SKKU researchers develop a new catalyst to convert carbon dioxide into ethanol using electricity

Atomic-scale cooperation between copper and zinc opens a promising route toward cleaner fuel and chemical production

Sungkyunkwan University External Affairs Division (PR team)

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Credit: Talat, K., Perumal, S., Muhammad, U., Lee, E., Thi Thuy Nga, T., Ali, M., Kim, M., Choi, J., Dong, C.-L., Lee, H., & Lee, H. (2026). Atomic-scale Cu-Zn Synergy directs asymmetric C-C coupling for ethanol-selective CO2 electroreduction. Applied Catalysis B: Environment and Energy, 399, 127179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2026.127179

A research team led by Professor Hyoyoung Lee from the Department of Chemistry at Sungkyunkwan University has developed a new catalyst that converts carbon dioxide into ethanol with high selectivity.

Carbon dioxide is a major greenhouse gas, but it can also be used as a carbon source for producing valuable fuels and chemicals. Ethanol is particularly attractive because it is widely used as a renewable fuel, solvent, disinfectant, and industrial raw material. However, conventional CO2-conversion systems often produce several unwanted by-products, requiring energy-intensive separation and purification processes.

To overcome this challenge, the SKKU research team designed a catalyst in which copper and zinc atoms are positioned directly next to each other on a carbon support. At this extremely small scale, the two metals work together: zinc helps prepare key reaction intermediates, while copper promotes the formation of carbon–carbon bonds required to produce ethanol.

This cooperative structure directs the reaction more efficiently toward ethanol while reducing the formation of competing products.

Catalyst achieves 69% ethanol Faradaic efficiency in MEA system. These results demonstrate both high product selectivity and promising operational stability

The study provides a new catalyst-design strategy based on controlling chemical reactions atom by atom. With further improvements in current density, energy efficiency, product concentration, and long-term operation, this approach could support the future electrochemical conversion of captured CO2 into useful liquid fuels and chemical feedstocks.

The study, titled “Atomic-scale Cu–Zn synergy directs asymmetric C–C coupling for ethanol-selective CO2 electroreduction,” was published in Applied Catalysis B: Environment and Energy (IF 19.7). The article was published online on June 29, 2026.

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Journal

Applied Catalysis

DOI

10.1016/j.apcatb.2026.127179 

 

Dynamic pitch shifts in vehicle sounds could help pedestrians assess collision risk earlier

University of Tsukuba

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Tsukuba, Japan—To improve pedestrian safety in urban areas, researchers are developing technologies that alert pedestrians to potential hazards via smartphones or earbuds. However, loud warning sounds and strong vibrations can be stress-inducing, and repeated alerts may eventually be ignored. To address this challenge, the researchers proposed a method that uses auditory augmented reality, which overlays information onto environmental sounds through earbuds, to slightly modify the sound of an approaching vehicle and naturally draw attention to the vehicle.

Human hearing perceives approaching sound sources based on multiple cues, such as an increase in loudness and a frequency increase (pitch). Changes in frequency are particularly effective for distant sound sources that are difficult to judge by loudness alone. Using this mechanism, the researchers investigated how pedestrians perceive a vehicle's speed, distance, and time to collision by artificially increasing the frequency of the vehicle's sound as it approaches.

The researchers conducted an experiment in a virtual reality urban environment with 30 participants. As the frequency shift increased, participants judged the vehicle as moving faster and closer than it actually was, and predicted an earlier collision. Furthermore, with target upward frequency-scaling ratios of up to 3×, realism ratings remained comparable to those for unmodified vehicle sounds in most conditions. This may reflect a learned association between higher-pitched vehicle sounds and higher vehicle speeds.

These findings suggest that dynamically shifting a vehicle's sound frequency could offer a less intrusive way to draw pedestrian attention to approaching vehicles, without requiring a separate alarm tone.

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This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 24H00892.
 

Original Paper

Title of original paper:
Modulating Auditory Looming Perception via Dynamic Frequency Shifting to Enhance Pedestrian Situation Awareness

Journal:
IEEE Access

DOI:
10.1109/ACCESS.2026.3706113

Correspondence

Associate Professor ZEMPO, Keiichi
Institute of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba

Related Link

Institute of Systems and Information Engineering

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Journal

IEEE Access

DOI

10.1109/ACCESS.2026.3706113 

Article Title

Modulating Auditory Looming Perception via Dynamic Frequency Shifting to Enhance Pedestrian Situation Awareness

 

A greener way to create smart materials with light-controlled and antibacterial functions

KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.

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PiLC-enabled synthesis of VOx/Au/PVA nanocomposite films with integrated photothermal antibacterial and thermochromic properties.

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Credit: Zhehong Lu,Henan University.

