Chemical Society Reviews Blog

A centenary for solar fuels

25 Sep 2012

Celebrating 100 years since Ciamician’s landmark paper, ‘The Photochemistry of the Future’

100 years ago an Italian chemist predicted that one day human beings would use sunlight to make fuel.

Professor Giacomo Ciamician, nine-time Nobel Prize nominee, envisaged a time when human beings would use “processes that hitherto have been the guarded secret of the plants” to harvest sunlight and make fuel.

To celebrate the remarkable recent scientific advances towards achieving this dream, the RSC has created a collection articles by leading international scientists as well as original commentaries setting out their opinions about the future. All articles in the collection are free to access until 27th October 2012.

Opinion
“Fast food” energy – Daniel Nocera argues that new research and development is needed to provide the nonlegacy world with the “fast food” equivalent of solar energy—light-weight and highly manufacturable solar capture and storage systems (Energy Environ. Sci., 2010,3, 993-995).

Running on sun – five international experts discuss the promise of artificial photosynthesis and the challenges that lie ahead (Published on the 25th of September 2012).

Which energy solution is best?
Review of solutions to global warming, air pollution, and energy security – Mark Jacobson reviews and ranks major proposed energy-related solutions to global warming, air pollution mortality, and energy security (Energy Environ. Sci., 2009, 2, 148-173).

Learning from Nature
Photosynthetic energy conversion: natural and artificial – James Barber asks: can we address the energy/CO₂ problem by developing new photochemical technologies which mimic the water splitting enzyme of photosynthesis? (Chem. Soc. Rev., 2009, 38, 185-196).

Recent advances in hybrid photocatalysts for solar fuel production – Joachim Loo and colleagues investigate how to make robust photocatalytic hybrid Graphical abstract: Photosynthesis-to-fuels: from sunlight to hydrogen, isoprene, and botryococcene production systems for producing solar fuels (Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 5902-5918).

Photosynthesis-to-fuels: from sunlight to hydrogen, isoprene, and botryococcene production – Anastasios Melis explains how the primary products of photosynthesis can be transformed directly, in a single organism, into useful fuels and chemicals for human consumption (Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 5531-5539).

Raising awareness
Solar Fuels and Artificial Photosynthesis: Science and innovation to change our future energy options is a non-technical RSC report introducing the potential of solar fuels to become a viable alternative in our future energy landscape.

Click for more free-to-access energy-related articles

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Tutorial Reviews: new and improved

18 Sep 2012

By Joanne Thomson.

Chem Soc Rev is known for publishing succinct and reader-friendly articles on exciting topics in the chemical sciences.

But we want to make our reviews even better.

That’s why we’re relaunching Tutorial Reviews. We want them to be even more useful for students and researchers new to a field.

So what’s different?

Well, Tutorial Reviews should now have a maximum of 50 references. Authors are asked to cite only the most seminal contributions to the field.

They also now contain a ‘Key Learning Points’ box. Here authors highlight what readers should expect to learn from their review.

And, of course, they will be jargon-free and easy to read.

All this means that Tutorial Reviews will be even more accessible to graduate students and beyond. They’ll provide an essential introduction to a field, serving as a springboard to further reading.

You’ll start to see the new style Tutorial Reviews appearing soon. Email us to let us know what you think.

Find out more – read the Author Instructions >

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Xiaogang Liu delivers Emerging Investigator Lectureship at ISACS9

12 Sep 2012

By Joanne Thomson.

Congratulations to Professor Xiaogang Liu who delivered his Chem Soc Rev Emerging Investigator Lecture at ISACS9: Challenges in Nanoscience earlier this month.

ISACS9 brought together exceptional researchers – all leading names in their field – for an outstanding programme covering nanomedicine, nanocatalysis, functional nanomaterials, nanomachines and devices, nanoplasmonics and nanospectroscopy.

Do you know someone who has made an exceptional contribution to their research field?

Nominate them for the 2013 Chem Soc Rev Lectureship >

The ISACS series will be back in 2013. Visit the conference homepage to keep up-to-date with the latest news.

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Chem Soc Rev Emerging Investigator Lectureship 2013 – nominations open

11 Sep 2012

By Ross McLaren, Development Editor.

Chem Soc Rev is pleased to invite nominations for the 2013 Emerging Investigator Lectureship. This annual lectureship is given to recognise an emerging scientist who has made a significant contribution to their research field.

