The surface post-treatment of perovskite films is regarded as one of the most effective methods for enhancing the performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and is essential for achieving high-efficiency PSCs. However, a universal strategy for surface post-treatment that accommodates different A-site components and various bandgaps of perovskites has often been overlooked. In this study, we propose a universal strategy that simultaneously applies phenethylammonium bromide (PEABr) and 5-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-thiol (5ATT) to the top surface of perovskite films by a one-step spin-coating procedure. Both PEABr and 5ATT effectively passivate surface defects and improve interface contact. Additionally, 5ATT can infiltrate into the perovskite films longitudinally to passivate bulk defects, thereby achieving effective defects and interface management for reducing nonradiative recombination and extending carrier lifetimes. The optimized devices achieve a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 24.85% (FAMACsRb) compared to the control device, which has a PCE of 21.47%. The stability of the best-performing device is also enhanced, maintaining 89% of its initial PCE after tracking at the maximum power point (MPP) for 600 hours. Furthermore, this strategy is reliably adaptable to the perovskites with different A-site components (MA, FACs, FAMACs) and various bandgaps (1.68, 1.77 and 1.82 eV), achieving a champion PCE of 25.88% (certified at 25.44%) based on the FAMACs PSC. The approach demonstrated in this work exhibits universal applicability across various perovskites, making it an attractive and promising method for the fabrication of single or tandem PSCs.
{"title":"A Universal Strategy for Defects and Interface Management Enables Highly Efficient and Stable Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells","authors":"Wenwu Zhou, Yunhe Cai, Shuo Wan, Yi Li, Xiaoying Xiong, Fangchong Zhang, Huiting Fu, Qingdong Zheng","doi":"10.1039/d5ee00073d","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5ee00073d","url":null,"abstract":"The surface post-treatment of perovskite films is regarded as one of the most effective methods for enhancing the performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and is essential for achieving high-efficiency PSCs. However, a universal strategy for surface post-treatment that accommodates different A-site components and various bandgaps of perovskites has often been overlooked. In this study, we propose a universal strategy that simultaneously applies phenethylammonium bromide (PEABr) and 5-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-thiol (5ATT) to the top surface of perovskite films by a one-step spin-coating procedure. Both PEABr and 5ATT effectively passivate surface defects and improve interface contact. Additionally, 5ATT can infiltrate into the perovskite films longitudinally to passivate bulk defects, thereby achieving effective defects and interface management for reducing nonradiative recombination and extending carrier lifetimes. The optimized devices achieve a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 24.85% (FAMACsRb) compared to the control device, which has a PCE of 21.47%. The stability of the best-performing device is also enhanced, maintaining 89% of its initial PCE after tracking at the maximum power point (MPP) for 600 hours. Furthermore, this strategy is reliably adaptable to the perovskites with different A-site components (MA, FACs, FAMACs) and various bandgaps (1.68, 1.77 and 1.82 eV), achieving a champion PCE of 25.88% (certified at 25.44%) based on the FAMACs PSC. The approach demonstrated in this work exhibits universal applicability across various perovskites, making it an attractive and promising method for the fabrication of single or tandem PSCs.","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":32.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143654139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
All-solid-state lithium–sulfur batteries (ASSLSBs) hold great promise for achieving high energy densities. However, their practical applications are hindered by low sulfur utilization and limited cycle life attributed to the sluggish sulfur reaction kinetics. Although catalysis is an effective way to address kinetic limitations, it often becomes ineffective because solid contact between the catalyst and the sulfur species cannot form the molecular-level interfaces necessary for catalytic reactions. Here, we propose a micropore confining and fusing strategy to integrate the catalysis reaction interfaces on a molecule-level. The prepared microporous carbon sheet confines the small molecule sulfur and catalyst clusters in its sub-2 nm micropores, enabling the formation of integrated sulfur-catalyst-carbon interfaces, which fundamentally achieves a molecular-scale contact for solid catalysis and eliminate the interfacial mismatches in the solid cathodes. Such interfaces significantly enhance the sulfur reaction kinetics and utilization even at high rates. Moreover, the large micropore volume (2.0 cm3 g−1) accommodates the substantial volume changes of sulfur, stabilizing interparticle interfaces both within the cathode and at the cathode/electrolyte interface and finally enabling exceptional cycling stability. The assembled battery shows a remarkable specific capacity of over 1000 mA h g−1 at 1.0C and retains over 85% capacity after 1400 cycles, both among the highest ever reported. The interface engineering proposed in this study offers a practical route for ASSLSB applications.
