Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute

Photosynthetic organisms have evolved multiple non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) processes, providing photoprotection by safely dissipating excess excitation energy. These processes involve various molecular players functioning on overlapping timescales from seconds to days, making it challenging to isolate and quantify their individual kinetics. In this study, we perform whole-leaf chlorophyll fluorescence lifetime and xanthophyll concentration measurements on wild-type and various newly characterized NPQ mutants of Nicotiana benthamiana, a vascular land plant. Based on these measurements, we construct a fluorescence lifetime-based quantitative kinetic model that disentangles individual photoprotection components and, when integrated additively, accurately predicts wild-type and mutant NPQ behaviors under various light-dark regimes. Additionally, the model quantifies the per-molecule quenching effectiveness of various xanthophylls and the contributions of six quenching components (qEV, qEA, qEZ, qEL, qZ, and qI) across different genotypes. It also suggests improved overall quenching efficiency at specific VDE:ZEP:PsbS overexpression stoichiometries, aligning with previous studies and supporting translational efforts to optimize photoprotection and enhance crop yields under dynamic light environments.

Interfacial environments are highly sensitive to changes in composition. The addition of trace solutes or cosolvent mixtures can dramatically alter the surface composition, by altering the energetics of adsorption and solvation, or by creating nanoenvironments where chemistry is enhanced or suppressed. Prior aerosol experiments show that the addition of oxygenated spectator molecules accelerates the heterogeneous chlorination rate of squalene without altering the mechanism. Using molecular dynamics simulations and kinetic models, we find that long-chain alcohols are enriched in a subsurface layer and enhance reactivity both at the interface and in the bulk. The bulk reaction rate increases by an order of magnitude relative to pure squalene, while the interfacial rate is accelerated by 2 orders of magnitude compared to that bulk value. These findings illustrate how modest compositional changes reshape the interfacial environment to catalyze multiphase chemistry.

Despite successes in replicating the primary-secondary-tertiary structure hierarchy of protein, it remains elusive to synthetically materialize protein functions that are deeply rooted in their chemical, structural and dynamic heterogeneities1-12. We propose that for polymers with backbone chemistries different from that of proteins, programming spatial and temporal projections of sidechains at the segmental level can be effective in replicating protein behaviours13,14; and leveraging the rotational freedom of polymer can mitigate deficiencies in monomeric sequence specificity and achieve behaviour uniformity at the ensemble level2,3,15-20. Here, guided by the active site analysis of about 1,300 metalloproteins, we design random heteropolymers (RHPs) as enzyme mimics based on one-pot synthesis. We introduce key monomers as the equivalents of the functional residues of protein and statistically modulate the chemical characteristics of key monomer-containing segments, such as segmental hydrophobicity21. The resultant RHPs form pseudo-active sites that provide key monomers with protein-like microenvironments, co-localize substrates with catalytic or cofactor-binding sidechains and catalyse reactions such as oxidation and cyclization of citronellal with isopulegol/menthoglycol selectivity. This RHP design led to enzyme-like materials that can retain catalytic activity under non-biological conditions, are compatible with scalable processing and have expanded substrate scope, including environmentally long-lasting antibiotic tetracycline22.

We introduce the Wannier function decomposition of excitons (WFDX) method to quantify exciton localization in solids within the ab initio Bethe-Salpeter equation framework. By decomposing each Bloch exciton wave function into products of single-particle electron and hole maximally localized Wannier functions, this real-space approach provides well-defined orbital- and spatial-resolved measures of both Frenkel and charge-transfer excitons at low computational cost. We apply WFDX to excitons in acene crystals, quantifying how the number of rings, the exciton spin state, and the center-of-mass momentum affect spatial localization. Additionally, we show how this real-space representation reflects structural nonsymmorphic symmetries that are hidden in standard reciprocal-space descriptions. We demonstrate how the WFDX framework can be used to efficiently interpolate exciton expansion coefficients in reciprocal-space and outline how it may facilitate evaluation of observables involving position operators, highlighting its potential as a general tool for both analyzing and computing excitonic properties in solids.

