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| Open AccessEconomy-wide evaluation of CO2 and air quality impacts of electrification in the United States
Electrification is a decarbonization strategy that has the potential to reduce pollutant emissions and improve air quality. Here the authors evaluate CO2 and air quality co-benefits of electrification scenarios in the United States and find that electrification can substantially lower CO2 and improve ozone and fine particulate matter regionally.
- John E. T. Bistline
- , Geoffrey Blanford
- & Greg Yarwood
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Article
| Open AccessThree-dimensional open architecture enabling salt-rejection solar evaporators with boosted water production efficiency
Conventional salt-rejection evaporators typically exhibit low evaporation rate due to large heat loss. Here, authors demonstrate a solar evaporator featuring vertically aligned mass transfer bridges that takes advantage of the conductive heat to enable optimized water transport and salt backflow.
- Kaijie Yang
- , Tingting Pan
- & Yu Han
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Article
| Open AccessControl of perovskite film crystallization and growth direction to target homogeneous monolithic structures
Organo-metal halide perovskites are promising semiconductor materials for active layers applied to opto-electronics, e.g. photovoltaic cells. Here authors show how the initial solution composition affects the formation of perovskite thin films, and propose a typology to distinguish the growth direction of perovskite crystals.
- Daming Zheng
- , Florian Raffin
- & Thierry Pauporté
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Article
| Open AccessSubcutaneous power supply by NIR-II light
The authors present a subcutaneous power supply which coverts NIR-II light to electricity via combination of photothermal conversion and thermoelectric conversion. They demonstrate that it can recharge an implanted wireless camera upon irradiation with NIR-II light through the skin.
- Shanzhi Lyu
- , Yonglin He
- & Yapei Wang
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Article
| Open AccessSmall molecule-assisted synthesis of carbon supported platinum intermetallic fuel cell catalysts
Synthesis of small sized Pt intermetallic catalysts remains challenging. Herewith authors prepared 18 binary Pt intermetallic compounds with small particle size by molecule-assisted synthesis strategy to in-situ form the heteroatom-doped carbon shell.
- Tian-Wei Song
- , Cong Xu
- & Hai-Wei Liang
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Article
| Open AccessDevelopment of long lifespan high-energy aqueous organic||iodine rechargeable batteries
Aqueous I2-based batteries are a promising system for cost-effective and environmentally-friendly electricity storage. Here, the authors propose a high-capacity and long-lasting aqueous I2 battery system using an electrochemically active organic molecule at the negative electrode.
- Zishuai Zhang
- , Yilong Zhu
- & Yan Huang
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Article
| Open AccessSurface chemical heterogeneous distribution in over-lithiated Li1+xCoO2 electrodes
Over-lithiation often causes structural transformation in electrodes and may lead to safety issues in Li-ion batteries. Here, authors investigate the over-discharged mechanism of LiCoO2/graphite pouch cells, and spatially resolve the morphological, surface phase, and local electronic structure of LiCoO2 electrode.
- Gang Sun
- , Fu-Da Yu
- & Zhenbo Wang
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Article
| Open AccessObservation of a new type of self-generated current in magnetized plasmas
Fusion devices like tokamaks require plasma current to generate magnetic field for plasma confinement. Here the authors report an observation of a self-generated anomalous current that contributes up to 30% of the total current in the fusion plasma at KSTAR.
- Yong-Su Na
- , Jaemin Seo
- & Taik Soo Hahm
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Article
| Open AccessDense dislocations enable high-performance PbSe thermoelectric at low-medium temperatures
Thermoelectric material is capable of realizing direct conversion between heat and electricity. Here, the authors obtain high thermoelectric performance in PbSe at low-medium temperatures by importing dense dislocations.
- Liqing Xu
- , Yu Xiao
- & Li-Dong Zhao
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Article
| Open AccessRevealing the role of ionic liquids in promoting fuel cell catalysts reactivity and durability
Fundamental understanding of the role of ionic liquids in complex catalyst layers in practically relevant membrane electrode assembly environment is important yet lacking. Here the authors find that ionic liquids can improve transport and increase reactivity of catalyst, thus improving durability and power density of polymer electrolyte fuel cells.
