Room with a view. The other side of the NEED2D project meeting in @qmul.bsky.social

To recognize young scholars producing outstanding PhD theses in the field of crystalline materials, the journal Crystals have awarded the Best PhD Thesis Award since 2023. Applications for this award are now open, with a deadline of 31 May 2026 www.mdpi.com/journal/crys...

Such a delight when speakers are willing to share unpublished data. Thank you, @annagslater.bsky.social, for an excellent talk at @uofgchem.bsky.social.

Overhauled MOFs experiment for PGT labs and these are over now, with @forganross.bsky.social CDMOF-1 (left and centre with indicator) finally adsorbing a detectable amount of CO2.

A great talk by Chris Collins @uofgchem.bsky.social on materials discovery in the age of AI and machine learning. Batteries and robotics included. Looking forward to a sequel from @annagslater.bsky.social in her next week's talk.

This paper came out of probably the largest team I’ve ever worked with and some serious data analysis. Huge credit to a fantastic collaborators (pity none of the team except @profdraper.bsky.social here) for making the experiments possible. advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Lithiation‐Driven LiCrSe2 Shell Growth on Metallic CrSe2 Core Governs the Plateau–Slope Behavior

Layered CrSe2 is investigated as a lithium-ion battery cathode combining fast Li+ diffusion and structural reversibility. Calculations and experiments reveal a single topotactic intercalation process...

advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

When I talk to fresh PIs, I say an hour in the lab costs an hour of esteem. Of course I ignore my own advice. I’m unpacking that stubborn belief in my new substack, The Work Nobody Sees. But De Niro was probably onto something at the wheel of his taxi. groundinghour.substack.com/p/the-work-n...

Like @martinlewis.moneysavingexpert.com I remain haunted by standing charges. Large He cylinders sit quietly like Preta, aka hungry ghosts, consuming budget relentlessly. For equipment rarely used, lecture bottles is a way stop feeding the cylinder charges ghosts.

A lunar calendar page has turned on the window to the GECOS research office. In true academic style, it still bears a few traces of previous years. Happy New Year of the Horse!

Why XRF is so underused in materials chemistry? It’s puzzling why we gravitate towards labor-intensive SEM/EDX when even benchtop XRF gives composition in minutes. If the group is arguing about mystery white powder on balances, no gold sputtering is required as XRF is indifferent to surface charge.

klementoninvesting.substack.com/p/fortune-tellers notes how superstition is woven into East Asian investing as a way of living with uncertainty. In the same spirit, hoping the CNYwill bring uniform deposition and monolayer growth. Time to add a lucky charm to our CVD reactors for the year of 🐎!

When your turbo pump goes Zzzeee, overheats, and flashes red, the initial reaction is like, “Oh no, the turbo ist kaputt.” A seasoned PI, “Right, need a new turbo.” A budget-conscious, “Nope, a new diaphragm pump.” You may discover Vacuubrand and Edwards differ mostly in colour. Turbo ist intakt.

No better way to start on Bluesky! Delighted&proud to see this in ACS Catalysis! My former PhD student ran the show while I mentored from the sidelines. 10M NaOH at 95°C is a "trial by fire" for most HER catalysts, but these antiperovskites didn't flinch. pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Antiperovskite Nitrides as Efficient and Durable Electrocatalysts for Industrially Relevant Hydrogen Evolution

Phase-pure antiperovskite nitrides (A3XN; A = Co, Ni; X = Zn, In, Sn) synthesized via a melamine method were evaluated as cost-effective, high-performance hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts. Initial tests in 1 M NaOH electrolyte revealed limited activity, significantly enhanced by reductive electrochemical cycling, attributed to the in situ formation of catalytically active zero-valent Co0 and Ni0 surface species. Comparative studies of isostructural Fe-based nitrides confirmed that these metallic A-site species constitute the active sites. Accelerated stability tests (95 °C, 10 M NaOH) identified Co3ZnN and Ni3ZnN as particularly robust, maintaining intact antiperovskite structures and high catalytic activity (>70 mA cm–2 after 210 h). Partial substitution (Zn for In) further improved stability, notably for Ni3Zn0.25In0.75N. This study highlights the crucial role of compositional tuning and surface activation in optimizing HER performance, emphasizing that systematic stability assessments under industrially relevant conditions (high temperature, concentrated electrolyte) are essential. Antiperovskite nitrides thus offer promising avenues for scalable, green hydrogen production technologies.

pubs.acs.org