Nature Energy is an online-only journal interested in all aspects of energy, from its generation and storage, to its distribution and management, the needs and demands of the different actors involved, and the impacts that energy technologies and policies have on different societies. The journal has a particular interest in studies that advance our knowledge and inform the development of next-generation technologies and solutions. Nature Energy publishes research from the natural, behavioural and social sciences.
Updated: 56 min 30 sec ago
Strengthen the connections
Nature Energy, Published online: 03 May 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01526-6
Achieving good electrical contact without damaging underlying layers is critical to the performance of photovoltaic modules. Research now reports a silver electrode embedded into a polymer matrix and a silver/chromium protection layer, enabling over 14%-efficient flexible organic photovoltaic modules with improved stability under illumination.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Equitable rooftop photovoltaics deployment
Nature Energy, Published online: 30 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01525-7
Ensuring rooftop solar photovoltaics are deployed equitably requires understanding who installs, where, and when. Through assessment of satellite imagery data, research offers a glimpse into solar rooftop photovoltaics deployment inequity in non-residential buildings in the US, revealing challenges and opportunities ahead for a just energy transition.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Enhancing lithium-metal battery longevity through minimized coordinating diluent
Nature Energy, Published online: 30 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01519-5
Lithium battery performance hinges significantly on the solvation structure of the electrolyte and the resulting interphase. Here the authors introduce a fluorinated ether with minimal lithium-ion coordination and enhanced electrochemical stability, thus improving both cyclability and calendar life.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Ultralightweight perovskite solar cells for use in drones
Nature Energy, Published online: 26 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01504-y
Ultralightweight perovskite solar cells that achieve a specific power of up to 44 W g–1 and good stability are developed through engineering of the photoactive layer and substrate. These solar cells can be integrated into a drone to enable energy-autonomous flight.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Getting a charge out of perovskites
Nature Energy, Published online: 25 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01523-9
Getting a charge out of perovskites
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Patterned membranes
Nature Energy, Published online: 25 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01521-x
Patterned membranes
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Outweighing increased efficiency
Nature Energy, Published online: 25 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01524-8
Outweighing increased efficiency
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Threshold for degradation
Nature Energy, Published online: 25 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01522-w
Threshold for degradation
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Impact of global heterogeneity of renewable energy supply on heavy industrial production and green value chains
Nature Energy, Published online: 24 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01492-z
A new study of low-carbon value chains of basic materials (steel and chemicals) demonstrates how regional differences in renewable energy prices may lead to a global relocation of energy-intensive production.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Enhanced redox with hetero-halogens
Nature Energy, Published online: 23 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01514-w
Aqueous batteries have drawbacks related to their low energy densities. Now, highly concentrated hetero-halogen electrolytes can be used to enable fast multielectron transfer, leading to cost-effective, reversible and high-energy-density aqueous batteries.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Citizens’ perceptions
Nature Energy, Published online: 23 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01513-x
The shift towards low-carbon heating technologies and associated infrastructure often disrupts citizens’ lives. Research now demonstrates how the socio-psychological context may influence the circumstances under which citizens are willing to accept heating transitions and related construction work, and those where reactance and rejection is to be expected.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Reversible multielectron transfer I<sup>−</sup>/IO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup> cathode enabled by a hetero-halogen electrolyte for high-energy-density aqueous batteries
Nature Energy, Published online: 23 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01515-9
Aqueous batteries, such as iodide/iodate-based ones, confront challenges due to their low energy densities. Here the authors utilize hetero-halogen electrolytes to enable fast multielectron transfer, yielding high-energy-density aqueous batteries.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
A relational approach to characterizing householder perceptions of disruption in heat transitions
Nature Energy, Published online: 23 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01506-w
A new study considers how disruption to energy systems is experienced and takes on meaning. On the basis of workshop data, the study finds that public views of heat decarbonization in the United Kingdom are shaped by relationships to family, cultural expectations, housing and financial position.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Artificial intelligence-aided wind plant optimization for nationwide evaluation of land use and economic benefits of wake steering
Nature Energy, Published online: 22 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01516-8
Wind farms would benefit from optimization of their design and operation. Harrison-Atlas et al. report an artificial intelligence-aided optimization approach that shows the potential of wake steering strategies to minimize land requirements and costs.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Potential for small and micro modular reactors to electrify developing regions
Nature Energy, Published online: 19 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01512-y
A new study assesses global small-scale nuclear power reactor deployment suitability, finding that reactors in the 1–50 MWe range could serve 70.9% of the population living in regions without night-time light. However, governance and economic issues eliminate 95% of the potential market.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Increase in the efficiency and stability of large-area flexible organic photovoltaic modules via improved electrical contact
Nature Energy, Published online: 18 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01501-1
Organic solar modules suffer from poor electrical contacts. Lu et al. embed the silver electrode into a polymer matrix and add chromium to enhance its electrical contact, achieving improved stability and a 14.04% efficiency on flexible modules with an active area of 41 cm2.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Understanding entropic barriers
Nature Energy, Published online: 17 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01502-0
The activation barriers of interfacial energy conversion reactions are key to controlling the efficiency of electrolysers. Work on the structural dynamics of water during charge transfer at electrified solid/liquid interfaces now brings greater understanding of the components of the activation barriers for water dissociation and hydrogen evolution.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Flexible quasi-2D perovskite solar cells with high specific power and improved stability for energy-autonomous drones
Nature Energy, Published online: 17 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01500-2
Demonstration of high performance, upscaling and integration of ultra-lightweight perovskite solar cells are still rare. Hailegnaw et al. develop 2D perovskite solar cells based on methylbenzyl ammonium iodide with improved specific power and stability, showing scalability and integration in drones.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Floating photovoltaics may reduce the risk of hydro-dominated energy development in Africa
Nature Energy, Published online: 12 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01510-0
A new study finds that strategically integrating floating solar panels on reservoirs could substitute 20–100% of Africa’s planned hydropower by 2050. For the Zambezi watercourse, this approach generates a more stable electricity supply compared with hydro-dominated development.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
High-resolution meteorology with climate change impacts from global climate model data using generative machine learning
Nature Energy, Published online: 09 April 2024; doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01507-9
Global climate models are challenging to integrate in energy system models because their output data resolution is too coarse. Buster et al. generate high-resolution meteorological data with climate change impacts from global climate model datasets using generative machine learning.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)