Themed collection Sustainable Energy & Fuels Emerging Investigators Series

Single-atom catalysis for lignocellulosic biomass refinery for fuels and chemicals provides a new insight and improved catalytic performances for the sustainable development of the society.

A heterojunction CdS/TiO₂ nanofiber monolithic photocatalyst sheet was developed via facile in situ hydrothermal growth on Ti foil. The photocatalyst sheet can greatly enhance photocatalytic H₂ production.

Oxalate metal–organic framework derived atomic Ru³⁺-doped Co(OH)₂ nanosheets are fabricated for highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction, showing a very small overpotential of 36 mV at 30 mA cm⁻² in 1.0 M KOH.

The prepared hollow Cu₂O nanocrystals via oxidative etching yield C₂₊ products with a faradaic efficiency of 75.9% and a C₂₊ partial current density of 0.54 A cm⁻² ascribed to their defect-rich sites and abundant stepped facets.

The introduction of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is expected to play an important role in the decarbonisation of the aviation sector.

First principles investigations on the modulation of electronic structure of Ni based SAC by varrying the nature and type of support for CO₂ reduction to C₁ products.

In combination with a thick cathode and pulse charging strategies, anode-free lithium metal batteries demonstrated reduced polarization at 5 mA cm⁻² and a capacity retention of 79.4% after 50 cycles.

Methylated precursors used in a facile CN_x copolymerization synthesis yield modified CN_x materials with better aqueous dispersibility properties for enhanced photoactivity.

A pathway to a carbon-neutral electricity-chemical nexus in China by 2060 is attainable. Sector coupling reduces fossil power generation by 10%, drives renewable curtailment rates to below 5%, and expands energy transmission capacity by at most 18%.

A computational algorithm to model a coupled solar-hydrogen system is presented. The results demonstrated that optimizing the system's cost and hydrogen production rate implicitly ensures the levelized cost of energy is minimized.

In situ Raman spectroscopy reveals that the subsurface of Ti₂N nitride MXene is the active site for oxygen reduction reaction. We also report that the Ti₂N MXene is more active than Ti₃C₂ MXene and more stable than Ti₃C₂ and 10% Pt/C.

We report one of the most stable vacancy-ordered perovskites Cs₂ReX₆ (X – Cl, Br) that show panchromatic visible absorption and demonstrated excellent acid/base stability, which enabled them to be employed as photoanodes for solar water oxidation.

Levulinic acid derivatives, such as alkyl levulinates, are suitable starting reactants for the production of fuel components, namely γ-valerolactone (GVL), alkyl valerates, pentanol, and pentylvalerate (PV).

A novel PEO-based SPE with a synergistic effect of black phosphorus (BP) nanosheets and a cryogenic method, which can combine the advantages of the fast Li⁺ pathways of BP nanosheets and the low PEO crystallization of cryogenic method.

Through modulating the contents of the N/B dopants and corresponding B–N pairs for the NBCs, the syngas generation with tunable CO/H₂ ratios from 12.3 to 1 under different potentials can be realized.

A surface-sulphurated cobalt oxide electrocatalyst with a nanowire array integrated structure is designed for oxygen evolution reaction and water-splitting applications.

PTI–melon molecular junctions anchored with CdS nanoparticles enable efficient CO₂ photoreduction, affording a high AQE of 10.8% at 420 nm.

The thermal conductivity for CP was enhanced with 5 wt% dopants but impaired with more than 20 wt% dopants. The enhanced thermal conductivity was attributed to higher rDOC and stronger π–π interactions due to small amount of active dopants.

Metal–support interfacial interactions can enrich the electron density of Bi₂O₃ effectively facilitating *COO intermediate generation and boosting catalytic activity.