{"title":"Integrating solid interfaces for catalysis in all-solid-state lithium–sulfur batteries","authors":"Yun Cao, Chuannan Geng, Chen Bai, Linkai Peng, Jiaqi Lan, Jiarong Liu, Junwei Han, Bilu Liu, Yanbing He, Feiyu Kang, Quan-Hong Yang, Wei Lv","doi":"10.1039/d4ee05845c","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d4ee05845c","url":null,"abstract":"All-solid-state lithium–sulfur batteries (ASSLSBs) hold great promise for achieving high energy densities. However, their practical applications are hindered by low sulfur utilization and limited cycle life attributed to the sluggish sulfur reaction kinetics. Although catalysis is an effective way to address kinetic limitations, it often becomes ineffective because solid contact between the catalyst and the sulfur species cannot form the molecular-level interfaces necessary for catalytic reactions. Here, we propose a micropore confining and fusing strategy to integrate the catalysis reaction interfaces on a molecule-level. The prepared microporous carbon sheet confines the small molecule sulfur and catalyst clusters in its sub-2 nm micropores, enabling the formation of integrated sulfur-catalyst-carbon interfaces, which fundamentally achieves a molecular-scale contact for solid catalysis and eliminate the interfacial mismatches in the solid cathodes. Such interfaces significantly enhance the sulfur reaction kinetics and utilization even at high rates. Moreover, the large micropore volume (2.0 cm<small><sup>3</sup></small> g<small><sup>−1</sup></small>) accommodates the substantial volume changes of sulfur, stabilizing interparticle interfaces both within the cathode and at the cathode/electrolyte interface and finally enabling exceptional cycling stability. The assembled battery shows a remarkable specific capacity of over 1000 mA h g<small><sup>−1</sup></small> at 1.0C and retains over 85% capacity after 1400 cycles, both among the highest ever reported. The interface engineering proposed in this study offers a practical route for ASSLSB applications.","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":32.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143660889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Liyu Zhu, Yu Cao, Ting Xu, Hongbin Yang, Luying Wang, Lin Dai, Fusheng Pan, Chaoji Chen, Chuanling Si
Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a class of porous crystalline materials based on reticular and dynamic covalent chemistry. Flexible molecular design strategies, tunable porosity, modifiable frameworks, and atomically precise structures have made them powerful platforms for developing advanced devices in energy storage and conversion. In particular, the emergence of COF membranes has dramatically expanded the application scenarios for insoluble and un-processable COF powders and opened new doors for their utilization in the field of energy storage and conversion. In this process, exciting research activities have emerged, ranging from synthesis methods to energy-related applications of COF membranes. Therefore, in this critical review, current research progress on the utilization of COF membranes for energy devices, specifically fuel cells, rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors, and photo/osmotic energy conversion, is first comprehensively reviewed in terms of the core features, design principles, synthesis methods, properties, engineering technologies and applications of COF membranes. Meanwhile, the key challenges and prospects of COF membranes in energy-related applications are also meticulously reviewed and addressed. We sincerely expect that this review can further stimulate the research enthusiasm for COF membranes in energy-related applications and offer valuable guidance for the design and application strategies of advanced COF membranes with a focus on energy devices.
