Next Energy最新文献

{"title":"Enhancing safety in nuclear-powered water electrolysis for low-carbon hydrogen production: A process safety approach","authors":"Katherine Ireland,&nbsp;Joan Cordiner,&nbsp;Seyed Mojtaba Hoseyni","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100372","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100372","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The global transition away from fossil fuels has piqued interest in hydrogen as a low carbon energy carrier. Incorporating meaningful quantities of low-carbon hydrogen into the energy mix requires safe, cost-effective production at scale. This can be realized through utilization of electricity, steam and waste heat from nuclear power plants to power hydrogen production via water electrolysis. Nuclear power plants have critical safety systems to prevent radioactive releases. Concerns arise over the safe operation of pink hydrogen facilities, as usage of highly flammable hydrogen near nuclear facilities may increase fire and explosion risks. This work undertakes a comprehensive identification and review of hazards linked to hydrogen release, separating management strategies by incident prevention and severity limitation. Available data on the size of this fire and explosion risk is limited, and uncertain component failure rates impedes attempts to execute the quantitative risk assessment required for close integration of nuclear and hydrogen systems. However, close integration facilitates usage of nuclear waste heat, increases electrolyzer efficiency, and supports hydrogen production at a cost competitive with that produced using fossil fuels. This paper reviews the relevant works and identifies safe integration of nuclear and hydrogen systems as a key challenge for economical pink hydrogen production and proposes a series of mitigation strategies focused on leak prevention and detection. This supports a better-informed basis of safety for pink hydrogen projects and innovative design recommendations such as those related to spatial configuration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100372"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144704399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Recent advances in heat transfer enhancement with gradient porous materials","authors":"Xinyu Shi ,&nbsp;Zhao Zha ,&nbsp;Xinyi Zhang ,&nbsp;Binqi Rao ,&nbsp;Xu Xu ,&nbsp;Shuxia Qiu ,&nbsp;Peng Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100369","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100369","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Gradient porous materials (GPMs) by meticulous design of pore-scale structures and sizes indicate high specific surface area and thermal conductivity, and show great potential in mitigating the drawbacks commonly observed in uniform porous materials (UPMs), including significant rise in pressure drop and flow resistance, and the need for high pumping power to provide effective heat transfer enhancement. Therefore, GPMs have been proposed to improve heat transfer performance and are now widely applied in heat dissipation devices, geothermal heat extraction systems and concentrated solar systems. The pore-scale structures and their corresponding heat transfer properties of GPMs have attracted broad interest from multiple disciplines in recent years. This paper presents a comprehensive review of recent progress in heat transfer enhancement with GPMs in order to provide insight on the heat transfer mechanisms and thereby promote industrial applications of GPMs. The structural characteristics, thermal properties, heat transfer mechanisms, and applications of single-layer, double-layer and multi-layer GPMs are summarized and analyzed in detail. And the conjugated heat transfer techniques by combination of GPMs with nanoparticle addition, metal fin insertion, applied magnetic fields, and microchannels are also examined and discussed. Finally, the potential future research topics of GPMs in structural design, material synthesis, numerical simulation, and composite heat transfer enhancement are highlighted.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100369"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144704400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Solid-state sodium-based batteries: Advances, challenges, perspectives","authors":"Arianna Massaro ,&nbsp;Lorenzo Squillantini ,&nbsp;Francesca De Giorgio ,&nbsp;Francesca A. Scaramuzzo ,&nbsp;Mauro Pasquali ,&nbsp;Sergio Brutti","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100357","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100357","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This manuscript explores recent advancements in solid-state sodium-based battery technology, particularly focusing on electrochemical performance and the challenges associated with developing efficient solid electrolytes. The replacement of conventional liquid electrolytes with solid-state alternatives offers numerous benefits, including enhanced safety and environmental sustainability, as solid-state systems reduce flammability and harsh chemical handling. The work emphasizes the importance of structure and interface characteristics in solid