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George Zhao and co-authors from Australia and China have written an excellent review of graphene-based electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage.

Read this timely summary of the field today:

Stephen Foster and Sajeev John demonstrate numerically that photonic crystal dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) can provide at least a factor of one-third enhancement in solar light absorption and power conversion efficiency relative to their conventional counterparts in their recent EES paper.

Their design, which consists of a lattice of modulated-diameter TiO₂ nanotubes filled with TiO₂ nanoparticles and interstitial regions filled with electrolyte, has the potential of optimizing both light trapping and electron collection.

Read this HOT article today:

Light-trapping in dye-sensitized solar cells
Stephen Foster and Sajeev John
DOI: 10.1039/C3EE40185E

Scientists from Korea present a major step forward in the field of capacitive deionization (CDI) in their recent EES Communication. They cleverly substituted the fixed carbon electrodes used in typical CDI processes with a suspension of active carbon nanoparticles, achieving excellent desalination efficiency.

CDI is a promising water-treatment method. It has the advantage of being more energy efficient that other processes, such as reverse osmosis. However, CDI is not traditionally used for the desalination of salty water, because it requires a discharging step. After the adsorption of a certain amount of ions on the carbon electrodes in the CDI cell, the cell voltage is reduced and the electrodes are shortcircuited.  The new method presented in this Communication  avoids the need for a discharging step, and therefore allows easy scale-up  by simply increasing the number of flow-electrodes used.

Read this HOT Communication today:

Desalination via a new membrane capacitive deionization process utilizing flow-electrodes
Sung-il Jeon, Hong-ran Park, Jeong-gu Yeo, SeungCheol Yang, Churl Hee Cho, Moon Hee Han and Dong Kook Kim
DOI: 10.1039/C3EE24443A

Shi Su and co-authors from Australia have prepared carbon composite monoliths with superior CO₂ adsorption properties and hierarchical macroporous-microporous structures.

They prepared the monoliths by mixing a commercial phenolic resin with a small amount of carbon nanotubes followed by carbonization and physical activation with CO₂.  Their method is simple and low-cost, and may pave the way for more general use of carbon nanotubes in hierarchically porous structured composites for energy and environmental applications.

Read more in this HOT Communication:

Carbon nanotube modified carbon composite monoliths as superior adsorbents for carbon dioxide capture
Yonggang Jin, Stephen C. Hawkins, Chi P. Huynh and Shi Su
DOI: 10.1039/C3EE24441E

Scientists from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have designed a low-cost Na–ZnCl₂ battery with a planar β′′-Al₂O₃ solid electrolyte. They found that the ZnCl₂-based chemical reactions were complex with multiple electrochemical reactions including liquid-phase formation occurring at temperatures above 253 °C. Their Na-ZnCl₂ battery performs impressively, and offers several advantages over Na-NiCl₂ batteries.

Read this HOT article today:

A novel low-cost sodium–zinc chloride battery
Xiaochuan Lu, Guosheng Li, Jin Y. Kim, John P. Lemmon, Vincent L. Sprenkle and Zhenguo Yang
DOI: 10.1039/C3EE24244G

We would like to share with you a selection of high impact articles, published in Energy & Environmental Science covering the diverse applications of polymers in the broad fields of energy and environmental science.

On behalf of Editor-in-Chief Nate Lewis (Caltech) and Board members Peng Wang (Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry) and Markus Antonietti (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces) we invite you to submit your best research to Energy & Environmental Science.

With an Impact Factor of 9.61 and ranked #1 in its field, Energy & Environmental Science is the ideal place to publish your research.

Read this high-impact polymer research today:

Reviews and Analysis

Strong acceptors in donor–acceptor polymers for high performance thin film transistors
Jonathan D. Yuen and Fred Wudl
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE23505F

Conjugated porous polymers for energy applications
Filipe Vilela, Kai Zhang and Markus Antonietti
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22002D

Prospects for polymer-based thermoelectrics: state of the art and theoretical analysis
Theodore O. Poehler and Howard E. Katz
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22124A

Morphology characterization in organic and hybrid solar cells
Wei Chen, Maxim P. Nikiforov and Seth B. Darling
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22056C

Poly(3-hexylthiophene): synthetic methodologies and properties in bulk heterojunction solar cells
Assunta Marrocchi, Daniela Lanari, Antonio Facchetti and Luigi Vaccaro
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22129B

Overcoming efficiency challenges in organic solar cells: rational development of conjugated polymers
Hae Jung Son, Bridget Carsten, In Hwan Jung and Luping Yu
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21608F

Advances in high permeability polymeric membrane materials for CO2 separations
Naiying Du, Ho Bum Park, Mauro M. Dal-Cin and Michael D. Guiver
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE02668B

Manufacture, integration and demonstration of polymer solar cells in a lamp for the “Lighting Africa” initiative
Frederik C. Krebs, Torben D. Nielsen, Jan Fyenbo, Mads Wadstrøm and Marie S. Pedersen
DOI: 10.1039/B918441D

Magnesium nanocrystal-polymer composites: A new platform for designer hydrogen storage materials
Rizia Bardhan, Anne M. Ruminski, Alyssa Brand and Jeffrey J. Urban
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE02258J

