Themed collection Most popular 2024 energy & environmental chemistry articles

Employing water as a hydrogen source is an attractive and sustainable option in electricity-driven organic hydrogenation, which can overcome the drawbacks associated with traditional hydrogen sources like H₂.

Delving into the tools empowering polymer chemists to design polymers for roles as solid electrolytes, multifunctional binders and active electrode materials in cutting-edge solid-state batteries and wearable devices.

Life-cycle assessment can better capture the impacts of plastics recycling by expanding beyond greenhouse gases to include fossil carbon balances, net diversion of waste from landfill, and avoided release of plastic pollution to the environment.

While chemistry has a role as the central science, other sciences are also central to solving the problems that lie ahead. To be more effective in this endeavor, we need to connect disciplines and break down the silos that artificially separate them.

We summarize the challenges to design and synthesize self-assembled molecules, discussing their synthetic routes and structural features in relationship to the efficiency of perovskite-based solar cells where they are applied as selective contacts.

The development of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) is a must for the decarbonization of the aviation industry.

This review covers the recent advances of ionic thermoelectric (i-TE) materials which offer a compelling alternative to traditional thermoelectrics due to their excellent ionic thermopower, low thermal conductivity, and abundant material options.

High-entropy alloys hold significant promise as electrode materials, even from industrial aspect. This potential arises from their ability to optimize electronic structures and reaction sites, stemming from their complex and adjustable composition.

Recent progress of preparation approaches for HCs is systematically overviewed, with a special focus on the comparison between traditional fabrication methods and advanced strategies regarding their influence on performance.

This review provides an update on various strategies and perspectives for the development of aqueous zinc–iodine batteries, with a particular emphasis on the regulation of I₂ cathodes and Zn anodes, electrolyte formulation and separator modification.

Facilitating rapid charge transfer in electrode materials necessitates the optimization of their ionic transport properties.

The hyperconjugation-controlled molecular conformation can tune the solvation properties of electrolytes, providing a new design principle for battery electrolyte engineering.

Spiropyran/merocyanine molecular switches can generate metastable proton gradients of four pH units, enabling efficient photoenergy harvesting and conversion.

Solvation structures significantly affect electrolyte kinetics, with notable enhancements from CIPs to SSIPs to AGGs. Electrolytes such as DOL Ele., with abundant AGGs, facilitate ion transport and desolvation through a hopping-assisted mechanism.

This work proposes a film-forming Lewis acid additive to promote the in situ polymerization of 1,3-dioxane and the formation of a fluorine/boron rich interface, which enhance the cycling stability of lithium metal batteries.

Glycerol, a primary by-product of biodiesel production, can be oxidized into various value-added chemicals, significantly enhancing the techno-economic value of photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells.

Hydroxyl radical and hydrogen peroxide are implicated in the poor stability of Fe–N–C catalysts. We use SECM to detect these transient species in real time to evaluate their possible sources and relationship to stability.

Atomically dispersed dinuclear Ir active sites are synthesized, which show outstanding electrocatalytic performance for the chlorine evolution reaction thanks to the favorable Cl adsorption on the dinuclear sites.

Directional in situ reconfiguration of Ag incorporating HKUST-1 frameworks was introduced to restructure multi-phase Ag/Cu/Cu₂O electrocatalysts for the selective electro-reduction of CO₂ to C₂H₄.

A novel approach involving surface engineering, termed as the “dual-polar confinement” strategy, combined with interface engineering to enhance the electrochemical performance of TMS.

Oligomeric thin films of anthracene, pyrene, and naphthalene are electrochemically prepared on graphite rods for understanding enhanced supercapacitor explained through proton-coupled electron-transfer and electrical double-layer mechanism.

Energy levels of interfacial recombination centres and photocorrosion potential for Zn_0.25Cd_0.75Se particulate photoanodes in nonaqueous electrolytes containing various Ru complexes are elucidated. Redox reaction of Ru complexes can serve as a probe.

Solar hydrogen production has been established by interfacing cyanamide modified graphitic carbon nitride (^NCNCN_X) with [FeFe]-hydrogenase via electrostatic interaction. QCM, PEIS, IMVS, and TPC reveal the importance of specific interaction.

Density functional theory simulations and potential-step experiments reveal the atomic charge interactions that govern the ion-transfer kinetics at the electrified solution/Ag interface, providing new insights for energy technology applications.

Nafion introduced into an aqueous electrolyte activates a thermodynamically ultrastable Zn/electrolyte interface, which guides the directional Zn²⁺ electrodeposition along the (002) crystal surface for a dendrite-free Zn metal anode.

Lewis-basic oxygen and sulfur heteroatoms are introduced to novel asymmetric self-assembled monolayers, realizing enhanced packing, effectively adjusting ITO work function, and passivating buried interface in inverted perovskite solar cells.

The catalytic active sites on metallic Cu are investigated for facilitating nitrate reduction reaction using electrochemical examinations, operando SHINERS, and DFT simulation.

Uniform particle size of high-nickel cathode materials boosts lithium-ion mobility in a cylindrical lithium ion battery cell.

An unusual energy storage pathway in an organic supercapacitor via a non-electrochemical proton charge assembly.

Hydrogen-spillover based Pt/MoO₃-CN_x composite was prepared for HER/HOR with very high mass activity and durability in base medium.