Food security relies on nitrogen fertilisers, but its production and use account for approximately 5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Meeting climate change targets requires the identification and prioritisation of interventions across the whole lifecycle of fertilisers. Here, we have mapped the global flows of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers and manure, and their corresponding GHG emissions across their lifecycle. We have then explored the maximum mitigation potential of various interventions to reduce emissions by 2050. We found that approximately two thirds of fertiliser emissions take place after their deployment in croplands. Increasing nitrogen use efficiency is the single most effective strategy to reduce emissions. Yet, this should be combined with decarbonisation of fertiliser production. Using currently available technologies, GHG emissions of fertilisers could be reduced up to approximately one fifth of current levels by 2050.

The Turkevich protocol consists of two consecutive reduction steps (Au3+ → Au+ → Au0) rather than a reduction followed by the disproportionation reaction as conventionally believed. The second reduction is the rate-limiting step.

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Hollow bimetallic nanoparticles exhibit unique surface plasmonic properties, enhanced catalytic activities and high photo-thermal conversion efficiencies amongst other properties, however, their research and further deployment are currently limited by their complicated multi-step syntheses. This paper presents a novel approach for their continuous synthesis with controllable and tuneable sizes and compositions. This robust manufacturing tool, consisting of coiled flow inverter (CFI) reactors connected in series, allows for the first time the temporal and spatial separation of the initial formation of silver seeds and their subsequent galvanic displacement reaction in the presence of a palladium precursor, leading to the full control of both steps separately. We have also demonstrated that coupling the galvanic replacement and co-reduction leads to a great kinetic enhancement of the system leading to a high yield process of hollow bimetallic nanoparticles, directly applicable to other metal combinations.