Recent advances in non-precious metal catalysis for oxygen-reduction reaction in polymer electrolyte fuel cells
Frédéric Jaouen, Eric Proietti, Michel Lefèvre, Régis Chenitz, Jean-Pol Dodelet, Gang Wu, Hoon Taek Chung, Christina Marie Johnston and Piotr Zelenay
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00011F

Hydrocarbon proton conducting polymers for fuel cell catalyst layers
Jennifer Peron, Zhiqing Shi and Steven Holdcroft
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00638F

Organic photovoltaics
Bernard Kippelen and Jean-Luc Brédas
DOI: 10.1039/B812502N

Tandem polymer photovoltaic cells—current status, challenges and future outlook
Srinivas Sista, Ziruo Hong, Li-Min Chen and Yang Yang
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00754D

Life-cycle analysis of product integrated polymer solar cells
Nieves Espinosa, Rafael García-Valverde and Frederik C. Krebs
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01127H

Original Research

Reversible CO2 capture with porous polymers using the humidity swing
Hongkun He, Wenwen Li, Mingjiang Zhong, Dominik Konkolewicz, Dingcai Wu, Karin Yaccato, Tim Rappold, Glenn Sugar, Nathaniel E. David and Krzysztof Matyjaszewski
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE24139K

Disentangling the impact of side chains and fluorine substituents of conjugated donor polymers on the performance of photovoltaic blends
Liqiang Yang, John R. Tumbleston, Huaxing Zhou, Harald Ade and Wei You
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE23235A

Integrated energy storage and electrochromic function in one flexible device: an energy storage smart window
Kai Wang, Haiping Wu, Yuena Meng, Yajie Zhang and Zhixiang Wei
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21643D

Electrospun and solution blown three-dimensional carbon fiber nonwovens for application as electrodes in microbial fuel cells
Shuiliang Chen, Haoqing Hou, Falk Harnisch, Sunil A. Patil, Alessandro A. Carmona-Martinez, Seema Agarwal, Yiyun Zhang, Suman Sinha-Ray, Alexander L. Yarin, Andreas Greiner and Uwe Schröder
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00446D

Seamless polymer solar cell module architecture built upon self-aligned alternating interfacial layers
Jongjin Lee, Hyungcheol Back, Jaemin Kong, Hongkyu Kang, Suhee Song, Hongsuk Suh, Sung-Oong Kang and Kwanghee Lee
DOI: 10.1039/C3EE24454G

Microporous organic polymers for carbon dioxide capture
Robert Dawson, Ev Stöckel, James R. Holst, Dave J. Adams and Andrew I. Cooper
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01971F

High mobility organic thin film transistor and efficient photovoltaic devices using versatile donor–acceptor polymer semiconductor by molecular design
Prashant Sonar, Samarendra P. Singh, Yuning Li, Zi-En Ooi, Tae-jun Ha, Ivy Wong, Mui Siang Soh and Ananth Dodabalapur
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01213D

Highly durable and flexible dye-sensitized solar cells fabricated on plastic substrates: PVDF-nanofiber-reinforced TiO2 photoelectrodes
Yuelong Li, Doh-Kwon Lee, Jin Young Kim, BongSoo Kim, Nam-Gyu Park, Kyungkon Kim, Joong-Ho Shin, In-Suk Choi and Min Jae Ko
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21674D

Inverted polymer solar cells with 8.4% efficiency by conjugated polyelectrolyte
Tingbin Yang, Ming Wang, Chunhui Duan, Xiaowen Hu, Lin Huang, Junbiao Peng, Fei Huang and Xiong Gong
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22296E

First implementation of alkaline polymer electrolyte water electrolysis working only with pure water
Li Xiao, Shuai Zhang, Jing Pan, Cuixia Yang, Minglong He, Lin Zhuang and Juntao Lu
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22146B

Improving the cycling stability of silicon nanowire anodes with conducting polymer coatings
Yan Yao, Nian Liu, Matthew T. McDowell, Mauro Pasta and Yi Cui
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21437G

In their recent EES Perspective, Odobel, Pellegrin and Warnan provide an extensive and balanced overview of various bio-inspired systems that utilize the antenna effect to improve light absorption in both liquid and solid state dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs).

In Nature, the optimization of light capture occurs via special molecular units, called light harvesting antennas. These light harvesting antenna collect the incident photons with several different pigments and funnel them by efficient energy transfer to a single molecular unit, which triggers a photo-induced electron transfer chain.

Molecular dyes display discrete absorption bands making it difficult to achieve panchromatic absorption with a single dye. By using a combination of different dyes with complementary absorption spectra in absorbing units, mimicking the light harvesting antenna of natural photosynthetic systems, it is possible to extend the absorbance of DSCs.

As light absorption is the primary step in any photovoltaic device, panchromatic light collection is fundamental to maximize the efficiency of a solar cell.  A lot of work has been performed in the last few years on the possibility of improving the light collecting efficiency of DSCs by exploiting the antenna effect. This excellent perspective highlights how new and innovative multi-chromophoric sensitizers can effectively broaden and enhance the absorption cross-section enabling higher photocurrent density in solar cells.

For an up-do-date picture of this exciting field, read this perspective article today:

Bio-inspired artificial light-harvesting antennas to enhance solar energy capture in dye-sensitized solar cells
Fabrice Odobel, Yann Pellegrin and Julien Warnan
DOI: 10.1039/C3EE24229C