Themed collection Recent Open Access Articles

We are considering fundamental questions of how redox reactions take place and charge is conducted in redox solids. Redox properties of electrode materials can be explained by considering the Nernst equations for homogeneous or segregated materials.

This perspective explores the crucial yet underexplored topic of solvent effects in semiconductor photocatalysis, emphasizing both the challenges and the opportunities.

Despite tinted transmission, semi-transparent solar cells using the band selective method exhibit higher performance at similar transparency levels, with PCE (28% vs. 22%) and LUE (23% vs. 19%), thus higher power output in empirical city irradiance.

We propose a multi-scale analytics and modeling framework to fill the gap in integrating circular solar economy principles with ecosystem and climate commitments, enabling a holistic sustainability analysis of perovskite PVs.

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.

To introduce the potential for tuneability of the cathode in lithium mediated ammonia synthesis, we report a carbon cathode which produces ammonia at a Faradaic efficiency of 37%.

This work employs online gas chromatography and hydrogen oxidation current measurements for accurate quantification of the hydrogen crossover rates in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers operating at high differential pressure.

Dislocations were introduced into BaTiO₃ single crystals and become catalytically active centers.

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.

Geothermal energy has been utilized for centuries. This study presents a framework to assess how geothermal resources can power direct air capture (DAC) systems, optimizing for overall CO₂ abatement.

Amorphous anion skeletons of zeolite-like Na₂Zn₂(TeO₃)₃ induce rapid and cation-selective ion flux towards stable aqueous zinc–iodine batteries.

Electrochemical reduction of CO₂ is envisioned to play a role in closing the artificial carbon cycle. Continuously ensuring optimal amount of cations and water at the catalyst surface allows high performance durable operation.

Variable operation causes severe degradation of Ni, Fe, and Co catalysts in liquid alkaline water electrolysis. This work reveals insights into catalyst transformations induced by reverse currents and offers guidelines to improve stability testing.

High-entropy engineering is applied to NASICON-type cathodes to overcome long-standing trade-offs between structural stability and electrochemical performance, enabling high capacity, exceptional rate capability, and long-term cycling durability.

A flexible gel electrolyte with self-damping, ionic conductivity and gas barrier properties is integrated into a seawater electrolysis system to achieve more than 400 hours of direct seawater electrolysis.

An organic–inorganic photoelectrochemical (PEC) tandem device for converting polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics and carbon dioxide (CO₂) to formate under simulated solar irradiation.

Alkoxylated dimeric giant acceptor DYO-V boosts organic solar cell efficiency and stability, achieving 20.2% PCE outdoors and 28.1% indoors, offering a versatile strategy for durable, high-performance photovoltaics.

Data-driven interpretation of battery degradation visually summarizes the relationship between 16 state-of-health metrics and aging, facilitating users in simplifying large datasets and identifying key degradation regimes for further experimentation.

Hierarchical carbon supports, internally coated with PDA and catalyst, enhance reactant mass transport, achieve molecular dispersion of the catalyst, and tune the electronic environment of the Co center.

Efficient and stable CO₂-to-CO electrolyzers are key process components for the generation of green CO gas and its downstream conversion and valorization to carbonaceous e-chemicals and e-fuels.

We present an electrode fabrication technique by concurrent electrospinning of CNTF conductive backbones and electrospraying carbon-coated Na₃V₂(PO₄)₃ onto identical substrates, providing energy and power densities comparable to those of lithium-ion batteries.

High thermopower solid-state n-type thermodiffusion-assisted thermogalvanic cells were developed by designing a polymer complex—combining a polyelectrolyte with a galvanic couple—to enable constructive thermodiffusion and thermogalvanic effects.

Reducing the electronegativity and crystal field splitting energy can adjust the Zr–O covalency and electronic structure. This, in turn, weakens the adsorption ability of pyrochlore high-entropy oxides towards Li₂S₄ and enhances sulfur redox catalysis.

Low-contact-loss and durable buried interface was engineering by a molecular hybridization strategy. The proton transfer from Me-4PACz to Histamine enables distinguished efficiency and operational stability of PSCs based on mix-halide perovskites.

Thiazole-linked covalent organic framework hosted trimethylsulfonium iodide is designed to start high-conversion-efficiency 6e⁻ I⁻/I⁵⁺ conversion, giving Zn–I₂ batteries a record high capacity (1296 mA h g⁻¹) and energy density (1464 W h kg⁻¹).

Simultaneous reduction of concentration and activation overpotentials at hierarchically porous Ni/CeO_x interfaces in anion-exchange membrane water electrolysers.

With ppb-level sensitivity, the HUGS toolkit diagnoses diverse sulfur and lithium species in Li–S batteries, enabling mechanistic insights into performance degradation.

This study highlights global innovation imbalances in future electric vehicle battery technologies, with regional policies and differing innovation capabilities driving disparities in leadership and competitiveness.

A rapid electrothermal method heals spent cathodes. With heteroatom doping, the rejuvenated cathodes show improved performance at 4.6 V. This low-cost, eco-friendly method supports sustainable high-performance lithium-ion battery supply.

Guided by phase-field simulations, a pre-coated 2D perovskite layer enables the growth of void-free perovskite layers over one-micron-thick, achieving high-efficiency, fully printed solar cells.

Nature-sourced volatile solid additives, camphor (CP) and camphorquinone (CQ), enable high-performance perovskite solar cells. CQ shows stepwise volatilization, achieving PCE of 25.0% and >90% stability after 1000 h, highlighting green processing.

