Adam Weingarten
adamsweingarten.bsky.social
Adam Weingarten
@adamsweingarten.bsky.social
Chemist, Cat-Enthusiast, Punsmith, and Senior Editor at Nature Chemistry
Reposted by Adam Weingarten
If you've not got The Police/Sting in your head at the moment then you've clearly never seen this cover before.
October 8, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Adam Weingarten
Magnets may help astronauts breathe easier. A study in @natchem.nature.com shows they can boost water-splitting efficiency in microgravity by up to 240%, offering a simpler way to produce oxygen in space. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@natureportfolio.nature.com #chemsky #chemisky
October 3, 2025 at 8:14 AM
There's been a major push to understand water oxidation electrocatalyst materials, but the interface with water is also crucial. Congrats to Cuenya, Oener, and team for their work @natchem.nature.com examining interfacial solvation's impact on the transition state! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Interfacial solvation pre-organizes the transition state of the oxygen evolution reaction - Nature Chemistry
The oxygen evolution reaction proceeds over a surface that undergoes (frustrated) phase transitions to accommodate bias-dependent excess charge. Now it has been shown that this excess charge is intima...
www.nature.com
September 5, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Plastics have been incredibly useful, but we've got too much now! We need better ways to break them down. Congrats to Miller, Kratish, Marks, and team for their work @natchem.nature.com on a single-site nickel catalyst that prefers to cut branched polyolefin C–C bonds! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Stable single-site organonickel catalyst preferentially hydrogenolyses branched polyolefin C–C bonds - Nature Chemistry
Selective chemical upcycling of polyolefin mixtures remains challenging due to the structural similarity of their backbones. Now it has been shown that a single-site nickel catalyst can preferentially...
www.nature.com
September 4, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Battery research involves a multitude of competing interactions, such balancing cycling stability with material recyclability! So congrats to Cho, Ortony and team for their work @natchem.nature.com examining aramid amphiphile self-assembly for recyclable batteries! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reversible self-assembly of small molecules for recyclable solid-state battery electrolytes - Nature Chemistry
Battery recyclability presents a sustainability challenge in materials design. Now it has been shown that aramid amphiphile self-assembly yields solid-state electrolytes with fast ion conductivity and...
www.nature.com
September 4, 2025 at 1:50 PM
O2 evolution is a crucial half-reaction to figure out for electrolysis, especially when using (hydr)oxide-based catalysts. Congrats to Li, Zhang and colleagues for their work @natchem.nature.com elucidating the role of lattice O–O ligands in water oxidation! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Lattice O–O ligands in Fe-incorporated hydroxides enhance water oxidation electrocatalysis - Nature Chemistry
While the ligand coordination microenvironment surrounding catalytic centres influences reactivity, dynamic oxygen reconstruction during water oxidation electrocatalysis complicates structure-based me...
www.nature.com
September 4, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Moving ions and charge around involves cooperation on multiple scales! Congrats to Peng, Chen and team for their work @natchem.nature.com on polymer cathodes! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Ultrafast charging of two-dimensional polymer cathodes enabled by cross-flow structure design - Nature Chemistry
Electrochemical energy-storage devices require rapid charge–discharge profiles, but the dense electrode packing required to achieve high energy densities results in sluggish ion-transport kinetics. No...
www.nature.com
September 4, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Chemistry is not just about the past. It should also look to the future. And so we take one step closer to the stars: congrats to Romero-Calvo, Brinkert, and team for their work @natchem.nature.com using magnets to enhance water electrolysis in microgravity! doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Magnetically induced convection enhances water electrolysis in microgravity - Nature Chemistry
Electrochemical devices producing oxygen in space face limited buoyancy, hindering gas bubble removal and increasing reaction overpotentials. Now, it has been shown that commercial magnets can enhance...
