The storage of excess renewable energy in the form of hydrogen depends on the efficiency of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and thus the rational design of novel iridium-based catalysts with improved electrocatalytic properties. To achieve this, it is necessary to understand both the OER and dissolution mechanisms as well as their inter-relationship. This Minireview gathers state-of-the-art information of these phenomena on different Ir catalysts.

The fast diffusion kinetics of NH₄⁺ ions and the abundance of resources have resulted in aqueous ammonium-ion batteries (AAIBs) gradually emerging as one of most promising approaches for energy storage systems beyond lithium-ion batteries. This Minireview highlights the most recent advances in electrode materials and electrolytes for AAIBs. An overview of the existing challenges and possible solutions is also given to enable further development of AAIBs.

Organic fluorophores in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) range have been validated as attractive imaging tools in biomedical research owing to their biocompatibility, flexible chemical structure, and tunable spectra. This Review systematically summarizes recent advances in the chemistry, design principles, and optical properties of NIR-II organic contrast agents.

By taking advantage of the easy manipulation of peptoid–peptoid and peptoid–particle interactions solely by the variation of side chain chemistry, peptoid-induced formation of five-fold twinned Au star-shaped particles exhibiting five regular points has been achieved through a process of repeated particle attachment followed by facet stabilization.

N-doped molecular graphene nanoribbons, deposited by electrospray controlled ion beam deposition, form extended, metal–organic coordination polymers after multiple chemical transformations employing on-surface synthesis protocols. These transformations and the nature of the metal–organic coordination motifs are investigated by high-resolution scanning tunnelling microscopy.

A novel pH/enzyme dual-activatable nanoplatform (ZIF@DG) was developed via in situ encapsulation of therapeutics into a zeolitic imidazolate framework ZIF-8, combined with microfluidics-assisted preparation of a DG polymer coating. The nanoplatform can co-deliver the protein drug ribonuclease A and the small-molecule drug doxorubicin with controlled drug release to deep tumor regions for synergistic cancer therapy.

Hypoxia-triggered platinum supernanoparticles dissociated into ultrasmall platinum nanoclusters, which could be cleared by the kidney through urine, in response to the tumor microenvironment. After collection of the excreted nanosensors, the disease status was monitored visually and quantitatively by using a microfluidic chip.

Ru-SA (single atom)/H_xMoO_3−y hybrids with abundant Moⁿ⁺ species neighboring oxygen vacancies are synthesized via a H-spillover process. More importantly, Ru-SA/H_xMoO_3−y hybrids can quantitatively produce NH₃ from N₂ and H₂ by the effect of dual active centers (Ru SA and Moⁿ⁺).

Through plasma-enabled post-treatment technology, a constant elastic collision with a large surface area generates periodic lattice vibration at a high potential difference, thereby rearranging the lattice along the electrically preferred direction. Nanocrystallinity of the semiconductor film is dramatically improved through the rearrangement of lattice, and thus the optoelectric properties of the materials are greatly enhanced.

After two decades since its discovery, the structure of zeolite SSZ-43 has been determined as a novel framework comprised of a primitive orthorhombic crystal system with monoclinic faulting that forms unique, 1D 12-ring sinusoidal channels. A combination of molecular modeling and empirical relationships for zeolite selectivity was used to design two new di-quaternary OSDAs and produce SSZ-43 across a wide range of high SiO₂ compositions.

When polymer chains are stressed in solution, mechanochemistry is accelerated if helical conformations are present in the chain, as measured using a combination of size-exclusion chromatography and the use of rhodamine mechanophore activation. This phenomenon is explained by the increased persistence length in helical polymers, leading to more efficient energy transduction.

Oligomeric di-block peptide–polymer amphiphiles (PPAs) provide a modular platform for sophisticated higher-order assembly, but tools to predict assembly behavior from molecular structure are limited. By systematically characterizing PPAs composed of oligo(ethyl acrylate) and random coil peptides, we outline general design principles of PPAs showing how oligomer length, dispersity, and peptide hydrophilicity impact the morphological distribution.

The metal–support interaction between Pt and CoO_x creates a strong built-in electric field across the interface and modulates the charge distribution. This electric field subtly optimizes both the hydrogen and hydroxide adsorption energy, boosting the hydrogen evolution reaction in neutral media.

Multifunctional microrobots, made of Ni@Pt microrockets, CdS quantum dots, and a host β-cyclodextrin selector, have been engineered that simultaneously exhibit i) self-propulsion, ii) fluorescence, and iii) magnetic properties in combination with iv) supramolecular chiral recognition for “enantiorecognition-on-the-fly” approaches. As a model chiral target, tryptophan enantiomers have been discriminated using a bimodal (optical and electrical) readout.

