Pub Date : 2025-10-03DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00287-7
Saleh Ahmat Ibrahim, Shengyan Meng, Charles Milhans, Magda H. Barecka, Yilang Liu, Qiang Li, Jiaqi Yang, Yabing Sha, Yanhui Yi, Fanglin Che
Low-carbon ammonia decomposition via nonthermal plasma is a promising method for on-site hydrogen production, but finding optimal catalysts is challenging. Here we use multiscale simulations to link catalytic activity to nitrogen adsorption energy (EN) and identify the best catalysts for conventional heating and nonthermal plasma: Ru and Co, respectively. With an ideal EN of −0.51 eV for plasma catalysis, we applied machine learning to screen 3,300+ catalysts and designed efficient, earth-abundant alloys such as Fe3Cu, Ni3Mo, Ni7Cu and Fe15Ni. Plasma catalytic experiments at 400 °C further validated that the above alloys achieved higher conversions than the individual metals, and they also have comparable performance to Co. Our techno-economic analysis demonstrated potential economic benefits of plasma catalytic ammonia decomposition over Ni3Mo, highlighting a H2 production cost below the US$1 per kg H2 target and a low carbon footprint of ~0.91 kg of CO2 per kg H2. This study reports on a closed-loop approach combining multiscale simulations, interpretable machine learning, experiments and techno-economic analysis for systematic plasma catalyst design, showing that alloys from noncritical minerals can potentially replace costly noble metals such as ruthenium for hydrogen production from ammonia decomposition under plasma conditions.
{"title":"Interpretable machine learning-guided plasma catalysis for hydrogen production","authors":"Saleh Ahmat Ibrahim, Shengyan Meng, Charles Milhans, Magda H. Barecka, Yilang Liu, Qiang Li, Jiaqi Yang, Yabing Sha, Yanhui Yi, Fanglin Che","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00287-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00287-7","url":null,"abstract":"Low-carbon ammonia decomposition via nonthermal plasma is a promising method for on-site hydrogen production, but finding optimal catalysts is challenging. Here we use multiscale simulations to link catalytic activity to nitrogen adsorption energy (EN) and identify the best catalysts for conventional heating and nonthermal plasma: Ru and Co, respectively. With an ideal EN of −0.51 eV for plasma catalysis, we applied machine learning to screen 3,300+ catalysts and designed efficient, earth-abundant alloys such as Fe3Cu, Ni3Mo, Ni7Cu and Fe15Ni. Plasma catalytic experiments at 400 °C further validated that the above alloys achieved higher conversions than the individual metals, and they also have comparable performance to Co. Our techno-economic analysis demonstrated potential economic benefits of plasma catalytic ammonia decomposition over Ni3Mo, highlighting a H2 production cost below the US$1 per kg H2 target and a low carbon footprint of ~0.91 kg of CO2 per kg H2. This study reports on a closed-loop approach combining multiscale simulations, interpretable machine learning, experiments and techno-economic analysis for systematic plasma catalyst design, showing that alloys from noncritical minerals can potentially replace costly noble metals such as ruthenium for hydrogen production from ammonia decomposition under plasma conditions.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 11","pages":"699-710"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145561832","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 : 2025-09-22DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00288-6
Thomas Dursch
{"title":"Bending barriers in CO2 adsorption","authors":"Thomas Dursch","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00288-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00288-6","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"530-530"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123508","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 : 2025-09-22DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00281-z
Christopher G. Arges, Martin Z. Bazant, Roland D. Cusick, T. Alan Hatton, Steven A. Hawks, Chia-Hung Hou, Jovan Kamcev, David G. Kwabi, James Landon, Shihong Lin, Yupo J. Lin, Chong Liu, Xiao Su, William A. Tarpeh, Lauren Valentino, David Waite, Haotian Wang
A Telluride Science Workshop on electrochemical separations was convened in early 2025. In this Feature, 17 of the workshop participants share their perspectives and future outlooks on this rapidly growing research area.