Previous winners include:

	2012 – Xiaogang Liu from the National University of Singapore and Institute of Materials Research Engineering, A*STAR
	2011 – Cristina Nevado from the University of Zurich in Switzerland
	2010 – Shu-Hong Yu from the University of Science and Technology of China, in Hefei
	2009 – Matt Gaunt from the University of Cambridge in the UK
	2008 – Kazuya Kikuchi from Osaka University in Japan

Qualifying details

To be eligible for the Chem Soc Rev Emerging Investigator Lectureship, the candidate should have completed their PhD on or after 15^th September 2004.

Award details

The recipient of the lectureship will be asked to present a lecture at an international meeting. The Chem Soc Rev Editorial Office will provide the sum of £1000 to the recipient for travel and accommodation costs. The recipient will be presented with a certificate and will also be asked to contribute a review to the journal.

Selection

The recipient of the lectureship will be selected and endorsed by the Chem Soc Rev Editorial Board.

Nominations

Those wishing to make a nomination should send details of the nominee, including a brief C.V. together with a letter supporting the nomination, to the Chem Soc Rev Editorial Office by 14^th December 2012. Please note that self nomination is not permissible.

Following the close of nominations, nominees will be contacted and asked to summarise their key achievements and identify up to their top 5 independent publications. They will also be asked to highlight the impact of their work and discuss how their research has evolved from their previous supervisor’s.

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Chem Soc Rev Lecture Award presented at Ultrafast Dynamic Imaging of Matter Conference

16 Jul 2012

By Joanne Thomson.

It was a lecture award for which the good luck phrase ‘break a leg’ became a little too literal. But a year on and fully recovered from the broken ankle that thwarted his conference trips in late 2011, I am pleased to report that Stephen Leone presented his 2011 Chem Soc Rev Award Lecture entitled ‘Tracking electron and nuclear dynamics with femtosecond/attosecond X-ray spectroscopy’ at 2012 Ultrafast Dynamic Imaging of Matter in Banff, Canada, earlier this month.

: Conference chair David Villeneuve (left) presents Stephen Leone with the 2011 Chem Soc Rev Lecture Award

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On the up: Chem Soc Rev Impact Factor leaps to 28.767

28 Jun 2012

By Joanne Thomson.

The 2011 Journal Citation Reports ® (Thomson Reuters, 2012) have just been released and it’s great news for Chem Soc Rev.

Our Impact Factor* (IF) now stands at 28.767.

A big thank you to the authors of all the excellent reviews that contributed to this impressive figure. And, of course, we thank our Editorial and Advisory Boards and referees for their dedication and commitment.

Find out why so many scientists rely on Chem Soc Rev to keep them up-to-date with the frontiers of the chemical science – read issue 1, 2012 for free.

Find out how other RSC journals are ranked in the latest Impact Factor release >

*The IF provides an indication of the average number of citations per paper. Produced annually, IFs are calculated by dividing the number of citations in a year, by the number of citeable articles published in the preceding two years.

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Computational modelling to investigate the origins of life (a Tutorial review with a bonus)

22 Jun 2012

By Ross McLaren, Development Editor.

“The question ‘‘How and where did life arise on Earth?’’ is one which has always attracted widespread attention, and increasingly so in recent years.”

The excerpt above, taken from Peter Coveney and colleagues’ latest review article in Chem Soc Rev, was a key motivation for the journal to develop a themed issue on Prebiotic Chemistry (which will be published later this year, but you can find many of the articles on our platform as advance articles).

This exciting review from the UK based researchers (at UCL, University of Nottingham and Durham University) covers key areas in theory, modelling and simulation studies to help investigate the origin of life and is certainly worth a read from anyone interested in prebiotic chemistry.

Image taken from ESI

But the authors haven’t just written an excellent review. They’ve also provided a presentation as electronic supplementary information (ESI), representing a great learning and teaching resource.

Tutorial reviews are essential introductions to important fields in the chemical sciences, designed to have particular appeal to younger researchers. Authors are encouraged to make use of Chem Soc Rev’s ESI facilities to complement and enhance their reviews. This doesn’t just have to be in the form of a presentation – videos, practice questions, audio files, recorded lectures, etc are all welcomed as ESI if they enhance the key learning points of a Tutorial review.

Read Coveney’s review >

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Chemical Society Reviews Blog

A centenary for solar fuels

Tutorial Reviews: new and improved

Xiaogang Liu delivers Emerging Investigator Lectureship at ISACS9

Chem Soc Rev Emerging Investigator Lectureship 2013 – nominations open

Chem Soc Rev Lecture Award presented at Ultrafast Dynamic Imaging of Matter Conference

On the up: Chem Soc Rev Impact Factor leaps to 28.767

Computational modelling to investigate the origins of life (a Tutorial review with a bonus)

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