Researchers have developed a new way to make smart multifunctional materials using a cleaner and simpler plasma-based process. The study, published in Advanced Nanocomposites, introduces a one-step approach that can simultaneously tune the structure of vanadium oxide and create gold nanoparticles within a flexible polymer film, overcoming limitations of conventional manufacturing methods that often require high temperatures or additional chemical reducing agents.

“Smart materials based on vanadium oxides are attractive because they can change their optical properties in response to temperature, offering potential applications in energy-saving windows and adaptive coatings,” shares the study’s first author Zhehong Lu. “Gold nanoparticles, meanwhile, are known for converting light into heat and providing antibacterial effects.”

Combining these two materials efficiently, however, has been challenging because traditional methods usually involve multiple preparation steps and can lead to uneven distribution of nanoparticles.

To that end, the researchers used plasma-induced liquid chemistry (PiLC), a low-temperature and environmentally friendly technique, to directly construct vanadium oxide/gold nanoparticle composite films. “The plasma process generates highly active species that drive chemical transformations in the liquid environment, allowing vanadium oxide structures to be adjusted while gold nanoparticles form directly inside the polymer matrix,” explains Lu.

“We were surprised that a single plasma treatment step could achieve two important functions at the same time: controlling the chemical state of vanadium oxide and producing well-dispersed gold nanoparticles,” says senior and co-corresponding author Dan Sun. “This provides a new strategy for designing multifunctional materials without relying on complicated synthesis procedures.”

The resulting films showed temperature-dependent optical changes, enabling infrared light modulation, while the gold nanoparticles provided efficient near-infrared light-to-heat conversion. “The combination also produced enhanced antibacterial activity under light irradiation against common bacterial species,” adds Sun.

Beyond the specific composite developed here, the approach offers a new platform for designing next-generation smart coatings, responsive surfaces, and multifunctional materials where different properties can be integrated through a single, environmentally friendly manufacturing process.

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Contact the author: Zhehong Lu, College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Henan University, luzhehong@henu.edu.cn.

The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 200 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

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Journal

Advanced Nanocomposites

DOI

10.1016/j.adna.2026.04.001 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

VOx/Au/PVA Nanocomposites Synthesized Through Plasma Liquid Chemistry: Simultaneous Vanadium Valence Control and in Situ Au Formation

 

A tiny pore identifies cyanobacteria toxins in lake water

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

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Cyanobacterial blooms, like the ones that occur in Lake Geneva are rapid, dense growths of photosynthetic bacteria in fresh and marine waters that can threaten the health of swimmers and their pets.

Blooms can release microcystins, a family of toxins that threaten drinking-water supplies, recreational waters and aquatic ecosystems. More than 300 microcystin variants, known as congeners, have been identified, and they can differ subtly in structure while producing different biological effects.

Detecting microcystins quickly and telling them apart is still difficult, as each of most common methods have limitations. ELISA immunoassay tests are relatively fast and sensitive, but they generally cannot identify individual microcystin congeners and may cross-react with related compounds. Liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), is far more selective, but requires expensive equipment, trained specialists and sample transport. Depending on the analysis, results may take from a day to several weeks.

Now, scientists in the groups of Matteo Dal Peraro and Tamar Kohn at EPFL have developed a nanopore sensor that detects microcystins one molecule at a time. The work, which was led by Alissa Agerova and Juan Francisco Bada Juarez, is published in ACS Nano.

Seven molecules distinguished

The sensor uses aerolysin, a protein that spontaneously forms a “nanopore” channel through a thin membrane, around ten nanometers long, with a narrowest point about one nanometer across.

When a voltage is applied, ions flowing through the channel generate an electrical current. As a microcystin molecule interacts with or passes through the pore, it briefly blocks part of that current. The depth and duration of the blockage provide a characteristic signal for the molecule.

Based on this readout, the team distinguished between seven individual microcystin congeners under controlled laboratory conditions. The signals remained sufficiently distinct for all seven populations to be separated even without more sophisticated data classification.

Testing cyanobacteria in Swiss lakes

The researchers then tested the system with natural lake-water samples, which they filtered to remove particles that could interfere with the nanopores

“Filtration is an obstacle in the sense that it implies more sample manipulation before analysis,” says Tamar Kohn.  “In the future we would like to find a way to analyze the samples without the need for filtration, or at least automate this step to avoid lengthy sample manipulation.”

In water from Lake Geneva, they successfully separated two closely related microcystins that had been added at concentrations representative of strong blooms. The lake water did not prevent the pore from distinguishing the two toxins.

In a sample collected during a cyanobacterial bloom in Lake Lugano, the nanopore identified and quantified one of the best-studied microcystins, MC-LR. It measured a concentration of 12.7 nanomolar, closely matching the 13.1 nanomolar result obtained by LC-MS/MS.