{"title":"Covalent Organic Framework Membranes for Energy Storage and Conversion","authors":"Liyu Zhu, Yu Cao, Ting Xu, Hongbin Yang, Luying Wang, Lin Dai, Fusheng Pan, Chaoji Chen, Chuanling Si","doi":"10.1039/d5ee00494b","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5ee00494b","url":null,"abstract":"Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a class of porous crystalline materials based on reticular and dynamic covalent chemistry. Flexible molecular design strategies, tunable porosity, modifiable frameworks, and atomically precise structures have made them powerful platforms for developing advanced devices in energy storage and conversion. In particular, the emergence of COF membranes has dramatically expanded the application scenarios for insoluble and un-processable COF powders and opened new doors for their utilization in the field of energy storage and conversion. In this process, exciting research activities have emerged, ranging from synthesis methods to energy-related applications of COF membranes. Therefore, in this critical review, current research progress on the utilization of COF membranes for energy devices, specifically fuel cells, rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors, and photo/osmotic energy conversion, is first comprehensively reviewed in terms of the core features, design principles, synthesis methods, properties, engineering technologies and applications of COF membranes. Meanwhile, the key challenges and prospects of COF membranes in energy-related applications are also meticulously reviewed and addressed. We sincerely expect that this review can further stimulate the research enthusiasm for COF membranes in energy-related applications and offer valuable guidance for the design and application strategies of advanced COF membranes with a focus on energy devices.","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":32.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143654136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pengfei Ding, Xugang Rong, Daobin Yang, Xueliang Yu, Zhenxin Shao, Hongqian Wang, Xiaochun Liao, Xinyue Cao, Jie Wu, Lin Xie, Jintao Zhu, Fei Chen, Guo Chen, Yan Huang, Ziyi Ge
The majority of host/guest materials used in organic solar cells (OSCs) are currently synthesized via Stille reaction, which suffers from poor atom/step economics, low cost-effectiveness, and environmental risks. Therefore, organic photovoltaic materials synthesized through low-cost and green methods are highly required. Here, an A-D-D-A type guest acceptor D-IDT was designed and synthesized by a tin-free direct C–H activation strategy and introduced into the classical D18:BTP-eC9 host system. Compared to the A-D-A type guest acceptor S-IDT, the D-IDT shows a greater π-conjugation but much weaker intermolecular interactions. Its low crystallinity results in good miscibility with the host acceptor BTP-eC9, which effectively promotes earlier assembly of BTP-eC9 and faster aggregation transition. This allows the formation of a smaller phase separation in the active layer, resulting in efficient exciton dissociation and charge transport. Moreover, the voltage loss of the OSCs device reduces by 18 mV when D-IDT is incorporated into the binary system. As a result, the efficiency of the D-IDT-controlled device is increased to 19.92% compared to the device with S-IDT (17.66%). This work provides valuable guidelines for the exploration of guest materials via the C–H activation reaction, while controlling the crystallization kinetics to fine-tune the assembly behavior of the host acceptor.
{"title":"Direct C-H arylation-derived low crystallinity guest acceptor for high efficiency organic solar cells","authors":"Pengfei Ding, Xugang Rong, Daobin Yang, Xueliang Yu, Zhenxin Shao, Hongqian Wang, Xiaochun Liao, Xinyue Cao, Jie Wu, Lin Xie, Jintao Zhu, Fei Chen, Guo Chen, Yan Huang, Ziyi Ge","doi":"10.1039/d5ee00542f","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5ee00542f","url":null,"abstract":"The majority of host/guest materials used in organic solar cells (OSCs) are currently synthesized via Stille reaction, which suffers from poor atom/step economics, low cost-effectiveness, and environmental risks. Therefore, organic photovoltaic materials synthesized through low-cost and green methods are highly required. Here, an A-D-D-A type guest acceptor D-IDT was designed and synthesized by a tin-free direct C–H activation strategy and introduced into the classical D18:BTP-eC9 host system. Compared to the A-D-A type guest acceptor S-IDT, the D-IDT shows a greater π-conjugation but much weaker intermolecular interactions. Its low crystallinity results in good miscibility with the host acceptor BTP-eC9, which effectively promotes earlier assembly of BTP-eC9 and faster aggregation transition. This allows the formation of a smaller phase separation in the active layer, resulting in efficient exciton dissociation and charge transport. Moreover, the voltage loss of the OSCs device reduces by 18 mV when D-IDT is incorporated into the binary system. As a result, the efficiency of the D-IDT-controlled device is increased to 19.92% compared to the device with S-IDT (17.66%). This work provides valuable guidelines for the exploration of guest materials via the C–H activation reaction, while controlling the crystallization kinetics to fine-tune the assembly behavior of the host acceptor.","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":32.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143654145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yi Yuan, yang Hu, Yi Gan, Zhi Liang Dong, Yijia Wang, Enzhong Jin, Mingrui Yang, Frederick Benjamin Holness, Vinicius Martins, Qingsong Tu, Yang Zhao
Sulfide electrolytes have emerged as the preferred choice for solid-state sodium-sulfur (Na-S) batteries due to their excellent compatibility with sulfur cathodes. Despite their advantages, such as high ionic conductivity, mechanical flexibility, and enhanced safety, challenges like narrow electrochemical stability windows and inadequate interfacial contact persist and require urgent resolution. Contrary to the conventional approach of minimizing electrolyte degradation, this study leverages the decomposition of a typically unstable sulfide electrolyte, Na3SbS4 (NAS), to enhance both cathode and anode interfaces. By elucidating the reversible self-redox mechanism of NAS, we demonstrate that a cathode composite containing NAS-S as co-active materials achieves an exceptional discharge capacity at room temperature, surpassing the theoretical specific capacity of sulfur alone. Furthermore, the strong interaction between NAS and a Na-based alloy anode leads to the in-situ formation of a homogeneous interlayer. This passivation layer, acting as both an electron regulator and protective barrier, prevents further electrolyte corrosion and dendrite penetration, resulting in remarkable cycling stability. This novel approach of utilizing electrolyte decomposition offers a fresh perspective on interface engineering, advancing solid-state Na-S batteries towards practical, next-generation energy storage solutions with improved capacity output and cycle life.
