Pub Date : 2024-04-02DOI: 10.1038/s44286-024-00046-0
Gerd Mutschke, Tom Weier
Electric fields offer an easy means to manipulate liquid metal droplets. Now, directed droplet transfer between immersed electrodes is achieved in an alkaline electrolyte without electrical short circuit.
{"title":"Directed transfer of liquid metal droplets between electrodes","authors":"Gerd Mutschke, Tom Weier","doi":"10.1038/s44286-024-00046-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-024-00046-0","url":null,"abstract":"Electric fields offer an easy means to manipulate liquid metal droplets. Now, directed droplet transfer between immersed electrodes is achieved in an alkaline electrolyte without electrical short circuit.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140544587","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 : 2024-04-02DOI: 10.1038/s44286-024-00054-0
Ronghui Wu, Po-Chun Hsu
Properly maintaining the skin temperature is critical for wound healing, especially outdoors. Now, a lightweight and skin-friendly wound dressing is reported that can continuously cool the skin without energy input.
{"title":"Better cooling for faster healing","authors":"Ronghui Wu, Po-Chun Hsu","doi":"10.1038/s44286-024-00054-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-024-00054-0","url":null,"abstract":"Properly maintaining the skin temperature is critical for wound healing, especially outdoors. Now, a lightweight and skin-friendly wound dressing is reported that can continuously cool the skin without energy input.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140544580","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}
The process of wound healing is sensitive to various factors of the local environment, including temperature, humidity and sterility. However, due to lack of efficient thermal regulation in existing wound dressings, the perturbed local environment and oxidative stress caused by an increased wound temperature under outdoor sunlight inevitably impacts wound healing. Here we demonstrate a daytime radiative cooling dressing based on a polyamide 6/silk fibroin bilayer that reduces the thermal load for skin wounds under sunlight illumination. The mid-infrared transparent polyamide 6 and the biocompatible silk fibroin together endow a high mid-infrared emissivity (~0.94) and sunlight reflectivity (~0.96), thus achieving a temperature of ~7 °C below ambient under direct sunlight. When used for repairing mouse skin full-thickness injuries under sunlight, we observed an accelerated wound healing rate compared with that of commercial dressings. This work therefore offers a promising strategy for passive temperature regulation to accelerate wound healing under sunlight. It is essential to develop new dressing designs for wounds that can maintain ideal thermal comfort even under high temperatures in outdoor conditions. Now, a daytime radiative cooling dressing based on a polyamide 6/silk fibroin bilayer is demonstrated to accelerate wound healing by reducing the thermal load for skin wounds under sunlight illumination.
{"title":"Daytime radiative cooling dressings for accelerating wound healing under sunlight","authors":"Qian Zhang, Chao Qi, Xueyang Wang, Bin Zhu, Wei Li, Xingfang Xiao, Hanyu Fu, Song Hu, Shining Zhu, Weilin Xu, Jia Zhu","doi":"10.1038/s44286-024-00050-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-024-00050-4","url":null,"abstract":"The process of wound healing is sensitive to various factors of the local environment, including temperature, humidity and sterility. However, due to lack of efficient thermal regulation in existing wound dressings, the perturbed local environment and oxidative stress caused by an increased wound temperature under outdoor sunlight inevitably impacts wound healing. Here we demonstrate a daytime radiative cooling dressing based on a polyamide 6/silk fibroin bilayer that reduces the thermal load for skin wounds under sunlight illumination. The mid-infrared transparent polyamide 6 and the biocompatible silk fibroin together endow a high mid-infrared emissivity (~0.94) and sunlight reflectivity (~0.96), thus achieving a temperature of ~7 °C below ambient under direct sunlight. When used for repairing mouse skin full-thickness injuries under sunlight, we observed an accelerated wound healing rate compared with that of commercial dressings. This work therefore offers a promising strategy for passive temperature regulation to accelerate wound healing under sunlight. It is essential to develop new dressing designs for wounds that can maintain ideal thermal comfort even under high temperatures in outdoor conditions. Now, a daytime radiative cooling dressing based on a polyamide 6/silk fibroin bilayer is demonstrated to accelerate wound healing by reducing the thermal load for skin wounds under sunlight illumination.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140379509","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 : 2024-03-26DOI: 10.1038/s44286-024-00047-z
Luke Cullen, Fanran Meng, Rick Lupton, Jonathan M. Cullen
Uncertainties in greenhouse gas emissions estimates for petrochemical production have lacked quantification globally, impacting emissions reporting and decarbonization policymaking. Here we analyze cradle-to-gate emissions of 81 chemicals at 37,000 facilities worldwide, assessing 6 uncertainty sources. The results estimate a 34% uncertainty in total global emissions of 1.9 ± 0.6 Gt of CO2-equivalent emissions for 2020, and 15–40% uncertainties across most petrochemicals analyzed. The largest uncertainties stem from the inability to assign specific production processes to facilities owing to data limitations. Uncertain data on feedstock production and off-site energy generation contribute substantially, while on-site fuel combustion and chemical reactions have smaller roles. Allocation method choices for co-products are generally insignificant. Prioritizing facility-level process specification in data collection for just 20% of facilities could reduce global uncertainty by 80%. This underscores the necessity of quantifying uncertainty in petrochemical greenhouse gas emissions globally and outlines priorities for improved reporting. The dataset generated offers independent emissions factor estimates based on facility-specific information for 81 chemicals, supporting future analyses. Robust decarbonization strategies for the petrochemical industry are hampered by many sources of uncertainty in greenhouse gas emissions estimates. Here the authors quantify and prioritize uncertainty sources, finding that the most significant factor is the lack of detailed data about specific production processes used in chemical facilities.
