{"title":"Deciphering halide ion migration and performance loss in wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells: connection, mechanism, and solutions","authors":"Yuxiao Guo, Hairen Tan and Bo Xu","doi":"10.1039/D5EE03136B","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5EE03136B","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Wide-bandgap (WBG, ≥1.60 eV) mixed-halide perovskites with tunable bandgaps are pivotal for advancing tandem photovoltaics (PVs). However, WBG perovskite solar cells (PSCs) suffer from severe performance loss, often directly linked to halide ion migration (HIM). While strategies to suppress HIM have improved device properties, the underlying relation between HIM and device performance remains ambiguous and contentious. In this minireview, we summarize and evaluate the origins of voltage (<em>V</em><small><sub>OC</sub></small>) and current (<em>J</em><small><sub>SC</sub></small>) losses and critically assess their correlation with HIM-driven issues, such as phase heterogeneity and carrier funneling. Furthermore, we propose research priorities to resolve this matter in a nutshell: (i) mechanistic investigation of iodide(<small>I</small>)-rich terminal (∼1.60 eV) domains, including spatiotemporal resolved mapping and interfacial carrier dynamics and (ii) regulation strategies, such as additive and interface engineering, to mitigate adverse effects caused by HIM. By elucidating the mechanistic interplay between HIM and performance decay, this work aims to offer more powerful guidance for efficient and photostable WBG perovskite-related PVs.</p>","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":" 19","pages":" 8744-8755"},"PeriodicalIF":30.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144825129","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}
Biao Zhou, Mingliang Li, Qi Xiong, Liren Zhang, Shiwei Zhang, Jiayun Sun, Jinyao Tang and Wallace C. H. Choy
{"title":"Soft conjugation extension strategy of self-assembled molecules for achieving efficient and mechanically stable flexible perovskite solar cells","authors":"Biao Zhou, Mingliang Li, Qi Xiong, Liren Zhang, Shiwei Zhang, Jiayun Sun, Jinyao Tang and Wallace C. H. Choy","doi":"10.1039/D5EE03823E","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5EE03823E","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Flexible perovskite solar cells (f-PSCs) hold immense potential for wearable and portable applications but face critical challenges in terms of efficiency and mechanical durability. Herein, we propose a soft conjugation extension strategy for designing self-assembled molecules (SAMs) to simultaneously address these issues. Interestingly, by developing a series of [2-(9<em>H</em>-carbazol-9-yl)ethyl]phosphonic acid (2PACz) derivatives using this strategy, we show that (2-(3,6-bis(2-phenylthiophen-5-yl)-9<em>H</em>-carbazol-9-yl)ethyl)phosphonic acid (PhT-2PACz) offers strong interactions at “all-side” interfaces, including ITO/SAMs and SAMs/perovskite interfaces, and improves electrical and mechanical contacts. Specifically, PhT-2PACz exhibits a superior self-assembly quality on ITO due to enhanced intermolecular interactions brought about by the soft conjugation moiety. Meanwhile, PhT-2PACz actively bonds to the perovskite at the buried interface. Furthermore, PhT-2PACz improves the crystallinity and flexibility of perovskite films. These synergies yield f-PSCs with a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 24.75% (26.02% for rigid device) and exceptional operational stability (T80 > 1000 hours), surpassing widely used 2PACz-based devices. Crucially, PhT-2PACz devices retain 97% of their initial PCE after 4000 multidirectional bending cycles (radius: 4 mm) with ignorable structural damage, while 2PACz devices degrade catastrophically after 1400 cycles with adverse structural damage and electrical failures. Mechanical tests performed under harsher conditions show that our devices show the best mechanical durability among SAM-based f-PSCs. This work contributes to the design of SAMs for simultaneously enhancing electronic performance, operational stability, and mechanical durability of f-PSCs, advancing their commercial viability.</p>","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":" 19","pages":" 8803-8814"},"PeriodicalIF":30.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144825131","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}
Xingtang Xu, Chonghua Li, Wang Li, Jie Feng and Wen-Ying Li
