EES Blog

Héctor Abruña and coworkers at Cornell University report a computational method for screening potential candidate organic molecules for their energy storage properties. Organic materials are relatively cheap to produce and also lighter than the inorganic oxides most commonly used for energy storage at present.

The team discovered that certain combinations of functional groups consistently produced materials with better performance.

Read the full details of this exciting article today:

Tailored redox functionality of small organics for pseudocapacitive electrodes
Stephen E. Burkhardt, Michael A. Lowe, Sean Conte, Weidong Zhou, Hualei Qian, Gabriel G. Rodríguez-Calero, Jie Gao, Richard G. Hennig and Héctor D. Abruña
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21255B

Jeffrey Grossman and coworkers communication on 3D solar energy harvesting has been highlighted in ScienceDaily. The MIT researchers modelled and built three-dimensional photovoltaic arrays which are able to provide more energy, more consistently throughout a day. The work was also highlighted in our recent blog article.

Read this HOT communication in full today:

Solar energy generation in three dimensions
Marco Bernardi, Nicola Ferralis, Jin H. Wan, Rachelle Villalon and Jeffrey C. Grossman
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21170J

Researchers based in Australia have found a way to convert more of the energy from the sun into useful energy, without massively increasing the cost of the process.

Currently photons with energy below a certain threshold are not picked up by most solar cells, but by combining two photons to make a single photon of  higher energy (upconversion) more of the incoming radiation can be utilized.

Schmidt, Lips and co-workers describe a hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cell backed by  a layer of palladium porphyrin capable of upconverting photons, which are then able to be radiated back into the a-Si:H layer and converted to useful energy.

Read this HOT paper in full today:

Improving the light-harvesting of amorphous silicon solar cells with photochemical upconversion
Yuen Yap Cheng, Burkhard Fückel, Rowan W. MacQueen, Tony Khoury, Raphaël G. C. R. Clady, Tim F. Schulze, N. J. Ekins-Daukes, Maxwell J. Crossley, Bernd Stannowski, Klaus Lips and Timothy W. Schmidt
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21136J

Cost is a major drawback in the current silicon wafer technology used for photovoltaic cells. In this HOT communication Charles Teplin and co-workers report a proof-of concept solar cell using a thin film of crystal silicon grown on an inexpensive CaF₂ “seed” layer.

Read the full details of this exciting Communication:

Biaxially-textured photovoltaic film crystal silicon on ion beam assisted deposition CaF₂ seed layers on glass
James R. Groves , Joel B. Li , Bruce M. Clemens , Vincenzo LaSalvia , Falah Hasoon , Howard M. Branz and Charles W. Teplin
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21097E

David Mitzi and coworkers at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in New York have reported a new Cu₂ZnSn(Se_1–xS_x)₄-type solar cell (where x ≈ 0.03) which has a 10.1% power conversion efficiency. The authors used a liquid processing technique to control the S:Se ratio (and therefore band gap) in the cell.

This type of solar cell is made from elements that are relatively abundant making them good contenders for future affordable power generation from the sun.

Read this HOT article in full today:

Low band gap liquid-processed CZTSe solar cell with 10.1% efficiency
Santanu Bag, Oki Gunawan, Tayfun Gokmen, Yu Zhu, Teodor Todorov and David Mitzi
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE00056C

This paper comes hot on the heels of Professor Henry Snaith’s tutorial paper describing how to accurately measure the efficiency of solar cells. For more details read the full article:

How should you measure your excitonic solar cells?
Henry Snaith
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03429H

Furfuryl alcohol can be derived from biomass and converted to levulinic acid – an important precursor compound for many useful chemicals including liquid fuels – via an acid-catalysed hydration reaction. US-based scientists have explored the mechanism of this conversion and noted several reaction pathways and intermediates.

This is a potentially very important step towards understanding this “green” route to high value compounds.

Read the full details of this exciting research today:

Experimental and Theoretical Studies of the Acid-Catalyzed Conversion of Furfuryl Alcohol to Levulinic Acid in Aqueous Solution
Gretchen Gonzalez Maldonado , Rajeev Surendran Assary , James Dumesic and Larry Curtis
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03465D

We would like to share with you some of the high impact review articles which have been published in Energy & Environmental Science (EES) in 2011.

