Nature Sustainability最新文献

{"title":"Strong and recyclable bio-derived poly(ester amide) hot-melt adhesive","authors":"Xin Liu, Katherine L. Harry, Yucheng Zhao, Emma M. Rettner, Joel Miscall, Nicholas A. Rorrer, Garret M. Miyake","doi":"10.1038/s41893-026-01776-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-026-01776-0","url":null,"abstract":"Bio-based adhesives offer inherent advantages over conventional petrochemical-derived systems, including renewable sourcing, reduced environmental impact and potential degradability. However, most bio-based adhesives suffer from poor adhesion strength, limited substrate compatibility and a lack of chemical recyclability. Here we present a bio-derived multiblock poly(ester amide) adhesive that leverages microphase segregation between different segments to reconcile mechanical robustness with strong interfacial bonding. Notably, this multiblock architecture is accessed through a one-pot, selective acceptorless dehydrogenative polymerization, obviating the need for multistep synthesis. The materials exhibit excellent adhesion across a range of substrates including metals, glass and wet wood surpassing commercial benchmarks, while also demonstrating thermal stability, tunable mechanical properties and closed-loop chemical recyclability even in the presence of other commodity plastics. Furthermore, the adhesive strength of these materials could be tuned for various potential applications through control over the chemical composition of the polymer. By integrating renewable feedstocks, high-performance functionality and efficient chemical circularity within a single platform, this work provides a viable pathway toward more sustainable adhesive technologies and contributes to advancing circular materials manufacturing. Petroleum-based adhesives are used ubiquitously in daily life and therefore contribute to persistent waste generation. Here the authors synthesize a robust and strong poly(ester amide) adhesive that can be derived from biomass feedstocks and chemically recycled at the end of its life.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"9 3","pages":"450-458"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147570465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Towards glues that won’t stick around","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41893-026-01800-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-026-01800-3","url":null,"abstract":"Adhesives conveniently hold together a wide variety of physical objects, but they carry an underappreciated environmental burden. More sustainable alternatives are urgently needed.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"9 3","pages":"337-337"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-026-01800-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147570508","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The invisible sustainability problem of glues and how to solve it","authors":"Jonathan J. Wilker","doi":"10.1038/s41893-026-01789-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-026-01789-9","url":null,"abstract":"Adhesives are hard to see when in use, but they force most products to reside in landfills for centuries. Ongoing research is creating opportunities in materials design and market impact, thereby helping society move towards a more sustainable future.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"9 3","pages":"340-342"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147570510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Actions and actors driving transformative change for global sustainability","authors":"Victoria Reyes-García, Rainer M. Krug, Arun Agrawal, Karina Benessaiah, Martha Bonilla-Moheno, Joachim Claudet, Tim Forsyth, Lucas A. Garibaldi, Barbara Gemmill-Herren, Camille Guibal, Bruce Evan Goldstein, Hannah Gosnell, Xiaona Guo, Patrick Huntjens, Chinwe Ifejika Speranza, Julia Leventon, Letícia Santos de Lima, Rafael A. Magris, Koji Miwa, José Luis Molina, Karen O’Brien, Ram Pandit, Laura Pereira, Kristina Raab, Arnim Scheidel, Pablo Tittonell, Paula Ugarte-Lucas, Sebastian Villasante, Yves Zinngrebe","doi":"10.1038/s41893-026-01783-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-026-01783-1","url":null,"abstract":"The urgent need for transformative change to address the intertwined crises of climate change and biodiversity loss is widely recognized. Here, drawing on work originally conducted within the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment and using a bibliometric analysis of more than 4 million scholarly documents, we examine the actions and actors driving transformative change for global sustainability. The literature disproportionately focuses on a limited set of available actions and actors, neglecting others and overlooking their potential interactions. Notably, the actions ‘changing social norms’ and ‘technological change’ and the communication and knowledge and private sectors are frequently discussed, while actions referring to transforming the economic and governance systems and the civil society and the public sector are understudied. Moreover, actions and actors do not tend to appear together in consistent or systematic ways; instead, most action–actor combinations appear at rates similar to random chance, with only a few notable exceptions. The uneven distribution of scholarly attention may hinder the coordination and cross-sectoral coalitions required for effective transformative change. Our findings call for a more inclusive approach to research on actors and actions needed for transformative change towards a just and sustainable world, and for a greater focus on synergies between actions and actors potentially driving transformative change. A bibliometric analysis of more than four million scholarly documents highlights the need for a more inclusive approach to research on actors and actions needed for transformative change towards a just and sustainable world and more emphasis on the synergies between actors and actions that drive change.