doi.org
September 4, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Magnetic fields can impact catalysis involving reactants/products with unpaired electrons. But intermediates can also have unpaired electrons! Congrats to Xu and team for their work @natchem.nature.com showing magnetic spins to alter electrochemical ammonia oxidation! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cooperative spin alignment enhances dimerization in the electrochemical ammonia oxidation reaction - Nature Chemistry
Ammonia represents a promising fuel resource, but its efficient conversion to dinitrogen faces high energy barriers. Now magnetic domain structures of Co/Pt thin films have been engineered to facilita...
www.nature.com
September 4, 2025 at 12:42 PM
So many factors impact lithium growth (electrolyte, temperature, etc), so it's hard to gain clear insights. Congrats to Liu and team for their work @natchem.nature.com connecting lithium nucleation/growth to interfaces with the surface and electrolyte! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Nucleation processes at interfaces with both substrate and electrolyte control lithium growth - Nature Chemistry
Lithium-metal batteries require the controlled growth of lithium for reliable operation, but it has been challenging to understand which factors impact and determine lithium nucleation and growth. Now...
www.nature.com
September 3, 2025 at 3:30 PM
It's not just our singular abilities that make big changes, but the connections between us. At least, that's how it can be in chemistry. Congrats to Musser, Milner and team for their work @natchem.nature.com on electrophotocatalysis! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@runofthephill.bsky.social
Polymer connectivity governs electrophotocatalytic activity in the solid state - Nature Chemistry
The combination of electricity and light can provide a sustainable route to drive challenging synthetic transformations, but current catalysts are plagued by poor stability and mechanistic ambiguity. ...
www.nature.com
September 3, 2025 at 3:26 PM
I enjoy seeing creative ways to harness light for CO2 capture! So congrats to Liu and team for their recent work @natchem.nature.com using photobases to grab and store CO2 from air! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reversible fluorenol photobases that perform CO2 capture and concentration from ambient air - Nature Chemistry
Current CO₂ capture strategies often suffer from high thermal regeneration costs. Now a photobase has been shown to reversibly capture and release CO₂ from ambient air using visible light, offering a ...
www.nature.com
September 3, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Solid-state 'solvation' provides an intriguing handle to modulate electrolyte chemistry. Congrats to Wang and Sun on their recent work @natchem.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Solid solvation structure design improves all-solid-state organic batteries - Nature Chemistry
Organic electrode materials offer a versatile and sustainable route for lithium-ion batteries, but their application is hindered by low working voltages and poor cycling stability. Now, it has been sh...
www.nature.com
September 3, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Fire is wonderful and does so much for us. So congrats to Guo, Caruso, Pan and team for the work on the flame-synthesis of high-entropy nanomaterials! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Flame synthesis achieves compositionally tailorable high-entropy metal-containing nanomaterials - Nature Chemistry
High-entropy nanomaterials, which incorporate multiple homogeneously dispersed elements, are promising for energy conversion, but typically require complex, high-temperature synthesis. Now a scalable ...
www.nature.com
September 3, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Alrighty Chemists, putting this out there: I'll be attending my first ACS Meeting #ACSFall2025, so if you're around and want to chat with an @natchem.nature.com editor, let me know! I've still got slots in my schedule, so happy to discuss science, ideas, and whatnot. See you there!
August 6, 2025 at 2:22 PM
And thank you Dr Oener for clarifying @natchem.nature.com what it means for concentrated electrolytes to tune transition states www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Transition state tuning with concentrated electrolytes - Nature Chemistry
Electrochemical CO2 and CO reduction are promising for the sustainable synthesis of multi-carbon products. However, the kinetics that govern the activity and selectivity of the interface between catal...
www.nature.com
July 25, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Enthalpy and entropy are pretty critical in chemical reactions, but (for some reason) don't get enough attention in some big-picture reactions. Congrats to Zhang, Raciti, and Hall for work @natchem.nature.com examining interfacial H2O on C-C coupling for CO reduction! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Disordered interfacial H2O promotes electrochemical C–C coupling - Nature Chemistry
The structure of interfacial water plays a key role in the electrochemical reduction of CO to multi-carbon products on copper electrodes. Now it is shown that highly concentrated electrolytes modulate...