{"title":"Reducing uncertainties in greenhouse gas emissions from chemical production","authors":"Luke Cullen, Fanran Meng, Rick Lupton, Jonathan M. Cullen","doi":"10.1038/s44286-024-00047-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-024-00047-z","url":null,"abstract":"Uncertainties in greenhouse gas emissions estimates for petrochemical production have lacked quantification globally, impacting emissions reporting and decarbonization policymaking. Here we analyze cradle-to-gate emissions of 81 chemicals at 37,000 facilities worldwide, assessing 6 uncertainty sources. The results estimate a 34% uncertainty in total global emissions of 1.9 ± 0.6 Gt of CO2-equivalent emissions for 2020, and 15–40% uncertainties across most petrochemicals analyzed. The largest uncertainties stem from the inability to assign specific production processes to facilities owing to data limitations. Uncertain data on feedstock production and off-site energy generation contribute substantially, while on-site fuel combustion and chemical reactions have smaller roles. Allocation method choices for co-products are generally insignificant. Prioritizing facility-level process specification in data collection for just 20% of facilities could reduce global uncertainty by 80%. This underscores the necessity of quantifying uncertainty in petrochemical greenhouse gas emissions globally and outlines priorities for improved reporting. The dataset generated offers independent emissions factor estimates based on facility-specific information for 81 chemicals, supporting future analyses. Robust decarbonization strategies for the petrochemical industry are hampered by many sources of uncertainty in greenhouse gas emissions estimates. Here the authors quantify and prioritize uncertainty sources, finding that the most significant factor is the lack of detailed data about specific production processes used in chemical facilities.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44286-024-00047-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140380995","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 : 2024-03-25DOI: 10.1038/s44286-024-00049-x
Stephen R. Cotty, Aderiyike Faniyan, Johannes Elbert, Xiao Su
Electrochemical separations are powerful platforms for the sustainable recovery of critical elements, environmental remediation and downstream processing. However, the recent development of electroseparations has primarily focused on heterogeneous adsorbents, which face the challenge of intermittent electroswing operation. Here we present a redox-mediated electrochemical liquid–liquid extraction separation platform that translates selective single-site binding to a fully continuous separation scheme. A redox-active extractant is molecularly designed with controllable hydrophobicity to maximize organic phase retention. The redox flow design enables fully electrified continuous operation with no external chemical input, achieving the selective recovery of precious metals from multicomponent streams. We demonstrate an atomic efficiency of over 90% and over 100:1 selectivity for practical critical metal leach streams, and 16-fold up-concentration for gold and platinum group metals from varied feedstocks including electronic waste, catalytic converter waste and mining streams. Our work is envisioned as a pathway towards a broader class of industrially applicable liquid–liquid extraction-based electrochemical separations. The recovery of gold and platinum group metals from sources like electronic waste, catalytic converter waste and mining streams remains challenging. Now, an electrochemically mediated liquid–liquid extraction process leverages the selectivity of redox-active extractants for the selective recovery of precious and critical metals including gold and platinum group metals from diverse feedstocks.
