Described in a study published Dec. 8 in Nature Electronics, BISC includes a single-chip implant, a wearable “relay station,” and the custom software required to operate the system. “Most implantable systems are built around a canister of electronics that occupies enormous volumes of space inside the body,” says Ken Shepard, Lau Family Professor of Electrical Engineering, professor of biomedical engineering, and professor of neurological sciences at Columbia University, who is one of the senior authors on the work and guided the engineering efforts. “Our implant is a single integrated circuit chip that is so thin that it can slide into the space between the brain and the skull, resting on the brain like a piece of wet tissue paper.”

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), the Energy Department of the Government of Odisha represented by GRIDCO, and the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (IIT Bhubaneswar) have signed a Research Collaboration Agreement (RCA) on 7 December on research, development, test-bedding and deployment of sustainable energy technologies in Odisha.

Perovskite-based photovoltaic devices have garnered significant interest owing to their remarkable performance in converting light into electricity. Recently, the focus in the field of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has shifted towards enhancing their durability over extended periods. One promising strategy is the incorporation of two-dimensional (2D) perovskites, known for their ability to enhance stability due to the large organic cations that act as a barrier against moisture. However, the broad optical bandgap and limited charge transport properties of 2D perovskites hinder their efficiency, making them less suitable as the sole light-absorbing material when compared to their three-dimensional (3D) counterparts. An innovative approach involves using 2D perovskite structures to modify the surface properties of 3D perovskite. This hybrid approach, known as 2D/3D perovskites, while enhancing their performance. Beyond solar energy applications, 2D perovskites offer a flexible platform for chemical engineering, allowing for significant adjustments to crystal and thin-film configurations, bandgaps, and charge transport properties through the different organic ligands and halide mixtures. Despite these advantages, challenges remain in integration of 2D perovskites into solar cells without compromising device stability. This review encapsulates the latest developments in 2D perovskite research, focusing on their structural, optoelectronic, and stability attributes, while delving into the challenges and future potential of these materials.

Artificial carbon fixation is a promising pathway for achieving the carbon cycle and environment remediation. However, the sluggish kinetics of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and poor selectivity of CO₂ reduction seriously limited the overall conversion efficiencies of solar energy to chemical fuels. Herein, we demonstrated a facile and feasible strategy to rationally regulate the coordination environment and electronic structure of surface-active sites on both photoanode and cathode. More specifically, the defect engineering has been employed to reduce the coordination number of ultrathin FeNi catalysts decorated on BiVO₄ photoanodes, resulting in one of the highest OER activities of 6.51 mA cm⁻² (1.23 V_RHE, AM 1.5G). Additionally, single-atom cobalt (II) phthalocyanine anchoring on the N-rich carbon substrates to increase Co–N coordination number remarkably promotes CO₂ adsorption and activation for high selective CO production. Their integration achieved a record activity of 109.4 μmol cm⁻² h⁻¹ for CO production with a faradaic efficiency of > 90%, and an outstanding solar conversion efficiency of 5.41% has been achieved by further integrating a photovoltaic utilizing the sunlight (> 500 nm).