Volume 6 Issue 3, March 2021

Efforts to replace traditional energy sources with modern ones in developing countries have met with limited success. A new study sheds light on some of the contextual factors that inhibit this shift as well as opportunities for nudging poor households in the desired direction.

Widespread adoption of thermal storage systems is limited by their complex transient response, which is dependent on material properties, module geometry and thermal load. Now, an approach to evaluate energy and power density adapted from electrochemical storage reveals design trade-offs in thermal storage modules.

Low-temperature operation of lithium batteries is notoriously challenging. However, tailoring the electrolyte structure may provide a pathway toward uniform lithium deposition and reversible operation of lithium metal anodes at low temperatures.

Alkali metal electrodes paired with solid electrolyte separators show great promise in improving the energy density, safety and cost of batteries. Now, a deeper understanding of the effect of metal mechanical properties on a key failure mode creates opportunities for improved cycling performance.

High-performance solid-state electrolytes are key to enabling solid-state batteries that hold great promise for future energy storage. The authors survey the fabrication process of thin-film versus thick oxide-based solid-state electrolytes and discuss their material design and processing options.

In order to assess the impact of climate change on energy systems, models need to incorporate the increased risk of extreme weather events. Here, Bennett et al. provide a framework to integrate increasing extreme event risk in grid expansion planning models and apply the method to hurricane risks in Puerto Rico.

Chilvers et al. present a systemic approach to participation that combines mapping diverse public engagements across a national energy system with a distributed deliberative mapping process involving citizens and specialists, which shows support for more distributed and inclusive energy system futures.

Solid-state caloric cooling is a promising alternative to vapour compression, yet only a few prototypes have been shown. Greibich et al. now report an elastocaloric cooling device based on natural rubber with a cooling power of over 20 W g^–1 that exploits snap-through instability and strain-induced crystallization.

With the increasing growth in wind power installations, turbine deployment locations now include areas for which there is only limited data about wind speeds. Here, Pryor and Barthelmie present a global-scale investigation of extreme wind speeds, comparing different statistical approaches.

Reduction on cobalt reliance is an urgent requirement in the development of sustainable cathode materials for Li-ion batteries. Here the authors analyse the roles of cobalt and its interplay with other ions in high-nickel layered oxides, and deduce a material formula for promising cobalt-free cathodes.

Surface facets are known to influence the behaviour of photoelectrodes for solar fuel production; however, the role of surface composition, which can vary even for the same facet, is less well understood. Here the authors find that the surface Bi:V ratio is a key factor that affects properties of BiVO₄ photoanodes.

Phase change materials are promising for thermal energy storage yet their practical potential is challenging to assess. Here, using an analogy with batteries, Woods et al. use the thermal rate capability and Ragone plots to evaluate trade-offs in energy storage density and power density in thermal storage devices.

Charging and discharging Li-metal batteries (LMBs) at low temperatures is problematic due to the sluggish charge-transfer process. Here the authors discuss the roles of solvation structures of Li-ions in the charge-transfer kinetics and design an electrolyte to enable low-temperature operations of LMBs.

A challenge with the use of metal anodes in batteries is their inability to sustain structural stability, especially at high currents. Here the authors examine electrochemomechanical properties of metal anodes and demonstrate an effective semi-solid electrode approach at practically relevant conditions.

Lithium cobalt oxide was the first commercially successful cathode for the lithium-ion battery mass market. Its success directly led to the development of various layered-oxide compositions that dominate today’s automobile batteries.