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: 2 days 16 hours ago
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>)
Durable passivation for perovskites
Nature Energy, Published online: 30 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01793-x
The performance of perovskite-based tandem solar cells is hindered by the desorption of the molecules that passivate detrimental defects. Now, researchers design passivators with multiple functional groups and a strong dipole to strengthen the binding to the perovskite, enhancing the efficiency and photothermal stability of perovskite/copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) tandem cells.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Inhibiting defect passivation failure in perovskite for perovskite/Cu(In,Ga)Se<sub>2</sub> monolithic tandem solar cells with certified efficiency 27.35%
Nature Energy, Published online: 30 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01761-5
Pei et al. overcome desorption of passivating molecules under photothermal stress in wide-bandgap perovskites and achieve perovskite/Cu(In,Ga)Se2 tandem solar cells with a certified efficiency of 27.35%.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Author Correction: Public and local policymaker preferences for large-scale energy project characteristics
Nature Energy, Published online: 27 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01814-9
Author Correction: Public and local policymaker preferences for large-scale energy project characteristics
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)
Long-cycling lithium-metal batteries via an integrated solid–electrolyte interphase promoted by a progressive dual-passivation coating
Nature Energy, Published online: 26 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01803-y
Stabilizing lithium-metal anodes is challenging due to their high reactivity with electrolytes. This work presents a dual-passivation polymer coating that enhances solid–electrolyte interphase stability, improving cycling performance and increasing capacity retention over extended cycles.
Categories: Nanoscience News (<front>)