Nature EnergyPub Date : 2025-10-23DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01871-0
Sidney Gathrid, Jeremy Wayland, Stuart Wayland, Ranjit Deshmukh, Grace C. Wu
{"title":"Strategies to accelerate US coal power phase-out using contextual retirement vulnerabilities","authors":"Sidney Gathrid, Jeremy Wayland, Stuart Wayland, Ranjit Deshmukh, Grace C. Wu","doi":"10.1038/s41560-025-01871-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41560-025-01871-0","url":null,"abstract":"Strategically planning the phase-out of coal power is critical to achieve climate targets, yet current approaches often fail to account for the context-specific barriers and vulnerabilities to retirement. Here we introduce a framework that combines graph theory and topological data analysis to classify the US coal fleet into eight distinct groups based on technical, economic, environmental and socio-political characteristics. We calculate each non-retiring coal plant’s ‘contextual retirement vulnerability’ score, a metric developed to quantify susceptibility to retirement drivers using the graph-based distance to a coal plant with an announced early retirement. Separately, we identify ‘retirement archetypes’ that explain the key factors driving announced retirements within each group, which are used to inform group-specific strategies for accelerating retirements. Our findings reveal the diverse strategies that are required to accelerate the phase-out of remaining coal plants, including regulatory compliance, public health campaigns and economic incentives. The phase-out of coal will require targeted strategies. New research assesses the retirement vulnerability of coal plants in the USA based on similarity to plants with announced retirements. The findings highlight strategies to guide and accelerate phase-out.","PeriodicalId":19073,"journal":{"name":"Nature Energy","volume":"10 10","pages":"1274-1288"},"PeriodicalIF":60.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145341923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature EnergyPub Date : 2025-10-23DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01872-z
{"title":"Targeted strategies for accelerating US coal plant retirements","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41560-025-01872-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41560-025-01872-z","url":null,"abstract":"US coal power has been on the decline over the past decade, but there is no path forward for a complete phaseout in alignment with climate goals. Targeted early retirement strategies are now made available for major groupings of coal plants using their key group characteristics and similarity to plants with announced retirements.","PeriodicalId":19073,"journal":{"name":"Nature Energy","volume":"10 10","pages":"1191-1192"},"PeriodicalIF":60.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145341921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature EnergyPub Date : 2025-10-20DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01853-2
Junyi Yue, Simeng Zhang, Xingyu Wang, Jiamin Fu, Yang Xu, Suting Weng, Ye Zhu, Changtai Zhao, Matthew Zheng, Yueyue Wang, Xiangzhen Zhu, Han Wu, Guanzhi Wang, Yu Xia, Mengyan Cao, Qihang Jing, Xuefeng Wang, Wei Xia, Jianwen Liang, Xueliang Sun, Xiaona Li
{"title":"Universal superionic conduction via solid dissociation of salts in van der Waals materials","authors":"Junyi Yue, Simeng Zhang, Xingyu Wang, Jiamin Fu, Yang Xu, Suting Weng, Ye Zhu, Changtai Zhao, Matthew Zheng, Yueyue Wang, Xiangzhen Zhu, Han Wu, Guanzhi Wang, Yu Xia, Mengyan Cao, Qihang Jing, Xuefeng Wang, Wei Xia, Jianwen Liang, Xueliang Sun, Xiaona Li","doi":"10.1038/s41560-025-01853-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41560-025-01853-2","url":null,"abstract":"Conventional strategies for designing inorganic solid-state electrolytes, typically via doping superionic lattices, are constrained by dopant–lattice compatibility. Here we propose solid dissociation in which halide van der Waals materials act as solid solvents to dissolve salts, forming amorphous ion-conductive solids. Using this approach, we discover 73 materials, with 40 exhibiting ionic conductivities exceeding 10−3 S cm−1, conducting Li+, Na+, Ag+ and Cu+. We analyse atomic-scale interactions between solvents and salts, uncovering dynamic structural rearrangements that enable solid dissociation. Across diverse solvent–salt pairs, consistent ionic environments emerge, revealing universal mechanisms governing ion transport in this system. Analogous to the compositional tuning of liquid electrolytes, solid dissociation allows targeted engineering of solid-state electrolytes for specific application conditions. Prototype electrolytes have been developed for fast-charging cells, low-temperature cells and 4.8-V high-voltage cells, and demonstrate enhanced dry-room stability and cost advantages. Solid dissociation offers a versatile platform for advancing next generation solid-state electrolytes. Conventional solid-state electrolyte design is limited by dopant–lattice compatibility. This work introduces solid dissociation, using halide van der Waals materials to dissolve salts and create amorphous conductors with high ionic conductivity and potential for use in devices.","PeriodicalId":19073,"journal":{"name":"Nature Energy","volume":"10 10","pages":"1237-1250"},"PeriodicalIF":60.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145341919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature EnergyPub Date : 2025-10-20DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01854-1
