Dr. Mari Martiskainen is a senior research fellow at Sussex Energy Group (SEG), Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), based at the University of Sussex. Martiskainen is also the theme lead for equity and justice at the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS), based at University of Oxford. She is an expert in energy policy and sustainability transitions research, focusing on justice

Download : Download high-res image (208KB) Download : Download full-size imageSean Overa received a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of South Carolina and is currently a chemical engineering PhD student in the Jiao group at the University of Delaware. His research is on electrochemical processes and reactor design, with a focus in two-step electrochemical conversion of CO2. Primarily

Obtaining phase-pure 2D perovskite films will extend the understanding and applications in various optoelectronic fields. Recently in Nature Energy, Liang and coworkers first present phase-pure 2D perovskites by replacing BAI with BAAc, showing stronger ionic coordination with the perovskite framework. A PCE of 16.25% with enhanced stability was obtained.

Obtaining molecular scale information about the water oxidation mechanism is challenging. In Nature, using experimental and theoretical tools, Nong et al. determine that the rate-determining step on state-of-the-art iridium dioxide involves the chemical O-O bond formation between a water molecule and adsorbed oxygen; the accumulation of oxidized states reduces the barrier for this step.

Bubbles are bad news for electrolysis due to undesired overpotentials, though their impact may be even further reaching than previously understood. In a recent report in Energy & Environmental Science, Kempler and researchers control the microstructure of electrodes to minimize overpotentials caused by bubbles in a photoelectrochemical cell.

The United Nations Statistical Commission’s Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goals (IAEG-SDG) settled on 230 guidelines to assess the 17 SDGs and 169 Targets. The clause of “Leave No One Behind” and scarcity of data in most deserving countries made the UN 2030 Agenda agree on 169 Targets. Recently in Energy Policy, Bisaga et al. used synergies and trade-offs of SDG7 to assess

Building cooling and heating accounts for a large portion of total global energy use and requires commensurate amounts of resources, which contribute significantly to global warming. Traditionally, addressing this issue has meant improving the efficiency of equipment supplying the thermal energy, reducing envelope heat transfer, and reducing air infiltration. However, this approach is already reaching

Jurisdictions and industries are setting ambitious goals to decarbonize energy systems. Low-cost wind, solar, and natural gas and the resultant dynamic electric grid require energy technologies to adapt in order to meet key attributes for modern energy systems: resilience, reliability, security, affordability, flexibility, and sustainability. When considering energy sources independently and competitively

In order to overcome the limitations of static and destructive characterizations of Li-ion battery materials and components, comprehensive investigation peering into batteries over various length and time scales is essential. In this regard, emerging in situ and operando characterization methodologies focusing on multiple size domains become a powerful approach to resolve current challenges and navigate

Electrocaloric cooling demonstrates direct electricity utilization and high energy efficiency, and is often proposed as an environmentally benign, solid-state alternative to the conventional vapor compression cooling technology. As a result, the fabrication of effective electrocaloric materials and engineering of electrocaloric cooling devices have attracted increasing attention in the cooling community

The pursuit of scalable and manufacturable all-solid-state batteries continues to intensify, motivated by the rapidly increasing demand for safe, dense electrical energy storage. In this perspective, we describe the numerous, often conflicting implications of materials choices that have been made in the search for effective mitigations to the interfacial instabilities plaguing solid-state batteries

At the industrial level, separation of a variety of mixtures is predominantly carried out by thermally driven processes such as distillation. Nevertheless, the current literature seems to suggest that much is to be gained by replacing these processes with alternative non-thermal methods, which will potentially require a fraction of the energy used by distillation. This is primarily due to the widespread

Enabling accurate prediction of battery failure will lead to safer battery systems, as well as accelerating cell design and manufacturing processes for increased consistency and reliability. Data-driven prediction methods have shown promise for accurately predicting cell behaviors with low computational cost, but they are expensive to train. Furthermore, given that the risk of battery failure is already

The authors are founding team members of a new effort to develop an Open Energy Outlook for the United States. The effort aims to apply best practices of policy-focused energy system modeling, ensure transparency, build a networked community, and work toward a common purpose: examining possible US energy system futures to inform energy and climate policy efforts. Individual author biographies can be

Download : Download high-res image (171KB) Download : Download full-size imageWanghuai Xu is currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the City University of Hong Kong and the Department of Precision Machinery and Precision Instrumentation, at University of Science and Technology of China. His research interest focuses on water-based energy harvesting, electrical

The rate at which emerging photovoltaic modules are fabricated is an important lever to reduce manufacturing costs, one often underrepresented in solar cell research. In this issue of Joule, Rolston and co-authors demonstrate rapid, air-ambient spray deposition of metal halide perovskite thin films at a rate of 12 m/min for efficient solar cell modules. Their findings point to the feasibility of scaling

A self-driving laboratory autonomously explores high concentration water-in-salt electrolyte blends containing three or four anions.

Renewable energy sources fluctuate. However, the future of electrochemical conversion processes relies on sustainable and economically viable electricity generated from renewable sources. Modestino and co-workers in Cell Reports Physical Science highlight the intersection of electrical and chemical engineering in an electrolysis setup working with the fluctuating prices of renewable electricity.

Batteries can provide power system flexibility and ancillary services important to integration of variable renewable electricity. The high battery cost hampers their wider use. Englberger et al. show in Cell Reports Physical Science that the case for battery storage could be significantly improved by considering multiple revenue streams using dynamic stacking of applications.

Halide perovskites are promising for a spectrum of energy applications including photovoltaics. Decisively characterizing microstructures of perovskites is critical yet challenging due to their soft characteristics. Recently, Rothmann et al. employed low-dose, low-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy to image perovskite thin films at the atomic scale, unveiling key structural