Themed collection ChemComm Nanocatalysis

Cluster catalysts based on carbon–nitrogen materials hold broad application potential in energy conversion.

Facet-defined single-crystalline nanocrystals offer well-defined atomic surfaces to elucidate intrinsic structure–activity relationships and bridge fundamental surface science with practical electrocatalysis.

This review outlines multilevel biomimetic strategies for designing nanozymes, highlights their cutting-edge biomedical applications, and foresees future development trends integrating artificial intelligence.

This review highlights recent advances in upcycling spent lithium-ion batteries into multifunctional catalysts for energy conversion and environmental remediation.

The strategic designs for enhancing catalytic performance.

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) shows strong broadband light harvesting and photoredox activity due to its suitable band structure. Based on this, this article summarizes modification strategies, applications, and future challenges of CdS-based photocatalysts.

Soft-matter nanoreactors enable visible-light photocatalysis of organic reactions in water, enhancing selectivity and catalytic efficiency while advancing green chemistry principles.

This article introduces a synergistic dual-role model, where interband and intraband transitions cooperate as complementary actors in plasmonic photocatalysis.

This review summarizes the research progress of rare earth-related catalysts for the process of water electrolysis.

High-entropy alloy-based electrocatalysts play a vital role in diverse electrochemical reactions essential for energy conversion technologies.

The electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (eCO₂RR) offers a sustainable route to fuels and chemicals by coupling CO₂ conversion with renewable electricity.

Porous organic cages integrate homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis via tailored molecular designs and nanocavities, enabling enzyme-mimetic catalysis, metal-ion-driven reactions, and enhanced performance of encapsulated metal clusters.

High-entropy catalysts harness multi-element synergy, lattice distortion, and tunable electronic structures to drive efficient and robust oxidation reactions. This review highlights their principles, synthesis, and emerging applications.

Engineered nanocatalytic systems for the conversion of micro/nanoplastic waste into value added products contributing towards circular carbon economy.

Engineered wood-supported Co–N₅ single-atom monolithic catalysts drive efficient peroxymonosulfate activation for the long-term and continuous-flow remediation of antibiotics in aqueous environments.

Modulating the pyridinic N-position tunes the local electronic environments in COFs, stabilizing intermediates, and thereby lowering the barrier and boosting the overall water-splitting performance.

We have successfully synthesized a Cu–CoO@CNT heterostructure catalyst for the electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate to produce ammonia.

A plasmonic AgCu alloy is engineered to synergistically modulate the work function and localized surface plasmon resonance, achieving enhanced charge separation and photocatalytic degradation efficiency over BiVO₄.

The effect of encapsulated Fe₇ clusters in single-walled carbon nanotubes on their oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalytic activity is investigated using first-principles calculations.

Two atomically precise nanoclusters, Pt₁Ag₁₄-1 and Pt₁Ag₁₄-2, were synthesized. In Pt₁Ag₁₄-2, ligand-electronegativity tuning exposes an additional Ag active site, which markedly boosts the photocatalytic H₂ evolution rate.

Our computational screening identifies pyrrole-type NiN₃C₁ as a promising single-atom electrocatalyst to promote the two-electron reduction of oxygen to produce H₂O₂ with high activity and selectivity.

Catalytic oxidation of NO to NO₂ occurs at Ni–O–Co sites on the catalyst surface, which can boost the reaction of soot with O₂ to form CO₂.

We have designed SA–COPPP–C₆₀ nanosheets with efficient charge separation and transmission properties, which drive a high production rate of ammonia without sacrificial agents.

Au-decorated NiCoLDH synthesized via the sol–gel method (Au@NiCoLDH-EG) showed rapid 4-NP reduction to 4-AP in 3.5 min and improved HER performance due to accelerated electron and charge transfer.

Silica supports with various types of immobilized amines were systematically prepared and the effect of the amine structures on the formation and catalysis of Pd nanoparticles was studied.

The stepped oxidation pathway of SOR on NiFeC₂O₄–S. NiFeC₂O₄–S can promptly adsorb sulfion and efficiently desorb elemental sulfur.

Nanocatalytic therapy faces limitations from low ROS efficiency and high intracellular GSH. Here a NIR-II-responsive photozyme was developed for multi-modal nanocatalytic therapy.

A precursor crystal phase engineering strategy using a monoclinic Ce-BTC MOF successfully creates a highly active Ni/CeO₂-M catalyst, achieving 100% conversion and 82.4% selectivity for linear α-olefins (C12⁼–C17⁼) in fatty acid deoxygenation.

A heterojunction photocatalyst, NiMoO₄/Mg-Al layered-double hydroxide (LDH), was synthesized for simultaneous chloramphenicol degradation and Cr(VI) reduction under visible light.

Here, for the first time, we report a high-entropy sulfide catalyst (FeCoNiMnZnS₂) with a yolk–shell structure. As a result, the LSB assembled with the FeCoNiMnZnS₂ modified separator decays 0.036% per cycle after 1700 cycles at 1C.

This work highlights a hollow-nanostructure favoring reaction kinetics and cyclability, which would enlighten rational electrode design for nitrate-to-NH₃ conversion.