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Perovskite and organic semiconductors can be combined to make tandem solar cells but, to date, their efficiency has hovered around 20%. Now, researchers demonstrate a 23.6% tandem by reducing interfacial defects to improve the perovskite cell’s voltage and developing an ultrathin interconnection layer.
Chemicals and fuels can be generated from CO2 via electrolysers that employ gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs). In this Review, the authors consider promising catalysts and reactors—and how these fail—to identify key advances and remaining gaps in the development of industrially relevant GDE-based CO2 electrolysers.
Anion-exchange membrane fuel cells offer the prospect of low-cost components thanks to their alkaline environment, yet they are plagued by carbonation of the electrolyte caused by the CO2 present in the feed air. Now, an electrochemical method for CO2 scrubbing using a membrane with mixed ionic–electronic conductivity offers a potential remedy.
Fuel cells with acid-doped membranes must avoid liquid water and humid gas streams to prevent leaching of acid, and so are limited to operating above 120 °C, complicating start-up. Now, microporous membranes offer a chance to confine the acid to their pores, allowing start-up without pre-heating, higher performance and perhaps even extended lifetime.
Air pollution policy is often focused on controlling mass emissions, neglecting the differential health impacts from sources like residential particulate matter. A study now shows that the impacts from residential emissions are significantly higher compared with coal-fired power plants in China when toxicity is considered.
Highly concentrated electrolytes offer enhanced energy-density for aqueous batteries, but the high salt concentration presents formidable challenges for practical implementation. Now, an electrolyte has been designed that has a substantially reduced salt concentration while still enabling high-performance batteries.
The vast potential parameter space for constructing efficient and stable perovskite solar cells makes their assessment no easy task. Now, researchers use high-throughput screening to uncover stable perovskites and devise a bilayer polymer contact to extend the device stability to 1,450 hours under high-temperature operational conditions.
For remote Indigenous communities prepaying for electricity in Australia’s Northern Territory, temperature extremes increase reliance on the services that energy provides and the risk of disconnection of those services. Policy should focus on reducing the frequency, duration and negative impacts of disconnection, within the context of a warming climate.
Renewable energy costs have fallen precipitously over the past decade. New analysis explores how an extension of these trends, plus complementary technology innovation and market-based climate policy, could lead to a future energy system dominated by electricity.