{"title":"Current developments in electrochemical separations","authors":"Christopher G. Arges, Martin Z. Bazant, Roland D. Cusick, T. Alan Hatton, Steven A. Hawks, Chia-Hung Hou, Jovan Kamcev, David G. Kwabi, James Landon, Shihong Lin, Yupo J. Lin, Chong Liu, Xiao Su, William A. Tarpeh, Lauren Valentino, David Waite, Haotian Wang","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00281-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00281-z","url":null,"abstract":"A Telluride Science Workshop on electrochemical separations was convened in early 2025. In this Feature, 17 of the workshop participants share their perspectives and future outlooks on this rapidly growing research area.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"524-528"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123307","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 : 2025-09-22DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00279-7
Jerry Y. Y. Heng
In pursuit of the hidden secrets and beauty in crystals, Jerry Heng explores the concepts of birth (nucleation), growth, breakage, death and subsequent regeneration.
{"title":"A chance for order at the interface","authors":"Jerry Y. Y. Heng","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00279-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00279-7","url":null,"abstract":"In pursuit of the hidden secrets and beauty in crystals, Jerry Heng explores the concepts of birth (nucleation), growth, breakage, death and subsequent regeneration.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"608-608"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123510","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 : 2025-09-22DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00281-z
Christopher G. Arges, Martin Z. Bazant, Roland D. Cusick, T. Alan Hatton, Steven A. Hawks, Chia-Hung Hou, Jovan Kamcev, David G. Kwabi, James Landon, Shihong Lin, Yupo J. Lin, Chong Liu, Xiao Su, William A. Tarpeh, Lauren Valentino, David Waite, Haotian Wang
A Telluride Science Workshop on electrochemical separations was convened in early 2025. In this Feature, 17 of the workshop participants share their perspectives and future outlooks on this rapidly growing research area.
{"title":"Current developments in electrochemical separations","authors":"Christopher G. Arges, Martin Z. Bazant, Roland D. Cusick, T. Alan Hatton, Steven A. Hawks, Chia-Hung Hou, Jovan Kamcev, David G. Kwabi, James Landon, Shihong Lin, Yupo J. Lin, Chong Liu, Xiao Su, William A. Tarpeh, Lauren Valentino, David Waite, Haotian Wang","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00281-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00281-z","url":null,"abstract":"A Telluride Science Workshop on electrochemical separations was convened in early 2025. In this Feature, 17 of the workshop participants share their perspectives and future outlooks on this rapidly growing research area.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"524-528"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123534","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 : 2025-09-22DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00286-8
Yanfei Zhu
{"title":"Fusion gets a charge","authors":"Yanfei Zhu","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00286-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00286-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"529-529"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123301","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 : 2025-09-22DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00286-8
Yanfei Zhu
{"title":"Fusion gets a charge","authors":"Yanfei Zhu","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00286-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00286-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"529-529"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123526","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 : 2025-09-22DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00279-7
Jerry Y. Y. Heng
In pursuit of the hidden secrets and beauty in crystals, Jerry Heng explores the concepts of birth (nucleation), growth, breakage, death and subsequent regeneration.
{"title":"A chance for order at the interface","authors":"Jerry Y. Y. Heng","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00279-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00279-7","url":null,"abstract":"In pursuit of the hidden secrets and beauty in crystals, Jerry Heng explores the concepts of birth (nucleation), growth, breakage, death and subsequent regeneration.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"608-608"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123540","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 : 2025-09-22DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00294-8
Chemical separations are undergoing a period of rapid advancement, driven by both environmental pressures and scientific breakthroughs. From electrochemical alternatives to advanced materials and intensified processes, this Focus issue highlights how innovations across scales are shaping the future of chemical separations science and technology.
{"title":"Separation processes on stage","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00294-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00294-8","url":null,"abstract":"Chemical separations are undergoing a period of rapid advancement, driven by both environmental pressures and scientific breakthroughs. From electrochemical alternatives to advanced materials and intensified processes, this Focus issue highlights how innovations across scales are shaping the future of chemical separations science and technology.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"513-514"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44286-025-00294-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123505","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 : 2025-09-22DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00294-8
Chemical separations are undergoing a period of rapid advancement, driven by both environmental pressures and scientific breakthroughs. From electrochemical alternatives to advanced materials and intensified processes, this Focus issue highlights how innovations across scales are shaping the future of chemical separations science and technology.
{"title":"Separation processes on stage","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00294-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00294-8","url":null,"abstract":"Chemical separations are undergoing a period of rapid advancement, driven by both environmental pressures and scientific breakthroughs. From electrochemical alternatives to advanced materials and intensified processes, this Focus issue highlights how innovations across scales are shaping the future of chemical separations science and technology.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"513-514"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44286-025-00294-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123541","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}
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