electrolytes, which play a critical role in ionic conductivity and overall battery performance. Various classes of solid electrolytes, such as sodium-based anti-perovskites and sulfide electrolytes, are examined, highlighting their unique ionic transport mechanisms and mechanical properties that facilitate stable cycling. The manuscript also discusses strategies to enhance interfacial stability between the anode and the solid electrolyte to mitigate performance degradation during battery operation. Furthermore, advancements in electrode formulations and the integration of novel materials are considered pivotal in optimizing the charging and discharging processes, thus improving the energy and power densities of sodium batteries. The outlook on the future of sodium-based solid-state batteries underscores their potential to meet emerging energy storage demands while leveraging the abundant availability of sodium compared to lithium. This comprehensive review aims to provide insights into ongoing research and prospective directions for the commercialization of solid-state sodium-based batteries, positioning them as viable alternatives in the renewable energy landscape.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100357"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144704559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Contact electrochemistry of metal electrodes in flexible zinc batteries: Interface, performance and application","authors":"Pengfei Zhang ,&nbsp;Manhui Wei ,&nbsp;Hengwei Wang ,&nbsp;Zhuo Chen ,&nbsp;Nuo Shang ,&nbsp;Yayu Zuo ,&nbsp;Meixia Zhang ,&nbsp;Lingling Kang ,&nbsp;Keliang Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100370","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100370","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Zinc metal batteries have the characteristics of high theoretical capacity, intrinsic safety and environmental friendliness, and have shown unprecedented application value in the field of energy storage and conversion. Flexible zinc batteries take into account electrochemical performance and mechanical flexibility, especially excellent deformability, which can meet the development needs of flexible wearable electronic products. Therefore, flexible zinc batteries can be used as ideal reliable power sources for next-generation wearable devices. In flexible zinc battery systems, the study of electrochemistry at the zinc electrode-electrolyte interface is essential to achieve systems with high flexibility, bendability and stretchability, and is closely related to the diverse applications of battery devices. This paper systematically introduces the latest research progress of flexible zinc batteries from the aspects of structural characteristics, key parameters, existing challenges, interfacial electrochemistry, battery performance and future promising, etc., to provide guidance for future research and practical applications. Firstly, the structure and characteristics of the flexible zinc batteries are described in detail. Targeted introduction was given on the compatibility of zinc electrode-electrolyte interface and contact electrochemistry. Based on the existing interface problems, the interface optimization work for improving the performance of flexible zinc batteries was mainly reviewed from 2 aspects: electrode-electrolyte interface engineering and sol-gel transition mechanism of polymer electrolyte. Then, the research progress of flexible zinc battery under various deformation conditions and its practical application in wearable electronic devices were summarized, aiming at providing reference and guidance for the development of high-quality flexible zinc batteries. Finally, the future application scenario of flexible zinc batteries is envisaged, and the development of flexible zinc batteries is prospected on this basis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100370"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144704560","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Renewable energy villages roadmap development for Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Botswana nations","authors":"Nebiyu Girgibo ,&nbsp;Karita Luokkanen-Rabetino ,&nbsp;Pekka Peura ,&nbsp;Getachew Adam ,&nbsp;Tsegaye Sissay ,&nbsp;Abebe Worku ,&nbsp;Misrak Girma ,&nbsp;Mario Einax ,&nbsp;Phalaneng Maphane ,&nbsp;Achisa Cleophas ,&nbsp;Ambrose Kiprop ,&nbsp;Hillary Kasedde ,&nbsp;John Baptist Kirabira ,&nbsp;Kasim Kumakech","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100368","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100368","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article aims to map out a roadmap 2025–2029 for 4 African nations—Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Botswana—and associated policy recommendations. The method is to work on the project, long-term Joint Relationship Between European and African in Renewable Energy Research in Energy Village Concept in Africa (LEAP-RE: WP 14) and mapping polices and roadmaps from experience and literature. The significance and contribution is an example to African nations for developing and mapping out a Roadmap for 2025–2029 for Energy Village (EV) projects. The novelty is the African