{"title":"Molecular solar thermal energy storage devices: toward a more sustainable future","authors":"Xingtang Xu, Chonghua Li, Wang Li, Jie Feng and Wen-Ying Li","doi":"10.1039/D5EE02556G","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5EE02556G","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The escalating demand for renewable energy is driving the rapid advancement of innovative energy storage and conversion technologies. Molecular solar thermal (MOST) systems, as a promising alternative energy solution, typically store photon energy as chemical energy in molecules <em>via</em> processes such as photoisomerization or cycloaddition reactions. This stored energy can then be released in the form of heat in a controlled manner upon external stimulation. Despite demonstrating tremendous potential under laboratory conditions, this technology still faces significant challenges in translation to functional devices. Recently, however, this dynamic field has begun to shift gradually from fundamental research toward functional applications, with notable progress being achieved. In this review, we systematically summarize the latest advances in functional devices based on MOST systems. We emphasize the key performance parameters and classification of MOST systems, and discuss the advantages and challenges of various MOST devices – with a particular focus on their significant potential for functionalized applications. Furthermore, we analyze emerging strategies and future opportunities for the development of MOST devices, aiming to facilitate their innovative application and propel further progress in MOST systems research.</p>","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":" 20","pages":" 8990-9017"},"PeriodicalIF":30.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144840011","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}
Wendi Guo, Søren Byg Vilsen, Yaqi Li, Ashima Verma, Daniel Ioan Stroe and Daniel Brandell
{"title":"Uncovering the impact of battery design parameters on health and lifetime using short charging segments","authors":"Wendi Guo, Søren Byg Vilsen, Yaqi Li, Ashima Verma, Daniel Ioan Stroe and Daniel Brandell","doi":"10.1039/D5EE03268G","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5EE03268G","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Frequent fast charging of lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) demands robust health monitoring, not only to ensure long-term performance and user confidence, but also to support emerging applications such as vehicle-to-grid (V2G), where energy flows bidirectionally between EVs and the grid. Without clear insight into how upstream design parameters such as solid-state diffusion coefficient, electrode thickness, particle radius, lithium-ion concentration, and porosity impact battery health in real-world use, however, valuable opportunities to optimize early-stage designs and develop tailored usage strategies to mitigate degradation may be lost. This work proposes a machine learning (ML) framework built on a digital twin model that links key design parameters to real-world behaviors of graphite/nickel–manganese–cobalt–oxide LiBs under a diverse range of fast charging protocols, depths of discharge, and dynamic discharge profiles representative of applications in Nordic climates. The framework infers six key design parameters directly from short charging segments, enabling rapid health prediction within seconds. Notably, this approach improves the robustness of health and lifetime predictions by up to 65% and 69%, respectively, compared to baseline multi-layer perceptron and linear regression models, while also outperforming the baseline random forest model, with a training time of 1 second. The strong physical correlation between capacity variability and three design parameters—solid-state diffusion coefficient, particle radius, and electrode thickness—during fast charging highlights their vital role in determining the degradation pathways. The framework can be readily integrated into upstream workflows and battery management systems, enabling end users to tailor usage patterns and guiding developers toward improved design strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":" 18","pages":" 8462-8474"},"PeriodicalIF":30.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2025/ee/d5ee03268g?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144819528","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}
Zixuan Guo, Fengyu Lai, Bowen Song, Shubo Wang, Harishchandra Singh, Parisa Talebi, Lin Zhu, Yuran Niu, Graham King, Yucheng Huang and Baoyou Geng