{"title":"Self-Sacrifice of Sulfide Electrolytes Facilitating Stable Solid-State Sodium-Sulfur Batteries","authors":"Yi Yuan, yang Hu, Yi Gan, Zhi Liang Dong, Yijia Wang, Enzhong Jin, Mingrui Yang, Frederick Benjamin Holness, Vinicius Martins, Qingsong Tu, Yang Zhao","doi":"10.1039/d4ee06171c","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d4ee06171c","url":null,"abstract":"Sulfide electrolytes have emerged as the preferred choice for solid-state sodium-sulfur (Na-S) batteries due to their excellent compatibility with sulfur cathodes. Despite their advantages, such as high ionic conductivity, mechanical flexibility, and enhanced safety, challenges like narrow electrochemical stability windows and inadequate interfacial contact persist and require urgent resolution. Contrary to the conventional approach of minimizing electrolyte degradation, this study leverages the decomposition of a typically unstable sulfide electrolyte, Na3SbS4 (NAS), to enhance both cathode and anode interfaces. By elucidating the reversible self-redox mechanism of NAS, we demonstrate that a cathode composite containing NAS-S as co-active materials achieves an exceptional discharge capacity at room temperature, surpassing the theoretical specific capacity of sulfur alone. Furthermore, the strong interaction between NAS and a Na-based alloy anode leads to the in-situ formation of a homogeneous interlayer. This passivation layer, acting as both an electron regulator and protective barrier, prevents further electrolyte corrosion and dendrite penetration, resulting in remarkable cycling stability. This novel approach of utilizing electrolyte decomposition offers a fresh perspective on interface engineering, advancing solid-state Na-S batteries towards practical, next-generation energy storage solutions with improved capacity output and cycle life.","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":32.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143654140","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Non-fullerene acceptors-based organic solar cells (NF-OSCs) have achieved notable advancement during the past few years. Recently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) has surpassed 20 % due to the development of new photovoltaic materials and device optimization strategies, however, inferior stability is still a key obstacle that limits its commercialization which is mainly due to a lack of understanding of the underlying degradation mechanism of NF-OSCs. In this review, we first briefly discuss the major development in structural design and performance of NFAs followed by their distinctive features in OSCs and stability measurement protocol. Afterward, we explain various limiting factors and different degradation mechanisms in depth for NF-OSCs. Furthermore, we highlight and discuss the recent progress toward highly stable NF-OSC with a detailed discussion of various aspects and effective strategies such as the molecular design and modification of active layer material, additive, third component approach, interface engineering, electrode engineering, and other potential strategies including encapsulation technique, and single component approach. The main challenges and the guidance for future research to overcome the existing stability issues to achieve stable OSCs are also presented. Finally, the potential role of artificial intelligence (AI) in improving the performance of NF-OSCs is highlighted in the last section of this review.
