Articles

It is challenging to decipher electrochemical processes, especially at the molecular scale, inside a working battery. Here Tarascon and colleagues develop a technique that pairs optical fibre sensors with operando infrared spectroscopy to reveal the dynamic mechanisms of key processes in commercial Li-ion and Na-ion batteries.

High-speed deposition of organic solar cells is crucial to manufacturing, yet it remains a challenge. Now, Sun et al. show that layer-by-layer deposition holds potential for speeding up the fabrication of solar cells while retaining high efficiency.

It is a challenging task to understand the reversibility of lithium-metal anodes in batteries. Here the authors identify the lithium electrode potential as a critical factor that affects the anode reversibility and subsequently propose an electrolyte design to improve the cycling performance.

Projects are under way for direct-current ultra-high-voltage transmission lines that would allow trading of renewable electricity across world regions. Guo et al. use integrated assessment models to explore different scenarios for the operation of these projects and assess their potential for decarbonization.

Increased use of cooling technologies, such as air conditioning, during hot weather can lead to higher bills for low-income households. Using Southern California Edison data, this study quantifies the relationship between daily temperature, electricity use and utility disconnections for low-income households in California.

Electrochemical approaches to carbon capture have the advantages of operation under ambient conditions and modular design, but improved sorbent molecules are still needed. Here the authors present a library of redox-tunable Lewis bases, shedding light on molecular design guidelines to tune sorbent properties.

The efficiency of kesterite solar cells has been stuck at 12.6% since 2013 due to challenges in controlling defects. Now Gong et al. present a low-temperature annealing of the kesterite/CdS junction to form an epitaxial interface with a low defect density, enabling 13%-efficiency devices.

The performance of CO₂ electrolysers is often limited by poor transfer of reactants and products. Here the authors design a CO₂ electrolyser in which forced convection of the catholyte throughout a porous electrode addresses this issue and allows high current densities to be reached.

Dehydrogenation of alkanes produces hydrogen and useful carbon molecules but typically requires harsh conditions to operate effectively. Here the authors show that Pt/TiO₂ photocatalysts where Pt atoms are isolated from, yet still close to, one another are promising for visible-light-driven alkane dehydrogenation.

An accurate evaluation of lithium-metal battery performance is challenging due to the excessive lithium that is often used at the anode. Here the authors report a methodology to assess the degradation mechanism and cycle life of practical lithium-metal batteries.

Clean hydrogen could play a pivotal role in decarbonization but the paths for different sectors remain to be understood. Yang et al. present detailed scenarios to 2060 to explore options for using clean hydrogen in China’s economy for the sectors of industry and transport that are hard to abate.

The electrification of transport could present problems for power grids if charging is not managed well. Powell et al. model deep electrification scenarios for the western United States to understand how different types of charging control and scenarios of charging infrastructure produce different impacts.

Public funding and institutions for energy innovation are critical to achieving climate goals, but our understanding of their evolution, variation and drivers is limited. Meckling et al. compile funding and institutional data across major economies and examine how they changed after the financial crisis, Mission Innovation and expanded competition with China.

Communication is an important tool in combating climate change and building support for new energy policy. Here Gustafson et al. measure the longitudinal effect of three message frames around the benefits of renewable energy on Democrat and Republican beliefs and support for such technology in the United States.

Green hydrogen is a crucial part of plans to achieve climate targets, yet how quickly supply will scale is unclear. Using a technology diffusion model, Odenweller et al. suggest that even if electrolysis capacity grows as quickly as wind and solar power, green hydrogen supply will suffer from short-term scarcity and long-term uncertainty.

Cobalt-free cathodes are highly desirable for the sustainable development of rechargeable batteries. Here the authors report a high-performance cathode by introducing a small amount of Mo into a layered Li(Ni_0.9Mn_0.1)O₂ material that enables a long-term, high-voltage Li-ion battery.

The slow research cycle of material design, characterization and testing has hampered the development of new cathode materials for solid oxide fuel cells. Here the authors develop a machine-learning approach, which makes use of ionic Lewis acid strength as a descriptor, for discovery of improved perovskite oxide cathodes.

Scaling up all-perovskite tandem solar modules is challenging due to the degradation of the low-bandgap subcell during processing in ambient conditions. Here Dai et al. devise an additive- and hot gas-assisted blade-coating process that enables modules with 21.6% efficiency over an aperture area of 14.3 cm².

Different policies to decarbonize transport are often enacted at once, such that it can be hard to know whether any particular mix is effective. Koch et al. search for structural breaks in CO₂ emissions for European nations as a way of detecting impacts of known and a priori unknown policies.

Manufacturing of perovskite solar cells would benefit from the avoidance of hazardous solvents and multistep processing. Now, Yun et al. report an ethanol-based perovskite precursor solution that does not need an antisolvent step, enabling devices with 25% efficiency.