Reviews & Analysis

The growth of small-scale off-grid solar products across the Global South has expanded access to energy but also created a rising issue of e-waste. Munro et al. explore the structure of the off-grid solar sector, how it creates barriers to addressing e-waste, and what research is needed to overcome them.

The microstructure of metal halide perovskite films has profound implications for solar cells. Here, Zhou et al. analyse the impact of three microstructure types on perovskites’ optoelectronics and on device efficiency and stability, outlining future opportunities for microstructural engineering.

European fuel tax cuts will lead to significant income transfers to Russia, thus undermining the Union’s sanction efforts against the country. EU politicians should instead consider alternative policies, such as direct income transfers to households, if they want to shield citizens from increased fuel prices without benefiting Russia.

Introducing Mo into a Ni-rich layered cathode enables a Co-free Li-ion battery to cycle stably at 4.4 V, retaining 86% of its initial capacity after 1,000 cycles. The grain size refinement engendered by Mo increases the resistance to fracture by deflecting cracks while providing fast diffusion paths for Li ions.

Understanding how beliefs about renewable energy sources are influenced by exposure to information is important for the successful implementation of policies to combat climate change. New longitudinal research shows that messages emphasizing specific benefits of renewable energy can exert a lasting impact on partisans’ beliefs.

Development of oxygen reduction catalysts is of key importance to a range of energy technologies; however, the process has long relied on slow trial-and-error approaches. Now, accelerated discovery of perovskite oxides for use as air electrodes in solid-oxide fuel cells is achieved with machine learning.

The rapid and large-scale changes required to decarbonize energy systems will have varying impacts on different societal groups, making decisions hard. This Perspective calls for greater attention to the use of realist approaches to research, which can help understand what works for whom, under what circumstances and why.

Aerodynamic wake interactions between wind turbines reduce the total energy produced by wind farms. A flow-physics model, which predicts these negative interactions and the control strategy that minimizes them, is developed and validated. The collective operational strategy produced by optimizing this model increased energy production when implemented at a utility-scale wind farm.

Understanding what drives household-level decisions to keep cooking with polluting cookstoves and fuels must be grounded in theory for sustained change to occur. New research examines the literature through a behavioural model and finds that affordability, technical aspects, and fuel supply are the main drivers of fuel stacking.

Managing climate risk exposures of assets and loan portfolios is increasingly important for actors within financial markets. This Review examines how such risks affect investor behaviour and hence the wider energy sector, and highlights areas for future research into the interactions between them.

Flexible all-perovskite tandem photovoltaics open up new opportunities for application compared to rigid devices, yet their performance lags behind. Now, researchers show that molecule-bridged interfaces mitigate charge recombination and crack formation, improving the efficiency and mechanical reliability of flexible devices.

In the intensive search for novel battery architectures, the spotlight is firmly on solid-state lithium batteries. Now, a strategy based on solid-state sodium–sulfur batteries emerges, making it potentially possible to eliminate scarce materials such as lithium and transition metals.

One of the key targets for further development of sodium-ion batteries is to improve their cycle life. Now, an electrolyte formulation is proposed to tackle the dissolution of both the solid-electrolyte interphases and the transition metals in cathodes, leading to enhanced cyclability.

Electrification models used to plan future energy systems have become increasingly sophisticated, but typically oversimplify the financial landscape. New research shows that more accurate accounting of the costs of capital significantly changes the least-cost pathway to providing electrification across sub-Saharan Africa.

The UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) on energy access and Goal 5 (SDG 5) on gender equality are inextricably linked. A new study utilizing field-based data from India unpacks how levels of women’s empowerment in households influences their awareness, usage, satisfaction, and preference for energy services.

Metal halide perovskite solar cells have shown promising performance, but mainly on small-area devices and under laboratory conditions. Now, researchers have demonstrated the fabrication of large-area devices assembled and packaged into modules and reported on their operation outdoors.

Nitrogen-coordinated iron catalysts are exciting potential replacements for platinum at the cathode of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells, but still tend to have poor long-term durability. Now, a thin and porous nitrogen-doped carbon film deposited at the surface of a highly active but unstable Fe–N–C catalyst is shown to drastically improve its stability.

Often presented as a bridge technology to a future zero-carbon energy system, natural gas infrastructure expansion remains hotly debated. Here Kemfert et al. discuss recent research to argue how such expansion hinders climate targets and energy transitions and suggest how research can support better planning.

Legal mandates are critical to supporting action on sustainable development goals and climate change targets. Yet, new research highlights the importance of initial endowments for energy transitions, and how they can lead to disparate outcomes across regions.

All-perovskite tandem devices are promising due to their high efficiency and low cost but their development is hindered by narrow-bandgap absorbers. Now, researchers combine two large organic cations to improve the optoelectronic quality of narrow-bandgap tin–lead perovskites, enabling single-junction and tandem cells with enhanced efficiency and stability.