{"title":"One More Step Towards Better Stability of Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells: Advances, Challenges, Future Perspective, and Era of Artificial Intelligence","authors":"Nafees Ahmad, Jun Yuan, Yingping Zou","doi":"10.1039/d4ee06021k","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d4ee06021k","url":null,"abstract":"Non-fullerene acceptors-based organic solar cells (NF-OSCs) have achieved notable advancement during the past few years. Recently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) has surpassed 20 % due to the development of new photovoltaic materials and device optimization strategies, however, inferior stability is still a key obstacle that limits its commercialization which is mainly due to a lack of understanding of the underlying degradation mechanism of NF-OSCs. In this review, we first briefly discuss the major development in structural design and performance of NFAs followed by their distinctive features in OSCs and stability measurement protocol. Afterward, we explain various limiting factors and different degradation mechanisms in depth for NF-OSCs. Furthermore, we highlight and discuss the recent progress toward highly stable NF-OSC with a detailed discussion of various aspects and effective strategies such as the molecular design and modification of active layer material, additive, third component approach, interface engineering, electrode engineering, and other potential strategies including encapsulation technique, and single component approach. The main challenges and the guidance for future research to overcome the existing stability issues to achieve stable OSCs are also presented. Finally, the potential role of artificial intelligence (AI) in improving the performance of NF-OSCs is highlighted in the last section of this review.","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":32.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143654138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jizhong Zhao, Xiaoxuan Fan, Hongxiang Xie, Yi Luo, Zhifeng Li, Xiao Peng, Guangming Tao, Zhong Lin Wang, Kai Dong
Mechano-electric conversion fibers (MECFs) represent a groundbreaking innovation in smart textiles, integrating the high-efficiency mechanical energy conversion of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) with superior wearability and comfort inherent in textile materials. Despite notable advancements in MECFs, comprehensive reviews and in-depth discussions of their fundamental principles and unique advantages remain scarce. Herein, this review aims to bridge this gap by providing a systematic analysis and objective outlook of MECFs, with a particular emphasis on their transformative potential in revolutionizing energy harvesting and self-powered sensing in human-centered applications. Driven by diverse structural designs, abundant material selection configurations, and high conversion efficiency at low frequencies, MECFs have developed a self-sufficient human surface energy supply-demand system that is autonomous, sustainable and undisturbed. Their high sensitivity is underpinned by a multilinear dynamic progressive response mechanism, facilitating rapid response times and high sensitivity across a wide spectrum of mechanical stimuli. In addition, the prominent applications of MECFs in self-powered wearable sensing are also explored, including personalized healthcare monitoring, human-machine interacting, and smart security protecting. Finally, we discuss in detail the key challenges and bottlenecks that still exist in MECF development, alongside promising solutions and future development directions. This work seeks to establish a comprehensive knowledge theoretical framework for MECFs and accelerate their transition from fundamental research to large-scale practical applications.
{"title":"Revolutionizing Wearable Sustainable Energy Enabled by Mechano-Electric Conversion Fibers","authors":"Jizhong Zhao, Xiaoxuan Fan, Hongxiang Xie, Yi Luo, Zhifeng Li, Xiao Peng, Guangming Tao, Zhong Lin Wang, Kai Dong","doi":"10.1039/d5ee00144g","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5ee00144g","url":null,"abstract":"Mechano-electric conversion fibers (MECFs) represent a groundbreaking innovation in smart textiles, integrating the high-efficiency mechanical energy conversion of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) with superior wearability and comfort inherent in textile materials. Despite notable advancements in MECFs, comprehensive reviews and in-depth discussions of their fundamental principles and unique advantages remain scarce. Herein, this review aims to bridge this gap by providing a systematic analysis and objective outlook of MECFs, with a particular emphasis on their transformative potential in revolutionizing energy harvesting and self-powered sensing in human-centered applications. Driven by diverse structural designs, abundant material selection configurations, and high conversion efficiency at low frequencies, MECFs have developed a self-sufficient human surface energy supply-demand system that is autonomous, sustainable and undisturbed. Their high sensitivity is underpinned by a multilinear dynamic progressive response mechanism, facilitating rapid response times and high sensitivity across a wide spectrum of mechanical stimuli. In addition, the prominent applications of MECFs in self-powered wearable sensing are also explored, including personalized healthcare monitoring, human-machine interacting, and smart security protecting. Finally, we discuss in detail the key challenges and bottlenecks that still exist in MECF development, alongside promising solutions and future development directions. This work seeks to establish a comprehensive knowledge theoretical framework for MECFs and accelerate their transition from fundamental research to large-scale practical applications.","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":"91 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":32.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143654144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under neutral condition is of great importance but remains challenging for achieving practical hydrogen production due to additional water dissociation and low proton supply rate. Herein, this work focuses on Ru amorphous sub-nanoclusters (Ru-ASNs), presenting an innovation that encompasses a surface-confined growth approach and a novel strongly coupled interface engineering strategy, wherein Ru-ASNs are grown on reductive Mn3O4 nanocrystals to form an interfacial catalyst (Ru-ASN/Mn3O4) for superior neutral HER. The strongly coupled effect induced by Ru-ASN on the heterostructure interface increases the proton supply rate by accelerating water dissociation at Mn sites as well as boost hydrogen migration at Ru sites, thus resulting in improved HER activity and stability under neutral conditions. The resulting electrocatalyst demonstrates low overpotentials of -8 mV at -10 mA cm-2 and -190 mV at -500 mA cm-2 only at low loading of 7 µgRu cm-2, a high mass activity of 8.78 A mgRu-1 at -70 mV, and maintains stability for over 600 hours at -250 mA cm-2, representing the highest mass activity of Ru-based electrocatalysts and longest durability under neutral conditions. This work demonstrates the superiority of amorphous sub-nanoclusters in constructing a strongly coupled interface for developing advanced catalysts.