By creating a salt-concentration gradient across the pore, the researchers also improved sensitivity and detected MC-LR at concentrations as low as 25 picomolar. This is 40 times below the provisional WHO guideline of 1 nanomolar for lifetime exposure to MC-LR in drinking water.

Field-use and startup

The technology is not yet mature to be used in the field, as the lake samples were filtered and adjusted to high salt concentrations before measurement. But because nanopores are compact and produce electrical signals in real time, the sensor could eventually be incorporated into portable systems for on-site, real-time water monitoring. Further engineering can help adapt the same principle to detect other cyanotoxins or small environmental pollutants.

Further developing, scaling, and commercializing the technology is the focus of a future startup, CYnANO, currently being planned by the paper’s first author, Alissa Agerova.

Other contributors

• University of Geneva
• Service de l’eau-Ville de Lausanne
• Centro di competenze sull’acqua (CCA SA)
• Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG)

Funding

• EPFL iPhD grant
• Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)

Reference

Alissa Agerova, Juan Francisco Bada Juarez, Louis W. Perrin, Luciano A. Abriata, Maria J. Marcaida, Anna Carratalà, Nora Selmani, Stéphanie Barbier, Fereidoun Khajehnouri, Giordano Vassalli, Elisabeth M. L. Janssen, Chan Cao, Tamar Kohn, Matteo Dal Peraro. Sub-Nanomolar Detection and Discrimination of Microcystin Congeners Using Aerolysin Nanopores. ACS Nano 31 July 2026. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.6c05413

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Journal

ACS Nano

DOI

10.1021/acsnano.6c05413 

Article Title

Sub-Nanomolar Detection and Discrimination of Microcystin Congeners Using Aerolysin Nanopores.

 

Hidden freshwater giants could become the world's next climate observatories

International research team identifies South America's unique coastal lake system as a global hotspot for tracking environmental change

Pensoft Publishers

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The Tramandaí Lagoon estuary, located between the municipalities of Imbé (left side of the channel) and Tramandaí (right side of the channel) in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, connects a complex of more than 40 coastal lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. 

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Credit: CECLIMAR Collection (Acervo CECLIMAR)

More than 100 shallow lakes stretching over 1,000 kilometers along the Atlantic coast of southern Brazil and Uruguay could become one of the world's most important natural laboratories for understanding how climate change and human activities reshape freshwater ecosystems. An international team of researchers reports that these largely overlooked subtropical lakes offer an unparalleled opportunity to monitor biodiversity, water quality, pollution, and ecosystem resilience in a rapidly changing world.

Published in One Ecosystem, the study is the first comprehensive assessment of the Southern American Coastal Shallow Subtropical Lakes, highlighting their global scientific importance and outlining a roadmap for long-term international monitoring.

Most of what we know about lakes comes from the Northern Hemisphere.

- says lead author Mariana Kluge of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

These subtropical lakes fill a major gap in global freshwater research. They allow us to test ecological theories under very different environmental conditions while providing crucial insights into how subtropical freshwater ecosystems respond to climate change and increasing human pressures.

- adds Prof. Renata Medina-Silva of Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)

The lake network forms one of the largest continuous coastal shallow-lake systems on Earth. Despite its extraordinary size and diversity, it has received far less scientific attention than well-known freshwater systems elsewhere in the world. Yet the region is already experiencing many of the environmental challenges, expected to intensify in the coming decades - including a direct impact of the El Niño Southern Oscillation - alongside heavy urbanisation, which has  driven eutrophication, agricultural and wastewater pollution, emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and microplastics, and increasingly frequent extreme rainfall and flooding events.

Christian Wurzbacher of the Technical University of Munich argues that these lakes can serve as "sentinel ecosystems"- natural observatories that reveal early signs of environmental change. By combining microbial ecology, environmental DNA, remote sensing, water chemistry, and long-term ecological monitoring, scientists hope to develop new indicators capable of detecting ecosystem stress before irreversible damage occurs.

Our vision is to establish an internationally coordinated monitoring network that not only benefits South America, but also improves our understanding of freshwater ecosystems worldwide. The microbial communities living in these lakes can act as highly sensitive biological sensors, helping us identify pollution, ecosystem degradation, and even emerging public health risks.

- says Prof. Haig of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS).

The publication emerged from an international workshop held at two universities - PUCRS and UFRGS - in Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil, bringing together researchers from Brazil, Uruguay, Germany, and Sweden to define future research priorities. The team identified four representative large-scale lake regions that together capture the broad environmental gradients across the system and offer ideal sites for coordinated long-term observation.

As climate change accelerates and pressures on freshwater resources continue to grow, the researchers believe that protecting and studying these remarkable lake systems will generate knowledge extending far beyond South America - informing global strategies for safeguarding biodiversity, improving water management, and strengthening resilience to environmental change.

