Themed collection Recent Open Access Articles

Large-scale sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production and use is essential to achieving net-zero aviation by 2050.

The market share of low-cost battery chemistries, which offer little to no recycling profitability with current methods, is growing. Design for circularity could be the key to reducing costs and enhancing sustainability for these batteries.

Cointercalation reactions, of particular interest for emerging battery cell chemistries, are more effectively controlled when matching electrolyte formulation with nanoconfinement properties within the interlayer space of host materials.

While perovskite-based photovoltaics is progressing toward commercialization, it remains an open question which fabrication technology – solution-based, vapor-based, or combinations – will pave the way to faster economic breakthrough.

Carbon accounting without life cycle analysis (LCA) is possible by requiring one ton of sequestration for each extracted ton of carbon. A carbon takeback obligation eliminates the need to track carbon through the supply chain.

Biohybrid systems of synthetic materials and microorganisms can be obtained using a range of assembly strategies based on their interactions. This influences charge transfer between the components and their efficiency for solar fuels generation.

A roadmap that delineates the major hurdles and essential RD&D actions to enable large-scale DACCS deployment.

We examine drivers and benefits of adopting circular economy practices for perovskite solar cells (PSCs), a promising low-cost PV technology, identifying key challenges and reviewing research progress towards achieving a circular economy for PSCs.

Highly concentrated (water-in-salt) electrolytes possess peculiar ionic interactions, solvation structure, ion transport, capability to form an SEI, etc. This perspective discusses the role of the salt anion on such properties.

Formulating and establishing design principles to improve low-temperature performance of battery electrolytes.

Demonstration of a new three-terminal semiconductor photoabsorber architecture for photoelectrochemical fuel production that enables protection of the semiconductor in the dark.

Our electrochemical production uses carbon-free rocks, water electrolysis, and CO₂ capture/circulation for carbon-neutral/negative cement and green H₂, turning cement from the second-largest industrial CO₂ emitter to a gigaton-scale CCUS enabler.

We present an optimization framework to analyze emerging power systems technologies that coproduce power and alternative fuels. Emerging solid oxide-based systems have the potential to enable a reliable, efficient transition to cleaner energy.

Unavoidable relaxed heat from excited TiO₂-based photocatalytic systems inverts the long-chain fatty acids conformation, which increases the strain of C–COOH to alter the reaction path, leading to a high biofuel output concentration under sunlight.

A schematic representation of a four-stage data-driven material screening methodology, progressing from uncovering unexplored chemical spaces through high-throughput calculations to validating findings in protonic ceramic cells.

Substrate heating during co-evaporation of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells aids phase separation and improves performance. While recombination remains unaffected, hole transport improves due to more crystalline donor domains.

A Janus architecture mitigates Li-ion polarization in high-energy-density Li–S cells, achieving uniform charge/discharge reactions and stable performance under ultra-high sulfur loading and practical operating conditions.

A global softening strategy using stearic acid in MgAgSb to reduce sound velocity has been shown to enhance its thermoelectric performance, achieving high zT values and demonstrating strong potential for low-grade heat harvesting.

Underutilized wastewaters containing dilute levels of reactive nitrogen (Nr) can help rebalance the nitrogen cycle.

While a rapid defossilisation of the energy system is the highest priority, additional post-fossil CDR for net-negative emissions will be necessary. Routes for mineralisation (in situ-, ex situ mineralisation, enhanced rock weathering) are examined.

Mesoscale engineering of small organic molecules towards a 3D nanowire network offers a potent toolkit for improved energy storage performance.

The Anderson localization effect has been exploited in the design of high-temperature dielectric polymers, resulting in reduced conduction loss and outstanding capacitive energy storage performance over a wide temperature range up to 250 °C.

This work achieves a high-voltage and high-charge energy cycle for TENGs, as well as lossless energy transmission between TENGs and PMCs.

This work presents a rapid in situ synthesis of FeNiCoCrRu high entropy alloy with porous structures via CO₂ laser induction under ambient conditions. FeNiCoCrRu exhibits excellent seawater electrolysis and a superior long duration of >3000 hours.

