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Chiral hybrid organic–inorganic metal halides (HOMHs) offer an ideal platform for the advancement of second‐order nonlinear optical (NLO) materials owing to their inherent noncentrosymmetric structures. The enhancement of optical nonlinearity of chiral HOMHs could be achieved by matching the free exciton and/or self‐trapped exciton energy levels with desired NLO frequencies. However, the current scarcity of resonance modes and low resonance ratio hamper the further improvements of NLO performance. Herein, we propose a new resonant channel of charge transfer (CT) excited states from metal halide polyhedra to organic ligand to boost the second‐order optical nonlinearity of chiral HOMHs. The model lead halide (C7H10N)PbBr3 (C7H10N=1‐ethylpyridinium) exhibits a drastically enhanced second harmonic generation in resonance to the deep CT exciton energy, with intensity of up to 111.0 times that of KDP and 10.9 times that of urea. The effective NLO coefficient has been determined to be as high as ~40.2 pm V−1, balanced with a large polarization ratio and high laser damage threshold. This work highlights the contribution of organic ligands in the construction of a resonant channel for enhancing second‐order NLO coefficients of metal halides, and thus provides guidelines for designing new chiral HOMHs materials for advanced nonlinear photonic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bipolar membranes (BPMs) have emerged as a promising solution for mitigating CO2 losses, salt precipitation and high maintenance costs associated with the commonly used anion‐exchange membrane electrode assembly for CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). However, the industrial implementation of BPM‐based zero‐gap electrolyzer is hampered by the poor CO2RR performance, largely attributed to the local acidic environment. Here, we report a backbone engineering strategy to improve the CO2RR performance of molecular catalysts in BPM‐based zero‐gap electrolyzers by covalently grafting cobalt tetraaminophthalocyanine onto a positively charged polyfluorene backbone (PF‐CoTAPc). PF‐CoTAPc shows a high acid tolerance in BPM electrode assembly (BPMEA), achieving a high FE of 82.6 % for CO at 100 mA/cm2 and a high CO2 utilization efficiency of 87.8 %. Notably, the CO2RR selectivity, carbon utilization efficiency and long‐term stability of PF‐CoTAPc in BPMEA outperform reported BPM systems. We attribute the enhancement to the stable cationic shield in the double layer and suppression of proton migration, ultimately inhibiting the undesired hydrogen evolution and improving the CO2RR selectivity. Techno‐economic analysis shows the least energy consumption (957 kJ/mol) for the PF‐CoTAPc catalyst in BPMEA. Our findings provide a viable strategy for designing efficient CO2RR catalysts in acidic environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructing a reliable solid‐electrolyte interphase (SEI) is imperative for enabling highly reversible zinc metal (Zn0) electrodes. Contrary to conventional "bulk solvation" mechanism, we found the SEI structure is dominated by electric double layer (EDL) adsorption. We manipulate the EDL adsorption and Zn2+ solvation with ether additives (i.e. 15‐crown‐5, 12‐crown‐4, and triglyme). The 12‐crown‐4 with medium adsorption on EDL leads to a layer‐structured SEI with inner inorganic ZnFx/ZnSx and outer organic C−O−C components. This structure endows SEI with high rigidness and strong toughness enabling the 100 cm2 Zn||Zn pouch cell to exhibit a cumulative capacity of 4250 mAh cm−2 at areal‐capacity of 10 mAh cm−2. More importantly, a 2.3 Ah Zn||Zn0.25V2O5⋅n H2O pouch cell delivers a recorded energy density of 104 Wh Lcell−1 and runs for >70 days under the harsh conditions of low negative/positive electrode ratio (2.2 : 1), lean electrolyte (8 g Ah−1), and high‐areal‐capacity (≈13 mAh cm−2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiral hybrid organic–inorganic metal halides (HOMHs) with intrinsic noncentrosymmetry have shown great promise for applications in second‐order nonlinear optics (NLO). However, established chiral HOMHs often suffer from their relatively small band gaps, which lead to negative impacts on transparent window and laser‐induced damage thresholds (LDT). Here, we have synthesized two chiral HOMHs based on CuI halides, namely (R‐/S‐MBA)CuBr2, which feature well‐balanced NLO performances with a highly efficient SHG response, outstanding optical transparency, and high LDT. The effective second‐order NLO coefficient of (R‐MBA)CuBr2 has been determined to be ≈24.7 pm V−1, which is two orders of magnitude higher than that of their CuII counterparts. This work shows the promising potential of CuI‐based chiral HOMHs for nonlinear photonic applications in wide wavelength regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new diterpene synthase from the actinomycete Catenulispora acidiphila was identified and the structures of its products were elucidated, including the absolute configurations by an enantioselective deuteration approach. The mechanism of the cationic terpene cyclisation cascade was deeply studied through the use of isotopically labelled substrates and of substrate analogues with partially blocked reactivity, resulting in derailment products that gave further insights into the intermediates along the cascade. Their chemistry was studied, leading to the biomimetic synthesis of a diterpenoid analogue of a brominated sesquiterpene known from the red seaweed Laurencia microcladia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]