{"title":"Surface-confined Growth of Ru Amorphous Sub-nanoclusters on Reductive Mn3O4: A Strongly Coupled Interface Engineering for Efficient Neutral Hydrogen Production","authors":"Li Wan, Haijun Wang, Biao Zeng, Wenwen Wang, Xinzheng Liu, Yubin Hu, Lixin Cao, Zhongyu Cui, Bohua Dong","doi":"10.1039/d4ee05759g","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d4ee05759g","url":null,"abstract":"Electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under neutral condition is of great importance but remains challenging for achieving practical hydrogen production due to additional water dissociation and low proton supply rate. Herein, this work focuses on Ru amorphous sub-nanoclusters (Ru-ASNs), presenting an innovation that encompasses a surface-confined growth approach and a novel strongly coupled interface engineering strategy, wherein Ru-ASNs are grown on reductive Mn3O4 nanocrystals to form an interfacial catalyst (Ru-ASN/Mn3O4) for superior neutral HER. The strongly coupled effect induced by Ru-ASN on the heterostructure interface increases the proton supply rate by accelerating water dissociation at Mn sites as well as boost hydrogen migration at Ru sites, thus resulting in improved HER activity and stability under neutral conditions. The resulting electrocatalyst demonstrates low overpotentials of -8 mV at -10 mA cm-2 and -190 mV at -500 mA cm-2 only at low loading of 7 µgRu cm-2, a high mass activity of 8.78 A mgRu-1 at -70 mV, and maintains stability for over 600 hours at -250 mA cm-2, representing the highest mass activity of Ru-based electrocatalysts and longest durability under neutral conditions. This work demonstrates the superiority of amorphous sub-nanoclusters in constructing a strongly coupled interface for developing advanced catalysts.","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":"91 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":32.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143640285","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Caikang Wang, Xiangrui Wu, Hao Sun, Zhe Xu, Chang Xu, Xuan Wang, Meng Li, Yu Wang, Yawen Tang, Jianchun Jiang, Kang Sun, Gengtao Fu
Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is a promising technology for sustainable hydrogen production; however, the slow deprotonation of oxo-intermediates on RuO2 during the acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) limits its long-term stability. Herein, we propose an innovative and effective rare-earth (RE)-mediated strategy to accelerate the deprotonation of OER intermediates on RuO₂ matrix by constructing asymmetric RE-O-Ru structural unit. Taking Sm as a RE model, the incorporation of Sm into RuO2 induces the formation of asymmetric Sm-O-Ru unit with a unique f-p-d electron ladder and an adjacent bridged oxygen vacancy (Ov), which compensates for electron loss in Ru species and creates vacancy-localized electronic perturbation at the bridged Ov due to the delocalization of 4f electrons. The optimized Sm-RuO2-x-Ov catalyst requires an overpotential of only 217 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and operates steadily for over 300 h with a negligible degradation rate of ~27 μV h-1 in acid medium, outperforming Sm-free RuO2 and most other reported Ru-based catalysts. In situ characterization and theoretical analysis demonstrate the constructed asymmetric Sm-O-Ru unit prevents the over-oxidation of Ru species at high voltages and accelerates the *OH deprotonation at the surface oxygen vacancy during OER process, leading to high OER activity and stability. The potential role of asymmetric RE-O-Ru units with bridged Ov is also observed in other RE-doped RuO2 systems (e.g., Nd and Lu), where all catalysts exhibit enhanced deprotonation of oxygenated intermediates. We believe that the RE-mediated strategy presented in this work provides a new pathway for designing highly active and stable noble-metal-based catalysts for acidic water oxidation.
