Materials for energy and catalysis articles within Nature

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  • Article |

    A new type of energy-harvesting device, based on protein nanowires from the microbe Geobacter sulforreducens, can generate a sustained power output by producing a moisture gradient across the nanowire film using natural humidity.

    • Xiaomeng Liu
    • , Hongyan Gao
    •  & Jun Yao

  • Article |

    A method of deposition of mixed-cation hybrid perovskite films as lattice-mismatched substrates for an α-FAPbI3 film is described, giving strains of up to 2.4 per cent while also stabilizing the metastable α-FAPbI3 phase for several hundred days.

    • Yimu Chen
    • , Yusheng Lei
    •  & Sheng Xu

  • Article |

    Individual cobalt phthalocyanine derivative molecules immobilized on carbon nanotubes effectively catalyse the electroreduction of CO2 to methanol via a domino process with high activity and selectivity and stable performance.

    • Yueshen Wu
    • , Zhan Jiang
    •  & Hailiang Wang

  • Article |

    A carrier-resolved photo-Hall technique is developed to extract properties of both majority and minority carriers simultaneously and determine the critical parameters of semiconductor materials under light illumination.

    • Oki Gunawan
    • , Seong Ryul Pae
    •  & Byungha Shin

  • Letter |

    PdMo bimetallene, a highly curved and sub-nanometre-thick nanosheet of a palladium–molybdenum alloy, is an efficient and stable electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction and evolution reactions under alkaline conditions.

    • Mingchuan Luo
    • , Zhonglong Zhao
    •  & Shaojun Guo

  • Letter |

    Titration gas chromatography is developed as an analytical method of distinguishing between lithium metal and lithium compounds within a cycled battery and assessing the amount of unreacted metallic lithium available.

    • Chengcheng Fang
    • , Jinxing Li
    •  & Ying Shirley Meng

  • Letter |

    A silicon and tetracene solar cell employing singlet fission uses an eight-angstrom-thick hafnium oxynitride interlayer to promote efficient triplet transfer, increasing the efficiency of the cell.

    • Markus Einzinger
    • , Tony Wu
    •  & Marc A. Baldo

  • Perspective |

    Three years of investigation by a multi-disciplinary team into claims of ‘cold fusion’ found no evidence that the phenomenon exists, but identified a parameter space potentially worthy of further exploration.

    • Curtis P. Berlinguette
    • , Yet-Ming Chiang
    •  & Matthew D. Trevithick

  • Letter |

    Using a double-aberration-corrected transmission electron microscope, intercalation of lithium between two graphene sheets is found to produce a dense, multilayer lithium phase, rather than the expected single layer.

    • Matthias Kühne
    • , Felix Börrnert
    •  & Jurgen H. Smet

  • Letter |

    A robust ceramic/refractory metal (ZrC/W)-based composite for use in heat exchangers in concentrated solar power plants above 1,023 kelvin is described, having attractive high-temperature thermal, mechanical and chemical properties combined with cost-effective processing.

    • M. Caccia
    • , M. Tabandeh-Khorshid
    •  & K. H. Sandhage

  • Letter |

    A ‘magneto-Peltier effect’ produces cooling or heating in a material without junctions, by forcing a change in angle between the current and magnetization in a single ferromagnetic nickel slab.

    • Ken-ichi Uchida
    • , Shunsuke Daimon
    •  & Eiji Saitoh

  • Article |

    Lithium-rich cathode materials in which manganese undergoes double redox could point the way for lithium-ion batteries to meet the capacity and energy density needs of portable electronics and electric vehicles.

    • Jinhyuk Lee
    • , Daniil A. Kitchaev
    •  & Gerbrand Ceder

  • Letter |

    A lithium–oxygen battery, comprising a lithium carbonate-based protected anode, a molybdenum disulfide cathode and an ionic liquid/dimethyl sulfoxide electrolyte, operates in a simulated air atmosphere with a long cycle life of up to 700 cycles.

    • Mohammad Asadi
    • , Baharak Sayahpour
    •  & Amin Salehi-Khojin

  • Article |

    Energy–structure–function maps that describe the possible structures and properties of molecular crystals are developed, and these maps are used to guide the experimental discovery of porous materials with specific functions.

    • Angeles Pulido
    • , Linjiang Chen
    •  & Graeme M. Day

  • Brief Communications Arising |

    • Li-Dong Zhao
    • , Shih-Han Lo
    •  & Mercouri G. Kanatzidis

  • Letter |

    The flavouring, perfume and pharmaceutical industries rely on the selective hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes to generate unsaturated alcohols; here, a new type of highly selective catalyst is described in which platinum nanoparticles are sandwiched between a core and a shell of a metal−organic framework.