- Arezoo Avid
- , Jesus López Ochoa
- & Iryna V. Zenyuk
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Article
| Open AccessAqueous hybrid electrochemical capacitors with ultra-high energy density approaching for thousand-volts alternating current line filtering
Filtering capacitors are essential to smooth high voltage alternating current lines but are typically limited to hundreds of volts. Here, the authors demonstrate an aqueous hybrid electrochemical capacitor that can exhibit an operating voltage of 1,000 V when assembled into a device of 670 units.
- Zhou Li
- , Xiaopeng Wang
- & Liangti Qu
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Article
| Open AccessOn the nanoscale structural evolution of solid discharge products in lithium-sulfur batteries using operando scattering
Understanding lithium sulfide’s electrodeposition and stripping is key to developing practical Li-S batteries. Here, the authors demonstrate that the discharge product in Li-S batteries consists of nano-size solid polysulfide particles and nano-crystalline lithium sulfide.
- Christian Prehal
- , Jean-Marc von Mentlen
- & Vanessa Wood
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Article
| Open AccessLow-bias photoelectrochemical water splitting via mediating trap states and small polaron hopping
While photoelectrochemical water splitting produces fuel from solar energy, a large fraction of photoanode photoexcited charge carriers cannot be extracted efficiently at low bias voltages. Here, authors improve the charge transport in P-doped BiVO4 by mediating polaron hopping and trap states.
- Hao Wu
- , Lei Zhang
- & Yun Hau Ng
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Article
| Open AccessDesigning fuel cell catalyst support for superior catalytic activity and low mass-transport resistance
Development of high-performance polymer electrolyte fuel cells has historically focused on designing new catalysts and ionomers. Here, the authors present a bottom-up approach for designing catalyst support that achieves superior oxygen reduction activity and low local oxygen transport resistance in a membrane electrode assembly.
- Muhammad Naoshad Islam
- , Abdul Bashith Mansoor Basha
- & Kunal Karan
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Article
| Open AccessAccelerated pyro-catalytic hydrogen production enabled by plasmonic local heating of Au on pyroelectric BaTiO3 nanoparticles
While pyrocatalysis offers a means to store energy in chemical bonds from temperature changes, most materials show low conversion efficiencies. Here, authors examine Au nanoparticles on BaTiO3 and demonstrate localized plasmonic heat sources to enhance pyrocatalytic H2 evolution.
- Huilin You
- , Siqi Li
- & Haitao Huang
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Article
| Open AccessHigh-resolution neutron imaging of salt precipitation and water transport in zero-gap CO2 electrolysis
The electrochemical reduction of CO2 is pivotal for the chemical industry to reach climate neutrality. Here, the authors utilize high-resolution neutron imaging to unravel electrode flooding and salt precipitation, both major hurdles to steady operation of CO2 electrolyzers.
- Joey Disch
- , Luca Bohn
- & Severin Vierrath
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Article
| Open AccessRevealing solid electrolyte interphase formation through interface-sensitive Operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy
Solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation on Li-ion battery anodes is critical for long-term performance. Here, the authors use operando soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy in total electron yield mode to resolve the chemical evolution of the SEI during electrochemical formation on silicon anodes.
- Jack E. N. Swallow
- , Michael W. Fraser
- & Robert S. Weatherup
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Article
| Open AccessSolvent-free protic liquid enabling batteries operation at an ultra-wide temperature range
It is challenging to prepare electrolyte that could achieve wide electrochemical window, broad working temperature, non-inflammability, and fast ion transport simultaneously. Here the authors report a rocking-chair proton battery utilizing a solvent-free protic liquid electrolyte, which could operate in a broad temperature range from 0 to 250 celsius degree.
- Mochou Liao
- , Xiao Ji
- & Yongyao Xia
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Article
| Open AccessStandardized measurement of dielectric materials’ intrinsic triboelectric charge density through the suppression of air breakdown
Determining the triboelectric charge and energy density of dielectric materials is generally limited by many factors, failing to reflect their intrinsic behaviour. Here, a standardized strategy is proposed employing contact-separation TENG and supressing air-breakdown to assess max triboelectric charge and energy densities leading to an updated triboelectric series.
