Nanoscale Horizons blog

Nanoscale Horizons is a leading journal for the publication of exceptionally high-quality, innovative nanoscience and nanotechnology. To celebrate the excellent articles that are published in the journal, we asked some of our authors to discuss their research in more detail.

In this post, we hear from Yimeng Sun, Lin Tao, Yaqiong Su and Baigang An as they discuss their recent article, ‘Emerging two-dimensional supported atomic and cluster catalysts for CO₂ electroreduction‘.

An introduction from the authors

The electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO₂RR) has emerged as a promising approach for transforming CO₂ into value-added chemicals and fuels using renewable electricity. Among the diverse catalyst platforms explored to date, two-dimensional supported catalysts have attracted considerable attention due to their tunable electronic structures, abundant anchoring sites, and well-defined active centers.

Although single-atom catalysts have demonstrated remarkable activity and selectivity for CO₂RR, growing evidence suggests that catalytic performance is governed not only by the nature of the active site but also by the number and spatial arrangement of neighboring metal centers. Expanding from isolated single atoms to double atoms, three-atom ensembles, and metal clusters creates new opportunities to tailor adsorption energetics, charge redistribution, and reaction pathways, ultimately enabling more precise control over catalytic activity and product selectivity.

In this review, we examine recent advances in two-dimensional supported catalysts for CO₂RR, with a particular focus on how active-site complexity shapes catalytic behavior. By bringing together experimental progress and insights from density functional theory (DFT), we highlight the structure–activity relationships that govern the formation of key C1 products and discuss how these insights can guide the rational design of next-generation CO₂RR catalysts.

Highlights of this study

• We provide a comprehensive comparison of single-atom, double-atom, three-atom, and cluster-based active centers supported on two-dimensional materials.
• We discuss how the number and geometric arrangement of active sites influence CO₂ activation, reaction intermediate stabilization, and product selectivity.
• We highlight the critical role of density functional theory in elucidating reaction mechanisms and identifying key descriptors for catalytic performance.
• We summarize emerging structure–activity relationships that link atomic-scale catalyst architectures to CO₂RR activity and selectivity.

Next steps

Future research will increasingly focus on understanding more complex active-site architectures and their dynamic evolution under operating conditions. While significant progress has been made in optimizing activity and selectivity, the thermodynamic stability of multi-atom sites and metal clusters remains an important yet often overlooked challenge. Structural reconstruction, aggregation, or dissolution during electrochemical operation can substantially alter catalytic behavior and may lead to deviations from predictions based on static theoretical models. Bridging the gap between idealized computational models and experimentally accessible catalysts therefore represents a critical direction for the field. Advances in operando characterization techniques, combined with increasingly sophisticated theoretical simulations, will be essential for capturing catalyst evolution in real time and establishing more reliable design principles for efficient, selective, and durable CO₂RR catalysts.

Meet the authors

	Yimeng Sun received her B.E. degree in Energy Storage Science and Engineering from the University of Science and Technology Liaoning in 2025. She is currently a master’s student in Chemical Engineering and Technology at the same institution, under the supervision of Associate Professor Lin Tao. Her research focuses on the electroreduction of carbon dioxide.
	Lin Tao is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Science and Technology Liaoning. He received his Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering from the same institution in 2021. His research interests focus on electrochemical materials, computational chemistry, and metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors.
	Yaqiong Su is currently a full Professor in School of Chemistry, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. He received his Ph.D. degree in Catalysis at Eindhoven University of Technology in 2019. His main research interests are computational energy catalysis, electrochemistry of materials, and interfaces/surface-enhanced Raman Theory of Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy.
	Baigang An is currently a Professor at the University of Science and Technology Liaoning. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Chemistry from Tianjin University in 2003. His research interests focus on energy materials and electrochemical energy storage technologies.

