Themed collection SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy

This perspective highlights the material properties, cell design decisions, and manufacturing costs with the biggest influence on the energy, power, cost, lifetime, and safety of a battery.

With increased awareness of artificial intelligence-based algorithms coupled with the non-stop creation of material databases, artificial intelligence (AI) can facilitate fast development of high-performance electrochemical energy storage systems (EESSs).

The CdZnTe is an efficient absorber to both single junction and tandem devices. This review presents an overview on associated development routes, characterization tools, developed devices and further recommendations for improving the performance.

Lewis and co-workers review the use of high entropy materials in electrochemical energy storage devices.

Photothermal catalysis is a promising method for converting C1 feedstocks into valuable chemicals. This comprehensive review highlights the mechanism, design strategies for catalysts, and recent progress in photothermal catalytic C1 conversion.

Reviewing thermal conductivity of solar salts with different nanoparticle additives; exploring experimental and theoretical methods.

Machine learning analysis revealed the importance of structural features involving A-site metals in AxByOz multimetal oxides for their OER activity.

Post synthetically-modified UiO-66-NH₂ with a molecular cobaloxime [Co(DMG)₂Cl₂] (DMG = dimethylglyoxime) catalyst displays excellent photo-(404 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹) and electrocatalytic H₂ evolution activity in an aqueous solution.

This work describes a rechargeable rGO–V₂O₅–SiO₂@Zn-ion pouch-type battery with high specific capacity and cycling stability for large-scale energy storage applications.

The electrochemical performance of cobalt–iron layered double hydroxide nanosheets (CoFe-LDH) for the oxygen evolution reaction is significantly enhanced when they are grown on nitrogen-doped graphite felt (NGF) in alkaline environments.

Powering E. coli with sunlight: the optimization of a synthetic photocatalytic system allows E. coli to function as a robust and efficient platform for semi-artificial photosynthesis.

Permeability distribution imposes substantial control over CO₂ flow path, in situ temperature changes, and fluid pressure propagation in offshore geologic storage of CO₂.

Assessment of the current and future cost of reliable green hydrogen production, accounting for the inter- and intra-annual variability of solar and wind renewables, using 20 years of hourly resolution from 1140 grid points worldwide.

A workflow for the stochastic microstructure modeling of solid oxide cell electrodes is presented. Based on a few real microstructures, the design space can be virtually explored, allowing for a subsequent optimization of microstructure properties.

Electrowetting leads to flooding of silver-based, carbon-free gas diffusion electrodes for CO₂ electrolysis.

Two-dimensional layered transition metal dichalcogenides are potential thermoelectric candidates with application in on-chip integrated nanoscale cooling and power generation.

The reaction of CoCl₂ on carbon black with phosphorus yields crystalline CoP₃ particles on a carbon.  Low CoP₃ (5–25 mol%) content is distributed on the carbon support and shows electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity similar to bulk CoP₃.

The illustration shows that the SnO₂/10%-h-BN composite coated on the separator interlayer decreases the migration of soluble polysulfides compared to the SnO₂/5%-h-BN and SnO₂/25%-h-BN composite coated on the separator.

Elaborated and uniform experimental protocols are a prerequisite for OER catalyst evaluation via RDE. Still, individual sample preparation and variations in microenvironment can lead to a significant spread of results between different laboratories.

Direct electricity is generated from amino compounds with different side chain groups via electrooxidation on a NiCo catalyst.

We report a facile method for the preparation of nanocomposites of molybdenum sulfo-selenide (MoS_xSe_1−x) with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) via a solvothermal approach.

N-doped carbon nanosheets derived from triazine-containing polyimide-based covalent organic framework (TP-COF) exhibit outstanding electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution.

This work proposes an Li₂O-doping strategy for improving the lithium storage ability of a high-entropy oxide, and its lithiation process is investigated in detail, which may promote the further development of high-entropy oxide anodes.

Assembled ASC and corresponding red LED lightning via connection of two ASCs in series.

The sustainable and harmless Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄ kesterite materials for thin-film photovoltaics are still lacking efficiency, which may be solved by bandgap grading, herein obtained by two-step annealing in H₂Se gas of metallic precursors.

A unique process for transesterification at low temperatures using a novel functionalised polyacrylonitrile polymer mesh acting as a strong heterogeneous base in the production of biodiesel. A promising solution for energy minimisation and the sustainable use of waste fats and oils.

Carbon-supported Ni–Mo composites catalyze alkaline hydrogen evolution and oxidation with negligible onset overpotential. Electrolyzers using Ni–Mo cathodes perform comparably to Pt–Ru cathodes, but oxidative instability limits fuel cell operation.

A P–N heterostructure composed of CuGaO₂ and GaN shows outstanding photocatalytic water splitting.

The open-circuit voltage and efficiency of PM6:DTY6 solar cells processed from o-xylene is increased by adding alkylated Y-series acceptors as the third component.

The definitions of the effective and photoconductance mobilities were combined in a system of equations to successfully calculate the individual mobilities of the faster and slower carriers in several fullerene and NFA based organic solar cells.

An efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst has been reported from rGO anchored NiCo-LDH nanosheets.

Lithium-ion batteries have become popular for electric vehicles due to their exceptional ability to deliver a high specific power and energy density.

Energy from fossil fuels is forecasted to contribute to 28% of the energy demand by 2050.

The engineering of a pentlandite (Fe₃Co₃Ni₃S₈, FCNS) doped with silicon (FCNSSi) for water splitting is demonstrated. At 500 mA cm⁻², a two-electrode zero-gap cell assembly demonstrates the FCNSSi catalyst's promise for practical applications.

EIS is performed on high loading commercial Si electrodes half cells are found to be strongly dependent on the Li counter electrode. Li is found to dominate the EIS spectrum of Si half cells at potentials below 0.07 V and above 0.48 V vs. Li/Li⁺.

We report a unique approach to fabricate lithium ion battery anodes based on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) grown directly on copper foils via chemical vapor deposition.

Electrochemical conversion of CO₂ to C₁ and C₂₊ chemical synthons using a 2D Ti₃C₂T_x catalyst in benign aqueous electrolytes.

We report a chlorine-substituted polythiophene-based, dioxobenzodithiophene-containing conjugated polymer (P2T-Cl) as a promising dopant-free hole transport material in lead halide perovskite solar cells.

A standardized microstructure characterization tool for solid oxide cell (SOC) electrodes is presented, allowing for the automatic determination of a large number of microstructure characteristics relevant for the cell performance.