    • Meiting Zhao
    • , Kuo Yuan
    •  & Zhiyong Tang

  • Letter |

    A new way of activating the electrodes in solid oxide cells involves applying an electrical potential to trigger the exsolution of metal catalysts to the electrode surface; the success of this technique raises the possibility of regenerating the electrodes during operation.

    • Jae-ha Myung
    • , Dragos Neagu
    •  & John T. S. Irvine

  • Article |

    An artificial composite of the super-ionic conductor RbAg4I5 and the electronic conductor graphite exhibits extremely fast diffusion of silver ions at the interface between the two materials, generating both silver-excess and silver-deficient sites.

    • Chia-Chin Chen
    • , Lijun Fu
    •  & Joachim Maier

  • Letter |

    Blue energy is a desirable renewable resource, involving the osmotic transport of ions through a membrane from seawater to fresh water; here, nanopores have been created in two-dimensional molybdenum-disulfide membranes, and shown to generate a substantial osmotic power output.

    • Jiandong Feng
    • , Michael Graf
    •  & Aleksandra Radenovic

  • Letter |

    Thin-film solar cells were fabricated using layered two-dimensional perovskites with near-single-crystalline out-of-plane alignment, which facilitates efficient charge transport leading to greatly improved power conversion efficiency with technologically relevant stability to light exposure, humidity and heat stress.

    • Hsinhan Tsai
    • , Wanyi Nie
    •  & Aditya D. Mohite

  • Letter |

    A fundamentally different approach to designing solid oxide electrolytes is presented, using a phase transition to suppress electronic conduction in a correlated perovskite nickelate; this yields ionic conductivity comparable to the best-performing solid electrolytes in the same temperature range.

    • You Zhou
    • , Xiaofei Guan
    •  & Shriram Ramanathan

  • Letter |

    Nanometre-scale cracks in a hydrophobic surface coating applied to hydrocarbon proton-exchange fuel-cell membranes work as tiny valves, delaying water desorption and maintaining ion conductivity in the membrane on dehumidification.

    • Chi Hoon Park
    • , So Young Lee
    •  & Young Moo Lee

  • Letter |

    A combined experimental and theoretical investigation of phononic properties in nanocrystal-based semiconductors reveals that unusually strong coupling between phonons and electrons originates from the mechanical softness of the surfaces of the nanocrystalline domains and sheds new light on their recombination in nanocrystal-based devices.

    • Deniz Bozyigit
    • , Nuri Yazdani
    •  & Vanessa Wood

  • Letter |

    Using single-molecule fluorescence imaging of photoelectrocatalysis, the charge-carrier activities on single TiO2 nanorods and the corresponding water-oxidation photocurrent are mapped at high spatiotemporal resolution, revealing the best catalytic sites and the most effective sites for depositing an oxygen evolution catalyst.

    • Justin B. Sambur
    • , Tai-Yen Chen
    •  & Peng Chen

  • Letter |

    Here we report a lithium-ion all-climate battery that very efficiently heats itself up in extremely cold environments by diverting current through a strip of metal foil to generate heat of resistance and then reverts to normal high-power operation.

    • Chao-Yang Wang
    • , Guangsheng Zhang
    •  & Yongjun Leng

  • Letter |

    Lithium–oxygen batteries allow oxygen to be reduced at the battery’s cathode when a current is drawn; in present-day batteries, this results in formation of Li2O2, but it is now shown that another high energy density material, namely LiO2, with better electronic conduction can be used instead as the discharge product, if the electrode is decorated with iridium nanoparticles.

    • Jun Lu
    • , Yun Jung Lee
    •  & Khalil Amine

  • Letter |

    Two flexible metal-organic frameworks are presented as solid adsorbents for methane that undergo reversible phase transitions at specific methane pressures, enabling greater storage capacities of usable methane than have been achieved previously, while also providing internal heat management of the system.

    • Jarad A. Mason
    • , Julia Oktawiec
    •  & Jeffrey R. Long

  • Letter |

    The addition of boron nitride nanosheets to polymer nanocomposites creates dielectric materials that operate at much higher working temperatures than previous polymer dielectrics, as well as being flexible, lightweight, photopatternable, scalable and robust, which now makes them more attractive for electronic device applications than ceramic dielectrics.

    • Qi Li
    • , Lei Chen
    •  & Qing Wang

  • Letter |

    Inorganic–organic lead halide perovskite could be efficient when used as the light-harvesting component of solar cells; here incorporation of methylammonium lead bromide into formamidinium lead iodide stabilizes the perovskite and improves the power conversion efficiency of the solar cell up to 17.9 per cent.

    • Nam Joong Jeon
    • , Jun Hong Noh
    •  & Sang Il Seok

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