- Di Liu
- , Linglin Zhou
- & Zhong Lin Wang
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| Open AccessThree-dimensional hierarchically porous MoS2 foam as high-rate and stable lithium-ion battery anode
The stacked and brittle 2D layered structure of molybdenum disulphide limits its practical application in lithium ion batteries. Here, authors report a dewetting-induced manufacture strategy to create the interpenetrating network and induce the pseudocapacity to improve the electrochemical performance.
- Xuan Wei
- , Chia-Ching Lin
- & Vincent Tung
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| Open AccessImportance of structural hinderance in performance–stability equilibrium of organic photovoltaics
The intrinsic trade-off between efficiency and stability is a challenging issue for organic photovoltaics. Here, the authors develop non-fullerene acceptors with tailored side-group hindrance and backbone planarity and realise efficiency of 18.3% and good stability for xylene-processed solar cells
- Baobing Fan
- , Wei Gao
- & Alex K.-Y. Jen
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Article
| Open AccessAtomically dispersed chromium coordinated with hydroxyl clusters enabling efficient hydrogen oxidation on ruthenium
Overcoming the sluggish kinetics of hydrogen oxidation reaction in alkaline media is of critical importance for anion exchange membrane fuel cells. Here the authors report atomically dispersed chromium coordinated with hydroxyl clusters on ruthenium nanoparticles for accelerated hydrogen oxidation reaction.
- Bingxing Zhang
- , Baohua Zhang
- & Hongge Pan
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Article
| Open AccessBias-free solar hydrogen production at 19.8 mA cm−2 using perovskite photocathode and lignocellulosic biomass
While light-driven water splitting offers a means to produce renewable H2 fuel, water oxidation limits performances and yields low-value products. Here, authors demonstrate a photoelectrochemical cell that converts lignocellulosic biomass into valuable products alongside H2.
- Yuri Choi
- , Rashmi Mehrotra
- & Jungki Ryu
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Article
| Open AccessVersatile self-assembled electrospun micropyramid arrays for high-performance on-skin devices with minimal sensory interference
Designing efficient on-skin devices with minimal sensory interference remains challenging. Here, Zhang et al. develop versatile electrospun micropyramid array-based on-skin devices, achieving both imperceptibility and high performances in pressure sensing, radiative cooling, and bioenergy harvesting.
- Jia-Han Zhang
- , Zhengtong Li
- & Lijia Pan
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Article
| Open AccessThe effect of enantioselective chiral covalent organic frameworks and cysteine sacrificial donors on photocatalytic hydrogen evolution
Chiral covalent organic frameworks are demonstrated to enable the docking of sacrificial electron donors via enantioselective combination, thereby improving oxidative half-reaction kinetics and boosting visible photocatalytic H2 production.
- Weijun Weng
- & Jia Guo
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Article
| Open AccessHydrogen-substituted graphdiyne encapsulated cuprous oxide photocathode for efficient and stable photoelectrochemical water reduction
Cu2O-based photocathodes for photoelectrochemical water reduction suffer severe self-photo-corrosion issue. Here the authors report an in-situ encapsulation strategy with hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne to protect Cu2O for water reduction with a photocurrent density of −12.88 mA cm-2.
- Xue Zhou
- , Baihe Fu
- & Zhonghai Zhang
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Matters Arising
| Open AccessReply to: Critical evaluation of (110) texture in lithium electrodeposits on isotropic Cu polycrystals
- Qing Zhao
- , Jingxu Zheng
- & Lynden A. Archer
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Article
| Open AccessDecarbonization will lead to more equitable air quality in California
Air quality is found to be more equitable through two salient decarbonization pathways for California in 2050 with the relative justice of decarbonization scenarios quantified at the neighborhood level and the tradeoffs between pathways evaluated.
- Shupeng Zhu
- , Michael Mac Kinnon
- & Scott Samuelsen
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Article
| Open AccessA hygroscopic nano-membrane coating achieves efficient vapor-fed photocatalytic water splitting
Although light-driven water vapor splitting may avoid material stability challenges for renewable fuel production, material performances lag behind solution-based studies. Here, authors incorporate metal hydroxides layers into particulate photocatalysts to enhance water vapor splitting activities.