A regioselective cobalt-catalyzed triborylation of unactivated alkenes is developed to access synthetically versatile 1,1,3-triborylalkanes with a catalyst generated from Co(acac)₂ and xantphos. Mechanistic studies reveal that this triborylation reaction proceeds through three interdependent catalytic cycles.

A light-enabled controlled copolymerization compatible with both batch and flow syntheses has been established for the transformation of chlorotrifluoroethylene and vinyl esters/amides. This work enables on-demand preparation of main-chain fluoropolymers with various fractions of alternating units under ambient conditions, and streamlines the generation of block copolymers from gaseous fluoroethylene using two-step photo-flow systems.

An artificial enzyme that responds to intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) was designed through introducing a catalytic histidine residue at one of the thiols of pentaerythritol tetra(3-mercaptopropionate). The artificial enzyme could in situ cross-link to form an assembled structure that could trigger the cleavage of the ester bond of pro-fluorophore and activate the turn-on fluorescence inside cancer cells for selective diagnosis.

Ultrafast metal electrodeposition in fast-charging Zn batteries was investigated by in situ optical imaging and theoretical modeling. The critical parameters governing the electrodeposition stability of the metallic Zn electrode were uncovered, guided by which a highly reversible Zn metal electrode in an aqueous battery with a depth of discharge of 66.7 % at 50 mA cm⁻² was achieved.

A synthetic approach to generate the largest aluminum molecular rings is presented. Their nonlinear optics (NLO) and optical limiting (OL) performance is studied by the Z-scan technique. The results provide insights to understand the NLO structure–activity relationship and tune the NLO performance at a molecular level.

Ca-ion battery: Ascribed to the improved anion intercalation performance in the graphite cathode and reversible Ca²⁺ insertion in the organic anode, by combining a 3.5 m concentrated Ca-ion electrolyte with the low-cost and environmentally friendly graphite cathode and organic anode, the proof-of-concept Ca-based dual-ion battery exhibits 75.4 mAh g⁻¹ specific discharge capacity and 84.7 % capacity retention over 350 cycles, among the best results for Ca-ion batteries.

A facile wet-chemical method for synthesizing two-dimensional Ru multilayered nanosheets with a superlattice is reported and the significance of the superlattice on electrocatalysis is demonstrated. Theoretical calculations reveal that the superlattice between the adjacent Ru layers can induce the strain effect, which leads to the lattice contraction and the weakening of the *H adsorption ability, as a result of improved HER performance.

Using asymmetric peripheral protection as a design motif, two high efficiency and fast reverse intersystem crossing rate multiple resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence materials were designed and synthesized. The corresponding device exhibits pure green emission with a remarkable external quantum efficiency of 32.8 % and relatively low efficiency roll-off without utilizing any sensitizer.

Self-assembled lanthanide nucleotide nanoparticles (LNNPs) with tunable size (4.6–105.7 nm) are developed by employing nanomicelles as a template. High-resolution spectra at 10 K are provided for the first time to unravel the local site symmetry of Ln³⁺ inside the LNNPs. The ultrasmall DOX@LNNPs can achieve rapid renal clearance and unique tumor accumulation, thus enabling efficient tumor-specific therapy with negligible long-term toxicity.

An umbrella-like donor-acceptor system (GDPA-QCN) based on a bulky dendritic donor (umbrella head) and a liner heterocyclic acceptor (umbrella handle) has been developed. GDPA-QCN shows strong sunlight absorption and efficient solar-thermal conversion properties in the solid state and was employed to fabricate a high-performance water purification and electricity generation system.

Red multi-resonance emitters with high photoluminescence quantum yields and narrowband emission were demonstrated by introducing homogeneous hexatomic rings into nitrogen-embedded polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The resulting devices afforded state-of-the-art performance with external quantum efficiency up to 18.2 % and superior operation stability.

The carboxyl methyltransferase FtpM can catalyse methylation and dimethylation of a wide range of mono- and dicarboxylic acids, showing high regioselectivity for some diacids. The enzymatic methylation works under aqueous conditions and can therefore be integrated into enzyme cascades as demonstrated by the two-step, one-pot conversion of bioderived HMF to bioplastics precursor FDME.