{"title":"Scalable synthesis of amorphous NiFe oxide hollow microspheres via glucose-mediated spray pyrolysis for industrial hydrogen production","authors":"Zixuan Guo, Fengyu Lai, Bowen Song, Shubo Wang, Harishchandra Singh, Parisa Talebi, Lin Zhu, Yuran Niu, Graham King, Yucheng Huang and Baoyou Geng","doi":"10.1039/D5EE01802A","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5EE01802A","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Developing high-performance, low-cost oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts is crucial for advancing anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) in large-scale industrial green hydrogen production. Herein, We report a glucose-mediated spray pyrolysis method for synthesizing amorphous NiFe bimetal oxide hollow microspheres (A-NiFeO<small><sub><em>x</em></sub></small>) with controlled crystallinity, hierarchical porosity, and atomic-level compositional uniformity. Glucose acts as a dynamic template, guiding hollow structure formation through a self-limiting gas expansion mechanism and stabilizing the amorphous phase <em>via</em> kinetic trapping. The optimized A-NiFeO<small><sub><em>x</em></sub></small>-400 catalyst achieves ultralow overpotentials of 248 mV at 10 mA cm<small><sup>−2</sup></small>, 274 mV at 50 mA cm<small><sup>−2</sup></small>, and 288 mV at 100 mA cm<small><sup>−2</sup></small>, outperforming both its crystalline counterparts and commercial RuO<small><sub>2</sub></small>. Operando spectroscopic analysis confirms that A-NiFeO<small><sub><em>x</em></sub></small>-400 primarily follows the adsorbate evolution mechanism (AEM) under high current densities. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that structural amorphization induces localized charge redistribution around Fe centers, lowering the OER energy barrier by 0.72 eV through enhanced *OOH adsorption. In practical AEMWE systems, A-NiFeO<small><sub><em>x</em></sub></small>-400 achieves an unprecedented industrial current density of 10 A cm<small><sup>−2</sup></small> at 3.56 V, while maintaining remarkable stability with approximately 1.25% activity decay over 800 h operation at 1 A cm<small><sup>−2</sup></small>. This method is scalable across 11 transition metal oxides and produces over 10 grams in 4 hours. By integrating atomic-scale electronic engineering with industrial manufacturability, it establishes a model for designing next-generation electrocatalysts for gigawatt-scale hydrogen production.</p>","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":" 18","pages":" 8549-8563"},"PeriodicalIF":30.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144819585","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}
{"title":"Central core asymmetric acceptor design enables over 20% efficiency in binary organic solar cells by suppressing non-radiative energy loss and optimizing nanomorphology","authors":"Jian Liu, Zhaochen Suo, Longyu Li, Wenkai Zhao, Jingyi Huo, Jiye Chen, Guankui Long, Zhaoyang Yao, Chenxi Li, Xiangjian Wan and Yongsheng Chen","doi":"10.1039/D5EE03005F","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5EE03005F","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Asymmetric acceptors characterized by core asymmetry exhibit great potential for achieving outstanding efficiency, despite the limited number of relevant studies reported to date. In this work, we propose an asymmetric molecular design strategy that combines core asymmetric substitution with halogenation engineering to design and synthesize two acceptors, namely Ph-2F and Ph-2Cl. The two acceptors showed high photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) induced by the asymmetric substitution central core, leading to a reduction in non-radiative energy loss. Meanwhile, the two acceptors demonstrate good miscibility and optimized morphology with the donor PM6. Consequently, the binary OSCs based on PM6:Ph-2F and PM6:Ph-2Cl achieved high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 20.33% (certified 19.70%) and 19.13%, respectively. Note that the efficiency of 20.33% is the highest value reported for asymmetric acceptor-based binary OSCs so far. Remarkably, an outstanding PCE of 17.16% was obtained in a 13.5 cm<small><sup>2</sup></small> module, the highest value reported for binary OSC modules to date. Our work highlights the great potential of core-asymmetry molecular design strategies in improving device performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":" 18","pages":" 8658-8666"},"PeriodicalIF":30.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144819586","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}
Weiwei Zhang, Xiran He, Peiyao Pan, Jiantao Wang, Lu Liu, Long Hou, Xue Fan, Xionggang Lu, Xing Yu and Xi Li
