NEWSROOM

Researchers at NUS CDE have introduced DELINE, a fluorescence-based imaging method that maps individual reaction events across working electrocatalyst surfaces, revealing differences that conventional averaged measurements hide. Applied to gold and copper during water dissociation and nitrate reduction, the technique exposed a kinetic compensation trade-off: regions responding more strongly to applied voltage often have slower baseline rates.

Researchers at Ruhr University Bochum have shown how zinc inhibits [FeFe]-hydrogenases, enzymes that produce hydrogen, by binding two surface histidines near a known proton transport pathway. One histidine acts as a molecular pendulum, receiving a proton at the enzyme surface and delivering it inward. Replacing it slowed hydrogen production; replacing the other left the enzyme active but zinc insensitive.

A Sungkyunkwan University team led by Professor Wonyoung Lee has tackled interfacial contact resistance in protonic ceramic electrochemical cells by quantifying how contact coverage between electrolyte and electrode governs performance. Using electrostatic spray deposition to add a dense nanometer-scale interlayer, the cells achieved higher efficiency and durability in both power generation and hydrogen production, remained stable under rapid temperature changes, and operated