translation of RNA medicines today.
{"title":"The great lipid hunt","authors":"Kathryn A. Whitehead","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00332-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00332-5","url":null,"abstract":"Effective delivery has long constrained RNA therapeutics. A 2008 combinatorial chemistry approach transformed lipid discovery and testing, establishing a paradigm that is still contributing to the clinical translation of RNA medicines today.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"10-11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-19DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00317-4
To address the challenge of data scarcity in the autonomous discovery of electronic materials, an artifical intelligence (AI)-powered autonomous experimentation platform is developed featuring an AI advisor that enables adaptive decision-making. Applied to a mixed ion–electron conducting polymer, the platform provides insight into molecular packing–property relationships and reveals a previously unknown polymorph.
{"title":"Electronic polymer discovery through adaptive AI-guided autonomous experimentation","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00317-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00317-4","url":null,"abstract":"To address the challenge of data scarcity in the autonomous discovery of electronic materials, an artifical intelligence (AI)-powered autonomous experimentation platform is developed featuring an AI advisor that enables adaptive decision-making. Applied to a mixed ion–electron conducting polymer, the platform provides insight into molecular packing–property relationships and reveals a previously unknown polymorph.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 2","pages":"98-99"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147275097","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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