{"title":"Redox-mediated electrochemical liquid–liquid extraction for selective metal recovery","authors":"Stephen R. Cotty, Aderiyike Faniyan, Johannes Elbert, Xiao Su","doi":"10.1038/s44286-024-00049-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-024-00049-x","url":null,"abstract":"Electrochemical separations are powerful platforms for the sustainable recovery of critical elements, environmental remediation and downstream processing. However, the recent development of electroseparations has primarily focused on heterogeneous adsorbents, which face the challenge of intermittent electroswing operation. Here we present a redox-mediated electrochemical liquid–liquid extraction separation platform that translates selective single-site binding to a fully continuous separation scheme. A redox-active extractant is molecularly designed with controllable hydrophobicity to maximize organic phase retention. The redox flow design enables fully electrified continuous operation with no external chemical input, achieving the selective recovery of precious metals from multicomponent streams. We demonstrate an atomic efficiency of over 90% and over 100:1 selectivity for practical critical metal leach streams, and 16-fold up-concentration for gold and platinum group metals from varied feedstocks including electronic waste, catalytic converter waste and mining streams. Our work is envisioned as a pathway towards a broader class of industrially applicable liquid–liquid extraction-based electrochemical separations. The recovery of gold and platinum group metals from sources like electronic waste, catalytic converter waste and mining streams remains challenging. Now, an electrochemically mediated liquid–liquid extraction process leverages the selectivity of redox-active extractants for the selective recovery of precious and critical metals including gold and platinum group metals from diverse feedstocks.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44286-024-00049-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140382919","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 : 2024-03-20DOI: 10.1038/s44286-024-00045-1
Yahua He, Jing You, Michael D. Dickey, Xiaolin Wang
Droplets of liquid metals attached to an anode in an electrochemical cell move toward the cathode since electrochemical oxidation lowers the interfacial tension of the metal. When the droplet reaches the cathode, it wraps around the cathode but does not touch it despite the electrostatic attraction between the positively charged liquid metal and the negatively charged cathode. The combination of electrochemical oxidation of the liquid-metal anode and hydrogen production on the cathode prevents contact, thus avoiding a short circuit between the two electrodes. Consequently, the liquid metal continues to flow toward the cathode and surrounds it until finally the metal completely detaches from the anode and transfers to the cathode. Such manipulation depends on the distance between the cathode and the liquid metal; only the closest liquid-metal droplet will detach and transfer. During this process, the liquid can adopt surprising shapes that resemble tentacles. We demonstrate and characterize the unique ability to detach and transfer liquid metal using a low applied voltage. Positively charged anodes should short circuit when they are brought into contact with a cathode. The authors demonstrate that a liquid-metal anode can naturally flow toward the cathode, completely surround it and ultimately transfer to the cathode without short circuiting in an electrochemical cell.
{"title":"Liquid-metal transfer from an anode to a cathode without short circuiting","authors":"Yahua He, Jing You, Michael D. Dickey, Xiaolin Wang","doi":"10.1038/s44286-024-00045-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-024-00045-1","url":null,"abstract":"Droplets of liquid metals attached to an anode in an electrochemical cell move toward the cathode since electrochemical oxidation lowers the interfacial tension of the metal. When the droplet reaches the cathode, it wraps around the cathode but does not touch it despite the electrostatic attraction between the positively charged liquid metal and the negatively charged cathode. The combination of electrochemical oxidation of the liquid-metal anode and hydrogen production on the cathode prevents contact, thus avoiding a short circuit between the two electrodes. Consequently, the liquid metal continues to flow toward the cathode and surrounds it until finally the metal completely detaches from the anode and transfers to the cathode. Such manipulation depends on the distance between the cathode and the liquid metal; only the closest liquid-metal droplet will detach and transfer. During this process, the liquid can adopt surprising shapes that resemble tentacles. We demonstrate and characterize the unique ability to detach and transfer liquid metal using a low applied voltage. Positively charged anodes should short circuit when they are brought into contact with a cathode. The authors demonstrate that a liquid-metal anode can naturally flow toward the cathode, completely surround it and ultimately transfer to the cathode without short circuiting in an electrochemical cell.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140225629","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 : 2024-03-08DOI: 10.1038/s44286-024-00035-3
Sven Brückner, Quanchen Feng, Wen Ju, Daniela Galliani, Anna Testolin, Malte Klingenhof, Sebastian Ott, Peter Strasser
This work reports the design and diagnostic analysis of a pH-neutral CO2-to-CO zero-gap electrolyzer cell incorporating a nickel–nitrogen-doped carbon catalyst. The cell yields ~100% CO faradaic efficiency at applied current densities of up to 250 mA cm−2 at low cell voltage and 40% total energy efficiency. It features a low stoichiometric CO2 excess, λstoich, of 1.2 that yields a molar CO concentration of ~70%vol in the electrolyzer exit stream at 40% single-pass CO2 conversion, with over 100 h stability. Here we introduce the experimental carbon crossover coefficient (CCC) as a tool for electrolyzer cell diagnostics. The CCC describes the ratio between noncatalytic acid–base CO2 consumption and catalytically generated alkalinity, thereby offering insight into the nature of the prevalent ionic transport and transport mechanisms of undesired CO2 losses. We demonstrate the diagnostic value of the CCC in transport-based cell failure during oscillatory cell flooding between salt precipitation and salt redissolution. The present dynamic cell diagnostics provide practical guidelines toward improved CO2 electrolyzer designs. Optimizing CO2-to-CO electrolyzers is important for developing tandem electrolysis processes. Now an efficient precious metal-free CO2-to-CO electrolyzer cathode design allows operation under a low stoichiometric CO2 excess ratio that yields a molar CO concentration of 70% in the exit stream along with a diagnostic approach to its catalytic and mass transport characteristics.