Fast charging of high-capacity anodes is challenging due to lithium plating reactions, which lead to poor cycling performance and safety concerns.

The anti-dissolving Fe₂N₆ structure enables ZABs to operate over 200 days (record-breaking 14 500 cycles).

Slow thermalization of photogenerated charge carriers in organic solar cells leads to an electronic temperature that is much larger than that of the lattice and to significantly enhanced open-circuit voltages.

A high-performance, wearable tribovoltaic DC power supply textile was prepared using a traditional weaving process. The WDPs have high flexibility, excellent environmental robustness, lower internal resistance, and washability.

This study showed PEHCl-CN can enhance the strength of Sn–I, resulting in good light stability. The subsequent doping of MBI resulted in good air stability. This enables the integrated 2T all-perovskite device to achieve an efficiency of 27.9%.

Three-dimensional/two-dimensional (3D/2D) heterojunctions in perovskite solar cells exhibit excellent optoelectronic properties and enhanced stability under mild ageing conditions.

We induced ultra-uniform perovskite crystals employing tetrabutylammonium bistriflimide additives in perovskite precursor solution, effectively increasing device efficiency and durability.

An optimized electrolyte configuration is proposed for high performance Li–S batteries operating in extremely harsh temperature environments.

Bulk redox activity in LiNiO₂ proceeds without significant involvement of molecular oxygen, whose formation is instead associated with surface degradation.

A powerful detailed-balance model predicts optimal gains with many optically thin photo absorbers instead of one thick absorber. Selectivity and efficiency are controlled by redox species mass-transfer rates regardless of kinetic asymmetry.

The demand for self-powered devices, particularly in biomedical and wearable technology, emphasizes efficient powering from ultralow-frequency vibrations.

Lithium substitution suppresses Fe migration in Fe-containing Na layered oxide cathodes by occupying migration sites without structural damage, significantly increasing the activation energy for Fe migration and enhancing the material's stability.

Additive engineering in low-concentration ether electrolytes enhances the electrode–electrolyte interfacial stability, enabling the stable cycling of high-energy, cost-effective lithium metal batteries.

A nonflammable eutectic electrolyte, with wide electrochemical (3.0 V vs. Zn/Zn²⁺) and thermal (−70 to 160 °C) windows, eliminates hydrogen evolution, induces robust solid–electrolyte interphase and broadens temperature/voltage range of Zn batteries.

Highly deformable crosslinked polymer particles enhance perovskite solar cell passivation and stability by binding and distributing throughout the film.

The lithium–oxygen field has focused on singlet oxygen’s role in cell degradation. This study shows no significant reaction between singlet oxygen and the electrolyte or carbon cathode, confirming it is not the major degradation source.

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction using CuZn nanocubes boosted ethanol selectivity when pulsed in the oxidation regime of zinc, while time-resolved operando techniques uncovered the key roles of dynamic zinc oxide formation and hydroxide coverage.

SAM enabled and simplified fully printed carbon-based flexible perovskite modules.

Herein, we investigate the effect of mobile ions on steady-state perovskite solar cell performance and show that they can lead to significant increases in open circuit voltage and improve device tolerance to interfacial energetic misalignments.

Fully printed carbon-based flexible perovskite module with an efficiency of 11.6%.

Different from mode I with large nuclei and fast redox kinetics, mode II featured by the reduced nuclei and moderate redox kinetics is conducive to refine the grains and achieve homogeneous Zn plating/stripping toward highly reversible Zn anodes.

High-entropy sphalerite-structured compounds, derived from cubic GeP, demonstrate remarkable metallic conductivity and superior lithium-storage capabilities when compared to the parent phases of monoclinic layered GeP or SiP.

A tailored Wadsley–Roth crystallographic shear structure containing inspiring domains with tetrahedron, tetrahedron-free and large-size blocks in the lattice of novel titanium niobium tungsten oxide for high-power lithium-ion batteries.

