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CdTe solar cells have relied for decades on copper, which creates limited hole density, stability issues and a ceiling for voltage and efficiency. Now, Metzger et al. demonstrate As-doped Cu-free polycrystalline CdTe cells with enhanced hole density and dopant stability, achieving 20.8% efficiency.
Although solar photovoltaic use grows rapidly in China, comparison with grid prices is difficult as photovoltaic electricity prices depend on local factors. Using prefecture-level data, Yan et al. find that 100% of user-side systems can achieve grid parity, while 22% can produce electricity cheaper than coal-based power plants.
Ultrathin solar cells having thicknesses below 1 µm can still reach efficiencies comparable to their thicker counterparts, but require less material to manufacture. By exploiting light-trapping nanostructures, Chen and colleagues achieve GaAs solar cells with 20% efficiency at just 205 nm thicknesses.
Maximizing energy gain and minimizing life-cycle emissions from wastes and biomass residues requires a holistic assessment of alternative energy recovery pathways. Liu and Rajagopal estimate that the United States can generate up to 3.2 EJ of net energy and reduce up to 178 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent GHG emissions from 29 different waste streams combined.
Many different molecules can form during photocatalytic reduction of CO2, so identifying catalyst structure–product selectivity relationships is vital. Here, the authors find that sulfur-deficient CuIn5S8 is highly selective to CH4 and suggest that the presence of Cu–In binding sites is key to this behaviour.
Extensive efforts have recently been geared towards developing all-solid-state batteries largely because of their potential to enable high-energy-density Li anodes. Here, the authors report a high-performance lithium pouch cell with no excess lithium, enabled by just a dual-salt liquid electrolyte.
India’s Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is a programme that seeks to transition poor households away from unclean cooking fuels. In this Analysis, the authors use liquefied petroleum gas sales data to assess the adoption of cooking gas and the impact of this programme in a district of rural Karnataka.
Published energy-return-on-investment ratios for fossil fuels have not always been estimated at the final point of use. By including all energy required for processing and the supply chain, Brockway et al. find that fossil fuels might have final energy return close to renewables and susceptible to rapid further decline in the near future.
Adsorbing natural gas in porous materials is a potential storage alternative to conventional approaches based on liquefaction or compression, but higher capacities are required for commercial viability. Here, the authors employ porous covalent organic polymers that are flexible but robust, leading to high storage capacities and cyclability.
Improvements in building envelope performance and onsite power generation are key to enabling zero-energy buildings. Here, Svetozarevic et al. present an adaptive solar facade driven by soft robotic solar trackers that allow both the modulation of daylight penetration and energy generation.
Air pollution has significant effects on human health and well-being, but also on the ability of solar panels to produce energy. Sweerts et al. find that the loss in potential solar electricity generation in China, due to increased pollution from industrialization from the 1960s onwards, could amount to 14 TWh in 2016 and 51–74 TWh by 2030.
The performance of Li-ion batteries deteriorates at elevated temperatures due to increased activity of electrode materials and parasitic reactions. Here Yi Cui and colleagues report much-improved battery cyclability at 60 °C and use cryo-electron microscopy to shed light on the origin of the phenomenon.
Voltage hysteresis plagues several important families of battery electrodes, yet our understanding of its thermochemical properties remains poor. Here, the authors use isothermal calorimetry to measure the thermal effects of voltage hysteresis in a lithium-rich layered cathode and propose a mechanism for oxygen redox.
Lead leakage from damaged perovskite solar cells poses a challenge to the deployment of such technology. Here, Jiang, Qiu and co-workers quantify lead leakage caused by a simulated hail impact under a number of weather conditions and show that self-healing encapsulations can effectively reduce it.
While thicker battery electrodes are in high demand to maximize energy density, mechanical instability is a major hurdle in their fabrication. Here the authors report that segregated carbon nanotube networks enable thick, high-capacity electrodes for a range of materials including Si and NMC.
LiCoO2 is a widely used cathode material in Li-ion batteries for applications such as portable electronics. Here, the authors report multiple-element doping to enable stable cycling of LiCoO2 at high voltages that are not yet accessible with commercial Li-ion batteries.
Real-world conditions under which solar cells operate can be different from standard testing conditions. Tress et al. investigate the effects of temperature and irradiation on the performance of a perovskite cell and a reference silicon cell, reproducing real weather conditions in the laboratory.
Biomass can be used to scavenge photogenerated holes in photocatalytic hydrogen production, but the oxidized molecules that form are not always useful products. Here, the authors use Ru-ZnIn2S4 to photocatalyse the dehydrogenative C−C coupling of lignocellulose-derived methylfurans, forming both hydrogen and diesel fuel precursors.
Some of the best electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline electrolysers are based on oxides of nickel and iron. Here, the authors demonstrate that the water oxidation performance of such catalysts can be enhanced by application of a magnetic field from a permanent magnet.
Isolating metal atoms on supports is becoming an increasingly studied approach to design water splitting electrocatalysts. Here, the authors prepare a hydrogen evolution catalyst comprising atomically dispersed Pt atoms on curved carbon supports, which outperform similar catalysts where the support is flat.