Themed collection New Talent 2022

Christian Doonan and Kwangyeol Lee introduce the CrystEngComm themed issue “New Talent 2022”.

This review summarizes the recent progress in metal oxide charge transporting layers to achieve stable high-performance perovskite solar cells.

In this study, a typical laboratory experiment was carried out to isolate the flat strips of a flexible polycrystalline aggregate of a hydrazone derivative.

Neutron diffraction and magnetic property measurements reveal that Cr[Bi(SCN)₆], a metal thiocyanate perovskite-analogue with a face-centred cubic magnetic lattice, orders magnetically at 4.0(2) K with a shortest through-bond path of 15.1 Å.

Halogenation is becoming a key supramolecular tool in peptides. Halogenated tyrosines include in the same moiety functionalities that could give rise to a complete set of noncovalent forces such as halogen bonds, hydrogen bonds and π–π interactions.

Structure (1) with very unique crystal packing and multi-stimuli responsive behaviour is reported. The absence of polymorphism in 1 is supported by experimental studies. Hirshfeld and nanoindentation studies are also reported.

Three new structures in the MDABCO perovskite family of ferroelectrics define new design rules for ferroelectric phase discovery.

Analysis of metal–organic frameworks featuring hierarchical pore systems is presented and leveraged to understand adsorption in unique pore structures.

A detailed structural analysis of a series of α-hydroxy ketone derivatives in terms of lattice energies and conformational energies reveals the competing factors of inter- and intramolecular interactions that direct conformational preferences.

Three roseolumiflavin co-crystals are designed to elucidate the accessibility of flavins for the targeted tuning of luminescence in the solid state.

Mechanochemical and solvothermal routes to the metal–organic framework Mg₂(m-dobdc) bearing coordinatively unsaturated Mg(II) sites are presented. The mechanochemical synthesis produces porous material exhibiting higher carbon dioxide uptake.

Lithium dendrite growth and sluggish Li⁺ desolvation can be alleviated using a polydimethylsiloxane functionalized separator, resulting in a fast and stable lithium metal anode.

The La-doping regulates the electronic structure of CoP, promoting its HER and OER activities. A La–CoP-based water electrolyzer requires a cell voltage of 1.608 V at 10 mA cm⁻² in alkaline media, which outperforms a noble metal-based electrolyzer.

Three MOFs with metalloporphyrin lined, large square 1D channels were used as colorimetric sensors for electron donors. Exposure to amine vapours caused a redshift of the Soret absorption bands of the metalloporphyrin.

We developed and integrated into a web application (ZIF Phase Analysis) a calibration procedure for the rapid and quantitative analysis of crystalline and amorphous ZIF phases from diffraction patterns in biomacromolecule@ZIF biocomposites.