Themed collection Introducing the Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Associate Editors

Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Editorial Board Chair Klavs Jensen and Scientific Editors Saif Khan and Ian Baxendale introduce the 2017 Emerging Investigators issue.

The future of green ammonia as long-term energy storage relies on the replacement of the conventional CO₂ intensive methane-fed Haber–Bosch process by distributed and agile ones aligned to the geographically isolated and intermittent renewable energy.

A novel photoflow reactor that mimics how nature accelerates photochemistry in the clouds.

A cathode-supported solid electrolyte membrane framework with enhanced interfacial contact can significantly improve the electrochemical performance of all solid state batteries.

An efficient heterogeneous amidation catalyst has been prepared by co-polymerisation of styrene, DVB with 4-styreneboronic acid, which shows wide substrate applicability and higher reactivity than the equivalent homogeneous phenylboronic acid, suggesting potential cooperative catalytic effects.

Perovskite nanocrystals prepared at room temperature using a simple flow reactor.

A simple and feasible in situ synthesis and surface optimization strategy to enable the Ni-based Prussian blue analogue (NiFe^II-PBA) with excellent electrocatalytic oxygen evolution performance by boosting its electron transport and the exposure of active sites.

Robust, non-fouling, litres-per-day continuous synthesis of catalytically active palladium nanoparticles using triphasic segmented flow in a hybrid milli-meso flow reactor.

An efficiently catalytic, lightweight, and binder-free cathode with hierarchical NiCo₂O₄ nanosheets grown on carbon nanofibers is rationally designed and synthesized.

A high strength, flexible cathode was designed for Li–S batteries by introducing graphitic carbon and hierarchical pores in carbon nanofibers.

An efficient and generalizable strategy assisted by electrodeposition was developed for the in situ growth of various MOF membranes.

In situ XAS applied to a silica supported CoRe catalyst for ammonia decomposition shows the importance of the reduced bimetallic phase.

The development of highly active and stable catalysts based on low-cost materials for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is crucial to catalytic water splitting.

Flexible manufacturing technology of nanoparticles with sizes between 5 and 80 nm. This unique size flexibility is enabled by coupling rapid online spectroscopy and a mathematical Mie theory-based algorithm for size and shape evaluation.

The Turkevich protocol consists of two consecutive reduction steps (Au³⁺ → Au⁺ → Au⁰) rather than a reduction followed by the disproportionation reaction as conventionally believed. The second reduction is the rate-limiting step.

Design and operation of a mesoscale triphasic reactor for flow hydrogenations, capable of delivering kg per day productivity from a single channel.

An environmentally friendly microplasma-based method is applied to produce crystalline lanthanide doped nanophosphors of controllable photoluminescence properties.

A three-dimensional covalent organic framework filler with size-selective pores has been proven effective in boosting the membrane CO₂ capture performance.

Ni-Based catalysts converting various primary alcohols to nitriles in high yields under oxidant-free, low temperature conditions.

Coumalic acid is a valuable platform compound which can be prepared from malic acid, a biorenewable feedstock derived from glucose. Two flow syntheses of coumalic acid and a new heated rotating reactor are presented.

Hollow bimetallic nanoparticles exhibit unique surface plasmonic properties, enhanced catalytic activities and high photo-thermal conversion efficiencies amongst other properties, however, their research and further deployment are currently limited by their complicated multi-step syntheses.

The selective gas diffusion in MXene membranes was explored via molecular simulations, yielding insights for developing highly efficient gas separation membranes.

Size control of metal nanoparticles is essential to achieve accurate adjustment of their unique chemical and physical properties.

Infuse chemical into microdroplets from nanodroplet carriers with rates and dosages controlled by electrical fields, and applications in nanoparticle synthesis.

We demonstrate the incorporation of dye-based liquid lasers within or around flowing aqueous microfluidic droplets, which make them capable of on drop optofluidic sensing.

Fluoride-anion doping is first reported for tuning the separation performance of mixed protonic-electronic conducting (MPEC) membranes, and enhanced hydrogen permeability was observed with appropriate introduction of the fluoride ions.

The free radical polymerisation of aqueous solutions of acrylic acid (1) has been studied using a continuous flow reactor to quickly screen reaction parameters such as temperature, residence time, monomer- and initiator concentration.

We have developed methodology to synthesise aqueous soluble polymers such as poly(acrylic acid) in flow, enabling access to a variety of molecular weights.

Intimate contact between gold and iridium nanoparticles supported on TiO₂ provides a synergetic effect leading to low temperature VOC oxidation activity.

This paper reports mechanistic understanding of the hydrothermal synthesis of alumina (γ-Al₂O₃) nanorods, presenting an economic and reproducible route for their manufacture with tuneable sizes for a wide range of applications.

Microtubular helical reactors generate secondary flows promoting the synthesis of mono-sized silver nanoparticles in the absence of capping ligands.

We report a new enhanced solvent displacement method for the synthesis of highly monodisperse nanoparticles with direct visualization of the ouzo zone.

The 2018 Faraday Discussion on “Designing Nanoparticle Systems for Catalysis” brought together leading scientists to discuss the current state-of-the-art in the fields of computational chemistry, characterization techniques, and nanomaterial synthesis, and to debate the challenges and opportunities going forward for rational catalyst design.