Standing in the sun all day, solar cells often become very heated. Over time, this degrades them and lowers their power-conversion efficiency. Integrating radiative coolers can solve this problem at low cost without energy consumption. Now, scientists from Pusan National University, Korea, successfully test their theories on what kind of solar cells work best with radiative coolers, providing novel insights for designing the next generation of highly efficient and long-lasting solar cells.

The future of battery technologies lies in sodium. More sustainable than lithium - which currently powers most of our devices and vehicles - sodium is also abundant on the earth’s surface. The only problem is that its ions do not move easily in the liquid electrolyte of conventional batteries, making it less efficient than lithium. Therefore, the solution lies in the development of a solid electrolyte. A scientific team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has succeeded in meeting this challenge by modifying the crystal structure of a material composed of carbon, boron and hydrogen (carbo hydridoborate). The research group also defined the ideal pressure to be applied to the battery for it to operate efficiently. These results can be read in the journals ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and Advanced Materials Interfaces.

Yong et al. systematically summarizes the realizations and applications of the superwettability achieved by femtosecond laser. Inspired by nature, superwetting microstructure can be easily prepared on the surface of solid materials by femtosecond laser processing.