Novel flexible soft-solid MOF composite membranes were developed on commercial polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) substrates. The quasi-vertically oriented, solid Zn₂(benzimidazolate)₄ particles grown on the PVDF substrate provided predominant molecular sieving gas entrances, while the soft polyamide eliminated defects enclosing MOF particles, resulting in a superior H₂/CO₂ separation factor which far exceeded those of MOF-based membranes reported to date.

Gold can be dissolved in a sustainable manner with common household chemicals: iodine solution in ethanol, resembling diluted iodine tincture, green oxidant hydrogen peroxide and 2-mercaptobenzimidazole, a compound used in medicinal applications. Catalytic reactions and green solvents are the basis for sustainable development and recycling of precious metals like gold.

Electrochemical quantitative measurements of vesicle chemistry (i.e., chemical storage and release) at the single-vesicle level reveal a sex difference in transmitter release during exocytosis, which might relate to the sex difference of the expression level of voltage-dependent calcium channels and membrane lipid composition. This research provides a new perspective to understand sex dimorphism in exocytosis.

Oligo(N-methylalanine) (oligo-NMA) is proposed as a peptide-based molecular scaffold with a minimal structure and a high density of functionalizable sites. Computational and NMR spectroscopic analysis suggested that the backbone structure of oligo-NMA is not largely affected by functionalization. Moreover, the usefulness of oligo-NMA as a molecular scaffold was demonstrated by the design of protein ligands.

A pioneering example of millisecond-range time-resolved bioimaging is illustrated, which is enabled through ultralong aqueous phosphorescence probes.

Tetrasubstituted 2-aminoacrylonitriles (α-enaminonitriles) are underinvestigated building blocks due to the lack of methodologies to synthesize them in a controlled manner. A general access to these valuable scaffolds accompanied by mechanistic investigations and DFT calculations is described. This highly regio- and stereoselective strategy relies on the use of the first intermolecular silylcyanation of ynamides.

High host-dopant miscibility and excellent carrier mobility can be simultaneously achieved in n-doped conjugated polymers. High-mobility polymers usually possess poor miscibility because of strong interchain interactions. Without harming the efficient charge-transport based on the ordered polymer backbones packing, disordered side-chains are introduced to accommodate dopants better without disturbing charge-transport pathways.

A near-infrared triazole-IR780 fluorophore was tailored as a PAI-active macrocyclization scaffold for controlling macrocyclization and in situ self-assembly, which enabled the development of a caspase-3-activatable PET/PAI bimodal probe [¹⁸F]-IR780-1 for noninvasive imaging of drug-induced tumor apoptosis in vivo, with potential for the early monitoring of tumor response to chemotherapy.

A novel nitrogen-doped CP-PAH, dibenzodiazapyracylene, was successfully synthesized and characterized. The aromatic and antiaromatic resonance hybrid characters have been verified by comparing their ¹H NMR spectra to those of reference molecules. Their condensed packing structures in the solid state allowed for the effective hole transporting.

Based on the tannic acid coating method, a series of mono- and bi-metallic single-atom coatings (SACs) (e. g., Co, Fe, Mn, Co−Mn, Fe−Mn) can be formed on substrates of different materials (e. g., carbon black, carbon nanotubes, graphene, carbon cloth, SiO₂, TiO₂, ZnO, MoS₂), dimensions (0D–3D) and sizes (50 nm–5 cm).

A strategy to prepare a series of inorganic–organic hybrid nanosheets based on pillararene-intercalated MXene nanosheets is reported, which have larger lateral size compared with the original MXene nanosheets, in which a membrane was formed through vacuum-assisted filtration. The as-prepared membranes exhibited relatively high water permeance, rejection, and stability for treating water containing antibiotics under dead-end filtration and cross-flow filtration conditions.

A descriptor ΔE was developed based on the intersystem crossing via higher excited states (ISCHES) mechanism, allowing the accurate predictions of organic host–guest phosphorescent systems.

The formally equilateral triradical with D_3h symmetry is subject to Jahn–Teller distortion to create two distorted C_2v structures (i.e., acute and obtuse forms) and these two distorted forms are reversibly interconverted in the solution and solid states.

Quantum mechanical investigations of hydrocarbon macrocycle ensembles in solution by comparison of experimental and computed ¹³C-NMR spectra are described. The excellent agreement between experiment and theory allows the deduction of contributing molecular conformations.

The diastereoselective reactions of chiral seven-membered-ring enolates have been systematically investigated. Diastereoselectivity was found to be general for ϵ-lactams, ϵ-lactones, and cycloheptanones with various substituent patterns. Computational investigations provided insight into the origin of the diastereoselectivity. A model for predicting the stereochemistry of seven-membered-ring enolate alkylations is proposed.

