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Micrometre-size silicon particles are desirable battery anode materials but are even more prone to structure degradation than nanoscale particles. Here, graphene cages grown conformally around the micro-silicon particles are shown to improve their cycling stability.
The processing of high-performance organic solar cells usually requires environmentally hazardous solvents. Now, hydrocarbon-based processing is shown to achieve relatively high performance in a more environmentally friendly way.
The use of doped-silicon contacts in silicon solar cells adds cost and complexity to the fabrication process. These issues can now be circumvented by using dopant-free carrier-selective interfaces on silicon, realized by alkali metal fluorides and metal oxides.
The thermal degradation of perovskite solar cells is an obstacle to their commercialization. Now, the mechanisms for thermally induced structural and chemical changes are identified by in situ measurements in a transmission electron microscope.
It is challenging to integrate a natural photosystem with a redox enzyme on an electrode to convert light energy into electricity. Now, photo-bioelectrochemical cells with efficient photocurrent generation are demonstrated with such an integration.
Organic–inorganic perovskites are promising materials for photovoltaic devices, however they have poor tolerance to ambient humidity. Now, their surface can be functionalized with water-resistant molecules to stabilize their performance under humid conditions.
The efficiency of perovskite solar cells is limited by the performance of the hole-transport material, which extracts charges from the active layer. Here, a molecularly engineered hole transporter with performance comparable to spiro-OMeTAD is demonstrated.
Many people globally still use solid fuels for cooking and heating, leading to programmes designed to subsidize cleaner alternatives. This study analyses possible effects of climate mitigation policies on fuel costs and hence the effectiveness of such schemes.
Ongoing efforts are devoted to raising the efficiency of solar cells in converting energy from solar radiation. Now, improved structural order in the charge transport layers of perovskite solar cells is shown to increase the efficiency from 17.1% to 19.4%.
Precious metals are efficient oxygen electrocatalysts but suffer from poor stability and high cost. Now, nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes derived from metal–organic frameworks are shown to have activity and durability comparable to that of Pt/C catalysts.
There is an intensive research effort in suppressing the first-cycle lithium loss in lithium-ion batteries. Now, a cathode prelithiation method with nanocomposites of conversion materials is demonstrated to compensate the initial lithium loss and improve the battery performance.
Biofuels offer a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels but may need large land-use changes. This study combines ecosystem and economic models to explore land-use allocation and greenhouse gas emissions for a 32-billion-gallon Renewable Fuel Standard in the US.
Safety is a major issue in the development of lithium-ion batteries. Now, a thermoresponsive polymer composite embedded into electrodes is shown to rapidly shut down batteries at overheating but quickly resume function at normal conditions.
Advanced batteries require careful control over the interfacial properties of their constituent materials. This study designs hierarchically structured cathode materials that are resistant to surface reconstruction, leading to improved cycling performance.