{"title":"A flexible design strategy for solid-state electrolytes","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41560-025-01854-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41560-025-01854-1","url":null,"abstract":"Inorganic salts can exhibit dissociation behaviour in inorganic solid phases similar to that in liquid solvents. This solid dissociation approach is used to obtain superionic conductors, including over 40 materials with room-temperature ionic conductivities of more than 10−3 S cm−1.","PeriodicalId":19073,"journal":{"name":"Nature Energy","volume":"10 10","pages":"1193-1194"},"PeriodicalIF":60.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145341922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature EnergyPub Date : 2025-10-10DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01884-9
Federico Dattila
{"title":"Binding and release in balance","authors":"Federico Dattila","doi":"10.1038/s41560-025-01884-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41560-025-01884-9","url":null,"abstract":"Integrating CO2 capture and electrochemical conversion may lower energy consumption relative to the separated processes, but scale-up is limited by low carbon conversion and energy-intensive solvent regeneration. Now, research shows that piperazine, alongside a Ni single-atom catalyst, allows effective, stable CO2 capture, and conversion to CO in a low-energy process.","PeriodicalId":19073,"journal":{"name":"Nature Energy","volume":"10 10","pages":"1189-1190"},"PeriodicalIF":60.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145341920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature EnergyPub Date : 2025-10-03DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01833-6
Charles E. Creissen
{"title":"Swapping membranes for separators","authors":"Charles E. Creissen","doi":"10.1038/s41560-025-01833-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41560-025-01833-6","url":null,"abstract":"Carbon monoxide electrolysis has the potential to defossilize the production of chemicals and fuels, but its widespread adoption requires costs to be reduced. Now, an electrolysis device using a separator instead of a membrane achieves high-rate ethylene production with a low electricity input.","PeriodicalId":19073,"journal":{"name":"Nature Energy","volume":"10 10","pages":"1183-1184"},"PeriodicalIF":60.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145341928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature EnergyPub Date : 2025-10-03DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01846-1
Rui Kai Miao, Mengyang Fan, Ning Wang, Yong Zhao, Feng Li, Min Liu, Fatemeh Arabyarmohammadi, Yongxiang Liang, Weiyan Ni, Ke Xie, Yuanjun Chen, Puhua Sun, Jianan Erick Huang, Jinhong Wu, Jiheon Kim, Colin P. O’Brien, Yurou Celine Xiao, Zunmin Guo, Panagiotis Papangelakis, Ali Shayesteh Zeraati, Yi Xu, Cao-Thang Dinh, Edward H. Sargent, David Sinton
{"title":"CO electrolysers with 51% energy efficiency towards C2+ using porous separators","authors":"Rui Kai Miao, Mengyang Fan, Ning Wang, Yong Zhao, Feng Li, Min Liu, Fatemeh Arabyarmohammadi, Yongxiang Liang, Weiyan Ni, Ke Xie, Yuanjun Chen, Puhua Sun, Jianan Erick Huang, Jinhong Wu, Jiheon Kim, Colin P. O’Brien, Yurou Celine Xiao, Zunmin Guo, Panagiotis Papangelakis, Ali Shayesteh Zeraati, Yi Xu, Cao-Thang Dinh, Edward H. Sargent, David Sinton","doi":"10.1038/s41560-025-01846-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41560-025-01846-1","url":null,"abstract":"Electrochemical CO2 reduction can generate multi-carbon (C2+) products via a CO2-to-CO cascade followed by CO reduction (COR). However, COR energy efficiency remains below 40% due to sluggish ion transport within charge-selective membranes. Here we introduce an uncharged porous separator that enables facile transport of both ion types, reducing ohmic resistance and superconcentrating cations at the catalyst surface—lowering COR voltage by 150 mV at 200 mA cm−2. In previous electrolyser designs, porous separators were limited by cathode-to-anode H2 crossover; the low diffusivity of C2H4 and CO in water allows a separator three times thinner and 