Articles in 2021

Photocatalytic oxidation of methane through oxidative coupling presents a route to higher hydrocarbons but has suffered from low activity and uncontrolled product selectivity. Now, Au nanoparticles loaded onto a ZnO/TiO₂ heterostructure are shown to deliver high rate production of ethane.

CO is a common product of the electrochemical reduction of CO₂, but its formation mechanism remains elusive. Here, the authors present a unified mechanistic picture of CO₂ reduction to CO on transition metal and single atom catalysts.

Staff Sheehan is a co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer at Air Company, a Brooklyn-based startup that uses heterogeneous catalysis to transform CO₂ into value-added products. Here, talking to Nature Catalysis, he takes us on a journey from vodka and hand sanitizer into outer space.

The catalysis of CO₂ conversion is a research topic ripe with potential to contribute towards a net-zero future. This Focus issue features a collection of content dedicated to progressing the fundamental science and practical implementation of this technology to advance climate goals.

David Wakerley and Sarah Lamaison are co-founders of Dioxycle, a Bordeaux-based company that is developing scaled-up CO₂ electrolysis systems. Here, they talk to Nature Catalysis about navigating the green tech start-up space during this time of tremendous change for the world.

Electrocatalytic conversion of CO₂ into useful products can contribute to the Paris goals on the basis of abundant low-carbon power and technological advances. From R&D to policy, areas are highlighted in which coordinated efforts can support commercialization of such capture and catalytic technologies while deploying the required infrastructure.

Liquid fuels produced by electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction are costly to separate from liquid electrolytes in a conventional cell. This Perspective identifies the need for novel cell designs that can directly produce high-concentration and high-purity products and discusses the progress towards this goal using porous solid electrolytes.

Solvent effects play major roles in determining the mechanism of catalytic reactions, but their understanding remains often qualitative. Here, the authors provide a quantitative analysis of the effect of solvents on the catalytic hydrogenation of benzaldehyde on palladium, revealing the solvents’ crucial role in modulating the hydrogen-binding strength.

The practical implementation of CO₂ electrocatalysis is premised on the availability of captured CO₂—a consideration that is often overlooked. This Perspective presents several concepts for integrating CO₂ capture with electrochemical CO₂ conversion for the enhancement of overall efficiency.

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction is a complex process with many competing products, yet nature has evolved ways to overcome these issues. This Perspective makes connections between the motifs observed in nature and strategies that can be employed in synthetic systems for the advancement of selectivity in CO₂ reduction.

The fine tuning of the interface between single atoms and their supports may open advantageous reactivity scenarios, although it remains challenging. Now, Liu, Copéret and colleagues address this problem by dispersing Ir(III) species on well-defined single-crystalline MgO(111) 2D nanosheets, achieving a unique reactivity for the coupling of benzene and ethylene.

The mechanism of ammonia synthesis on traditional iron or ruthenium catalysts features a high energetic span. Here, the authors introduce ternary ruthenium complex hydrides of lithium and barium that can activate dinitrogen via a lower-energy path, resulting in the highly efficient production of ammonia under milder conditions.

Methanol is a leading candidate for storage of solar-energy-derived renewable electricity as energy-dense liquid fuel, yet there are different approaches to achieving this goal. This Perspective comparatively assesses indirect CO- and direct CO₂-based solar strategies and identifies the conditions under which the former becomes economically viable.

Of the few known catalytic RNAs in biology, all but the ribosome involve reactions with phosphodiester bonds. Now, a ribozyme that catalyses a completely different reaction was discovered in all three domains of life.

Thomas Haas is an employee of Evonik Industries AG, and is responsible for the Rheticus project. Here, he talks to Nature Catalysis about the challenges encountered in developing a proof-of-concept catalytic scheme into a commercially relevant pilot plant.