- Takuya Suguro
- , Fuminao Kishimoto
- & Kazuhiro Takanabe
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Article
| Open AccessAutonomous optimization of non-aqueous Li-ion battery electrolytes via robotic experimentation and machine learning coupling
Human-operated optimization of non-aqueous Li-ion battery liquid electrolytes is a time-consuming process. Here, the authors propose an automated workflow that couples robotic experiments with machine learning to optimize liquid electrolyte formulations without human intervention.
- Adarsh Dave
- , Jared Mitchell
- & Venkatasubramanian Viswanathan
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Article
| Open AccessBattery-free wireless imaging of underwater environments
The authors present an approach to underwater imaging, which does not require tethering or batteries. The low-power camera uses power from harvested acoustic energy and communicates colour images wirelessly via acoustic backscatter.
- Sayed Saad Afzal
- , Waleed Akbar
- & Fadel Adib
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Article
| Open AccessA miniaturized bionic ocean-battery mimicking the structure of marine microbial ecosystems
Marine ecosystems are dominated by microbial communities. Inspired by the photoelectric conversion feature of the marine ecosystems, the authors design a four-species microbial community to mimic primary producer, primary degrader, and ultimate consumers, and show its ability to convert light into electricity for over one month.
- Huawei Zhu
- , Liru Xu
- & Yin Li
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Article
| Open AccessBond engineering of molecular ferroelectrics renders soft and high-performance piezoelectric energy harvesting materials
Improving piezoelectric strain and voltage constant generally compromises piezoelectric performance and mechanical softness. Here, the authors report a bond weakening strategy for organic-inorganic hybrid piezoelectrics and mitigated these issues.
- Yuzhong Hu
- , Kaushik Parida
- & Hong Jin Fan
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Article
| Open AccessTunable quantum gaps to decouple carrier and phonon transport leading to high-performance thermoelectrics
Defects are believed to always scatter carriers. Here, the authors find that the quantum gaps in GeTe-based materials do not scatter carriers, which decouple the carriers and phonons transport leading to high thermoelectric performance.
- Yong Yu
- , Xiao Xu
- & Jiaqing He
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Article
| Open AccessStrain-regulated Gibbs free energy enables reversible redox chemistry of chalcogenides for sodium ion batteries
Manipulating the redox chemistry of transition metal dichalcogenides still faces challenges. Here the authors report that tensile-strained MoSe2 can pass on the strain to its sodiated product Mo, and thus regulate the Gibbs free energy in the charging process to enable the reversible sodium storage.
- Minxia Jiang
- , Yingjie Hu
- & Minhua Cao
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Article
| Open AccessThe role of renewables for rapid transitioning of the power sector across states in India
A new study assesses the feasibility of a fully renewable based power system by 2050 across India, finding this option to be cost competitive with the status quo and with zero GHG emissions.
- Ashish Gulagi
- , Manish Ram
- & Christian Breyer
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Article
| Open AccessSustainable production of hydrogen with high purity from methanol and water at low temperatures
Carbon neutrality initiative has stimulated the development of the sustainable methodologies for hydrogen generation and safe storage. Here the authors demonstrate that the dual-active sites of Pt single-atoms and frustrated Lewis pairs on porous nanorods of CeO2 enable the efficient additive-free H2 generation with a low CO generation through reforming of methanol and water.
- Sai Zhang
- , Yuxuan Liu
- & Yongquan Qu
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Article
| Open AccessOH spectator at IrMo intermetallic narrowing activity gap between alkaline and acidic hydrogen evolution reaction
While alkaline water electrolysis offers a green means for hydrogen production, H2-evolving catalysts typically show worse activities in alkaline media than in acid. Here, authors examine IrMo intermetallics as electrocatalysts and identify a stably-adsorbed OH spectator in promoting performances.
- Jiaxi Zhang
- , Longhai Zhang
- & Zhiming Cui
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Article
| Open AccessPhotoinduced loading of electron-rich Cu single atoms by moderate coordination for hydrogen evolution
While atomically dispersed metals can maximize reaction catalytic sites, it is challenging to achieve high atomic densities without agglomeration. Here, authors prepared Cu single-atoms on black phosphorous using a photochemical strategy and auxiliary H2 as proton reduction electrocatalysts.