Emerging two-dimensional supported atomic and cluster catalysts for CO₂ electroreduction

Yimeng Sun, Lin Tao, Yaqiong Su, Davoud Dastan; Han Zhang, Hongwei Zhao, Lixiang Li and Baigang An

Nanoscale Horiz. (2026) 11 (5): 1239–1279. DOI: 10.1039/d5nh00710k

Nanoscale Horizons is a leading journal for the publication of exceptionally high-quality, innovative nanoscience and nanotechnology. The journal places an emphasis on original research that demonstrates a new concept or a new way of thinking (a conceptual advance), rather than primarily reporting technological improvements. However, outstanding articles featuring truly breakthrough developments such as record performance alone may also be published in the journal. Find out more about the journal Submit your research Discover our latest publications Sign up for our newsletter

Nanoscale Horizons is a leading journal for the publication of exceptionally high-quality, innovative nanoscience and nanotechnology. To celebrate the excellent articles that are published in the journal, we asked some of our authors to discuss their research in more detail.

In this post, we hear from Dr Jake McClements from Newcastle University, UK, as they discuss their recent article, ‘Unlocking interstitial fluid for acute coronary syndrome diagnosis: ultrasensitive troponin I detection using imprinted polymer nanoparticles‘.

An introduction from Jake McClements

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS), including heart attacks, is usually diagnosed by measuring cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in a blood sample. However, this relies on venous blood collection, sample processing, and laboratory analysis, which can take several hours; a serious problem when faster diagnosis and treatment can save lives. In this study, we asked whether interstitial fluid (ISF), the fluid that surrounds the body’s tissue cells and can be accessed just beneath the skin, could offer a less invasive alternative to blood for this type of testing.

Working with collaborators across Newcastle University, the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, Tozaro, and Kiffik Biomedical, we analysed human ISF samples collected using KIFFIK’s non-invasive, electroporation-based extraction technology. To create a rapid testing platform, we combined molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles (nanoMIPs), which act as synthetic, antibody-mimicking recognition elements, with a heat-transfer sensing method. This enabled us to detect cTnI in spiked human ISF samples for the first time, achieving a detection limit of 1.85 pg/mL in a 15–20-minute assay using just 120 µL of sample. Encouragingly, when we repeated the experiments in spiked serum and plasma, we obtained very similar results, suggesting that ISF performs comparably to traditional blood-derived fluids for this purpose.

What excites me most about this work is its potential for point-of-care diagnostics. NanoMIPs do not require refrigeration and have a longer shelf life than antibodies, while the heat-transfer method itself requires no labels, redox probes, or large-scale instrumentation. Paired with a wearable, non-invasive ISF extraction device, this type of platform could eventually support rapid chest-pain triage in ambulances or A&E departments without venous blood draws. There is still work to do, particularly in confirming endogenous, rather than spiked, cTnI levels in human ISF and validating selectivity directly in this matrix. However, for us, the most exciting message is that ISF should no longer be viewed as a difficult or niche sample type, but as a promising diagnostic medium that could help bring rapid biomarker testing closer to patients, not only for cardiac conditions but much more broadly.

Meet the author

Dr Jake McClements is a Newcastle University Academic Track (NUAcT) Fellow in Ageing and Health, based in the School of Engineering. He obtained his PhD in Materials Engineering from the University of Edinburgh in 2019, where his research explored the interfacial behaviour of polymers at surfaces across multiple length scales. After a one-year postdoctoral position in the same department at Edinburgh, in collaboration with Michelin, he moved to Chemical Engineering at Newcastle University in 2020 to take up a postdoctoral role developing polymer-based diagnostics for cardiovascular conditions. In 2024, he was awarded a NUAcT Fellowship at Newcastle. His research group develops polymeric recognition elements and associated sensors for a range of diagnostic and industrial applications, with a particular focus on next-generation wearable and point-of-care devices that use minimally invasive sampling methods, such as interstitial fluid extraction. Beyond research, he also serves as an Editor for the Elsevier journal Sustainable Materials and Technologies. Find out more about Dr McClements’ research group here.