www.nature.com
July 25, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Methylamine electrosynthesis has potential! Thank you Münchow & Ackermann for your engaging examination @natchem.nature.com on a recent work using electrochemistry to push nitromethane all the way to methylamine www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Expedient access to methylamine with potential - Nature Chemistry
Traditional methylamine synthesis from methanol and ammonia relies on high-temperature and high-pressure reaction conditions, resulting in byproducts and challenging purification. Now, electrochemical...
www.nature.com
July 25, 2025 at 6:07 PM
While we all love industrial chemistry, there's probably ways to make some molecules in a more sustainable way. Congrats to Prof Zhang and team for their work in @natchem.nature.com on methylamine electrosynthesis! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Strong dipole-promoted N–O bond hydrogenolysis enables ampere-level electrosynthesis of methylamine - Nature Chemistry
Nitromethane electroreduction offers a sustainable route for methylamine synthesis, but poor N–O activation yields low selectivity. Now N-methylhydroxylamine adsorption on low-coordination copper has ...
www.nature.com
July 25, 2025 at 6:04 PM
I had thought ligand field states more relevant for molecules, than for materials. Wrongo! Congrats @msachs.bsky.social @durrant-group.bsky.social @aronwalsh.github.io for their recent work @natchem.nature.com on transition metal oxide photocatalysts! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Metal-centred states control carrier lifetimes in transition metal oxide photocatalysts - Nature Chemistry
Efficient sunlight-to-fuel conversion requires materials that produce long-lived charges, but increasing carrier lifetimes in visible-light-active photocatalysts has proven difficult. Now it has been ...
www.nature.com
July 2, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Some molecules have a special role in our civilization. They have been a part of our history, provide a rich source of modern research, and may meet our future energy and materials needs. Come read about the superhero molecule lignin @natchem.nature.com! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Linked in with lignin - Nature Chemistry
Moses Dike and Shudipto Konika Dishari explore lignin’s historic journey alongside human civilization and showcase its game-changing potential to drive sustainability without compromising performance.
www.nature.com
June 17, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Just like this presently late post, oxygen evolution catalysts need an extra push to work! But why? Congrats to Huang, Fabbri and team for their latest @natchem.nature.com work examining OER (not why I'm late to post, that's a smaller question) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Oxidation of interfacial cobalt controls the pH dependence of the oxygen evolution reaction - Nature Chemistry
Transition metal oxides serve as important electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction, although Co-based oxides typically undergo pH-dependent dynamic surface reconstruction under catalytic co...
www.nature.com
April 9, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Years of watching Voltron/Power Rangers-type shows has primed me to believe in the power of cooperativity (+big 'bots). Congrats to Profs Xiao, Wang, and team for their work on super-dry methane reforming via tandem electro-thermocatalysis @naturechemistry.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Super-dry reforming of methane using a tandem electro-thermocatalytic system - Nature Chemistry
Although dry reforming of methane can convert CO2 to valuable chemicals, the reaction requires near-equivalent amounts of CH4. Now it has been demonstrated that an electro-thermocatalytic CH4 reformin...
www.nature.com
March 27, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Who's ready for summer at the beach? Just soak up the sun and enjoy the water. Funny enough, the same strategy helps heterogeneous catalysts avoid harsh reaction conditions! Congrats Profs Yao, Yang, Liu, and team for their new work @naturechemistry.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Light-driven propane dehydrogenation by a single-atom catalyst under near-ambient conditions - Nature Chemistry
Propane dehydrogenation is challenging to perform under mild conditions due to the reaction’s endothermic nature. Now, near-ambient propane dehydrogenation has been shown using copper single-atom cata...
www.nature.com
March 27, 2025 at 3:09 AM