Volume 7 Issue 6, June 2022

The Russia–Ukraine crisis has exposed vulnerabilities in US energy security. The US may import only a small amount of Russian oil but it is tied to Russian energy via its participation in highly globalized supply chains.

The European Union’s plan to phase out Russian natural gas imports by 2027 rests partly on increasing near-term imports of US liquefied natural gas. This will require a coordinated policy response that includes securing supplies from major exporters, global diplomacy, expanding import capacity, and alignment with Europe’s climate goals.

The energy transition offers oil and gas companies an opportunity to shift to new business areas such as renewable energy. New research looking at four oil majors finds limited investments in and revenues from renewable energy, despite ambitious climate strategies.

Blockchains offer a lot of opportunities for efficiency and decentralized management in energy systems. Researchers now show the electricity dispatch is a useful problem uniquely suited to serve as proof of work in a new consensus mechanism for decentralized grid management.

The instability of the rear electrodes in perovskite solar cells limits the long-term durability of the devices. Now, researchers have developed a composite electrode consisting of Cu–Ni alloy sandwiched between graphene layers to considerably improve the operational stability of perovskite solar cells.

High-performance electrolytes are urgently required in the development of reversible lithium-metal batteries that offer high energy densities. Now, a versatile liquefied gaseous electrolyte is demonstrated with inherent safety, temperature resilience, high recyclability, and promising electrochemical properties.

Controlling the crystallization of perovskite films over large areas is key to the manufacturing of solar cells, but is difficult with existing fabrication methods. Now, researchers tailor the composition of the precursor ink to fabricate uniform and phase-pure perovskite layers, enabling a 15.3%-efficient photovoltaic module with an area of 205 cm².

Using an electrolyte additive enables a nickel-rich layered cathode to be cycled at high voltages and still retain 97% of its initial capacity after 200 cycles. The decomposition of the electrolyte additive leads to the formation of a robust interphase that protects the surface of the cathode, preserving the capacity and preventing cracks.

Severe capacity decay at high voltages prevents the application of Ni-rich layered oxide cathodes. Here the authors report an electrolyte additive in a common commercial electrolyte that enables stable cycling at an ultra-high voltage of 4.8 V.

Blockchains utilize different consensus mechanisms, among which Proof of Work is one of the more energy and computationally intensive. Chen et al. propose a new mechanism that solves the electricity dispatch problem in grids to establish consensus and demonstrate the effectiveness of the solution in distributed energy system management.

Understanding barriers to adoption of electric vehicles remains critical for scaling up their rapid deployment. Herberz et al. show how the compatibility of electric vehicle range with driver usage is systematically underestimated and demonstrate that tailored compatibility information can reduce range concern.

Sodium-ion batteries have long been tipped as a promising post-Li-ion storage technology but their performance is still inferior to Li-ion batteries. Here the authors design an ampere-hour-scale battery with an initial Na-free anode configuration to achieve an energy density that rivals Li-ion batteries.

The instability of contact layers for perovskite solar cells under operating conditions limits the deployment of the technology. Now, Lin et al. develop a Cu–Ni electrode sandwiched between in situ-grown graphene protective layers, enabling solar cells with improved stability under light, humidity and high temperature.

Upscaling perovskite solar cells requires control of the crystallization of perovskite films over large areas. Here, the authors tailor the composition of the precursor ink and achieve 15.3% efficient solar cells over a 205 cm² area without the use of anti-solvent.

Photoelectrochemical devices for hydrogen production via water splitting often suffer from short lifetimes due to semiconductor photocorrosion and catalyst instability. Here the authors demonstrate a polyacrylamide hydrogel as a permeable and transparent protection layer to improve the stability of photoelectrodes.

Lithium-metal batteries offer much promise for high-energy storage but their operation under extreme temperatures is challenging. Here the authors report a temperature-resilient high-performance lithium-metal battery based on a liquefied gas electrolyte that also has promising properties in safety and recyclability.