Keeping semiconductors safe from harm Solar cells harvest the energy of sunlight to create electricity, but electricity is hard to store. Solar cells could also be used to make hydrogen from water, which can be stored as a fuel. Separating water into hydrogen and oxygen, however, presents challenges, especially if this is done directly by illuminating the anode that oxides water. Under the acidic or alkaline conditions needed for practical devices, semiconducting anode materials corrode during operation. Hu et al. now show that amorphous titanium dioxide coatings can protect semiconductors from alkaline corrosion while still allowing light through. Science , this issue p. 1005

Some energy services and industrial processes-such as long-distance freight transport, air travel, highly reliable electricity, and steel and cement manufacturing-are particularly difficult to provide without adding carbon dioxide (CO) to the atmosphere. Rapidly growing demand for these services, combined with long lead times for technology development and long lifetimes of energy infrastructure, make decarbonization of these services both essential and urgent. We examine barriers and opportunities associated with these difficult-to-decarbonize services and processes, including possible technological solutions and research and development priorities. A range of existing technologies could meet future demands for these services and processes without net addition of CO to the atmosphere, but their use may depend on a combination of cost reductions via research and innovation, as well as coordinated deployment and integration of operations across currently discrete energy industries.

Solar H2production cost ($ kg−1) techno-economic landscape for photoelectrochemical (PEC) and photovoltaic-electrolysis (PV-E). References include conventional H2production, robust outdoor material (artificial grass) and solar cell.