Volume 7 Issue 8, August 2022

One of the key targets for further development of sodium-ion batteries is to improve their cycle life. Now, an electrolyte formulation is proposed to tackle the dissolution of both the solid-electrolyte interphases and the transition metals in cathodes, leading to enhanced cyclability.

The UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) on energy access and Goal 5 (SDG 5) on gender equality are inextricably linked. A new study utilizing field-based data from India unpacks how levels of women’s empowerment in households influences their awareness, usage, satisfaction, and preference for energy services.

In the intensive search for novel battery architectures, the spotlight is firmly on solid-state lithium batteries. Now, a strategy based on solid-state sodium–sulfur batteries emerges, making it potentially possible to eliminate scarce materials such as lithium and transition metals.

Flexible all-perovskite tandem photovoltaics open up new opportunities for application compared to rigid devices, yet their performance lags behind. Now, researchers show that molecule-bridged interfaces mitigate charge recombination and crack formation, improving the efficiency and mechanical reliability of flexible devices.

Managing climate risk exposures of assets and loan portfolios is increasingly important for actors within financial markets. This Review examines how such risks affect investor behaviour and hence the wider energy sector, and highlights areas for future research into the interactions between them.

Improved energy access can bring socio-economic benefits, yet these may not be evenly distributed within the household. Zhang et al. conduct a large-scale survey in India and find gender-based disparities in energy services within households.

The efficiency of flexible perovskite solar cells lags behind their rigid counterparts. Now, Li et al. devise a self-assembled monolayer bridged hole-selective contact with reduced defects and improved bending durability, achieving a 24.4% certified efficiency.

The dissolution of the solid–electrolyte interphase formed during repeated cycling severely deteriorates the performance of sodium-ion batteries. Here the authors develop an electrolyte that effectively suppresses the dissolution and consequently enables a long-cycle and high-voltage sodium-ion battery.

Efforts to model the contribution of energy demand reductions towards climate targets typically focus at the global scale. Here, Barrett et al. develop an approach for understanding the country-level demand reduction potential and explore options for lowering final energy demand in the United Kingdom.

Climate change adaptation policies could influence public decarbonization behaviours positively or negatively, impacting further mitigation and adaptation efforts. This study examines public responses to planned power outages in California and finds that the outages shaped some energy behavioural intentions but did not alter climate or energy policy preferences.

Controlling the crystallization of perovskites is not trivial. Here Wang et al. develop a close-space annealing to improve the structural and optoelectronic quality of perovskite films with different chemical compositions, leading to over 25% efficiency in all-perovskite tandem solar cells.

The performance of kesterite solar cells is limited by charge carrier losses, and the underlying mechanisms are unclear. By means of an integrated experimental and modelling framework, Li et al. identify the dominant loss mechanism in charge recombination at grain boundaries.

The near-surface structure of oxide electrocatalysts during the oxygen evolution reaction is key to performance but remains elusive. Here the authors use operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy to track the size-dependent catalytic activity of CoO_x(OH)_y nanoparticles down to 1 nm and their structural changes under reaction conditions.