Journal of the American Chemical Society最新文献

The cathode–electrolyte interphase plays a pivotal role in determining the usable capacity and cycling stability of electrochemical cells, yet it is overshadowed by its counterpart, the solid–electrolyte interphase. This is primarily due to the prevalence of side reactions, particularly at low potentials on the negative electrode, especially in state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries where the charge cutoff voltage is limited. However, as the quest for high-energy battery technologies intensifies, there is a pressing need to advance the study of cathode–electrolyte interphase properties. Here, we present a comprehensive approach to analyse the cathode–electrolyte interphase in battery systems. We underscore the importance of employing model cathode materials and coin cell protocols to establish baseline performance. Additionally, we delve into the factors behind the inconsistent and occasionally controversial findings related to the cathode–electrolyte interphase. We also address the challenges and opportunities in characterizing and simulating the cathode–electrolyte interphase, offering potential solutions to enhance its relevance to real-world applications.

We analyse US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) incentives for electric vehicle battery technology and supply chain decisions. We find that the total value of available credits exceeds estimated battery production costs, but qualifying for all available credits is difficult. IRA cell and module credits alone bring estimated US battery production costs in line with China. In contrast, IRA material extraction and processing credits are modest. IRA’s end-user purchase credits are restricted to electric vehicles whose battery supply chains exclude foreign entities of concern, including China. This incentivizes diversification of the entire supply chain, but leasing avoids these restrictions. Lithium iron phosphate batteries have potential to more easily reduce supply chain vulnerabilities and qualify for incentives, but they have smaller total available incentives than nickel/cobalt-based batteries. Overall, the IRA primarily incentivizes downstream battery manufacturing diversification, whereas upstream supply implications depend on automaker responses to foreign entities of concern and leasing rules.

Correction to: Nature Energy https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01642-3, published online 16 September 2024.

As Europe’s renewable energy capacities expand, electricity systems face increased risks of energy droughts—periods of low production coinciding with high demand. We evaluate characteristics of electricity variability due to weather variations by calculating 1,600 years of daily production and demand. Focusing on five European countries—chosen for their energy mix including hydropower—we find that energy droughts result from processes that cause (temporally) compounding impacts in the energy and meteorological system. These can turn what might have been short-term droughts into prolonged high unmet energy demand. For instance, low reservoir inflows in spring quadruple the chance of prolonged energy droughts: reduced snowpack and rainfall lower hydro availability but also dry out subsoils, increasing the chance of heatwaves and therewith extending the energy problems into summer. We identify and quantify three compounding energy/climate conditions and the associated characteristics and risks of multi-year energy droughts, crucial for informing future energy system design.

The electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction towards value-added fuel and feedstocks often relies on metal-based catalysts. Organic molecular catalysts, which are more acutely tunable than metal catalysts, are still unable to catalyse CO₂ to hydrocarbons under industrially relevant current densities for long-term operation, and the catalytic mechanism is still elusive. Here we report 3,5-diamino-1,2,4-triazole-based membrane electrode assemblies for CO₂-to-CH₄ conversion with Faradaic efficiency of (52 ± 4)% and turnover frequency of 23,060 h⁻¹ at 250 mA cm⁻². Our mechanistic studies suggest that the CO₂ reduction at the 3,5-diamino-1,2,4-triazole electrode proceeds through the intermediary *CO₂–*COOH–*C(OH)₂–*COH to produce CH₄ due to the spatially distributed active sites and the suitable energy level of the molecular orbitals. A pilot system operated under a total current of 10 A (current density = 123 mA cm⁻²) for 10 h is able to produce CH₄ at a rate of 23.0 mmol h⁻¹.