Themed collection Materials & Energy in Chemical Science - most popular articles 2021

This perspective explores the dissymmetric interaction between circularly polarised (CP) light and chiral molecules. Such interactions are central to many applications from next generation displays to asymmetric photochemical synthesis.

MOFs are promising candidates for the capture of toxic gases such as SO₂, H₂S, NH₃ and NOx. Understanding the role of different chemical functionalities, within the pores of MOFs, is the key for accomplishing superior captures of these toxic gases.

BODIPYs offer a versatile platform to build organic triplet photosensitisers for PDT, TTA upconversion and photocatalysis. Tuning their properties provides the opportunity of replacing heavy-metal complexes and can lead to improved sustainability.

The use of crystallization as a tool to control the self-assembly of polymeric and molecular amphiphiles in solution is attracting growing attention for the creation of non-spherical nanoparticles and more complex, hierarchical assemblies.

A summary of the extremely efficient organic phosphors that utilized the best possible ways to manipulate the fate of triplet excitons for achieving a long lifetime along with impressive quantum yield and afterglow properties is provided.

This minireview highlights the recent advances in small molecule activation and catalytic applications of homonuclear dimetallenes, dimetallynes and interconnected bismetallylenes of heavier group 14 elements.

This review highlights the recent development of chiral materials with aggregation-induced emission properties, including their molecular structures, self-assembly and functions.

This review highlights recent strategies towards the rational synthesis of metallo-supramolecular multicomponent systems, the implementation of functionality and the challenge to create multifunctional assemblies in non-statistical fashion.

The electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO₂RR) offers a promising solution to mitigate carbon emission and at the same time generate valuable carbonaceous chemicals/fuels.

AIE fluorogens provide new opportunities for the development of light-up probes for photodynamic therapy.

Materials discovery is a crucial yet experimentally slow and wasteful process. We discuss how discovery can be accelerated by focusing on making predictions that are synthetically realisable.

In this manuscript, we report the development of a novel alloxazine COF inspired by naturally occurring flavin cofactors for photoredox catalysis.

Mechanochemistry enables rapid access to boron imidazolate frameworks (BIFs), including ultralight materials based on Li and Cu(I) nodes, as well as new, previously unexplored systems based on Ag(I) nodes.

A convenient method for constructing water-stable hydrazone-linked porous organic cages (POCs) with tunable structures has been reported, and such POCs can be used as robust adsorbents for effective removal of various pollutants from water.

A novel pillar[5]arene-derived (P5) COF was rationally designed and synthesized, which exhibited superior performance in selective gas adsorption and paraquat binding.

Machine learning (ML)-based feature analysis reveals universal design rules regardless of density functional choices. Using the consensus among multiple functionals, we identify robust lead complexes in ML-accelerated chemical discovery.

Nanoporous ultra-high-entropy alloys containing 14 elements (Al, Ag, Au, Co, Cu, Fe, Ir, Mo, Ni, Pd, Pt, Rh, Ru, and Ti) were obtained by dealloying. The products showed excellent electrocatalytic performance for water splitting in acidic media.

A series of chiral Au₁₃ nanoclusters were synthesized via the direct reduction of achiral dinuclear Au(I) halide complexes ligated by ortho-xylyl-linked bis-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands.

Polarization-dependent infrared spectroscopy of oriented metal organic framework films fills the information gap left by diffraction methods and gives access to the orientation of the aromatic linker and initial orientation of ultra-thin films.

The first example of narrowband orange–red MR-TADF emitters has been developed, which realizes a record-high EQE of 33.7% in OLEDs.

The LMCT photosensitizer Zr(^MesPDP^Ph)₂ paired with DPA-based acceptors enabled low power threshold photochemical upconversion with record-setting quantum efficiencies.

Interpolation and exploration within the chemical space for inverse design.

CO₂ can be efficiently converted into C₂₊ products on CeO₂ modified CuO catalysts and the faradaic efficiency could reach 75.2% with a current density of 1.21 A cm⁻².

We report the successful use of a gastro-resistant covalent organic framework for in vivo oral delivery of insulin.

We demonstrated the use of magnesium nanoparticles (and bulk) to convert CO₂ (pure & also from the air) to methane, methanol, formic acid and green cement without external energy within a few minutes, using only water as the sole hydrogen source.

Involvement of dimethyl carbonate and trifluoromethanesulfonate anions in a hybrid aqueous electrolyte enables the formation of a new Zn²⁺-solvation structure and a ZnF₂–ZnCO₃-rich interphase that stabilizes the Zn battery chemistry.

Machine learning can circumvent explicit calculation of dielectric response in first principles methods and accelerate simulations of optical properties of complex materials at finite temperature.

Phenazines were explored as novel low-midpoint potential molecules for wiring cyanobacteria to electrodes.

Efficient activation of CO₂ at low temperature was achieved by reverse water–gas shift via chemical looping (RWGS-CL) by virtue of fast oxygen ion migration in a Cu–In structured oxide, even at lower temperatures.

Highly modular three-bond three-component cascade featuring palladium as dual photoredox/cross coupling catalyst.

Mixing barbiturates and pyrimidines equipped with pyridine ligands to leads to self-assembly of a hexadentate rosette ligand, which is complementary to a hexameric zinc porphyrin macrocycle.