Original source:

Kluge M, Shubeita A, Uchaikina A, Alonso C, Herrman B, Menegotto-Silva C, Lopes C, Pagani D, Marques D, Moreira-Silva E, Kristiansson E, Quintana I, Cavalcanti J, Fleck J, Ribeiro K, Varghaei L, Oliveira L, Rodrigues LR, Ramilo L, Crossetti L, Stockenreiter M, Cabezudo M, Lima M, Gonçalves NP, Mazzeo N, Schneider R, Utz LP, Bertilsson S, Wurzbacher C, They NH, Medina-Silva R (2026) Coastal subtropical Southern American shallow lakes as unique ecosystems for monitoring anthropogenic induced ecosystem changes. One Ecosystem 11: e186107. https://doi.org/10.3897/oneeco.11.e186107 

Overview of the environmental heterogeneity found across South America’s unique coastal lake systems. 

Despite their high ecological value, these lakes are under increasing pressure from eutrophication, urban growth, and competing human uses such as water supply, irrigation, navigation, fishing, recreation, and sewage disposal. 

Credit

Kluge et al., 2026

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Journal

One Ecosystem

DOI

10.3897/oneeco.11.e186107 

Article Title

Coastal subtropical Southern American shallow lakes as unique ecosystems for monitoring anthropogenic induced ecosystem changes

 

Farewell Romeo and Juliet. Is digital tech killing old-fashioned love?

Flinders University

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Flinders University psychology researcher Dr Reza Shabahang, the first author of a new article in BMC Psychology.

 

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Credit: Flinders University

The use of dating apps and pornography websites has grown rapidly in recent years, supporting what may develop into a form of addiction – while potentially undermining traditional beliefs in romance and ‘true’ love.

To delve deeper, international experts surveyed 664 users of dating apps and online porn to assess people’s views on love and the “existential value we place on it”, says Flinders University psychology researcher Dr Reza Shabahang, the first author of a new article in BMC Psychology.

“We already know that heavy (addiction-like) use of dating apps and pornography is linked to problems such as anxiety, depression, unhealthy eating habits and trouble controlling sexual behaviour,” says Dr Shabahang, who collaborated with Flinders University Professor Zsolt Demetrovics, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University Associate Professor Ágnes Zsila and other experts in psychology and human behaviour in the digital age.  

“Some users can even feel bored or restless when they are not constantly using these platforms,” says Dr Shabahang, from the College of Human Sciences and Culture.

“We wanted to know whether addiction-like use of dating apps and pornography influences how people view romantic love. Do they still see it as meaningful, worth more than money and worth staying faithful for?

“Does it affect the way we see love itself and the existential value we place on it.”

Associate Professor Ágnes Zsila, a psychologist and co-author from Hungary, says the results showed the more people used these platforms in an addiction-like way, the less they valued love.

“They were more likely to see love as meaningless, to believe it only works when there is money involved, and to jump quickly in and out of relationships,” says Associate Professor Zsila from the ELTE Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary.

“We think the downsides of these platforms are part of the answer. For example, dating apps can leave people overwhelmed by choice and stuck in shallow conversations.

“Pornography often places greater emphasis on physical gratification than on closeness and intimacy within personal relationships. Over time, these emphasis may contribute to viewing relationships primarily as a means of satisfying sexual needs rather than as a source of deeper emotional connection.”

However, Dr Shabahang says there was one hopeful finding.

“People who used technology more ‘mindfully’ were less likely to become hooked, and reported fewer problems with how they saw love,” he says. In other words, using technology, including these tools, with awareness helps.

“For example, by asking yourself why you are using them and remembering that the experiences on these platforms can be different from offline life.”

The results support the need for users to be aware of the risks of harm when using these technologies.

“We think this simple awareness can help you get the good out of technology while protecting yourself from the harm,” adds Matthew Flinders Professor Demetrovics, who is director of the Flinders Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing.

“Society and future generations still need romantic stories worth telling, and technology must not be a hurdle to that.”

The article – ‘Romeo swipes Juliet left!? Problematic online dating app use and problematic pornography consumption are associated with a weaker sense of existential meaning in romantic love’ (2026) by R Shabahang (Flinders University & UTS), Z Demetrovics (Flinders University), M Akbari (Kharazmi University), G Ouvrein (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Á Zsila (ELTE Eötvös Loránd University) – has been published in an advance online version of BMC Psychology. DOI: 10.1186/s40359-026-05173-2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-05173-2

Acknowledgements: Open access funding provided by Eötvös Loránd University. Ágnes Zsila was supported by the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

 

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Journal

BMC Psychology

DOI

10.1186/s40359-026-05173-2 

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Romeo swipes Juliet left!? Problematic online dating app use and problematic pornography consumption are associated with a weaker sense of existential meaning in romantic love’