{"title":"Cr-enhanced selective dealloying and sequential electrochemical reconstruction to tailor NiFe-based integrated catalysts for industrial-level water oxidation","authors":"Weiwei Zhang, Xiran He, Peiyao Pan, Jiantao Wang, Lu Liu, Long Hou, Xue Fan, Xionggang Lu, Xing Yu and Xi Li","doi":"10.1039/D5EE03448E","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5EE03448E","url":null,"abstract":"<p > <em>In situ</em> reconstruction of multi-element alloys into oxyhydroxides is a promising path to efficient, durable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts. However, uncontrolled elemental dissolution during reconstruction disrupts target compositions, compromising long-term stability under industrial conditions. Here, we present a controllable multi-step electrochemical etching strategy for precise surface composition and structure regulation. Through sequential Cr-reinforced acid and basic etching under high current densities, we fabricate an integrated NiFe–OOH@Ni/Fe–Cr<small><sub>2</sub></small>O<small><sub>3</sub></small>@NiFeCr catalyst (NiFeCr–aee/bee). Acid electrochemical etching drives competitive dealloying and surface oxidation, generating a mixed Ni/Fe-doped Cr<small><sub>2</sub></small>O<small><sub>3</sub></small> and NiFe–OOH nanostructure (Ni/Fe–Cr<small><sub>2</sub></small>O<small><sub>3</sub></small>). Subsequent basic electrochemical etching induces surface Cr leaching and enhances surface Ni/Fe hydroxylation, forming more refined NiFe–OOH@Ni/Fe–Cr<small><sub>2</sub></small>O<small><sub>3</sub></small> core–shell nanoparticles with abundant active sites. This process rearranges energy levels, greatly enhancing charge transfer and OER kinetics. NiFeCr–aee/bee requires an overpotential of only 292 mV at 1000 mA cm<small><sup>−2</sup></small> and a Tafel slope of 27.3 mV dec<small><sup>−1</sup></small>. After over 1000 h of continuous operation at 500 mA cm<small><sup>−2</sup></small>, the overpotential decreases by 12 mV, indicating ongoing surface activation. Coupled with a Ni<small><sub>4</sub></small>Mo/MoO<small><sub>2</sub></small>/Ni cathode in full-cell electrolysis, only 1.63 V is needed for 500 mA cm<small><sup>−2</sup></small> with stability exceeding 1100 h. This work introduces a novel approach for customizing high-performance electrocatalysts by precisely controlling the selective dealloying and self-reconstruction of multi-element alloys through multi-step electrochemical etching.</p>","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":" 18","pages":" 8697-8707"},"PeriodicalIF":30.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144812997","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}
Shunshun Zhao, Sinian Yang, Xuanrui Huang, Xinwei Wang, Haojie Xu, Qing Ma, Yong Chen, Guoxiu Wang and Shimou Chen
{"title":"A Janus-type quasi-solid-state electrolyte enabling dual-ion relay for long lifespan of nonaqueous zinc batteries","authors":"Shunshun Zhao, Sinian Yang, Xuanrui Huang, Xinwei Wang, Haojie Xu, Qing Ma, Yong Chen, Guoxiu Wang and Shimou Chen","doi":"10.1039/D5EE03224E","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5EE03224E","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Quasi-solid-state or solid-state electrolytes are promising to address the long-standing challenges in zinc batteries, such as zinc dendrite formation and inevitable side reactions. Herein, we report an anhydrous Janus quasi-solid-state electrolyte that enables superior long-cycle performance of zinc batteries <em>via</em> a dual-ion relay mechanism. The spontaneously formed built-in electric field between PVDF-HFP and PMMA polymer layers induces an ionic double layer (IDL), which effectively addresses the inherent limitations in ionic transport kinetics within solid-state anhydrous systems operating under low-salt-concentration conditions. Benefiting from the electrolyte-constructed IDL and the derived organic outer–inorganic inner gradient SEI, effective ion rectification and transport have been achieved. Thus, Zn||Zn symmetric cells exhibited highly reversible zinc plating/stripping without dendrite growth, achieving cycle lifetimes exceeding 13 300 h at 25 °C and 3000 h at 60 °C. A full battery with a polyaniline cathode demonstrated exceptional stability (>10 000 cycles) and reliable operation from 25 °C to 80 °C. This innovative strategy significantly advances solid-state electrolyte design for zinc batteries and establishes a new paradigm for high-performance, safe, and durable energy storage systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":" 18","pages":" 8618-8630"},"PeriodicalIF":30.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144812940","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}
Tianye Zheng, Haihong Bao, Feifan Chen, Jingwen Wu, Pengcheng Zhao, Hoi Lut Ho, Shoufei Gao, Yingying Wang, Jiaqiang Huang, Leiting Zhang, Steven T. Boles and Wei Jin