This study assesses the techno-economic and environmental viability of plasma-assisted methane reforming for syngas production, finding oxy-CO₂ reforming the most effective and bi-reforming promising for clean, cost-efficient syngas production.

A novel liquified-salts-assisted upcycling strategy achieves compositional and morphological upgrading of spent cathodes, offering a scalable pathway for high-performance cathode regeneration with reduced process energy and material waste.

This work highlights the potential of nitrate reduction as a viable and sustainable alternative for green ammonia production, bridging the gap between fundamental research and industrial application.

The functional biomass additive TBA-Alg simultaneously improves the PCE, stability and lead immobility of lead halide perovskite solar cells.

Conventional catalytic CO₂ reduction into value-added products often encounters challenges such as high energy barriers and complex operational setups.

A thermal annealing treatment applied to the silicon bottom cell as well as a morphology regulation strategy of buried interface are employed to improve charge carrier management in perovskite/POLO-Si tandem solar cells, achieving a PCE of 31%.

Ferroelectric properties can be utilized for efficient charge carrier separation by spontaneous electric polarization.

Integrating metal–organic frameworks and gaseous deposition for high-density atomically dispersed Fe–Ni dual metal sites for highly efficient CO₂ to CO conversion.

The multi-tentacle electrolyte (MTE) is prepared using a multi-tentacle salt, a multi-tentacle organic compound and water at competitively low salt-to-solvent and organic-to-water ratios, which achieves competitively high ionic conductivity at low temperatures.

The degradation and corrosion of zinc metal anodes in aqueous electrolytes is severe, even when at rest. We uncover that the self-dissolution of zinc, and the ensuing change in local pH, is a necessary prerequisite for corrosion product formation.

The physics and scaling of thermally driven 3D solar interfacial-evaporators are analyzed. 3D evaporators in an open system can exceed the solar-thermal limit nominally by absorbing environmental heat but cannot do so in a closed solar still.

Multi-H-bonded self-assembled organic superstructures enable state-of-the-art all-organic ammonium-ion batteries with a record capacity (213 mA h g⁻¹) and unprecedented stability (100 000 cycles).

A high-efficiency and sustainable approach produces green hydrogen with natural sunlight and seawater as the sole inputs.

The dual-anion ionic liquid electrolyte (D-LCILE) significantly improves lithium-ion mobility and SEI stability, leading to >99.93% capacity retention over 200 cycles in lithium metal full cells.

Schematic depiction of spiro-OMeTAD degradation causing perovskite instability under pseudo-operating conditions and its prevention using an ultra-thin ALD layer of alumina.

Guided by the pH-field microkinetic model, we developed an porous Fe₁Co₁–N–C ORR catalyst, which exhibited excellent performance in zinc–air batteries and provided insights for advanced catalysts.

Integrating dye-sensitized solar cells with polyviologen-based supercapacitors enables efficient ambient light harvesting and storage, achieving 30% power conversion efficiency under indoor lighting conditions to power edge computing IoT networks.

A machine-learning-designed cerium-iron MOF layer enhances Zn anode stability, achieving over 4300 hours at 1 mA cm⁻² and 99.8% coulombic efficiency over 1400 cycles at 2 mA cm⁻², providing a cost-effective protective strategy.

In this work, we demonstrate that a high concentration of hole carriers and tin vacancies facilitates the migration of iodide, enhancing ionic conductivity and mobile ion density in Sn-based halide perovskites.

TMA⁺ cations enhance Zn plating behavior and capture polyiodides to form a dynamic cathode interlayer, which suppresses the polyiodide dissolution and involves them back into redox reaction.

A dual-cation-based ionic liquid electrolyte with NaPF₆ additive, was designed for nickel-rich cathodes in Li-metal battery. The formed uniform and robust electrode/electrolyte interphases enables the exceptional 1500-cycle life of Li||NCM83 cells.

A high-performance self-supporting electrode was developed that converts photovoltaic waste silicon into amorphous silicon nanowires.

Intrinsic point defects are found to be inactive for electron–hole recombination, while extrinsic impurities do not contribute significantly to doping, pointing to extended defects and interfaces as limiting factors in selenium solar cells.

A fluorine-free polymer binder with high electrical conductivity and strong catalyst immobilization onto a current collector leads to stable electrochemical reactions.

Using an operando optical scattering technique, we identify markedly asymmetric Li-ion flux in aged single crystalline NMC cathodes, primarily caused by an uneven growth of rocksalt phase across the particle surface.

A lithium-deficient layer and RuO₂-confined catalysis array on LRMOs suppress oxygen release, reduce lattice strain, and enhance oxygen reduction kinetics for improved electrochemical performance.

Superhydrophobic fluorine chains was incorporated into covalent organic frameworks to engineer nanochannels that facilitate fast dehydration of ions and create low resistance ion migration pathways.

A sulfide solid electrolyte, Na₃SbS₄, undergoes a simultaneous self-redox process during the operation of solid-state Na–S batteries. The in situ construction of interfaces aids in overcoming the intrinsic issues on both the cathode and anode sides.

A novel functional material named “multifunctional composite magnet” has been created, which simultaneously exhibits record-high transverse thermoelectric generation performance and permanent magnet features.

Ultrathin cellulose-based electrolytes (DCG, 10 μm) with a gradient hydropenic interface were designed to minimize side reactions and guide (002) textured deposition. DCG enhanced flexible Zn batteries to 222 W h kg⁻¹ and 214.3 W h L⁻¹.