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"9 4","pages":"595-603"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147735130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multi-zonal anaerobic ammonium oxidation for mainstream municipal wastewater treatment","authors":"Qi Zhao, Liang Zhang, Yang Zhao, Jianwei Li, Luyao Wang, Xiyao Li, Yongzhen Peng","doi":"10.1038/s41893-026-01786-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-026-01786-y","url":null,"abstract":"Biological nitrogen removal is a main contributor to the carbon footprint of municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWWTPs). Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) is key to decarbonizing MWWTPs. However, anammox technology has long been developed following the ‘hotspot’ concept, which spatially confines anammox to specific zones in MWWTPs, leaving its potential underexploited in mainstream treatment. Here we propose a ‘multi-zonal anammox’ concept to expand the anammox process throughout the whole MWWTP mainstream. It allows the implementation of anammox in existing MWWTPs with minimal reconstruction requirements. We evaluated the feasibility of this concept in an anaerobic–anoxic–oxic (A2O) biosystem, which is one of the most widely used processes in MWWTPs. During a 2-year-long operation, anammox bacteria highly self-enriched and contributed to nitrogen removal throughout the mainstream, with relative abundances reaching 4.8%, 5.7–10.0% and 0.2–1.0% in anaerobic, anoxic and oxic zones, respectively. The multi-zonal anammox enhanced nitrogen removal efficiency by 20%, reduced aerating electricity input by 20%, mitigated nitrous oxide emissions by 66% and eliminated the need for supplemental organic carbon. Overall, this work opens a promising avenue for implementing the anammox process, paving the way towards sustainable wastewater management. Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) has great potential in sustainable wastewater treatment, but its implementation in mainstream wastewater treatment is challenging. This work proposes a ‘multi-zonal anammox’ concept that can be incorporated into existing wastewater treatment plants.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"9 4","pages":"544-553"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147735135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Catalytic bromine recycling from waste","authors":"Qingming Song, Bofan Cui, Xuehong Yuan, Ya Liu, Jia Li, Zhenming Xu","doi":"10.1038/s41893-026-01777-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-026-01777-z","url":null,"abstract":"Bromine (Br), mostly extracted from nature, plays an essential role in the form of organobromides in various goods, including electronics, vehicles and furniture. At the same time, Br is continuously released into the environment in the form of persistent brominated pollutants upon the retirement of those goods, causing severe environmental consequences and loss of resources. Here we propose a catalytic strategy that enables the selective and mild-condition conversion of all organobromides present in wastes into renewed bromides for Br recycling. It employs Ullmann-type reactions enabled by inexpensive Cu(I), simple ligands and hydroxides in DMSO–H2O solvent. This strategy achieved >95% bromide yields at a temperature ≤120 °C for complex real-world Br-laden wastes. It can produce bromide-rich solution amenable to Br2 production, as demonstrated by the inorganicization–evaporation–oxidation process, and recoverable debrominated solids with preserved chemical states. Mechanistic studies revealed a full debromination framework encompassing diverse activated pathways. This work provides a viable approach for Br recycling and potentially facilitates a circular and sustainable anthropogenic Br flow. Bromine (Br) has indispensable roles in manufacturing many products but mostly ends up in waste, leading to both resource loss and environmental pollution. Here the authors proposes a catalytic process to enable Br recycling from real-world Br-laden wastes.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"9 4","pages":"554-564"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147735118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A water-soluble binder for recyclable lithium-ion batteries","authors":"Shuxing Wu, Chuxiong Huang, Wenbin Shen, Xianhao Long, Zhihuan Ye, Juncheng Qiu, Liangxin Xie, Wenbo Zhou, Shanqing Zhang, Xiujuan Wei, Zhan Lin","doi":"10.1038/s41893-026-01773-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-026-01773-3","url":null,"abstract":"The substantial growth in the market for lithium-ion batteries has created a huge challenge for their end-of-life management and demands sustainable solutions. Direct recycling is a promising choice due to its superior energy efficiency and environmental benefits, particularly the advantage in preserving the original chemistry and structure of the target materials. However, binders hold the active electrode materials and the current collectors tightly together, and their separation usually involves energy-intensive thermal treatment and environmentally hazardous chemicals. Here we present a water-soluble binder by crosslinking natural sericin protein with sulfuric acid through supramolecular interactions. The as-fabricated binder demonstrates comparable electrochemical performance with the most common polyvinylidene fluoride formulation, when applied to a typical LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 (NCM111) cathode. A 1.3-Ah pouch cell retained 85.0% of its initial capacity after 500 cycles. Equally importantly, after being soaked in water at 50 °C for less than 1 min, the NCM111 and graphite can be completely detached from the current collectors for recycling. By integrating the circular economy into the battery design, this work paves the way for the development of next-generation battery chemistries with enhanced sustainability. The growing volume of end-of-life batteries calls for circular economy solutions. This work presents a water-soluble binder that enables the fast separation of active materials from current collectors in aqueous solutions for sustainable recycling of electrode materials.