Alkyl-GeMe₃ was proven to be an effective radical precursor under visible-light photocatalysis. The metalloid nature of Ge allows single-electron transfer (SET) at the neutral Ge center and leads to advantages in separation and derivatization.

An electrocatalytic allylic C−H alkylation reaction with carbon nucleophiles is reported, which employs an easily available cobalt–salen complex as the molecular catalyst. The method is characterized by its excellent functional group tolerance, substrate compatibility with both linear and branched terminal alkenes, and scalability (up to 200 mmol scale) with a low loading of electrolyte (down to 0.05 equiv).

Cyclometallated iridium-PhanePhos complexes catalyze 2-propanol-mediated reductive couplings of 2-substituted dienes with oxetanone and N-acyl-azetidinones to form branched homoallylic oxetanols and azetidinols with excellent control of regio- and enantioselectivity without C−C cleavage of the strained ring. This work represents the first systematic study of enantioselective additions to symmetric ketones.

Charge transport behavior of two amine Cu porphyrin supramolecules with different stacking interactions in perovskite grain boundaries was investigated in detail. Results prove that the construction of homogeneously large polarons (HLPs) in aromatic passivators is a key factor for the charge transport between perovskite grains. This work also affords a new strategy to design new optoelectronic materials with improved charge mobilities.

A novel method to obtain macroscopic hollow structures was developed involving a self-evolution process from dry-network polythiourethane thermosets (PTUs) polymer films to neat hollow objects via immersion of aqueous NaOH solutions.

A non-emissive amorphous Au^I–thiolate coordination polymer undergoes two successive crystallisation phase changes on mild solid-state heating. The first high symmetric crystalline phase becomes slightly red-emissive and the second, which has a lower symmetry, exhibits intense luminescence due to the presence of aurophilic interactions. These transitions are reversible upon soft hand grinding, offering potential for non-volatile memories.

N-Heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-catalyzed atroposelective esterification of dialdehydes led to structurally diverse axially chiral aldehydes in good yields, with high enantioselectivity enabled by unprecedented NHC-catalyzed desymmetrization of the dialdehydes followed by kinetic resolution. This protocol, which features mild reaction conditions and broad functional-group tolerance, provides modular access to value-added axially chiral aldehydes and their derivatives.

Reversible multi-dimensional transformation of a coordination polymer composed of Cu^II ions and terephthalate ligands was achieved for the first time by controlling the coordination environment. The dimensional transformation led to significant changes in the chemical and physical properties specific to coordination polymers, such as gas sorption and magnetism.

Photoswitchable bi-directional trafficking of biomolecules between programmable DNA-based artificial membraneless organelles in a cell-like microcompartment has been achieved to imitate intracellular communication towards construction of advanced functional artificial cells.

The exceptionally high performance for CO₂-to-CO photocatalytic reduction displayed by an iron–porphyrin bearing urea groups in the second coordination sphere is the result of the interaction of CO₂ with the catalyst prior to the occurrence of the second electron uptake in the catalytic cycle.

Understanding the structure–activity relationship is of crucial importance to the evaluation and the rational design of novel catalysts. Herein, single-molecule electrochemiluminescence microscopy is employed for super-resolution mapping of the chemical activity and kinetic analysis of Ru(bpy)₃²⁺-based reactions on single gold plates, which enables spatiotemporal characterizations down to the single-reaction level.

A new class of lightweight, mechanically reinforced, hygroresponsive organic crystalline hybrid materials has been synthesized by a universally applicable approach. The crystals are robust, durable, and moisture-absorbing, and show a highly linear deformation over a wide range of relative humidity. Such precise spatiotemporal control over the light output in response to air humidity allows the materials to be used as optical waveguides.

The application of solid-state MAS NMR on live microalgae for monitoring of fermentation, lipid metabolism and structural dynamics changes is demonstrated. Conversion of galactolipids into TAG and free fatty acids is observed, accompanied with rapid loss of rigid lipid structures. It is concluded that high cell densities, creating dark, anoxia conditions, induce lipid catabolism and cell death resulting in breakdown of cell and organelle membranes.

Full stereochemical assignment of the structurally unique nucleoside antibiotic A-94964, which shows potent inhibitory activity against the vital bacterial phospho-N-acetylmuramyl-pentapeptide translocase, was achieved by the collective total synthesis of eight diastereoisomers in combination with NMR analysis.