ABSTRACT Disposable sweat sensors are essential tools for sweat‐based diagnostics, enabling comprehensive insights into sweat physiology. To support widespread applications and large‐scale studies, it is critical to develop sensors that are mass‐producible, user‐friendly, and capable of delivering consistent performance. Roll‐to‐roll processing enables scalable, and uniform manufacturing of flexible microfluidic sensors, addressing the throughput and complexity limitations of traditional methods such as photolithography and vacuum deposition. In this study, we present a highly deformable microfluidic sweat sensor fabricated via roll‐to‐roll processes. The sensor is constructed by laminating sweat‐sensing electrodes patterned on thermoplastic polyurethane with polydimethylsiloxane microstructures to form microfluidic channels. By adapting screen printing and hot imprinting techniques for roll‐to‐roll manufacturing, high‐throughput production is achieved. This method yields hundreds of customizable sensors per roll, exhibiting excellent mechanical flexibility, reproducible sensing performance, and scalability. Furthermore, the developed sweat sensor is demonstrated during wear on the fingertip, showcasing its capability for real‐time sweat rate monitoring on an anatomically curved surface. These advancements position the roll‐to‐roll‐fabricated sweat sensor as a promising solution for large‐scale, real‐time sweat diagnostic applications.

Photosynthesis in vivo is driven by sunlight, an ultraweak incoherent thermal source. However, most experiments and theories have studied photosynthetic light harvesting driven by strong coherent laser sources. The quantum states of light are characterized by their photon statistics, in addition to classical properties such as intensity and frequency spectrum. Here, we report experiments that investigate how photon statistics affect a natural photosynthetic system and vice versa. We directly compare how single photons and pseudothermal light from spontaneous parametric down-conversion drive light harvesting in the light-harvesting 2 complex from a purple bacterium. We find that the fluorescence lifetime and quantum efficiency are unchanged while the fluorescence photon statistics are markedly different, resembling that of the incident light, implying that the dynamics do not fundamentally modify the photon statistics. This represents a step toward clarification of the similarities and differences between photosynthetic light harvesting in laboratory and in natural sunlight conditions.

Design of modular, transferable protein assemblies hasbroad applicabilityand in structural biology could help with the ever-troublesome crystallizationbottleneck, including finding robustly behaved protein crystals forrapidly characterizing ligands or drug candidates or generating multiplepolymorphs to illuminate diverse conformations. Nanobodies as crystallizationchaperones are well-established but still unreliable, as we show here.Instead, we show an exemplar of how robust crystallization behaviorcan be engineered by exploring many combinations (>200) of nanobodysurface mutations over several iterations. Critically, what neededtesting was crystallization and diffraction quality, since target–nanobodybinding affinity is decoupled from crystallizability enhancement.Our study yielded multiple polymorphs, all mediated by the same interface,with dramatically improved resolution and diffraction reliabilityfor some mutants; we thus name them ‘Gluebodies’ (Gbs).We further demonstrate that these Gb mutations do transfer to someother targets, both for achieving robust crystallization in alternativepacking forms and for establishing the ability to crystallize a keyearly stage readout. Since the Gb interface is evidently a favoredinteraction, it may be broadly applicable for modular assembly; morespecifically, this work suggests that Gbs should be routinely attemptedfor crystallization whenever nanobodies are available.

Reticular chemistry—stitching molecular building blocks with strong bonds to produce extended, crystalline, porous frameworks—has enabled a new paradigm in materials design. This article traces the field’s evolution from early molecular hosts to the discovery of metal-organic framework (MOF)-5 and an expansive family of MOFs and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) characterized by ultrahigh surface areas and tunable pore chemistry. Selected examples (MOF-808, MOF-303, MOF-LA2-1, COF-999) demonstrate excellent performance in CO 2 capture and atmospheric water harvesting and show great potential for addressing environmental challenges. The article highlights scale-up and commercialization efforts and outlines the “Digital Discovery Cycle,” where AI, robotics, and data-driven synthesis accelerate crystallization and screening. The piece concludes by situating reticular materials as promising, scalable solutions for climate challenges and by mapping directions for future research and deployment.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) to multicarbon (Cn) upgrading for commodity chemicals, fuel production, or artificial food synthesis using renewable energy input is a golden target for researchers in sustainable carbon emission reduction. Here, we explore and analyze a flexible modular roadmap for the task, utilizing sequential electro-, photo-, and organocatalysis to develop a strategy for CO2 conversion using the key and elusive formaldehyde precursor of interest for sugar generation. We study the electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction to methanol in a flow cell and its discontinuous photooxidation to formaldehyde (PMOR) with excellent selectivity. Utilizing a highly active N-heterocyclic carbene catalyst enables tunable generation of C4-C6 aldoses without undesirable byproducts, with carbon conversion yield reaching 60 to 80% for desired pentose, tetrose, and triose product mixtures and over 20% for hexose. This approach presents a roadmap for CO2 valorization, aiming to bridge carbon waste streams with sustainable sugar synthesis and opening broad avenues for green chemical production.