Themed collection Energy and Environmental Science Recent Review Articles

The lifetime of Li-ion batteries (LIBs) is highly dependent on the imperceptible physical/chemical changes/reactions that occur on/between the electrodes and electrolyte.

Tremendous improvements in the Li⁺ conductivity of inorganic solid electrolytes over the past 15 years have renewed interest in developing solid state batteries, with a particular focus on realizing the lithium metal anode.

A critical perspective that questions the use of PtX₂ for the HER when we have a better performing Pt/C while analysing the potential ways in which PtX₂ can actually be better than Pt/C.

The envisioned role of hydrogen in the energy transition – or the concept of a hydrogen economy – has varied through the years.

Inspired by traditional energy-autonomous microgrids, this perspective summarizes the key design and energy-budgeting considerations and outlook of integrated wearable systems.

CO₂RR is enhanced by the unique role of carbon nanostructures cooperating with metal and metal-oxide active phases to leverage charge transfer, reagent diffusion and structural stability, regulating a successful asset of interfacial interactions.

Intelligence-assisted predesign for economically and environmentally sustainable recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries and beyond.

Energy storage needs to support commercial and residential buildings in the U.S. in 2050 for various 100% renewable energy scenarios.

Perspective on recent improvements in experiment and theory towards realizing lithium metal electrodes with liquid electrolytes.

This study assesses research and development needs for direct seawater electrolysis from energy, cost and environmental aspects and presents a forward-looking perspective on future R&D priorities in desalination and electrolysis technologies.

The petrochemical industry must transition into a circular carbo-chemical industry to respond to three main challenges: shifting hydrocarbon stock, climate change and circular economy.

Understanding the durability-limiting factors of anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers operating under pure water-, KOH- and K₂CO₃-fed conditions.

Photocatalysis is capable of C–C, C–O, and C–N bond transformations and has the potential to drive light-activated feedstock chemical production.

This perspective discusses how the tool of pre-sodiation can improve sodium-based electrochemical cells; the pros and cons of available pre-sodiation methods are then evaluated.

This perspective discusses the challenges to, and strategies for, the commercially viable development of these three classes of cathodes for LIBs.

This article identifies and discusses the scientific challenges of hydrogen storage in porous media for safe and efficient large-scale energy storage to enable a global hydrogen economy.

Recommendation of standardised experiments for adoption by all researchers on luminescent solar concentrators to unify reporting and legitimise the field.

Resonance energy transfer in ternary blend organic solar cells is discussed by drawing parallels from natural photosynthetic proteins.

With these guidelines, we aim to unite the lignin-first biorefining research field around best practices for performing or reporting feedstock analysis, reactor design, catalyst performance, and product yields.

This review summarises the properties and electrochemical performance of pseudo-solid-state electrolytes prepared using ionic liquids, along with insights into design strategies to improve their application in various secondary batteries.

A comprehensive and critical analysis of thermocatalytic CO₂ reduction over heterogeneous catalysts derived from porous crystalline frameworks.

This review emphasizes the strategies to activate N₂ molecules in view of microscopic electron effects, macroscopic external field effects, local microenvironment regulation, and characterization techniques.

Hydrogen is emerging as one of the most promising energy carriers for a decarbonised global energy system.

Our review manuscript based on 190 references gives a status update regarding all the cell design types currently in use, and discusses the impact of diverse cell components (cathode catalyst layer, membrane, electrodes) and operating conditions on NH₃ electrosynthesis.

This review presents the current status of PEM fuel cell & electrolysis cell technologies, along with the H₂ infrastructure, describes their similarities & differences in structures, materials, and fundamentals, and outlines challenges/opportunities.

This review rearranges the most important fundamentals in PCFCs based on perovskite-type oxides, provides recent advances in the rational design of perovskite materials, and proposes some perspectives in the research of PCFCs.

The review provides the recent progress of flexible solid-state hybrid supercapacitors for portable and wearable energy storage devices in terms of design and performance with their state-of-the-art commercialized products for IoE applications.

In battery systems, aqueous electrolytes are superior in ionic conductivity, interfacial wettability, safety and environmentally benign compared to organic liquids, polymers, inorganic solid-state and ionic liquid electrolytes.

Selective ring opening (SRO) catalysts transform polycyclic molecules in low grade oil to produce cleaner burning diesel fuel. Mechanistic insight, structure-reactivity relationships, catalyst design, and future opportunities for pyrolysis oil refining from municipal solid waste are discussed.

Building rechargeable lithium batteries for wide-temperature applications requires us to investigate the battery failure mechanism at low/high temperature, design advanced electrode/electrolyte materials, and optimize the battery management system.

This comprehensive review appraises the state-of-the-art in direct air capture materials, processes, economics, sustainability, and policy, to inform, challenge and inspire a broad audience of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.

Li–S batteries hold great promise for electric vehicles but complex reaction mechanisms during operation have, to date, prevented commercialization. In situ techniques provide insights that may overcome these limitations.

This review gives a comprehensive understanding of carrier grain boundary scattering in thermoelectric materials. Moreover, the difference between grain boundary scattering and ionized impurity scattering and how to distinguish them are highlighted.

Hybrid processes, featuring biological conversion of lignocellulose to small molecules followed by chemo-catalytic conversion to larger molecules suitable for difficult-to-electrify transport modes, are a promising route to biomass-derived fuels in demand for climate stabilization.

Sulfide solid electrolyte (S-SE) based all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) have received particular attention due to their outstanding ionic conductivity and higher energy density over conventional lithium-ion batteries.