From authoritative Reviews to personal Perspectives and Minireviews of exciting emerging areas, EES publishes review articles of the very highest quality and impact.

On behalf of Editor-in-Chief Nathan Lewis (Caltech) we invite you to submit your best research today.

Read a selection of our high impact reviews:

Graphene-based nanomaterials for energy storage
Martin Pumera
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00295J

CO₂ capture by solid adsorbents and their applications: current status and new trends
Qiang Wang, Jizhong Luo, Ziyi Zhong and Armando Borgna
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00064G

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

Challenges in the development of advanced Li-ion batteries: a review
Vinodkumar Etacheri, Rotem Marom, Ran Elazari, Gregory Salitra and Doron Aurbach
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01598B

Dye-sensitized solar cell redox shuttles
Thomas W. Hamann and Jesse W. Ondersma
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00251H

Catalytic routes for the conversion of biomass into liquid hydrocarbon transportation fuels
Juan Carlos Serrano-Ruiz and James A. Dumesic
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00436G

Current perspectives on gas hydrate resources
Ray Boswell and Timothy S. Collett
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00203H

Development and challenges of LiFePO₄ cathode material for lithium-ion batteries
Li-Xia Yuan, Zhao-Hui Wang, Wu-Xing Zhang, Xian-Luo Hu, Ji-Tao Chen, Yun-Hui Huang and John B. Goodenough
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00029A

Organic non-fullerene acceptors for organic photovoltaics
Prashant Sonar, Jacelyn Pui Fong Lim and Khai Leok Chan
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00668H

Graphene based new energy materials
Yiqing Sun, Qiong Wu and Gaoquan Shi
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00683A

One-dimensional noble metal electrocatalysts: a promising structural paradigm for direct methanol fuel cells
Christopher Koenigsmann and Stanislaus S. Wong
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00197J

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

Nanostructured silicon for high capacity lithium battery anodes
Jeannine R. Szczech and Song Jin
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00281J

Carbon nanotubes and their composites in electrochemical applications
Grzegorz Lota, Krzysztof Fic and Elzbieta Frackowiak
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00470G

Electrochemical CO₂ sequestration in ionic liquids; a perspective
Neil V. Rees and Richard G. Compton
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00580K

Low-platinum and platinum-free catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction at fuel cell cathodes
Adina Morozan, Bruno Jousselme and Serge Palacin
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00601G

Solution-derived ZnO nanostructures for photoanodes of dye-sensitized solar cells
Feng Xu and Litao Sun
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00448K

The role of buffer layers in polymer solar cells
Riccardo Po, Chiara Carbonera, Andrea Bernardi and Nadia Camaioni
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00273A

Semiconductor/biomolecular composites for solar energy applications
Chuanhao Li, Feng Wang and Jimmy C. Yu
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00162G

Zeolite-catalyzed biomass conversion to fuels and chemicals
Esben Taarning, Christian M. Osmundsen, Xiaobo Yang, Bodil Voss, Simon I. Andersen and Claus H. Christensen
DOI: 10.1039/C004518G

Advanced carbon aerogels for energy applications
Juergen Biener, Michael Stadermann, Matthew Suss, Marcus A. Worsley, Monika M. Biener, Klint A. Rose and Theodore F. Baumann
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00627K

Underneath the fascinations of carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoribbons
Wei-Tao Zheng and Chang Q Sun
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00434K

New conjugated polymers for plastic solar cells
David Gendron and Mario Leclerc
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01072G

You can find many more excellent reviews on our website.

Current photovoltaic technology relies on the use of silicon wafers which must be ultrapure and are very expensive to produce. Now Goyal and co-workers have come up with an exciting and much cheaper solution: thin films of silicon on a much cheaper Ni-W template.

Read the full details in this HOT EES communication today:

Heteroepitaxial film silicon solar cell grown on Ni-W foils
Sung Hun Wee, Claudia Cantoni, Thomas R. Fanning, Charles W. Teplin, Daniela F. Bogorin, Jon Bornstein, Karen Bowers, Paul Schroeter, Falah Hasoon, Howard M. Branz, M. Parans Paranthaman and Amit Goyal
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03350J