Nature Index |
Featured
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Nature Index |
Data are key to proving green-energy benefits
Scientists are working with poorer communities worldwide to improve access to clean and safe energy sources.
- Gemma Conroy
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Nature Index |
Three scientists at the cutting edge of new energy solutions
Technology to produce, convert and store energy is central to these researchers’ efforts.
- Chris Woolston
- & Sandy Ong
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Nature Index |
The search for perovskite durability
Solar energy’s promising new technology is cheap to make but can researchers find a form that lasts?
- James Mitchell Crow
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Spotlight |
Why Japan is building smart cities from scratch
Purpose-built sustainable communities can boost energy efficiency and support an ageing population.
- Tim Hornyak
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Correspondence |
Decarbonize pedagogy — apply sustainable development goals
- Paul G. Leahy
- & Benjamin K. Sovacool
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Article |
Programmable heating and quenching for efficient thermochemical synthesis
By using a programmable electric current to allow rapid pulsed heating and quenching, a non-equilibrium, continuous synthesis technique shows improved performance in thermochemical reactions, as well as lower energy costs.
- Qi Dong
- , Yonggang Yao
- & Liangbing Hu
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Research Highlight |
Flower power: ‘Sunflower’ system churns out useful energy
Solar-powered apparatus converts roughly two-thirds of the energy it harvests into usable outputs.
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News |
This Arctic town wants to make renewable energy work at the top of the world
Partnering with a northern settlement in Greenland, researchers are designing wind and solar devices that can survive and thrive in extreme conditions.
- Freda Kreier
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Nature Podcast |
We could still limit global warming to just 2˚C — but there's an 'if'
A roundup of some recent stories from the Nature Briefing, including using leeches to survey wildlife, a potential interstellar meteorite, and more.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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Article |
Perovskite–organic tandem solar cells with indium oxide interconnect
A thin low-loss indium oxide interconnect layer grown by atomic layer deposition enables perovskite–organic hybrid tandem solar cells with a high open-circuit voltage and a high power conversion efficiency.
- K. O. Brinkmann
- , T. Becker
- & T. Riedl
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Research Highlight |
Green energy goes greener with a way to recycle solar panels
The silicon in solar cells is difficult to reuse in new cells, but it can be converted into useful materials.
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Research Highlight |
Rare metal helps to turn sunlight into fuel, day and night
Molecule that incorporates a light-sensitive ruthenium compound can store solar energy, then release it later to form hydrogen fuel.
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Research Highlight |
Solar power’s need for a carbon-intensive metal is set to soar
The shift to clean energy is expected to drive the demand for aluminium, which is used in the frames and fittings of solar panels.
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Article |
Centimetre-scale perovskite solar cells with fill factors of more than 86 per cent
Perovskite solar cells including charge transport material fabricated using a reverse-doping process have the highest certified efficiency for cells of 1-cm2 active area and the highest fill factor reported so far.
- Jun Peng
- , Felipe Kremer
- & Kylie R. Catchpole
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Article |
All-perovskite tandem solar cells with improved grain surface passivation
A certified efficiency of 26.4% in all-perovskite tandem solar cells, exceeding that of the best-performing single-junction perovskite solar cells, is achieved by control over surface defects in the Pb–Sn subcell.
- Renxing Lin
- , Jian Xu
- & Hairen Tan
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Correspondence |
Wind power versus wildlife: root mitigation in evidence
- Tim Schmoll
- & Frank M. Schurr
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News |
COVID’s career impact and embryo secrets — the week in infographics
Nature highlights three key infographics from the week in science and research.
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News Feature |
The start-ups chasing clean, carbon-free fusion energy
An emerging industry of nuclear-fusion firms promises to have commercial reactors ready in the next decade.
- Philip Ball
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News |
Scientists cheer India’s ambitious carbon-zero climate pledge
India’s 2070 goal could help limit global warming to 1.5 °C, say researchers — but it will require the nation to juggle steep emissions cuts with lifting a significant proportion of its population out of poverty.
- Gayathri Vaidyanathan
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Article |
Drop-in fuels from sunlight and air
Carbon-neutral hydrocarbon fuels can be produced using sunlight and air via a thermochemical solar fuel production chain, thus representing a pathway towards the long-term decarbonization of the aviation sector.
- Remo Schäppi
- , David Rutz
- & Aldo Steinfeld
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Article |
The role of charge recombination to triplet excitons in organic solar cells
A substantial pathway for energy loss in organic solar cells may be suppressed by engineering hybridization between non-fullerene acceptor triplet excitons and spin-triplet charge transfer excitons.
- Alexander J. Gillett
- , Alberto Privitera
- & Richard H. Friend
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Nature Index |
Tracking 20 leading cities’ Sustainable Development Goals research
Local challenges help to explain why some goals are prioritized over others.
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Nature Index |
Pursuit of better batteries underpins China’s lead in energy research
Safe and efficient storage for renewable energy is key to meeting sustainability targets.