Photocatalytic CO₂ conversion is vital technology to realize global carbon neutrality and generate future energy supplies. This review proposes fundamentals, challenges, strategies, and prospects for photocatalytic CO₂ conversion research.

A review on liquid electrolyte design for LIBs operating under low-temperature (<0 °C) conditions. Covers various processes that determine performance below 0 °C and recent literature on electrolyte-based strategies to improve said performance.

Electric vehicle managed charging can benefit all consumers by supporting grid planning, operation, and reliability – especially complementing high-renewable systems.

This review gives a comprehensive introduction of the solvation structure regulation strategies for dendrite-free and side reaction-suppressed zinc-ion batteries, and further proposes the potential directions and perspectives for further research.

This review comprehensively elaborates the modes of semi-artificial photosynthetic systems (SAPSs) based on the different combinations of photosensitizers and catalytic centers for energy and environmental application.

The recent research progress in film quality optimization strategies and the investigations of the film formation mechanism in all-inorganic CsPbX₃ perovskite solar cells are systematically reviewed.

Dielectric capacitors with a high operating temperature applied in electric vehicles, aerospace and underground exploration require dielectric materials with high temperature resistance and high energy density.

Systematic encapsulation of PVSK solar cells is comprehensively reviewed by considering external encapsulation against H₂O/O₂ intrusion, along with internal encapsulation to improve the intrinsic stabilities of their constituting layers.

Current density as figure-of-merit to analyze solar-to-fuel direct conversion devices for H₂O, CO₂ and N₂ utilization.

An assessment of the latest ground-breaking advances of polyanionic materials as cathodes for aqueous sodium-ion batteries is given. Future research directions and challenges on material development are provided.

We summarize the progress in organic–inorganic hybrid and all-inorganic wide-E_g perovskite solar cells. Key challenges and effective strategies are discussed, followed by applications in tandems. We outline perspectives to design superior devices.

The working principles of interphase strategies to enhance Zn reversibility are discussed. The effectiveness evaluation techniques, including electrochemical methods, characterization measurements, and computational simulations, are proposed.

This review explores perovskite crystallization in scalable deposition techniques, including blade, slot-die, spray coating, and inkjet printing.

The roles of natural gas hydrates and their related technologies in the future energy supply, carbon cycle and climate change mitigation.

This review summarizes the design principle, emerging configurations, and photocatalytic applications of redox cocatalysts, and offers insights and perspectives on this topic.

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are a new class of alloys that has been investigated for hydrogen storage. Here we discuss the design, synthesis, and hydrogen storage properties of HEAs studied to date.

This review summarizes the recent progress of atomic heterointerface engineering to overcome the activity limitation of electrocatalysts for water splitting and elaborates its electron effect and ensemble effect, etc.

Organic semiconductors have become essential parts of thin-film electronic devices, particularly as hole transport layers in perovskite solar cells where they represent one of the major bottlenecks to further enhancements in stability and efficiency.

This review analyzes 53 publications that forecast battery cost and provides transparency on methodological and technological details.

Advanced characterization of solid state batteries is necessary to uncover material transformation pathways at buried solid-solid interfaces.

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is a crucial bioprocess in global methane mitigation. Adoption of AOM in an engineered system provides an opportunity for the development of methane-based biotechnologies.

Advanced characterization tools capable of probing material properties multi-dimensionally at high spatial, temporal and energy resolutions are presented.

Decoupled electrochemical water splitting systems separate the hydrogen- and oxygen-evolution reactions spatially, temporally, or both, resulting in modular, flexible, and intrinsically safe electrolysis.

Lattice oxygen redox chemistry in solid-state electrocatalysts rationalizes the remarkable OER activity by lattice oxygen-mediated mechanism. Here we elucidate the fundamental principle of this mechanism and summarize recently related developments.

This review highlights the broad and critical role of latent heat storage in sustainable energy systems including solar-thermal storage, electro-thermal storage, waste heat storage and thermal regulations.

The “host” modification strategy can guide homogeneous Na deposition, suppress dendrite formation and mitigate volume fluctuation. This work reviews the research progress of various skeleton materials for sodium metal anodes in recent years.

This review summarizes the important morphological characteristics and recent research progress of non-fullerene acceptor based organic solar cells, as well as provides insights and perspectives on this topic.

A succinct but critical survey of the recent progress in LMBs is presented, comprising their intriguing electrode chemistries, underlying electrochemical behaviors with various electrolytes, and sophisticated electrode–electrolyte interfaces in the context of the most recent research and development.

Here, recent developments and future perspectives of inverted p–i–n Sn-based PSCs are reviewed, highlighting the roadblocks to progress and opportunities for future work.

A concise review discussing four molecular engineering strategies for a rational design of carbonyl electrodes is provided, encompassing key fundamentals, recent advances, and challenges for practical organic batteries.

This review summarizes the potential and challenges of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) enhanced shale gas recovery and sequestration in shale reservoirs.

Room-temperature sodium–sulfur (RT Na–S) batteries combine abundant natural resources, low cost, and outstanding energy density, thus attracting much research attention.

The review presents the important role of oxygen-bound intermediates in directing the selectivity of electrochemical CO₂ reduction by considering available theoretical calculations, electrochemical measurements and operando spectroscopy observations.

Electrocatalysis undeniably offers noteworthy improvements to future energy conversion and storage technologies, such as fuel cells, water electrolyzers, and metal–air batteries.

This review summarizes the influences of water molecules during the energy storage process from the perspectives of the electrolyte, Zn anode, and cathode materials, including the basic theory, modification methods, and practical applications.