Energy Villages, which were identified to be unique and different from implementations in European nations. The EV concept identifies and analyses potential supplies of renewable energy (RE) and local consumption needs to help local communities become energy self-sufficient. Understanding policies and initiatives for self-sufficient RE villages in Africa under the LEAP-RE program is a crucial prerequisite in implementing EV concepts using clean and secured sources of RE such as biomass, small hydropower, solar, and wind for rural African people. The main conclusion is that such EVs are able to use more than 100% RE from local communities to overcome the energy shortage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100368"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144704566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring the AI electricity crisis scenario: A case study of Texas-ERCOT","authors":"Rémi Paccou ,&nbsp;Fons Wijnhoven","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100341","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100341","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article explores artificial intelligence (AI) effects on data center electricity consumption by answering the question if and when AI growth may cause an electricity crisis. We study this through combining 3 AI demand electricity and 3 electricity supply scenarios to 9 scenarios and simulating these for estimating their longer-term outcomes on anticipated reserve margins (ARM). These scenarios contain multiple theoretical constructs for explaining AI impact on data centers via a system dynamics narrative, i.e. non-linear predictions with feedback mechanisms through time. We apply our system dynamics simulation model to a specific region because possible conflicts between data center electricity demand and electricity supply capacity manifest themselves only at a regional level. As a case for our simulations, we selected Texas-Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT): an electricity region covering most of the state of Texas. Being a very energy rich area, we see only a few conditions in which an AI electricity crisis, i.e., an ARM below the reference margin level (RML), may happen in Texas-ERCOT, but a decline of the ARM from 31.2% in 2025 to between 7 (which is below the needed 13.75% RML) and 25% in 2030 with data centers taking about 21–26% of all electricity available may likely happen around 2030. The application of our method in other regions may give very different outcomes, but also the Texas-ERCOT region is not free of risks. While this paper focuses on direct AI impacts, it also suggests the need for future studies exploring the <em>indirect</em> effects of increased data center usage on the economy, society, and ecology.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100341"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144489450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"AFCPOA-based optimal dispatch of hybrid PV-wind DGs for voltage stability and loss reduction in radial distribution network","authors":"Sunil Ankeshwarapu","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100347","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100347","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study proposes the Adaptive Fuzzy Campus Placement-based Optimization Algorithm (AFCPOA) for optimal dispatch of Renewable Distributed Generators (RDGs) — Solar PV, Wind, and Hybrid (PV<!--> <!-->+<!--> <!-->Wind) in a Radial Distribution Network (RDN) considering dynamic hourly and seasonal load variations. AFCPOA minimizes total power losses and enhances voltage stability using a Network Topology-based Load Flow approach. Its performance was evaluated on the IEEE 33-bus system and benchmarked against Hybrid Genetic Algorithm (GA)-Jaya, Jaya Algorithm, Shuffled Frog-Leaping Algorithm (SFLA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and GA. Results show that AFCPOA achieved a 42.6% reduction in total losses compared to the base case and outperformed other algorithms by 9–18% in loss reduction, with an average voltage profile improvement of 5.3%. These findings demonstrate AFCPOA’s superior ability to handle seasonal load variability and optimize RDG integration efficiently.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100347"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144489451","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Crossover permeation of catalysts and organic fuels through proton exchange membrane in liquid catalytic fuel cells","authors":"Kangzhi Deng,&nbsp;Kai Feng,&nbsp;Huan Li","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100348","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100348","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Biomass, a renewable energy source, is utilized through physical and chemical processes. Among these, liquid catalytic fuel cells (LCFCs), which commonly use Nafion proton exchange membranes to separate anolyte and catholyte, attract attention for their ability to directly utilize complex biomass wastes and generate electricity under mild conditions. However, this study reveals cross-membrane migration of