Improving electron harvesting: Small metal nanostructures generate electrons from light by creating surface plasmons, which can transfer “hot electrons” to a semiconductor. The efficiency of this process, however, is often low because of electron-electron scattering. Wu et al. demonstrate a pathway that allows the plasmon to directly excite an electron in a strongly coupled semiconductor acceptor (see the Perspective by Kale). Cadmiun selenide nanorods bearing gold nanoparticles on their ends strongly damped plasmons via interfacial electron transfer with a quantum efficiency exceeding 24%. Science , this issue p. 632 ; see also p. 587

A Eu³⁺ MOF with ideally spaced electron-deficient viologen moieties is capable of highly sensitive colorimetric/luminescence detection of electron-rich aromatic contaminants in water through charge transfer and resonance energy transfer.