In order to maintain their metabolism from an energy source, living cells rely on chains of energy transfer involving functionally identified components and organizations. However, propagation of a sustained energy flux through a cascade of reaction cycles has only been recently reproduced at a steady state in simple chemical systems. As observed in living cells, the spontaneous onset of energy-transfer chains notably drives local generation of singular dissipative chemical structures: continuous matter fluxes are dynamically maintained at boundaries between spatially and chemically segregated zones but in the absence of any membrane or predetermined material structure.