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The efficiency of organic solar cells depends on the timescale of charge separation, with fast separation achieved through large driving forces. Liu et al. show that non-fullerene organic blends exhibit fast charge separation and efficiency of 9.5% even in the presence of only small driving forces.
Heat recovery from sources with temperatures below 100 ∘C can provide a significant amount of energy, but it is difficult to achieve with current technologies. Straub et al. devise a thermo-osmotic energy conversion process that can generate power from heat sources at temperatures as low as 40 ∘C.
Persistent and significant curtailment has cast concern over the prospects of wind power in China. A comprehensive assessment of the production of energy from wind has identified grid-integrated wind generation potential at 11.9–14% of China's projected energy demand by 2030.
Energy storage offers potential to support a changing electricity sector, but investors remain uncertain about its attractiveness. Analysis now shows that this can be overcome for battery technology by providing more than one storage service in a single facility.
The framing of funding programmes can sustain existing ways of conceptualizing particular problems, as well as create new ones. Yet, without more prominent roles for social sciences and humanities, the techno-economic conceptualization of energy consumers could hinder long-term low-carbon aspirations.
Increasing generation of clean energy from wind resources will help China meet its 2030 energy-mix target and combat climate change. Davidson et al. model the wind energy generation potential of China, estimating a grid-integrated potential of 2.6 PWh per year in 2030.
The grain boundaries in thin-film perovskite solar cells are responsible for non-radiative carrier recombination, which is deleterious for the optoelectronic performance. Son et al. show how to passivate the grain boundaries by using excess CH3NH3I in the precursor solution, achieving efficiencies of 20.4%.
Batteries are promising to support energy systems based on intermittent renewable energy, yet their investment attractiveness remains low. Using a techno-economic model, Stephan et al. find that returns can be increased and risks reduced if batteries are used for multiple stationary applications.
Nanomaterials design may offer a solution to tackle many fundamental problems in conventional batteries. Cui et al. review both the promises and challenges of using nanomaterials in lithium-based rechargeable batteries.
The recent drop in oil prices is having a profound impact on global energy markets, raising questions about how these markets might evolve over the long term. This study uses scenarios to assess the energy and emissions impacts of diverging oil price futures and which uncertainties they depend upon.
Coupling high ionic and low electronic conductivity in the electrolyte of low-temperature solid-oxide fuel cells remains a challenge. Now, the electronic conductivity of a perovskite electrolyte, which has high proton conductivity, is shown to be heavily suppressed when exposed to hydrogen, leading to high fuel cell performance.
With the accelerating pace of energy technology development and diffusion around the world, more must be done to ensure that our electricity systems are able to adapt to current and future changes.
Combatting climate change is often considered to bring about security of energy supply by reducing reliance on imports. By modelling the impact of pursuing energy security policies, a study now finds that the inverse situation is less advantageous for the global climate.
Climate policies are frequently argued to achieve energy independence as an additional benefit. Jewell et al. use five energy-economy models to show that the opposite is not true: constraining energy imports is much cheaper than climate change mitigation but would not significantly reduce emissions.
The development of supercapacitors requires fundamental understanding of the ion adsorption and charge storage mechanism. Salanne et al. review both chemical and physical aspects of the mechanism in carbon- and oxide-based supercapacitors.