- Weiwei Fu
- , Jin Wan
- & Yu Wang
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Article
| Open AccessEnhanced oxygen evolution over dual corner-shared cobalt tetrahedra
Efficient oxygen evolution relies on the development of promising catalysts. Herein, the authors demonstrate that cobalt tetrahedra, stabilized over the surface of YBCo4O7 material, can catalyze oxygen evolution reaction efficiently.
- Yubo Chen
- , Joon Kyo Seo
- & Zhichuan J. Xu
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Article
| Open AccessMain-chain engineering of polymer photocatalysts with hydrophilic non-conjugated segments for visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution
The introduction of hydrophilic segments into the main-chain of polymer photocatalysts allows water to efficiently enter the interior through these hydrophilic segments, and results in effective water/polymer interfaces for hydrogen evolution.
- Chih-Li Chang
- , Wei-Cheng Lin
- & Ho-Hsiu Chou
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Article
| Open AccessTackling realistic Li+ flux for high-energy lithium metal batteries
The low conductivity of LiF disturbs Li+ diffusion across solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) and induces Li+ transfer-driven dendritic growth. Herein, the authors establish a mechanistic model to decipher how the SEI affects realistic Li plating in high-fluorine electrolytes.
- Shuoqing Zhang
- , Ruhong Li
- & Xiulin Fan
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Article
| Open AccessEnergy comparison of sequential and integrated CO2 capture and electrochemical conversion
Coupling CO2 capture and electrolysis offers new opportunities to reduce energy cost. Here, the authors identify that the integrated electrolyser must show similar performance to the gas-fed electrolyser to ensure an energy benefit of up to 44% versus sequential capture and conversion processes.
- Mengran Li
- , Erdem Irtem
- & Thomas Burdyny
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Article
| Open AccessUnderstanding Braess’ Paradox in power grids
Increasing the capacity of existing lines or adding new lines in power grids may, counterintuitively, reduce the system performance and promote blackouts. The authors propose an approach for prediction of edges that lower system performance and defining potential constrains for grid extensions.
- Benjamin Schäfer
- , Thiemo Pesch
- & Marc Timme
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Article
| Open AccessSelf-repairing interphase reconstructed in each cycle for highly reversible aqueous zinc batteries
Metallic zinc is an ideal anode material for aqueous rechargeable batteries but reversibility is a challenge. Here, the authors realise a dynamic real-time reconstructed interphase on zinc anode formed by graphitic carbon nitride quantum dot as an electrolyte additive to improve the performance of Zn metal anodes.
- Wenyao Zhang
- , Muyao Dong
- & Zhi Li
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Article
| Open AccessLiquid-liquid triboelectric nanogenerator based on the immiscible interface of an aqueous two-phase system
While liquid-liquid interface offers better contact and charge transfer potential than solid-based counterparts, fluidity still poses challenges for their application. Here, authors show that charge transfer exists in aqueous two-phase systems and propose a nanogenerator design based on the immiscible aqueous-aqueous interface.
- Ye Lu
- , Longlong Jiang
- & Xiaoxiong Wang
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Article
| Open AccessHigh performance polymerized small molecule acceptor by synergistic optimization on π-bridge linker and side chain
The modification of small molecule acceptor building block and π−bridge linker is effective to improve photovoltaic performance. Here, the authors replace linear with branched alkyl chains and introduce difluorene-substituted linker to realise all-polymer solar cells with efficiency of 17.24%.
- Guangpei Sun
- , Xin Jiang
- & Yongfang Li
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Comment
| Open AccessThe role of concentration in electrolyte solutions for non-aqueous lithium-based batteries
The quest for high-energy electrochemical energy storage systems has driven researchers to look toward highly concentrated electrolytes. Here, the author discusses the recent progress and future perspectives of such electrolytes and their ability to improve the performances of lithium-based batteries.
- Guinevere A. Giffin
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| Open AccessHydrogen production from the air
While obtaining H2 from water splitting offers a promising strategy for renewable fuel production, current technologies rely on liquid freshwater. Here, authors use a hygroscopic electrolyte to achieve electrocatalytic water vapor splitting driven by renewable resources without liquid water.
- Jining Guo
- , Yuecheng Zhang
- & Gang Kevin Li