{"title":"Operando monitoring of gassing dynamics in lithium-ion batteries with optical fiber photothermal spectroscopy","authors":"Tianye Zheng, Haihong Bao, Feifan Chen, Jingwen Wu, Pengcheng Zhao, Hoi Lut Ho, Shoufei Gao, Yingying Wang, Jiaqiang Huang, Leiting Zhang, Steven T. Boles and Wei Jin","doi":"10.1039/D5EE04211A","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5EE04211A","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Gaseous molecules are inherent byproducts of (electro-)chemical reactions in lithium-ion battery cells during both formation cycles and long-term operation. While monitoring gas evolution can help understand battery chemistry and predict battery performance, the complex nature of gas dynamics makes conventional mass spectrometry approaches insufficient for real-time detection. Here, we present a radically different methodology for <em>operando</em> analysis of gas evolution in lithium-ion batteries using optical fiber photothermal spectroscopy. By placing an optical hollow-core fiber inside the battery cell, evolved gases can rapidly diffuse into the hollow core of the fiber, enabling photothermal spectroscopy which precisely and selectively quantifies their concentrations without altering the internal operation of the cell. This approach facilitates identification of individual gaseous species, thereby allowing for further clarification (electro-)chemical reaction pathways. Collectively, we show that the evolution paths of C<small><sub>2</sub></small>H<small><sub>4</sub></small> and CO<small><sub>2</sub></small> are closely associated with the formation of the solid electrolyte interphase, the selection of electrolyte salts, and the inclusion of specific additives. Significantly, we confirm for the first time the spontaneous formation of CO<small><sub>2</sub></small>, which occurs exclusively in the presence of LiPF<small><sub>6</sub></small> salt. Beyond the scope of batteries, the methodology presented here offers substantial potential for broader applications, particularly in characterizing electrocatalytic processes, providing unmatched precision, accuracy, and scalability compared to existing analytical techniques.</p>","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":" 18","pages":" 8499-8514"},"PeriodicalIF":30.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2025/ee/d5ee04211a?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144797052","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}
Gang Lu, Hubao A, Hengyue Xu, Yan Zhao, Yuanyuan Zhao, Huacheng Zhang, Raf Dewil, Bart Van der Bruggen and Shuang Zheng
{"title":"Interfacial supramolecular interactions regulated oligomer networking into robust sub-nanochannels for efficient osmotic energy conversion","authors":"Gang Lu, Hubao A, Hengyue Xu, Yan Zhao, Yuanyuan Zhao, Huacheng Zhang, Raf Dewil, Bart Van der Bruggen and Shuang Zheng","doi":"10.1039/D5EE03350K","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5EE03350K","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Oligomer-engineered membranes overcome fundamental limitations in blue energy harvesting by synergistically controlling ion selectivity and flux at the molecular scale. Here, we develop a 5-nm-thick sulfonated membrane fabricated through interfacial supramolecular assembly of tailored oligomers, which addresses key challenges of conventional polymer membranes: the permeability–selectivity trade-off, energy loss in long nanochannels, and inconsistent performance in hypersaline environments. The ultrathin membrane achieves a power density of 10.8 W m<small><sup>−2</sup></small> with 30-day operational stability under a 50-fold NaCl gradient—more than doubling commercial benchmarks (5 W m<small><sup>−2</sup></small>), while maintaining high efficiency (30.7 W m<small><sup>−2</sup></small>) with hypersaline salt-lake brines. This exceptional performance stems from our synergistic design innovations: sub-Debye-length nanoconfinement (0.6 ± 0.2 nm), creating unscreened electric fields for cation-selective transport while excluding anions, programmable chemical heterogeneity enabling surface charge-directed ion transport, and ultrashort pathways (∼5 nm) that minimize energy dissipation without compromising selectivity. This work establishes a new framework for nano-confined ion transport, advancing sustainable energy harvesting and redefining the design principles for next-generation separation technologies.</p>","PeriodicalId":72,"journal":{"name":"Energy & Environmental Science","volume":" 18","pages":" 8515-8526"},"PeriodicalIF":30.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2025/ee/d5ee03350k?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144797399","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}