Unlocking interstitial fluid for acute coronary syndrome diagnosis: ultrasensitive troponin I detection using imprinted polymer nanoparticles

Joshua Saczek, Amy Dann, Robert D. Crapnell, Craig E. Banks, Rhiannon E. Johnson, Francesco Canfarotta, Joanna Czulak, Alan Thomson, Azfar Zaman, Ioakim Spyridopoulos, Katarina Novakovic, Marloes Peeters and Jake McClements

Nanoscale Horiz. (2026) 11 (3): 803–816. DOI: 10.1039/d5nh00441a

Nanoscale Horizons is a leading journal for the publication of exceptionally high-quality, innovative nanoscience and nanotechnology. The journal places an emphasis on original research that demonstrates a new concept or a new way of thinking (a conceptual advance), rather than primarily reporting technological improvements. However, outstanding articles featuring truly breakthrough developments such as record performance alone may also be published in the journal. Find out more about the journal Submit your research Discover our latest publications Sign up for our newsletter

Nanoscale Horizons is a leading journal for the publication of exceptionally high-quality, innovative nanoscience and nanotechnology. To celebrate the excellent articles that are published in the journal, we asked some of our authors to discuss their research in more detail.

In our first blog post of this new series, we hear from Professor Jun Guo from Tiangong University as they discuss their recent article ‘Confinement of acyclic amino acids inside metal-organic frameworks with topology-varied asymmetric catalysis performances‘.

Insights from the author

This research explores how the topology of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) influences the catalytic performance of acyclic amino acids in asymmetric reactions. Although acyclic amino acids possess natural chirality and structural diversity, their applications as asymmetric catalysts have been limited by their flexible conformations and insufficient stereo-control. In this work, two polymorphic zirconium-based MOFs, PCN-777 (spn topology) and UMCM-309 (kgd topology), with identical chemical compositions but distinct topological architectures, were employed as well-defined platforms to investigate topology-dependent confinement effects.

Via post-synthetic modification (PSM), representative acyclic amino acids were anchored onto the Zr₆O₈ nodes. Catalytic studies demonstrated that the different framework topologies resulted in remarkably different enhancements in asymmetric aldol reactions. In particular, PCN-777 with a more accessible spn topology achieved up to a 158% increasement in catalytic turnover frequency (TOF) and a 2.7-fold improvement in enantiomeric excess (ee) compared with free amino acids, whereas UMCM-309 with a rather constrained kgd topology showed lower confinement improvements. Experimental investigations together with molecular simulations revealed that the topology-induced steric environment plays the dominant role in regulating substrate accessibility and stereoselective control.

This study is part of our broader effort to understand and utilize the porous-structure features of MOFs for precise catalytic regulation, particularly in asymmetric reactions. The revealed relationship between framework topology and asymmetric catalytic performance not only provide new insights into the rational design of confined catalytic systems but also highlight MOFs’ topology as a powerful strategy for developing high-performance heterogeneous asymmetric catalysts.

Meet the author

Dr. Jun Guo, Professor, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Separation Membrane Materials, School of Chemistry, Tiangong University.

Jun Guo is a researcher in the field of chiral nanomaterials and asymmetric catalysis. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, including CSR, Nature Communications, Science Advances, JACS and Angewan, with 40 publications as first or corresponding author. His research has received over 6,600 citations with an H-index of 38. He serves as an early career advisory board member for several high-impact journals, including SmartMat, Nano Research and Chinese Chemical Letters.

Confinement of acyclic amino acids inside metal–organic frameworks with topology-varied asymmetric catalysis performances

Aijie Ma, Zhen Li, Bingcheng Liu, Fuli Ye, Yilong Li, Zhongwen Du, Jing Li, Yongli Ji, Jiye Fan, Hongli Chen, Pai Liu, Meiting Zhao and Jun Guo

Nanoscale Horiz., 2026, 11, 1570-1577. DOI: 10.1039/D6NH00010J

Nanoscale Horizons is a leading journal for the publication of exceptionally high-quality, innovative nanoscience and nanotechnology. The journal places an emphasis on original research that demonstrates a new concept or a new way of thinking (a conceptual advance), rather than primarily reporting technological improvements. However, outstanding articles featuring truly breakthrough developments such as record performance alone may also be published in the journal. Find out more about the journal Submit your research Discover our latest publications Sign up for our newsletter