Volume 8 Issue 5, May 2023

Nuclear power has been a major source of electricity in the United States, but much of the country’s nuclear fleet is nearing retirement. New research highlights the risks associated with replacing nuclear power with fossil fuels, including increases in greenhouse gas emissions and health impacts from air pollution.

The performance of kesterite solar cells is limited by the formation of secondary phases and defects during the growth of their photovoltaic absorbers. New research shows that a tailored partial pressure of selenium leads to less-defective kesterite without the formation of intermediate phases, enabling 13.8%-efficiency solar cells.

The critical interphase overpotential (CIOP) represents the capability of the interphase on solid-state electrolyte surfaces to suppress Li-dendrite penetration. An interphase with a high CIOP is shown to enable an all-solid-state Li-metal battery to operate at high current and high capacity.

A photocatalyst comprising CdTe quantum dots and V-doped In₂S₃ exhibits a strong interfacial built-in electric field and an interfacial trapping state that provide sufficient driving force for extracting excitons and separating carriers during photocatalytic water splitting. Multiple excitons can be generated per photon and exploited to achieve an internal quantum efficiency of more than 100% for hydrogen production.

There are strong bidirectional links between access to energy services and women’s empowerment, but they are often overlooked in the literature. This Review examines these connections as they are discussed in theoretical and empirical work, identifying gaps in knowledge and approaches to the relationships between gender and energy.

Lithium-ion batteries are prone to unpredictable failure during fast charging, known as lithium plating. Now, innovative testing protocols can quickly quantify lithium plating and inform battery design strategies to mitigate it.

Improving the manufacturability of perovskite solar cells is key to their deployment. Zheng et al. report a one-step deposition of the hole-selective and absorber layers that addresses wettability issues and simplifies the fabrication process.

The critical current density is generally used to evaluate dendrite-suppression capability in batteries. Here the authors propose a critical interphase overpotential descriptor for dendrite suppression and demonstrate high-performance solid-state battery design with the new descriptor.

Single-crystalline layered oxides are much sought after as they offer high-performance promises in batteries. Here the authors report a facile and scalable planetary centrifugal mixing technique—aided by eutectic lithium salts—that enables the growth of high-quality single-crystalline cathode materials.

How a nuclear power phase-out may affect air pollution, climate and health in the future is up for debate. Here the authors assess impacts of a nuclear phase-out in the United States on ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5).

Multiple exciton generation can potentially improve the efficiency of solar-driven devices, but its demonstration for solar fuel production is rare. Here the authors show that quantum efficiencies above 100% are achievable in a water splitting photocatalyst, implying the presence of multiple exciton generation effects.

Interface engineering in perovskite solar cells is key to high performance. Now, You et al. design an interlayer that both passivates defects and improves the energy level alignment between the perovskite and hole transport material.

Secondary phases or multi-step phase formation lead to poorly crystallized and defective kesterite films. Now Zhou et al. convert precursors into kesterite in a single step, using low partial pressure of selenium, and achieve solar cells with 13.8% certified efficiency.

Plugging and abandoning oil and gas wells is a growing priority. Here the authors estimate the associated costs for all oil and gas wells in US Gulf Coast offshore waters, coastal inland water and wetlands.