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"9 4","pages":"575-584"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147735125","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sustainability going deep for batteries","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41893-026-01788-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-026-01788-w","url":null,"abstract":"A panel discussion with global experts, convened by Nature Sustainability and Tongji University in 2021, outlined the roadmap for the development of next-generation sustainable batteries. We now revisit the topic in light of recent advances.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"9 2","pages":"177-177"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-026-01788-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147275121","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Solution-processed electrochromics for synergistic solar and radiative heat management","authors":"Wanrong Xie, Yang Deng, Yihan Liu, Yao Zhao, Samuel J. Shin, Kimberly Brown, Yiyao Wang, Nanqi Peng, Morgan Gilbert, Brayden Davis, Aditya Shankar, Prajwal Biradar, Lin Zhang, Anran Zhang, Hannah Weisbecker, Yizhang Wu, Yihang Wang, Siyuan Liu, Jiacheng Tian, Alexander J. M. Miller, Jie Yin, Willie J. Padilla, Wubin Bai","doi":"10.1038/s41893-026-01774-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-026-01774-2","url":null,"abstract":"Maintaining thermal comfort sustainably is critical to reduce the share of global energy used for heating and cooling. However, current radiative materials for personal thermal management typically offer a singular direction of operation (either heating or cooling), lacking intelligent and sustainable adaptability to fluctuating environments. Here we report an all-solid-state autonomous colour-changing skin (ACCS) that integrates both solar heating and radiative cooling within a single energy-efficient platform. Inspired by the adaptive behaviour of chameleon skin, the ACCS enables continuous modulation of emissivity across the solar (0.3–2.5 µm) and mid-infrared (8–13 µm) spectra. The device tunes solar absorptivity by ~40% and infrared emissivity by over 50% under a voltage bias of only ±1.3 V, maintaining each state for more than 24 h without power consumption. Outdoor tests revealed reversible temperature differences of up to 15.5 °C between heating and cooling modes, while a single smartphone battery can power over 200 full-range switching cycles. The solution-processable functional layers permit scalable fabrication via drop-casting and roll-to-roll techniques, extending applications from wearable devices to large-area environmental control. This flexible, energy-neutral platform advances adaptive personal thermoregulation and illustrates how multispectral electrochromic design can decouple human comfort from fossil fuel-based climate control, contributing to global sustainability goals. The severity of climate change impacts calls for low-carbon thermal management solutions. This work presents a chameleon-inspired electronic skin for adaptive electrochromic thermal regulation with minimal energy input and scalability potential.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"9 4","pages":"509-522"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147735133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Electrolysis with built-in seawater desalination by porous-solid-electrolyte reactor","authors":"Tianze Wu, Siyuan Zhu, Yuwei Zhang, Xinlong Lin, Lijun Liu, Hui Ye, Haotian Wang, Zhichuan J. Xu","doi":"10.1038/s41893-026-01772-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41893-026-01772-4","url":null,"abstract":"The deployment of green hydrogen in the global transition towards sustainable energy systems relies heavily on cost-effective renewables. Regions rich in renewable energy are usually along a seashore, although the direct electrolysis of seawater is still technically challenging. Moreover, the scarcity of freshwater poses significant costs for hydrogen production. Here we describe an electrolysis process with built-in seawater desalination in a porous-solid-electrolyte reactor. A three-chamber cell with bipolar membranes synergizes the acidic hydrogen evolution reaction, the alkaline oxygen evolution reaction and electrodialysis desalination processes. The use of a porous solid electrolyte in the cell facilitates reliable electrochemical equilibrium, resulting in a coupling factor of approximately 100% for electrolysis and desalination, which maintains the high kinetic current of the coupled electrochemical processes for a lower energy penalty. For seawater electrolysis, the optimized catalyst is robust against anodic Cl− corrosion and serves to enhance device reliability. Long-term cell operation with real seawater experienced negligible device degradation over 360 h. The current system can produce approximately 2.1 t of freshwater meeting potable standards for every kilogram of hydrogen generated, thus offering a feasible pathway to harnessing seawater for both clean water and green hydrogen. Taking advantage of the abundant renewable energy sources along seashores, this work describes a three-chamber electrolyser that combines electrolysis and desalination to produce both freshwater and green hydrogen.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"9 4","pages":"523-532"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2026-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147735134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}