Nature energy
Volume 5 Issue 7, July 2020
Compatible by design
Building batteries with energy-dense metallic anodes requires compatible electrolytes. Yu et al. develop electrolytes with single-solvent and single-salt components through molecular design, offering promise for high-energy and long-cycle-life lithium metal batteries.
See Yu et al.
Image: Yuchi Tsao, Stanford University Cover Design: Thomas Phillips
Editorial
-
Editorial | 17 July 2020
Virtually anything can change
Coronavirus-imposed restrictions are putting great strain on academia and the research community but there may be a silver lining in all the commotion.
Comment & Opinion
-
Comment | 17 July 2020
Getting to grips with online conferences
Online conferences are increasingly popular within scientific communities due to the travel restrictions faced by many countries. Although a relatively new phenomenon for many of us, lessons from recent meetings provide useful reflections on the format’s opportunities and challenges compared to conventional in-person meetings.
- Michael Saliba
Research Highlights
Research Highlight | 17 July 2020
Infiltrative coating
- Changjun Zhang
Research Highlight | 17 July 2020
Tell me something I don’t know
- Jenn Richler
Research Highlight | 17 July 2020
Context matters
- Nicky Dean
News & Views
-
News & Views | 18 May 2020
In the loop
Photocatalytic conversion of methane to ethane suffers from low yields due to poor selectivity and quantum efficiency. Now, ethane is produced by a photochemical looping strategy using a nanocomposite of titanium dioxide, phosphotungstic acid and silver cations, with selectivity of 90% and quantum efficiency of 3.5% at 362 nm.
- Fumiaki Amano
- Sheng S. Zhang
- Claire Villevieille
- Lei Huang
- & Yang Liu
News & Views | 22 June 2020
Monolayer guider
The normal operation of Li metal batteries is limited to near room temperature and moderate current rates. Now, a self-assembled electrochemically active monolayer is shown to enable the stable operation of Li metal batteries below –15 oC and at a fast-charging time of 45 minutes.
News & Views | 22 June 2020
Single solvent and single salt
The electrolyte is the weak link when it comes to intrinsic issues of Li metal batteries such as instability of the Li metal interface. Now, a liquid electrolyte consisting of one molecular-designed solvent and one common salt is formulated leading to exceptional high-performance batteries.
News & Views | 29 June 2020
Balanced news for long-term growth
China has the world’s most ambitious plan to expand nuclear power production to boost its economic growth. Now research shows that a concerted effort to control news framing may be playing an essential role in cultivating public acceptance of nuclear risk, helping to ensure sustained development of the nuclear power industry.
Reviews
-
Perspective | 13 July 2020
Research and development priorities for silicon photovoltaic module recycling to support a circular economy
The increasing deployment of photovoltaic modules poses the challenge of waste management. Heath et al. review the status of end-of of-life management of silicon solar modules and recommend research and development priorities to facilitate material recovery and recycling of solar modules.
- Garvin A. Heath
- Timothy J. Silverman
- & Andreas Wade
Research
-
Article | 18 May 2020
Stoichiometric methane conversion to ethane using photochemical looping at ambient temperature
Activating methane at ambient temperature is challenging due to its stability, but could ultimately give access to a variety of other fuels and chemicals. Here, the authors present a photochemical looping strategy based on silver chemistry that converts methane to ethane under illumination at room temperature.
- Xiang Yu
- Vladimir L. Zholobenko
- & Andrei Y. Khodakov
Article | 29 June 2020
Emissions benefits of electric vehicles in Uber and Lyft ride-hailing services
Use of electric vehicles in ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft is rising but their impact on environment and emissions remains difficult to assess. Using data from more than 100,000 rides, Alan Jenn shows the substantial emission reduction potential of electric vehicle use in ride-hailing in California.
- Alan Jenn
Article | 22 June 2020
Molecular design for electrolyte solvents enabling energy-dense and long-cycling lithium metal batteries
The realization of the full potential of Li metal batteries requires high-performance electrolytes. Here Z. Bao and colleagues develop low-concentration electrolytes with a single-solvent and single-salt formulation, offering promise for high-energy and long-cycling batteries.
- Zhiao Yu
- Hansen Wang
- […]
- & Zhenan Bao
Article | 22 June 2020
Low-temperature and high-rate-charging lithium metal batteries enabled by an electrochemically active monolayer-regulated interface
In addition to high energy, batteries need to possess high power and to be able to operate in all climates. Here, the authors present an electrochemically active monolayer-coated current collector that is used to produce high-performance Li metal batteries under low-temperature and high-rate-charging conditions.
- Yue Gao
- Tomas Rojas
- & Donghai Wang
Article | 29 June 2020
Trade-offs between automation and light vehicle electrification
Autonomous driving is being implemented in electric vehicles, but its energy impact is unclear. Here the authors build physics models to analyse the energy demand of autonomous electric vehicles and suggest that the influences of automation on vehicle range and battery longevity are small.
- Aniruddh Mohan
- Shashank Sripad
- & Venkatasubramanian Viswanathan
Amendments & Corrections
-
Author Correction | 03 June 2020
Author Correction: Dynamic stability of active sites in hydr(oxy)oxides for the oxygen evolution reaction
- Dong Young Chung
- Pietro P. Lopes
- & Nenad M. Markovic
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
No Comment