If you think of software as a building, you might say it’s made up of code blocks. Many of these building blocks are custom-built for a specific application; others arrive on site pre-cast, because they’re standard components and used in many buildings. Cryptographic algorithms and functions are a prime example of this. They’re built into software to encrypt data and communication flows. But as these building blocks age and become brittle, the security of the entire application degrades. In a qualitative interview study with 21 international participants, CISPA researcher Alexander Krause explored the challenges faced by experienced software developers when they want to renew existing crypto implementations—or even create better cryptographic building blocks from scratch. The CISPA study will be presented on August 14, 2025, at the Usenix Security Symposium in Seattle, USA.

Hydration significantly boosts ion conductivity in Ba₇Nb₄MoO₂₀, a promising ceramic electrolyte candidate for low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells. But its origin and mobile ionic species were unresolved issues. Researchers at Institute of Science Tokyo found that exposure to water vapor enhances oxide-ion mobility by increasing interstitial oxygen ions, nearly doubling the oxide-ion conductivity at 500 °C. The findings of this study could advance the development of efficient and durable fuel cells for clean energy applications.   

This study pioneers the integration of electrochemical neutralization energy (ENE) into the electrocatalytic methane conversion (EOM) electrolytic system through a pH-asymmetric electrolyzer design, converting chemical potential differences from industrial wastewater into reaction driving forces. By constructing an asymmetric acid/alkaline electrolyte environment (Figure 1), researchers achieve the first synergistic enhancement of EOM with the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), overcoming traditional energy barriers (voltage reduction of 0.7 V). The NiO/Ni heterostructure catalyst delivers a liquid product yield of 2.7 mmol gNiO^–1 h^–1 under ambient conditions, with mechanistic studies confirming that dynamically formed Ni^III–O^Ÿ–Ni^III–O^– centers accelerate C–H bond cleavage. The system demonstrates exceptional stability (<2% voltage fluctuation over 48 h) in simulated industrial wastewater, concurrently producing high-value C3 oxygenates (>50% selectivity) and green hydrogen (>90% Faradaic efficiency). This breakthrough integrates methane valorization-wastewater treatment-green hydrogen production into a unified carbon-neutral pathway, highlighting significant energy and economic advantages while identifying enhanced methane-to-oxygenate efficiency as the key commercialization target. This innovative strategy offers a high-efficiency, low-energy, and cost-effective approach for distributed methane conversion and industrial wastewater valorization.