Heterogeneous catalysis articles from across Nature Portfolio

While hydrogen spillover has been widely investigated in heterogeneous catalysis, the migration of metal species via a similar mechanism remains poorly understood. Here, the authors reveal a metal-species spillover process enabled by water adlayers on support surfaces.

Catalytic methods for converting bio-derived feedstocks into lactones are reviewed, emphasizing scalable, energy-efficient processes. Free energy analysis guides process design and pathway selection, whereas literature highlights accessible lactone precursors from various metabolic and chemo-catalytic pathways.

Creating renewable nitriles faces challenges like competitive adsorption and harsh conditions. Here a CoRu dual-atom catalyst enables efficient ammoxidation of aldehydes to nitriles under ambient conditions through synergistic adsorption.

CO₂ hydrogenation on Cu/Al₂O₃ is limited by low activity. Herein, high-velocity gas collisions create transient distorted Cu sites, tripling CO₂ conversion, boosting methanol selectivity to 95 % and increasing the space-time-yield six times.

An operando method combining stopped-flow technique and rapid-scan infrared spectroscopy has been developed to monitor, in real time, the lifetime of Fe-oxo species formed during heterogeneous Fenton-like reactions.

Pt/CeO₂ ensemble catalysts show great potential for hydrocarbon oxidation, but the nature of active sites and interfacial evolution during reaction has been debated. Here, the authors demonstrate metallic Pt ensembles serve as the true active sites for C₃H₆ oxidation, and confirm dynamic nature of oxygen activation with the threshold temperature around 170 °C.

An article in Nature Communications presents a digital platform that integrates the design, fabrication and optimization of catalytic reactors, combining machine learning and 3D printing.

Zeolites are widely used in catalysis and separation, yet their crystallization process remains poorly understood. Emerging tools have the potential to enable a multiscale understanding of how crystallization influences the structural features of zeolite materials, unlocking their precise control.

Chemical upcycling of waste plastic is challenging because of its heterogeneous nature. Now, a newly designed single-site organo-nickel catalyst cuts through the mix by selectively snipping branched C–C linkages, allowing for the separation of polyolefin mixtures.

Liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) can store and transport hydrogen using existing fuel infrastructure, but typically require fossil-derived storage compounds, precious-metal catalysts and pure hydrogen feeds. Now, a diol/lactone LOHC system in combination with an inverse Al₂O₃/Cu catalyst addresses all three issues.