Reviews & Analysis

Capturing CO₂ directly from the air could lead to negative emissions, but more efficient technologies are still required. Now, researchers use a multi-stage cycle based on amino acids and organic salts to capture CO₂ from air, which can be released with concentrated solar power.

Various approaches have been adopted to enhance the performance of alkaline water electrolysers, such as improving catalyst efficiency or increasing operating temperatures. Now, magnetic hyperthermia is demonstrated as another potential route to enhance overall water splitting catalytic activity.

Positive and negative impacts of energy transitions will not be evenly distributed. In this Perspective, the authors present a framework to map geographic variation in vulnerability from energy policies that can be built on in future work to support just policy-making.

Photovoltaic electricity is increasingly competitive with conventional electricity generation, and cost analyses are now being developed for early-stage technologies. A recent techno-economic analysis looks at thin-film tandem photovoltaics to inform research directions.

Membrane technologies for carbon capture can offer economic and environmental advantages over conventional amine-based absorption, but can suffer from limited gas flux and selectivity to CO₂. Now, a membrane based on enzymes embedded in hydrophilic pores is shown to exhibit combined flux and selectivity that challenges the state of the art.

In recent years, Middle Eastern and North African oil-exporting states have begun reforming their energy subsidies. This Perspective argues that a number of trends — both local and global — have offered political cover for the changes, and that the reforms challenge existing governance theory.

Quantitative scenarios from energy–economic models inform decision-making about uncertain futures. Now, research shows the different ways these scenarios are subsequently used by users not involved in their initial development. In the absence of clear guidance from modellers, users may place too much or too little confidence in scenario assumptions and results.

Battery charging and discharging regimes mostly attempt to maximize potential profit by following price signals. Combining a technical understanding of batteries with financial theory, researchers now present a framework that allows optimization of economic benefits considering both potential revenues and battery degradation.

Thermoelectric devices convert heat flows into electricity. Researchers recently demonstrated that thermoelectric materials can be produced in good quality by 3D printing, enabling a low-cost production process in the near future.

Battery safety is a key focus in the design of electrified vehicles. Here, the authors survey literature approaches for modelling and testing battery safety under abuse conditions, and propose a multi-physics modelling and testing framework for real applications.

Recent years have seen significant growth of electric vehicles and extensive development of energy storage technologies. This Review evaluates the potential of a series of promising batteries and hydrogen fuel cells in their deployment in automotive electrification.

The battery manufacturing process significantly affects battery performance. This Review provides an introductory overview of production technologies for automotive batteries and discusses the importance of understanding relationships between the production process and battery performance.

Electrification is seen as the future of automotive industry, and deployment of electric vehicles largely depends on the development of rechargeable batteries. Here, the authors survey the state-of-the-art advances in active materials, electrolytes and cell chemistries for automotive batteries.

The discovery of anionic redox chemistry in Li-rich cathode materials provides much hope for enhancing battery performance. Tarascon and Assat analyse the underlying science behind anionic redox and discuss its practical limitations as well as the routes to overcome the application barriers.

Analysts and markets have struggled to predict a number of phenomena, such as the rise of natural gas, in US energy markets over the past decade or so. Research shows the challenge may grow because the industry — and consequently the market — is becoming increasingly volatile.

Coal-generated electricity forms a significant contribution to global carbon emissions. This Perspective explores the factors behind Great Britain's recent rapid switch from coal power to natural gas, which brought a large decrease in emissions, and discusses savings potential for other coal-using nations.

New and emerging energy consumption patterns driven by the rise of prosumers may lead to under-recovery of network costs under current network charges, so new tariffs are being sought. A study using detailed household consumption data now illustrates the potentially disproportionate impact of different tariffs on household budgets.

In current solar cells, any photon energy exceeding the semiconductor bandgap is lost before being collected, limiting the cell performance. Hot carrier solar cells could avoid these losses. Now, a detailed experimental study and analysis shows that this strategy could lead to an improvement of the photoconversion efficiency in practice.

Energy planning models enable assessments of how energy systems may evolve in the future under different scenarios. Historically, they originate from developed nations. This Review analyses 34 models and explores the gaps that need to be addressed for their application in developing contexts.

Realization of rechargeable batteries with alkali metal anodes is challenged by their high reactivity and dendritic growth. Now, an alloy-based, artificial solid electrolyte interphase is shown to allow smooth metal deposition, enhance interfacial charge transfer, protect against parasitic reactions and offer extra energy storage.