Perspectives in 2021

Pacific Island Countries and Territories are seeking to improve their energy systems, which face challenges such as climate change. This Perspective discusses research priorities to support Pacific Island Countries and Territories in building energy resilience while drawing on their own unique strengths and existing community responses.

High-socioeconomic-status individuals have a disproportionate effect on greenhouse gas emissions as consumers and through four other key roles they play in society. This Perspective examines the effect and suggests how future research could seek to reduce the resulting energy and climate impact.

Silicon-containing batteries are increasingly becoming a reality in the mass market, but their calendar aging behaviours have received comparatively little attention. Researchers from the Silicon Consortium Project discuss the issues surrounding the calendar lifetime of silicon anodes for lithium-ion batteries.

Theoretical modelling is essential to deepen our understanding of heterogeneous electrocatalytic energy conversion processes, such as water splitting. Here, Sharon Hammes-Schiffer and Giulia Galli offer their perspectives on the best strategies for successfully studying such systems.

Oxygen redox in Li-rich oxide cathodes is of both fundamental and practical interest in Li-ion battery development. Bruce and team examine the current understanding of oxygen-redox processes, especially those concerning O₂ formation, and discuss strategies that can harness oxygen redox with suppressed side effects.

Performance assessments of redox flow batteries (RFBs) can be challenging due to inconsistency in testing methods and conditions. Here the authors summarize major performance metrics of RFBs, analyse their degradation mechanisms and propose testing protocols for benchmarking.