Bad habits obscuring thermodynamic reality of photocatalytic reactions

Failing to consider how solvent polarity affects the thermodynamic properties of photocatalysts is stopping scientists from accurately optimising their reactions, new research shows. ‘It would seem that up until now the concept of the effect of solvent had never been looked at,’ notes Eli Zysman-Colman from the University of St Andrews, UK, who led the work. Zysman-Colman’s team’s study also suggests that some photocatalysts are misclassified in the literature.