Green hydrogen from water splitting has emerged as a critical energy vector with the potential to spearhead the global transition to a fossil fuel-independent society. The feld of catalysis has been revolutionized by single-atom catalysts (SACs), which exhibit unique and intricate interactions between atomically dispersed metal atoms and their supports. Recently, bimetallic SACs (bimSACs) have garnered signifcant attention for leveraging the synergistic functions of two metal ions coordinated on appropriately designed supports. BimSACs ofer an avenue for rich metal–metal and metal–support cooperativity, potentially addressing current limitations of SACs in efectively furnishing transformations which involve synchronous proton–electron exchanges, substrate activation with reversible redox cycles, simultaneous multi-electron transfer, regulation of spin states, tuning of electronic properties, and cyclic transition states with low activation energies. This review aims to encapsulate the growing advancements in bimSACs, with an emphasis on their pivotal role in hydrogen generation via water splitting. We subsequently delve into advanced experimental methodologies for the elaborate characterization of SACs, elucidate their electronic properties, and discuss their local coordination environment. Overall, we present comprehensive discussion on the deployment of bimSACs in both hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction, the two half-reactions of the water electrolysis process.

The molecular world of bitter compounds has so far only been partially explored. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich in Freising and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry in Halle (Saale) have now isolated three new bitter compounds from the mushroom Amaropostia stiptica and investigated their effect on human bitter taste receptors. In doing so, they discovered one of the potentially most bitter substances known to date. The study results expand our knowledge of natural bitter compounds and their receptors, thus making an important contribution to food and health research.

Koun Shirai from The University of Osaka gives an answer to a long-standing question in theoretical glass physics: what does it mean to be an order parameter for an inherently out-of-equilibrium system? Starting from first principles, Shirai reexamines what it means to be in equilibrium and arrives at the conclusion that order parameters of glass are merely time-averaged positions of atoms. 

Researchers developed a computational model to optimize melt crystallization—a low-energy method for producing ultra-pure dimethyl carbonate (DMC). The study reveals how natural convection shapes crystal layer and proposes heating strategies to improve efficiency, offering industry a sustainable path to high-purity materials.

The article utilizes the friction electromagnetic induction coupling mechanism to design a single fiber based Fibre-WBAN it converts the mechanical energy generated by the human body movement into electrical signals and uses the fiber coils to convert the low-frequency time-domain signals into high-frequency frequency-domain signals (40 MHz) for wireless data transmission.

Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China and the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics innovatively introduced the Frontier Molecular Orbital (FMO) theory into the design of heterogeneous SACs. They achieved the first successful application of the FMO theory in heterogeneous catalysis and obtained a highly active and stable SAC for hydrogenation reactions.