catalysts and fuels in LCFCs, leading to imprecise measurement of cell performance and organic waste degradation. A typical LCFC is assembled using phosphomolybdic acid (PMo) as the anode catalyst, phosphomolybdovanadic acid (PMoV) as the cathode catalyst, and glucose as fuel. Under ambient conditions, the LCFC achieves a maximum power density of 3.57 mW/cm², but the Faradaic efficiency declines significantly over 5 days of operation, from 32 to 20%. Membrane analysis revealed that Nafion 115 possesses pores ranging from 0.98 to 4.25 nm, allowing the migration of both catalysts and organics. Permeation experiments show that concentration gradients dominate the migration of species. Glucose and mannose have permeation rates of 1.17 × 10⁻¹⁰ and 1.07 × 10⁻¹⁰ cm²/s, respectively, while PMo and PMoV exhibit lower permeation rates of 8.91 × 10⁻¹¹ and 7.44 × 10⁻¹² cm²/s. The electric field significantly accelerates the migration of vanadium, with an electric field-driven permeation rate of 1.48 × 10⁻³ cm³/(s·A). Although model predictions suggest that the cell would fail within 15 days under a 5 mA discharge, experimental results show that the cell had already nearly failed by day 8. This work highlights the need to address permeation in LCFCs through membrane or other system improvements.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100348"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144471514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Review on the performance of crossflow hydraulic turbine for local power generation: Fundamentals and applications","authors":"Nobuyuki Fujisawa ,&nbsp;Tomomi Uchiyama ,&nbsp;Shouichiro Iio","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100346","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100346","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article reviews theoretical, numerical, and experimental studies on the performance of crossflow hydraulic turbine for local renewable power generation from rivers and open channels. The main advantage of crossflow hydraulic turbines is their structural simplicity and low manufacturing cost in comparison with the other types of hydraulic turbines. It is well suited for local power generation in rural areas. This article describes the improvements in the performance of open and closed types of crossflow hydraulic turbines achieved by optimizing design parameters such as the number of blades, blade shape and thickness, inlet and outlet angles, diameter ratio, and aspect ratio. The full operating range of the turbine is summarized, including the off-design conditions. Attention is focused on numerical approaches for predicting the 2-phase flow in the turbine using the volume-of-fluid method and particle method. These are applied to the prediction of the crossflow turbine performance with respect to the experimental results in the literature. Furthermore, the improved performance including the noise of the crossflow turbine using the cavity was demonstrated for the application to prototype design.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100346"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144365646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The effect of catalyst ink formulations and slot-die coating parameters on PEMFC GDE fabrication","authors":"Cecil Felix,&nbsp;Iosif Vazirgiantzikis,&nbsp;Mphoma Matseke,&nbsp;Olivia Barron,&nbsp;Mpfunzeni Raphulu","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100334","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100334","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Slot-die coating is a promising method for mass-producing membrane electrode assemblies for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. Precise control of slot-die coating parameters and catalyst ink variables is essential for achieving defect-free catalyst layers. This study investigated catalyst ink rheology and coating windows of typical ink formulations and extremes. The influence of the dispersing solvent ratio, ionomer-to-carbon ratio, and Pt weight percentage on catalyst ink rheology and coating behaviour was examined. Inks with a 75%-water/25%-n-propanol dispersing solvent ratio exhibited shear-thinning and good coatability, while those with high water content (90%-water/10%-n-propanol) displayed Newtonian flow, leading to poor substrate wetting and coating. Increasing the ionomer-to-carbon ratio reduced the ink's viscosity, while increasing the Pt weight percentage increased the ink’s viscosity. While appearing defect-free, x-ray fluorescence and optical microscopy analyses revealed that the coated catalyst layers often displayed nonuniform Pt loadings and cracks, especially with increasing catalyst layer thickness. The nonuniform Pt loadings were attributed to variations in gas diffusion layer roughness, catalyst layer cracks, and limitations of the slot-die coater. Initial membrane electrode assembly performance tests underscored the importance of material selection, the ionomer overlayer, and hot-pressing to enhance performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100334"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144365647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}