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Extensive efforts are under way to tackle the degradation issue—one of the biggest challenges for the practical application of perovskite-based solar cells. Here the authors show that CH3NH3PbI3 and several other iodine-containing perovskites are inherently unstable due to decomposition caused by self-generated I2.
Perovskite solar cells grown in substrate configuration would open a range of applications, if various challenges could be overcome. Towards that aim, Fu et al. present an architecture allowing inverted semi-transparent planar perovskite solar cells with open-circuit voltage of 1.116 V and 16.1% efficiency.
Using photoelectrodes to split water is a promising approach to convert solar energy to fuel, but photoanode stability is often an issue. Now, a Mo-doped BiVO4 photoanode is shown to stably evolve oxygen for 1,000 h due to in situ regeneration of the catalyst, and inhibition of photocorrosion.
Electrocatalytic water oxidation is key in energy storage technologies, but deeper mechanistic understanding is still required. Grimaud et al. show that surface oxygen atoms in a model oxide catalyst act as electrophilic centres for reactions and observe drastic reconstruction of the catalyst surface.
Organometal halide perovskite materials have been the subject of intensive research efforts in the context of photovoltaic applications. Here the authors exploit dynamic equilibrium to photocatalytically generate hydrogen from aqueous HI solutions using methylammonium lead iodide.
Efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen–evolution reaction are desired due to their importance in applications such as water splitting and metal–air batteries. Here, the authors engineer ultrathin metal–organic frameworks that require low overpotential to generate oxygen from alkaline media.
Tin-based photovoltaic devices are less toxic than their lead-based counterparts, but suffer severe stability issues due to the susceptibility of tin oxidation. Here the authors report a CsSnI3 perovskite solar cell with a SnCl2 additive that displays a remarkable stability.
Planar structured perovskite solar cells often show hysteresis and lower efficiency than mesoporous ones. Jiang et al. show that using a SnO2 electron transport layer improves the performance of planar devices, reporting a certified efficiency of 19.9%, and enables a lower processing temperature.
Biofuel prices depend on related commodities—such as corn, sugar cane and palm oil—but their connection to other non-feedstock commodities is less well explored. Filip et al. analyse a data set of 33 commodities and assets and examine their relationships to biofuels in Brazil, the US and Europe.
Intermittent renewable sources provide an ever-greater share of electricity, which changes the variability of the net load. This study models different renewables combinations over different timescales for the Nordic power system and shows how the optimal mix depends on the frequency band of the fluctuations.
Electricity is a fundamental aspect of socio-economic development. Urpelainen et al. survey 8,568 households in rural India and find that the average hours of available electricity is an important factor in household satisfaction with supply, whereas reliability and voltage stability are less important.
Luminescent solar concentrators can be used to harvest sunlight over large areas at low cost, and are promising for building-integrated photovoltaics. Li et al. fabricate such devices from silica-coated colloidal quantum dots having internal quantum efficiencies over 10% on tens of centimetres.
More efficient, noble metal-free catalysts are sought to generate hydrogen from aqueous solutions using light. Liu et al. achieve high quantum efficiencies using a system where the co-catalyst is proposed to consist of small NiSx particles that are not anchored to the Cd0.5Zn0.5S photocatalyst.
Defects affect the performance of photovoltaic devices, but their exact role is still under scrutiny. Luria et al. use 3D imaging of current pathways in a working CdTe solar cell with nanoscale resolution and observe electrically active defects, which contribute to conduction.
Controlling the crystallization process of perovskite films is crucial to obtaining high efficiency in perovskite solar cells. Bi et al. propose the use of poly(methyl methacrylate) as a template for the controlled nucleation and growth of perovskite crystals achieving efficiency of 21.6%.
Solar thermoelectric generators are a promising technology for converting solar energy into electricity, however their efficiency has been limited to 5.2%. Kraemer et al. report a solar thermoelectric generator with an efficiency of 9.6%, resulting in 7.4% efficiency in a concentrating solar thermoelectric system.
Strategies to improve energy access in developing countries are urgently needed. Szabó et al. propose an approach to achieve wider access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa that depends on existing under-utilized energy infrastructure such as dams, non-hybridized gensets and biomass cofiring.
The performance of inverted perovskite solar cells has so far lagged behind that of their normal-structure counterparts. Wu et al. fabricate an inverted perovskite–fullerene solar cell with a graded heterojunction that achieves a certified efficiency of over 18% for a cell area of 1 cm2.
Metal-free doped-graphene materials are emerging as electrocatalysts for energy conversions, but their activity remains low. Here, Jiao et al. explore the origins of catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution, suggesting pathways to metal-free catalysts with activity to rival metal-containing benchmarks.
Energy harvesting from the environment by portable and flexible power sources can power a variety of devices sustainably. Chen et al. report a hybrid power textile with solar cells and triboelectric nanogenerators that can simultaneously harvest solar and mechanical energy.