{"title":"Asymmetric RE-O-Ru unit with bridged oxygen vacancies accelerates deprotonation of acidic water oxidation","authors":"Caikang Wang, Xiangrui Wu, Hao Sun, Zhe Xu, Chang Xu, Xuan Wang, Meng Li, Yu Wang, Yawen Tang, Jianchun Jiang, Kang Sun, Gengtao Fu","doi":"10.1039/d5ee00281h","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5ee00281h","url":null,"abstract":"Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is a promising technology for sustainable hydrogen production; however, the slow deprotonation of oxo-intermediates on RuO2 during the acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) limits its long-term stability. Herein, we propose an innovative and effective rare-earth (RE)-mediated strategy to accelerate the deprotonation of OER intermediates on RuO₂ matrix by constructing asymmetric RE-O-Ru structural unit. Taking Sm as a RE model, the incorporation of Sm into RuO2 induces the formation of asymmetric Sm-O-Ru unit with a unique f-p-d electron ladder and an adjacent bridged oxygen vacancy (Ov), which compensates for electron loss in Ru species and creates vacancy-localized electronic perturbation at the bridged Ov due to the delocalization of 4f electrons. The optimized Sm-RuO2-x-Ov catalyst requires an overpotential of only 217 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and operates steadily for over 300 h with a negligible degradation rate of ~27 μV h-1 in acid medium, outperforming Sm-free RuO2 and most other reported Ru-based catalysts. In situ characterization and theoretical analysis demonstrate the constructed asymmetric Sm-O-Ru unit prevents the over-oxidation of Ru species at high voltages and accelerates the *OH deprotonation at the surface oxygen vacancy during OER process, leading to high OER activity and stability. The potential role of asymmetric RE-O-Ru units with bridged Ov is also observed in other RE-doped RuO2 systems (e.g., Nd and Lu), where all catalysts exhibit enhanced deprotonation of oxygenated intermediates. We believe that the RE-mediated strategy presented in this work provides a new pathway for designing highly active and stable noble-metal-based catalysts for acidic water oxidation.","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":32.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143640280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Perovskite solar cells (PSCs), recognized as a promising third-generation thin-film photovoltaic technology, offer notable advantages including low-cost production, high power conversion efficiency, and tunable bandgap characteristics. Despite these advancements, scaling up PSCs to large-area perovskite solar modules (PSMs) presents substantial challenges. To overcome the obstacles, alternative deposition methods such as solution-based blade coating, slot-die coating, spray coating, inkjet printing, and screen printing, as well as solvent-free methods like chemical vapor deposition and physical vapor deposition, are being explored to eliminate film inhomogeneity and defects when applied to a larger area. These emerging strategies aim to enhance film quality, uniformity, and scalability, which are essential for large-area applications. This comprehensive review systematically summarizes the manufacturing status of PSMs from fundamental theoretical principles to practical applications in processing, discussing various deposition techniques, and simultaneously exploring strategies to enhance PSM performance in terms of solvent, additive and interface engineering. Additionally, it delves into the stability challenges faced by large-scale manufacturing of commercial products, analyzing and summarizing the latest scribing processing and encapsulation technologies, and providing prospects for module development.
{"title":"Emerging Strategies for the Large-scale Fabrication of Perovskite Solar Modules: From Design to Process","authors":"Bochun KANG, Feng Yan","doi":"10.1039/d4ee05613b","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d4ee05613b","url":null,"abstract":"Perovskite solar cells (PSCs), recognized as a promising third-generation thin-film photovoltaic technology, offer notable advantages including low-cost production, high power conversion efficiency, and tunable bandgap characteristics. Despite these advancements, scaling up PSCs to large-area perovskite solar modules (PSMs) presents substantial challenges. To overcome the obstacles, alternative deposition methods such as solution-based blade coating, slot-die coating, spray coating, inkjet printing, and screen printing, as well as solvent-free methods like chemical vapor deposition and physical vapor deposition, are being explored to eliminate film inhomogeneity and defects when applied to a larger area. These emerging strategies aim to enhance film quality, uniformity, and scalability, which are essential for large-area applications. This comprehensive review systematically summarizes the manufacturing status of PSMs from fundamental theoretical principles to practical applications in processing, discussing various deposition techniques, and simultaneously exploring strategies to enhance PSM performance in terms of solvent, additive and interface engineering. Additionally, it delves into the stability challenges faced by large-scale manufacturing of commercial products, analyzing and summarizing the latest scribing processing and encapsulation technologies, and providing prospects for module development.","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":32.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143640008","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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