Nature Energy最新文献

Home storage systems play an important role in the integration of residential photovoltaic systems and have recently experienced strong market growth worldwide. However, standardized methods for quantifying capacity fade during field operation are lacking, and therefore the European batteries regulation demands the development of reliable and transparent state of health estimations. Here we present real-world data from 21 privately operated lithium-ion systems in Germany, based on up to 8 years of high-resolution field measurements. We develop a scalable capacity estimation method based on the operational data and validate it through regular field capacity tests. The results show that systems lose about two to three percentage points of usable capacity per year on average. Our contribution includes the publication of an impactful dataset comprising approximately 106 system years, 14 billion data points and 146 gigabytes, aiming to address the shortage of public datasets in this field.

Interfacial molecules have been demonstrated to improve the photovoltaic performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, the effect is influenced by the targeted substrate and, in particular, by its bond with the interfacial molecule. A weaker bonding of the interfacial molecule with the substrate usually implies a stronger bonding with the perovskite that could lead to uncontrollable insertion of the interfacial molecule into the perovskite bulk, resulting in device degradation. Here we select bis(2-aminoethyl) ether (BAE) as the interfacial molecule between the perovskite and the electron transport layer (ETL) in n–i–p PSCs and develop a strategy to harmonize the strength of the bilateral bonds of BAE. In particular, we manipulate the electronic structure of the ETL with doping to increase the strength of the BAE–ETL bond. This thereby results in a weakening of the BAE–perovskite bond. The harmonization in bilateral bonds of the interfacial molecule leads to PSCs with an efficiency surpassing 26.5% (certified as 26.31%) and improved stability.

Electrochemical reduction of CO₂ (CO₂RR) to multi-carbon products is a promising technology to store intermittent renewable electricity into high-added-value chemicals and close the carbon cycle. Its industrial scalability requires electrocatalysts to be highly selective to certain products, such as ethylene or ethanol. However, a substantial knowledge gap prevents the design of tailor-made materials, as the properties ruling the catalyst selectivity remain elusive. Here we combined in situ surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and density functional theory on Cu electrocatalysts to unveil the reaction scheme for CO₂RR to C₂₊ products. Ethylene generation occurs when *OC–CO(H) dimers form via CO coupling on undercoordinated Cu sites. The ethanol route opens up only in the presence of highly compressed and distorted Cu domains with deep s-band states via the crucial intermediate *OCHCH₂. By identifying and tracking the critical intermediates and specific active sites, our work provides guidelines to selectively decouple ethylene and ethanol production on rationally designed catalysts.

High-entropy oxides have expanded the potential for high-performance Na-ion battery cathodes due to their vast compositional space and entropy-driven stabilization. However, a rational design approach for optimizing their composition is still lacking. Here, we develop an O3-type oxide cathode composed of all-3d transition metals, NaNi_0.3Cu_0.1Fe_0.2Mn_0.3Ti_0.1O₂ (NCFMT), which exhibits improved reversible specific capacity and exceptional cycling stability. Replacing Ti⁴⁺ with Sn⁴⁺ ions (NaNi_0.3Cu_0.1Fe_0.2Mn_0.3Sn_0.1O₂; NCFMS) results in poor structural reversibility and diminished cycling stability. Our investigations suggest that the structural integrity of the layered cathode is affected by the compatibility of constituent elements within the transition metal layers (TMO₂). In NCFMS, planar strain induced by metal-ion displacement triggers elemental segregation and crack formation during repeated cycling. In contrast, NCFMT demonstrates a robust structural framework for stable Na⁺ storage due to its high mechanochemical compatibility among constituent elements. This understanding provides insights for designing outstanding layered high-entropy cathode materials.