本研究报告介绍了一种 pH 值中性 CO2 到 CO 零间隙电解槽的设计和诊断分析，该电解槽采用了掺杂镍氮的碳催化剂。该电池在低电压和高达 250 mA cm-2 的应用电流密度下可产生约 100% 的 CO 远电解效率和 40% 的总能效。它的特点是二氧化碳的低化学计量过量（λstoich）为 1.2，在单程二氧化碳转化率为 40% 时，电解槽出口流中的二氧化碳摩尔浓度约为 70%vol，稳定性超过 100 小时。在此，我们介绍实验性碳交叉系数（CCC），作为电解槽诊断的工具。CCC 描述了非催化酸碱 CO2 消耗量与催化产生的碱度之间的比率，从而提供了对普遍存在的离子传输性质和不希望的 CO2 损失的传输机制的深入了解。在盐沉淀和盐再溶解之间的振荡细胞淹没过程中，我们展示了 CCC 在基于传输的细胞失效方面的诊断价值。目前的电池动态诊断为改进二氧化碳电解槽设计提供了实用指南。优化 CO2 到 CO 电解槽对于开发串联电解工艺非常重要。现在，一种高效的无贵金属 CO2 转 CO 电解槽阴极设计可在低化学计量 CO2 过剩率下运行，出口流中的 CO 摩尔浓度为 70%，同时还可对其催化和质量传输特性进行诊断。
{"title":"Design and diagnosis of high-performance CO2-to-CO electrolyzer cells","authors":"Sven Brückner, Quanchen Feng, Wen Ju, Daniela Galliani, Anna Testolin, Malte Klingenhof, Sebastian Ott, Peter Strasser","doi":"10.1038/s44286-024-00035-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-024-00035-3","url":null,"abstract":"This work reports the design and diagnostic analysis of a pH-neutral CO2-to-CO zero-gap electrolyzer cell incorporating a nickel–nitrogen-doped carbon catalyst. The cell yields ~100% CO faradaic efficiency at applied current densities of up to 250 mA cm−2 at low cell voltage and 40% total energy efficiency. It features a low stoichiometric CO2 excess, λstoich, of 1.2 that yields a molar CO concentration of ~70%vol in the electrolyzer exit stream at 40% single-pass CO2 conversion, with over 100 h stability. Here we introduce the experimental carbon crossover coefficient (CCC) as a tool for electrolyzer cell diagnostics. The CCC describes the ratio between noncatalytic acid–base CO2 consumption and catalytically generated alkalinity, thereby offering insight into the nature of the prevalent ionic transport and transport mechanisms of undesired CO2 losses. We demonstrate the diagnostic value of the CCC in transport-based cell failure during oscillatory cell flooding between salt precipitation and salt redissolution. The present dynamic cell diagnostics provide practical guidelines toward improved CO2 electrolyzer designs. Optimizing CO2-to-CO electrolyzers is important for developing tandem electrolysis processes. Now an efficient precious metal-free CO2-to-CO electrolyzer cathode design allows operation under a low stoichiometric CO2 excess ratio that yields a molar CO concentration of 70% in the exit stream along with a diagnostic approach to its catalytic and mass transport characteristics.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140063888","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 : 2024-03-08DOI: 10.1038/s44286-024-00051-3
Biomolecular engineering enriches the toolkit of chemical engineers, enabling them to tackle diverse challenges in biotechnology and medicine; we welcome submissions in this space.
