Blog

Nature energy

Volume 5 Issue 6, June 2020

Life supports hydrogen

Photosynthetic and catalytic machineries from living cells can be coupled to produce hydrogen outside the cell using solar energy, though the production is short-lived. Now, Appel et al. rewire cyanobacteria to fuse these machineries in the cell, allowing the cell’s maintenance and replication mechanisms to support lasting hydrogen production.

See Appel et al. and News and Views by Lenz

Image: Jolanda Zürcher Cover Design: Thomas Phillips

Comment & Opinion

Comment | 11 May 2020

Energy access is needed to maintain health during pandemics

Energy plays a central role in responding to emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic, from ensuring adequate healthcare services to supporting households during lockdowns. Protecting the renewable energy industry and its contribution to providing sustainable energy access for all must be an urgent priority in the current crisis.

• Vanesa Castán Broto
•  & Joshua Kirshner

Research Highlights

Research Highlight | 18 June 2020

Charge with air

• Changjun Zhang

Research Highlight | 18 June 2020

Hazards underground

• Fouad Khan

Advertisement Feature

Driving positive change

Korea University researchers are tackling global issues in waste management, energy, and human health.

News & Views

News & Views | 18 May 2020

Fast interfaces

Li4Ti5O12 is a commonly used negative electrode material, but the origin of its fast rate capability has puzzled scientists for decades. Now, a facile Li-ion transport route featuring metastable intermediates is revealed to rationalize the fast-charging kinetics.

• Swapna Ganapathy
•  & Marnix Wagemaker

News & Views | 04 May 2020

Hydrogen comes alive

Light-driven production of hydrogen by coupling natural photosystems or photosensitizers with hydrogen-producing catalysts has been achieved in numerous in vitro systems. Now, a recombinant in vivo system is described that generates hydrogen using a hydrogenase enzyme directly coupled to a cyanobacterial photosystem.

• Oliver Lenz

News & Views | 08 June 2020

Shades of transparency

Dye-sensitized solar cells are promising as power-generating solar windows yet their fixed transparency prevents control of indoor lighting and temperature. Researchers now present a device that dynamically self-adjusts its optical transmittance with sunlight intensity, opening up a way to energy-efficient self-powered building façades.

• Ana Flavia Nogueira

Policy Brief

Policy Brief | 05 June 2020

Sustained LPG use requires progress on broader development outcomes

While the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has been instrumental in increasing India’s liquefied petroleum gas adoption, sustained use depends on factors such as regularity of income and ease of access to free-of-cost biomass. To ensure sustained use after adoption, interventions in clean cooking energy must tie in with broader rural development.

• Sunil Mani
• Abhishek Jain
•  & Carlos F. Gould

Reviews

Review Article | 23 March 2020

Recognition of and response to energy poverty in the United States

Despite its prevalence, energy poverty is not formally recognized in the US as a problem distinct from general poverty. This Review of two federally-funded programs focused on reducing high energy bills highlights the limitations of this approach for effectively responding to energy poverty.

• Dominic J. Bednar
•  & Tony G. Reames

Research

Article | 16 March 2020

Decoupling electrolytes towards stable and high-energy rechargeable aqueous zinc–manganese dioxide batteries

Low energy density and limited cyclability are preventing the commercialization of aqueous Zn–MnO2 batteries. Here, the authors combine the merits of operating Zn anodes in alkaline conditions and MnO2 cathodes in acidic conditions, via an electrolyte-decoupling strategy, to realize high-performance batteries.

• Cheng Zhong
• Bin Liu
• […]
•  & Wenbin Hu

Article | 27 April 2020

The drivers of sustained use of liquified petroleum gas in India

It is not clear what factors drive sustained use of clean cooking fuels after adoption in places such as India and China. With India achieving a liquified petroleum gas penetration of 95%, Mani et al. use longitudinal data from a survey of more than 8,000 rural households to identify the reasons for the uptake and sustained use of the clean fuel.

• Sunil Mani
• Abhishek Jain
•  & Carlos F. Gould

Article | 04 May 2020

Cyanobacterial in vivo solar hydrogen production using a photosystem I–hydrogenase (PsaD-HoxYH) fusion complex

Using photosynthetic microorganisms may be a route to sustainable hydrogen production from solar energy, but hydrogen generation is typically short lived. Here the authors address this challenge by engineering cyanobacteria to construct photosystem I–hydrogenase fusions that produce hydrogen in vivo.

• Jens Appel
• Vanessa Hueren
•  & Kirstin Gutekunst

Article | 08 June 2020

Photochromic dye-sensitized solar cells with light-driven adjustable optical transmission and power conversion efficiency

Building-integrated installation of semi-transparent solar cells is limited by a trade-off between transparency and efficiency. Now, Huaulmé et al. demonstrate dye-sensitized solar cells with photochromic sensitizers that adjust their light transmission and power conversion efficiency with light exposure.

• Quentin Huaulmé
• Valid M. Mwalukuku
•  & Renaud Demadrille

Article | 11 May 2020

Efficient electrically powered CO2-to-ethanol via suppression of deoxygenation

The electroreduction of CO2 to ethanol could enable the clean production of fuels using renewable power. This study shows how confinement effects from nitrogen-doped carbon layers on copper catalysts enable selective ethanol production from CO2 with a Faradaic efficiency of up to 52%.

• Xue Wang
• Ziyun Wang
•  & Edward H. Sargent