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.

Omega-3 fatty acids are known to be an essential part of a healthy diet. As humans cannot produce them, they have to be consumed in sufficient amounts. However, omega-6, -7, -9, and -10 fatty acids also play important roles in the metabolism of fats. These numbers indicate the position of the first double bond in a fatty acid chain. Deviations in the omega position can signal enzyme malfunctions or pathological metabolic processes, such as those occurring in cancer. Now, researchers at the University of Graz and the University of California, San Diego present in Nature Communications a novel, effective method to determine omega positions of lipids – the scientific term for fats – in complex biological samples including human tissues and blood.