Search

Dye-sensitized solar cells combining electrolytes based on the ferrocene/ferrocenium redox couple with a metal-free organic donor–acceptor sensitizer are reported to achieve a record 7.5% energy conversion efficiency, revealing the great potential of ferrocene-based electrolytes for future dye-sensitized solar cell applications.

Converting CO₂ into value-added solid carbon is a longstanding ambition in CO₂ removal, but it is often limited by thermodynamic and kinetic constraints. To address this, a tandem reactor system has been developed to efficiently convert CO₂ into carbon nanofibers.

Photothermal reactions between liquid gallium and water or seawater enable hydrogen production under light exposure. The authors show that the metal can be regenerated electrochemically, supporting a reusable and sustainable cycle for hydrogen.

The traditional Haber–Bosch process as well as recent alternative approaches based on photo- or electrocatalysis all rely on solid catalysts to convert nitrogen into ammonia. Here the authors disclose an effective method for the synthesis of this crucial commodity based on a Cu–Ga liquid metal catalyst instead.

One of the key challenges 2D materials still face is their uniform wafer-scale deposition. Here, the authors present a deposition method for post-transition metal dichalcogenides, based on transformation of an ultra-thin oxide layer on the surface of liquid elemental gallium onto an oxide-coated substrate.

The control over the motion and deformation of liquid droplets is essential to many microfluidic and actuation systems. Zavabeti et al. demonstrate that applying a pH or ionic gradient across a droplet of liquid metal alloy of gallium results in its motion due to a breaking of the surface charge symmetry.

Bilayer beta tellurium dioxide nanosheets with p-type characteristics can be formed through the surface oxidation of a mixture of tellurium and selenium, and used to create transistors with performance that matches their n-type oxide counterparts.

Crystal growth is visualized inside non-transparent liquid metals, while preserving their original state, using X-ray micro-computed tomography to reveal how liquid metal solvent composition and cooling conditions influence crystal formation.

A liquid metal printing technique can be used to create monolayer and bilayer indium tin oxide, with the bilayer samples offering a transparency above 99.3% and a sheet resistance as low as 5.4 kΩ □⁻¹.

While CO₂ reduction proves an appealing means to convert greenhouse emissions to high-value products, there are few materials capable of such a conversion. Here, the authors demonstrate a liquid-metal electrocatalyst to convert CO₂ directly into solid carbon that can be used as capacitor electrodes.

Two-dimensional piezoelectric materials hold promise for nano-electromechanical technologies, yet it is challenging to prepare them in large areas with high sample homogeneity. Syed et al. surface print GaPO₄ sheets with unit cell thickness over centimetres using a liquid metal-based synthesis process.

Molten Sn as a metallic solvent presents economic feasibility and offers unique surface atomic structures, expanding the concept of liquid metal catalysis. As a demonstration, SnIn_0.1034Cu_0.0094 enables selective H₂ production from hydrocarbons.

Thanks to a unique set of properties, liquid metal catalysts provide advantages compared to traditional solid systems, yet their potential in heterogeneous catalysis has not been fully explored. This Perspective identifies some of the key advances in the field of liquid metal catalysis, discussing areas where progress is expected through further fundamental understanding as well as reactor engineering.

The solidification of liquid metal alloys drives phase separation and pattern formation. Now, it emerges that the solidification of liquid metal alloys on a surface follows unique solidification patterns that reveal alternating convergent and divergent growth habits, leading to oscillatory bifurcation patterns.

The cost-effective use of platinum as a catalyst has led to an evolving set of systems ranging from nanoparticles to single atoms on a variety of solid supports. It has now been shown that the dissolution of platinum atoms in a liquid gallium matrix generates a liquid catalyst that functions at low temperature with high activity.

During a liquid-to-solid phase transition, a Bi–Ga alloy forms ordered nanostructured patterns on its surface.

The combination of metallurgy concepts and nanotechnology with liquid metal processing has been largely unexplored. Here the authors use liquid-phase ultrasonication to produce a model system of catalytically active nano-alloys, demonstrating electrocatalysis and photocatalysis.

The presence of strong inter-layer interactions has hindered the synthesis efforts towards large-area and highly crystalline monolayer SnS. Here, the authors report synthesis of large-area monolayer SnS using a liquid metal-based technique, and fabricate piezoelectric nano-generators with average peak output voltage of 150 mV at 0.7% strain.

Indium tin oxide (ITO) is a well-known n-type degenerate semiconductor. Herein, mesoporous ITO is utilized as a photocathode material for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells in place of the commonly applied p-type semiconductors, such as nickel oxide. In conjunction with [Fe(acac)₃]^0/− as redox mediator and a new sensitizer, an impressive energy conversion efficiency of 1.96±0.12% was achieved. Photoelectron spectroscopy in air revealed that ITO exhibits a significant local density of states arising below −4.8 eV, which enables electron transfer to occur from ITO to the excited dye, giving rise to the sustained photocathodic current.