We systematically investigated the effects of the top substituents on the physicochemical properties of SMAs and achieved the highest PCE for OSCs processed using a non-halogenated solvent without any extra treatment.

This study shows how flow field designs can be used to modulate CO concentrations and hydrocarbon production rates in a zero gap copper based carbon dioxide electrolyzer.

This paper introduces a novel wiping-type semiconductor–liquid generator for efficient microenergy harvesting, and leverage underwater Kelvin probe microscopy to deepen our understanding of energy generation at solid–liquid interfaces.

Calcium-ion batteries (CIBs) have potential as electrochemical energy storage devices due to the low redox potential of Ca²⁺/Ca and the abundant reserves of Ca.

A quantitative study, supported by Marcus theory and DFT, showing why the fate of singlet excitons is the pivot to free charge generation in low-energy offset organic solar cells.

Single-crystal Cu(111) foil promotes the lateral growth of lithium rhombic dodecahedra, preventing dendritic lithium growth during plating. This is achieved through surface migration and the interaction of lithium adatoms with individual grains.

This study analyses different decarbonization strategies for shipping including uptake of e-fuels, blue fuels and biofuels, battery electric propulsion and onboard carbon capture technology from a life cycle perspective.

Fe cations produced during the reduction of O₂ on Fe–N–C materials transform into Fe-oxides due to a local increase in pH.

A new family of Isothermal, redox-activated CO₂ sorbents were successfully developed using a high-throughput combinatorial approach to facilitate the generation of green hydrogen from biogenic carbonaceous feedstocks.

Aligning dipoles in ferroelectric BaTiO₃ (BTO) nanoparticles enhances Li–S cathode performance by improving polysulfide adsorption.

We introduce a silica-hydroxide cycle analogous to Earth's carbonate-silicate cycle. The silica-hydroxide cycle reduces the local pH by redistributing hydroxide ions, enhances the CO₂ mass transfer, breaking current density limits in CO₂RR.

An electrochemical indentation (ECI) theory was proposed to explain the LCO cycling decay. A CNT-cocooned LCO cathode was developed to maximize the electrical contact area for LCO, which greatly eliminated ECI and stabilized the high-voltage cycling.

The trifluoroacetate pseudohalide anion, with dual functionalities, is introduced at the buried interface to promote orderly growth. This results in a power conversion efficiency of 25.60% and long-term stability under light exposure.

Analysis of the CO production cost from CO₂via gliding arc plasma reactors with embedded carbon beds versus low-temperature electrolysers.

Battery life-cycle reconceptualization under a design-by-purpose approach to power IoT devices and then be recycled with paper and cardboard waste stream, addressing future technological needs of society from an environmentally conscious perspective.

Using a fully automated device acceleration platform (DAP) to systematically optimize air-processed parameters and establish a standard operation procedure (SOP) for preparing high-performance perovskite solar cells under ambient air.

This work highlights the effectiveness of P-DOL in suppressing side reactions at the Li/LAGP interface, regulating electron transfer and ion migration, and contributing to uniform lithium deposition, thus, enhancing the performance of SSLMBs.

Cation lattice flexibility and covalent bond lengths serve as good physical descriptors of proton conduction in solid acids and enable the discovery of promising proton conductors beyond traditional chemistries.

Advanced transmission electron microscopy analysis uncovers the fundamental mechanisms behind nanometer-scale interfacial degradation phenomena in high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis cells.

We developed a novel moisture-induced power generator by utilizing Berlin green as an active material to enhance its moisture-electric energy transformation performance.

All-polymer solar cells with low voltage loss for efficient outdoor and indoor photovoltaics.

Activated carbon composites containing alumina have high porosity (up to ∼2800 m² g⁻¹ and 1.5 cm³ g⁻¹) and packing density (∼1 g cm⁻³), which translates to extraordinary methane volumetric uptake of up to 474 cm³ (STP) cm⁻³ at 25 °C and 100 bar.

Integrated assessment models (IAMs) need to be improved by considering materials availability and higher technological resolution to reflect real-world complexities and provide more realistic advice to policymakers.