{"title":"Bringing biomolecular engineering on board","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44286-024-00051-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-024-00051-3","url":null,"abstract":"Biomolecular engineering enriches the toolkit of chemical engineers, enabling them to tackle diverse challenges in biotechnology and medicine; we welcome submissions in this space.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44286-024-00051-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140063873","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 : 2024-03-08DOI: 10.1038/s44286-024-00038-0
Chang-Xin Zhao, Xi-Yao Li, Han Han, Yuanning Feng, Chun Tang, Xuesong Li, Long Zhang, Charlotte L. Stern, Qiang Zhang, J. Fraser Stoddart
Despite the fact that noncovalent bonding interactions are ubiquitous, it is primarily those interactions, which are amenable to spectroscopic analysis, that have been well investigated and applied in chemical engineering. New principles and techniques for characterizing noncovalent interactions are required to gain insight into their detailed nature and explore their potential applications. Here we introduce the practice of analytical noncovalent electrochemistry for probing such interactions. The strengths of noncovalent interactions can be determined more accurately by electrochemical means than by relying on spectroscopic measurements. Specifically, electrochemical analyses are capable of recording/identifying minor signals, leading to the discovery of an unexpected 2:1 host–guest complex. Moreover, the proposed technique is capable of probing multiple properties and facilitates the design and screening of active complexes as catalysts. We also demonstrate achieving a high energy density of 495 Wh kg−1 in rechargeable batteries. The analytical procedure provides a fresh perspective for supramolecular science and takes noncovalent chemistry closer to practical applications. Quantifying the strength of noncovalent interactions in supramolecular host–guest systems is key to guiding molecular design for a desired application. Now, a quantitative relationship between noncovalent interactions and electrochemistry is established that provides a new dimension for investigations into noncovalent interactions and enables the control of electrochemical properties in battery engineering.
{"title":"Analytical noncovalent electrochemistry for battery engineering","authors":"Chang-Xin Zhao, Xi-Yao Li, Han Han, Yuanning Feng, Chun Tang, Xuesong Li, Long Zhang, Charlotte L. Stern, Qiang Zhang, J. Fraser Stoddart","doi":"10.1038/s44286-024-00038-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-024-00038-0","url":null,"abstract":"Despite the fact that noncovalent bonding interactions are ubiquitous, it is primarily those interactions, which are amenable to spectroscopic analysis, that have been well investigated and applied in chemical engineering. New principles and techniques for characterizing noncovalent interactions are required to gain insight into their detailed nature and explore their potential applications. Here we introduce the practice of analytical noncovalent electrochemistry for probing such interactions. The strengths of noncovalent interactions can be determined more accurately by electrochemical means than by relying on spectroscopic measurements. Specifically, electrochemical analyses are capable of recording/identifying minor signals, leading to the discovery of an unexpected 2:1 host–guest complex. Moreover, the proposed technique is capable of probing multiple properties and facilitates the design and screening of active complexes as catalysts. We also demonstrate achieving a high energy density of 495 Wh kg−1 in rechargeable batteries. The analytical procedure provides a fresh perspective for supramolecular science and takes noncovalent chemistry closer to practical applications. Quantifying the strength of noncovalent interactions in supramolecular host–guest systems is key to guiding molecular design for a desired application. Now, a quantitative relationship between noncovalent interactions and electrochemistry is established that provides a new dimension for investigations into noncovalent interactions and enables the control of electrochemical properties in battery engineering.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140063867","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 : 2024-03-08DOI: 10.1038/s44286-024-00041-5
Artur M. Schweidtmann
Generative artificial intelligence will transform the way we design and operate chemical processes, argues Artur M. Schweidtmann.
阿图尔-M.-施魏德曼（Artur M. Schweidtmann）认为，生成式人工智能将改变我们设计和操作化学过程的方式。
{"title":"Generative artificial intelligence in chemical engineering","authors":"Artur M. Schweidtmann","doi":"10.1038/s44286-024-00041-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-024-00041-5","url":null,"abstract":"Generative artificial intelligence will transform the way we design and operate chemical processes, argues Artur M. Schweidtmann.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140063870","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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