1.6 times more porous, markedly reducing overpotential. Operating at elevated temperatures with a nickel–iron-based anode further lowers voltage by 330 mV, leading to a full-cell voltage of 1.95 V at 200 mA cm−2 and an energy efficiency of 51% to C2+ products sustained over 250 h. The system also achieves a CO single-pass conversion of 97% and a C2H4 concentration of 87 wt% in the product gas stream. Electrochemical COx reduction to multi-carbon products is hindered by low energy efficiency, in part due to sluggish ion transport across charge-selective membranes used in electrolysers. Here the authors use a porous, non-charge-selective separator that enhances ion transport and improves performance for CO electrolysis.","PeriodicalId":19073,"journal":{"name":"Nature Energy","volume":"10 10","pages":"1197-1204"},"PeriodicalIF":60.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145341924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature EnergyPub Date : 2025-10-02DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01840-7
Xiaofeng Ye, Yueming Lucy Qiu, Destenie Nock, Bo Xing
{"title":"Heat pumps can help alleviate residential energy insecurity in the USA","authors":"Xiaofeng Ye, Yueming Lucy Qiu, Destenie Nock, Bo Xing","doi":"10.1038/s41560-025-01840-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41560-025-01840-7","url":null,"abstract":"In the USA, households with heat pumps tend to cool their homes earlier, and this adoption helps narrow the income-based disparities in cooling usage. Heat pumps can help to alleviate residential energy insecurity and contribute to making energy more affordable and homes more comfortable, especially in the summer.","PeriodicalId":19073,"journal":{"name":"Nature Energy","volume":"10 9","pages":"1056-1057"},"PeriodicalIF":60.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-025-01840-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145204896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature EnergyPub Date : 2025-10-02DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01845-2
Xiaofeng Ye, Yueming Lucy Qiu, Destenie Nock, Bo Xing
{"title":"The comfort rebound from heat pumps and impact on household cooling behaviour and energy security","authors":"Xiaofeng Ye, Yueming Lucy Qiu, Destenie Nock, Bo Xing","doi":"10.1038/s41560-025-01845-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41560-025-01845-2","url":null,"abstract":"Adopting clean energy technologies offers households a viable solution to overcome energy insecurity. Heat pumps contribute to this potential by reducing energy expenses and increasing energy services. We examine the role of adopting heat pumps in mitigating energy insecurity, utilizing electricity records from 8,656 households in Phoenix, Arizona. We use a thermal comfort index to examine a household’s energy-limiting behaviour using a temperature–electricity response function. Our regression results show that households with heat pumps initiate cooling at 0.996 °C lower than those without and consume 0.476 kWh less electricity daily per degree increase in temperature. It indicates that heat pumps improve indoor comfort by activating earlier summer cooling. Cost savings from operation have a rebound effect of enabling greater comfort. Furthermore, this adoption reduces the energy equity gap across income groups, resulting in more similar and comfortable cooling start temperatures. This study supports the adoption of clean technologies to reduce energy insecurity. US households with heat pumps begin cooling earlier, and this adoption narrows the income-based disparities in cooling. Heat pumps help alleviate energy insecurity, make energy more affordable and make homes more comfortable.","PeriodicalId":19073,"journal":{"name":"Nature Energy","volume":"10 9","pages":"1166-1177"},"PeriodicalIF":60.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145204893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature EnergyPub Date : 2025-09-26DOI: 10.1038/s41560-025-01881-y
{"title":"Increasing the efficiency of binary organic solar cells through a two-step crystallization process","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41560-025-01881-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41560-025-01881-y","url":null,"abstract":"Controlling the morphology of the active layer in organic solar cells (OSCs) is challenging. Now, acenaphthene is shown to induce the two-step crystallization of non-fullerene acceptors to achieve a highly oriented arrangement. The resulting improvement in the charge transport properties enables a binary OSC with 21% efficiency and a 83.2% fill factor.","PeriodicalId":19073,"journal":{"name":"Nature Energy","volume":"10 10","pages":"1195-1196"},"PeriodicalIF":60.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145341929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}