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: 12 min 24 sec ago
Passivation by design
Nature Energy, Published online: 01 August 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01826-5
The chemistry at the lithium metal–electrolyte interface determines the cycling stability of lithium-metal electrodes but is challenging to control. A new study demonstrates that polymer coatings can both passivate the reactive lithium metal and selectively modulate interfacial electrolyte species, enabling stable cycling of high-energy-density pouch cells.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Solar and batteries are affordable options for US households
Nature Energy, Published online: 01 August 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01822-9
A majority of US households can reduce energy costs and access affordable backup power during outages through rooftop solar and battery storage. Policymakers need to evaluate and adopt measures to ensure high-outage-risk and energy-burdened communities have equitable access to these adaptation solutions as climate impacts intensify outages.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Solar and battery can reduce energy costs and provide affordable outage backup for US households
Nature Energy, Published online: 01 August 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01821-w
Rooftop solar and battery storage can reduce energy costs and provide affordable back-up power for over 60% of US households, but benefits often bypass the high outage risk and disadvantaged communities most in need.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Selective templating growth of chemically inert low-dimensional interfaces for perovskite solar cells
Nature Energy, Published online: 01 August 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01815-8
Low-dimensional perovskites afford high efficiencies in solar cells but at the expense of stability. Rao et al. develop a template growth approach to form low-dimensional perovskites from low-reactivity and hence more stable organic cations.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
The impact of variability
Nature Energy, Published online: 23 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01828-3
The impact of variability
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Cleaner lithium, better batteries
Nature Energy, Published online: 23 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01830-9
Cleaner lithium, better batteries
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Balancing colour and efficiency
Nature Energy, Published online: 23 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01829-2
Balancing colour and efficiency
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
The power of the gyroid
Nature Energy, Published online: 18 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01816-7
The effective surface area of a solid oxide cell has a direct impact on its performance but maximizing it within a limited volume or mass remains a major challenge. Now, research reports a three-dimensional-structured ‘gyroidal’ solid oxide cell design that exhibits a significantly higher surface area and promising performance metrics per unit volume and mass.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Monolithic gyroidal solid oxide cells by additive manufacturing
Nature Energy, Published online: 18 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01811-y
Solid oxide cells for interconversion of hydrogen and electricity typically have planar designs with low performance per unit mass and volume. Zhou et al. fabricate solid oxide cells with 3D architectures, improving space utilization and mass-normalized performance.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Decoupling the catalytic and degradation mechanisms of cobalt active sites during acidic water oxidation
Nature Energy, Published online: 16 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01812-x
Cobalt–iron–lead oxide electrocatalysts show promise for the low-pH oxygen evolution reaction—an essential reaction in proton-exchange water electrolysis—but can suffer from corrosion. This study uncovers that the mechanism of cobalt site corrosion is decoupled from the oxygen evolution reaction, paving the way for more stable catalyst designs.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Cation interdiffusion control for 2D/3D heterostructure formation and stabilization in inorganic perovskite solar modules
Nature Energy, Published online: 16 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01817-6
The formation of 2D perovskites in inorganic perovskite solar cells is hindered by the strong binding affinity of caesium ions. Liu et al. engineer the functional groups of a large organic cation to facilitate its exchange with caesium ions and form a stable 2D perovskite.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Leveraging AI to enhance performance in direct methanol fuel cells
Nature Energy, Published online: 14 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01805-w
A method inspired by actor–critic reinforcement learning — Alpha-Fuel-Cell — has been developed to control and maximize the mean output electrical power of direct methanol fuel cells. This model monitors fuel cell states in real time and autonomously selects optimal actions to increase the efficiency and catalyst longevity.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
An actor–critic algorithm to maximize the power delivered from direct methanol fuel cells
Nature Energy, Published online: 14 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01804-x
Direct methanol fuel cells offer high energy densities but face challenges including catalyst degradation and surface fouling, which reduce performance over time. Here the authors introduce a control system inspired by reinforcement learning to optimize the power output and mitigate degradation of direct methanol fuel cells by dynamically adjusting the voltage.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Fast-charging lithium-ion batteries require a systems engineering approach
Nature Energy, Published online: 10 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01813-w
Fast-charging lithium-ion batteries require a systems engineering approach
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
A catalytic cycle that enables crude hydrogen separation, storage and transportation
Nature Energy, Published online: 10 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01806-9
Industrial hydrogen production often uses carbon-based sources, necessitating complex purification processes to separate hydrogen from impurities. Here the authors present a reversible catalytic cycle that converts crude hydrogen into pure hydrogen, bypassing the need for pressure swing adsorption or membrane systems.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
The reality of battery commercialization
Nature Energy, Published online: 07 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01807-8
Bringing advanced battery research into real-world applications remains one of the most difficult challenges, requiring a three-stage, overlapping development process, argues Kieran O’Regan.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Dynamically expanding the electrochemical stability window during charging
Nature Energy, Published online: 04 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01802-z
Self-adaptive electrolytes have been developed that harness salt concentration-induced phase separation during charging to spatially enrich reduction- and oxidation-resistant solvents at opposite electrodes. This dynamic segregation expands the electrochemical stability window, enabling stable operation of zinc-metal and lithium-metal batteries beyond the limits of conventional aqueous and non-aqueous electrolytes.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Self-adaptive electrolytes for fast-charging batteries
Nature Energy, Published online: 04 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01801-0
Fast charging of high-energy batteries is limited by electrolyte instability under rising overpotential. A self-adaptive electrolyte overcomes this by dynamically expanding its stability window during charging, enabling efficient zinc- and lithium-metal battery operation.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Full steam ahead
Nature Energy, Published online: 01 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01795-9
Protonic-ceramic-based fuel cells and electrolysers are promising technologies for reversible energy storage and green hydrogen production from steam. However, they have poor longevity because they are chemically unstable in high-steam environments. Using a solution-deposited conformal coating to protect the electrode, researchers now reduce cell degradation rates by 100–1,000 fold.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Conformally coated scaffold design using water-tolerant Pr<sub>1.8</sub>Ba<sub>0.2</sub>NiO<sub>4.1</sub> for protonic ceramic electrochemical cells with 5,000-h electrolysis stability
Nature Energy, Published online: 01 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01800-1
Protonic ceramic electrochemical cells (PCECs) interconvert hydrogen and electricity and therefore have potential as long-duration energy storage systems, but the durability of these devices under industrially relevant conditions is limited. Here the authors report a PCEC that maintains low degradation rates throughout exceptionally long-term durability tests.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)