- Bec Crew
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Article |
Photocatalytic solar hydrogen production from water on a 100-m2 scale
Carbon-neutral hydrogen can be produced through photocatalytic water splitting, as demonstrated here with a 100-m2 array of panel reactors that reaches a maximum conversion efficiency of 0.76%.
- Hiroshi Nishiyama
- , Taro Yamada
- & Kazunari Domen
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Correspondence |
Could Europe become the first climate-neutral continent?
- Nebojsa Nakicenovic
- & Peter D. Lund
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Correspondence |
Africa: renewables infrastructure avoids stranded assets
- Zhanyun Wang
- & Miriam Diamond
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Comment |
Climate policy models need to get real about people — here’s how
To predict how society and political systems might actually respond to warming, upgrade integrated assessment models.
- Wei Peng
- , Gokul Iyer
- & John Weyant
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Correspondence |
Brazil: video inspires young women to work in solar energy
- Aline Cristiane Pan
- , Aline Kirsten Vidal de Oliveira
- & Izete Zanesco
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Comment |
National COVID debts: climate change imperils countries’ ability to repay
Analysis reveals three ways to boost green investment and achieve a resilient recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
- Arjuna Dibley
- , Thom Wetzer
- & Cameron Hepburn
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Article |
Pseudo-halide anion engineering for α-FAPbI3 perovskite solar cells
Incorporation of the pseudo-halide anion formate during the fabrication of α-FAPbI3 perovskite films eliminates deleterious iodide vacancies, yielding solar cell devices with a certified power conversion efficiency of 25.21 per cent and long-term operational stability.
- Jaeki Jeong
- , Minjin Kim
- & Jin Young Kim
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Research Highlight |
Solar panels that throw shade on canals are an environmental win–win
Placing solar arrays over canals would prevent water loss and improve panels’ energy harvest.
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Nature Index |
Germany’s start-up scene is booming
With record levels of funding, German start-ups are building the nation’s strength in innovation.
- Gemma Conroy
- , Natalie Parletta
- & Chris Woolston
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Research Highlight |
Technology for sterilizing medical instruments goes solar
A sunlight-powered device equipped with an a lightweight gel makes steam hot enough to kill dangerous microbes.
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News Explainer |
The US has left the Paris climate deal — what’s next?
Other nations are stepping up targets to reduce emissions — but the world will struggle to meet its goals.
- Quirin Schiermeier
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News |
How China could be carbon neutral by mid-century
Our special report examines the role of renewables, nuclear power and carbon capture in reaching this ambitious goal.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Article |
A mobile robotic chemist
A mobile robot autonomously operates analytical instruments in a wet chemistry laboratory, performing a photocatalyst optimization task much faster than a human would be able to.
- Benjamin Burger
- , Phillip M. Maffettone
- & Andrew I. Cooper
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News |
Cyber-spinach turns sunlight into sugar
Combination of biological membrane and artificial chemistry could power future synthetic organisms.
- Colin Barras
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Article |
On-device lead sequestration for perovskite solar cells
Using lead-absorbing materials to coat the front and back of perovskite solar cells can prevent lead leaching from damaged devices, without affecting the device performance or long-term operation stability.
- Xun Li
- , Fei Zhang
- & Tao Xu
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Editorial |
Australia: show the world what climate action looks like
The fires are a wake-up call. The country’s leaders must now act on overwhelming evidence and public opinion.
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Nature Index |
Remastering matter: materials science goes to market
The search for new industries is getting more sophisticated.
- Catherine Armitage
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Nature Index |
Energy harvesters pick up power
New technologies are channelling incidental energy into practical uses.
- Mark Zastrow
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Article |
Molecular tuning of CO2-to-ethylene conversion
Electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 over copper can be made highly selective by ‘tuning’ the copper surface with adsorbed organic molecules to stabilize intermediates for carbon-based fuels such as ethylene
- Fengwang Li
- , Arnaud Thevenon
- & Edward H. Sargent
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Editorial |
How California can use its research muscle to keep the lights on
The state’s universities can help to design and build a clean and resilient power grid.
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Article |
Carrier-resolved photo-Hall effect
A carrier-resolved photo-Hall technique is developed to extract properties of both majority and minority carriers simultaneously and determine the critical parameters of semiconductor materials under light illumination.
- Oki Gunawan
- , Seong Ryul Pae
- & Byungha Shin
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News |
Australia’s capital city switches to 100% renewable energy
Canberra will be the first major region in the Southern Hemisphere to purchase all its energy from renewable sources.
- Bianca Nogrady
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Letter |
Intrinsically stable organic solar cells under high-intensity illumination
Organic photovoltaic cells containing an intrinsically stable organic absorber layer that are likely to be stable for many decades under illumination are demonstrated.
- Quinn Burlingame
- , Xiaheng Huang
- & Stephen R. Forrest
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Letter |
Planar perovskite solar cells with long-term stability using ionic liquid additives
Addition of an ionic liquid, BMIMBF4, to metal halide perovskite solar cells improves their efficiency and long-term operation under accelerated aging conditions of high temperature and full-spectrum sunlight.
- Sai Bai
- , Peimei Da
- & Henry J. Snaith