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Energy security concerns must be considered not only in terms of energy availability at an affordable price, but also from a political and social sciences perspective.
Defects at the perovskite/charge extraction layer interface reduce the performance of solar cells. Yang et al. show that charged oxide interlayers passivate defects by altering charge carrier concentration and their acidity minimizes detrimental reactions.
As the deployment of variable renewable energy sources may lead to greater cross-border electricity exchange, energy scholars have generally presumed the emergence of cooperative multi-state grid communities. This Perspective uses International Relations theory to explore this assumption.
Zeljko Jovanovic, Director of Open Society Foundations Roma Initiatives Office, talks with Nature Energy about Roma community energy security challenges, and where there is room for improved communication between policymakers and the scientific community on this issue.
Lithium-ion battery manufacturing is energy-intensive, raising concerns about energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions amid surging global demand. New research reveals that battery manufacturing will be more energy-efficient in future because technological advances and economies of scale will counteract the projected rise in future energy demand.
Offshore wind energy could have an important role in decarbonizing regional power systems in the USA. By modelling a range of scenarios, power system uncertainties related to policy, technology costs, transmission, and siting are assessed to understand how they influence the deployment of offshore wind.
Offshore wind will play a key role in decarbonized power systems, but pathway modelling sometimes overlooks critical aspects of its deployment. Beiter et al. use a detailed capacity expansion model to explore different scenarios with high spatial resolution to understand the regional role for offshore wind in the USA.
The solid–electrolyte interphase between the negative electrode and the electrolyte is vital to the performance of rechargeable batteries, yet it is challenging to quantify its physical properties. Now a way of directly measuring the electrical properties of the interphase has been devised, revealing voltage-dependent conducting behaviour.
Earth-abundant, inexpensive cathode materials are highly desirable for the sustainable development of batteries. Here the researchers report that a manganese-rich, cation-disordered rock salt material exhibits—via an in situ phase transition to a partially disordered spinel phase during cycling—potentially high energy density and rate capability.
Aqueous polysulfide-based flow batteries are candidates for large-scale energy storage but the sluggish reaction kinetics of the polysulfide electrolyte limit the operating current density and energy efficiency. A molecular catalyst, riboflavin sodium phosphate, is applied to catalyse polysulfide reduction, enabling the demonstration of long-life polysulfide-based flow batteries with high energy efficiencies.
Polysulfide flow batteries are promising for low-cost energy storage but suffer from sluggish kinetics. Lei et al. reported an effective molecular catalyst, riboflavin sodium phosphate, to accelerate polysulfide reduction via homogeneous catalysis.
The shift away from mining presents substantial livelihood security challenges for mining communities, but documented mining closures offer insights into how to ensure a successful transition. Secure community transitions require support from governments in the form of proactive planning, locally led collaborative responses and targeted investments.
The fabrication of perovskite solar cells in ambient air is of interest, but the materials are unstable in the presence of moisture. Yan et al. show that guanabenz acetate salt eliminates vacancy defects that trigger perovskite degradation, enabling 25% efficiency devices to be fabricated in air.
Solid-state electrolytes lie at the heart of the development of solid-state batteries that offer a promising storage technology. Yong-Sheng Hu and colleagues report a class of viscoelastic inorganic glass featuring merits of both inorganic crystalline electrolytes and organic polymer electrolytes and demonstrate pressure-less Li- and Na-based solid-state batteries.
The solid–electrolyte interphase is widely viewed as key to governing the performance of rechargeable batteries, but its electrical properties remain elusive. Here the authors develop an experimental approach to directly measure the properties and show that the solid–electrolyte interphase has a voltage-dependent conducting behaviour.
Ammonium cations can improve the power conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells yet might pose an issue to the device stability. Wang et al. show that cations with a high acid dissociation afford improved operational stability at high temperatures owing to their resistance to deprotonation.
Battery manufacturing requires enormous amounts of energy and has important environmental implications. New research by Florian Degen and colleagues evaluates the energy consumption of current and future production of lithium-ion and post-lithium-ion batteries.
