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Solvation structure engineering in electrolytes enhances the cyclability of lithium-metal anodes, but it also results in compromised ionic conductance and subsequently poor rate capability. Now, a high-entropy electrolyte is designed to improve ionic conductivity while maintaining cyclability.
Contact design is a major challenge in the development of thermoelectric devices. New research shows that silver nanoparticles soldered at low temperature can sustain high service temperatures, improving the stability of devices operating across a wide range of temperatures and exploiting the maximum working temperature of thermoelectric materials.
In a lithium-ion battery, anode prelithiation can compensate for the irreversible lithium loss occurring during formation cycles, yet developing an industrially viable method has posed a challenge. Now, a scalable roll-to-roll transfer-printing process is enabling the facile fabrication of anodes with controlled extra lithium, improving battery capacity.
In lithium metal batteries, the organic-rich solid electrolyte interphase that forms on the lithium metal electrode in carbonate electrolytes is unable to passivate the electrode surface against lithium corrosion. Now, a lithium salt is designed with a self-cleaning ability to remove organic components from the interphase, which leads to high performance with carbonate electrolytes.
The wide deployment of fuel cells in transportation applications necessitates efficiency, lifetime, and cost improvements. Now, grooved electrodes with controlled design and composition address the limitations of conventional flat electrode structures, yielding improved fuel cell performance.
Supercapacitors have made significant strides in electrochemical performance improvements, yet integrating them into structures capable of withstanding mechanical loads has proven to be a challenge. Now, a supercapacitor based on a high-strength solid electrolyte is shown to have a high load-bearing capacity with negligible capacity loss during long-term cycling.
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 lack of long-term cyclability poses a serious challenge for lithium metal anodes. Now, a lithium anode coated with a side-chain-engineered polymer — which contains salt-philic and solvent-phobic moieties — is reported to regulate the electrode–electrolyte interphase, thereby prolonging its cycle life.
Hydrogen generated by sunlight could play a major role in a low-carbon future, but high-efficiency demonstrations have been limited mostly to very small scales. New research now evaluates a complete system that generates 0.5 kg of hydrogen per day with 20% device (5.5% system) efficiency while showing the benefits of coupled light absorption and water electrolysis.
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.
Photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide synthesis is a green approach to produce this widely-used chemical and potential energy carrier, yet performance is often poor. A porphyrin-based photocatalyst is now shown to produce hydrogen peroxide by an unusual mechanism involving both photoexcited electrons and holes with promising efficiency.
Capping a three-dimensional metal halide perovskite with a layered, two-dimensional perovskite prevents ions from diffusing out of the perovskite keeping out oxygen and water as well as contributing to solar cell stability. New research shows that a thin cross-linked polymer layer can ensure that the boundary between the 3D and 2D materials remains sharp, further improving stability.
Conventional and emerging refrigeration technologies either use refrigerants with high-global warming potential (GWP) or require application of strong fields. Now, researchers demonstrate ionocaloric refrigeration based on the electrochemical tuning of the melting behaviour of zero-GWP materials under low applied field strength.
The limited durability of perovskite photovoltaics has held back the technology. New research unveils a class of low-dimensionality perovskites based on metals such as zinc, cobalt or copper that protects the 3D perovskite solar absorber from degradation while affording high efficiency.
Oxygen redox provides an opportunity to realize the high-energy potential of battery cathodes, but the formation of molecular O2 from the oxidation of oxide ions significantly reduces the cycling stability. Now, the nature of electron-holes on oxide ions is reported, providing insights into realizing a truly reversible oxygen–redox cathode.
Lithium metal batteries potentially offer high energy densities but suffer from critical problems such as uncontrolled lithium deposition, particularly under fast charging. Now, an efficient strategy is reported to enable highly reversible deposition through the growth of faceted single-crystalline lithium on a lithiophobic substrate.
Zero–gap CO/CO2 electrolyzers typically exhibit low energy conversion efficiency at high reactant conversion due to current losses associated with the parasitic production of H2. Now, an electrolyzer using an electrocatalyst in bulk heterojunction with a hydrophobic covalent organic framework has maintained high energy efficiency at near unity reactant conversion.
Perovskite solar cells hold potential for space applications yet they need to withstand harsh space stressors. Now, researchers develop a low-cost and lightweight barrier layer of silicon oxide thermally evaporated atop the finished solar cell that affords protection against proton radiation, atomic oxygen and alpha particles.
Silicon-based anodes suffer from immense volume change and cracks during battery operations, limiting cycling stability. Now, a hierarchically-ordered conductive binder network — formed in situ upon thermal treatment of anodes containing conducting polymer precursors — can improve charge-transport and mechanical properties, and thus cyclability.
Electrochemical reduction of N2, mediated by Li, offers promise to decarbonize NH3 production, yet interfacial dynamics in such systems are poorly understood. Now, the morphology of the solid-electrolyte interphase layer formed during N2 reduction is revealed, opening opportunities to elucidate by-product formation mechanisms and improve NH3 selectivity.
