Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Communications

Communications contain novel scientific work of such importance that rapid publication is desirable. Authors should briefly indicate in a covering letter the reasons why they feel that publication of their work as a Communication is justified. The recommended length is three printed journal pages.

Full papers

Full papers contain original scientific work that has not been published previously.

Review-type articles

These are normally invited by the Editorial Board and editorial office, although suggestions from readers for topics and authors of reviews are welcome.

Review-type articles must be high quality, authoritative, state-of-the-art accounts of the selected research field. They should be timely and add to the existing literature, rather than duplicate existing articles, and should be of general interest to the journal's wide readership.

All Review-type articles undergo rigorous peer review, in the same way as regular research papers.

Reviews should report a detailed, balanced and authoritative current account of the existing state of knowledge on a particular facet of materials chemistry research for energy and sustainability. Simple literature surveys will not be accepted for publication. Reviews should not contain unpublished original research.

Highlight articles are short articles that highlight important new developments. Unlike Review articles, these are intended to cover developments made over the past year or so. They should explain the significance of these developments and may also identify where further work is urgently required or where challenges are still faced. These articles should discuss emerging areas of relevance to materials. Highlights should not contain unpublished original research.

Perspectives are short readable articles covering current areas of interest. They may take the form of personal accounts of research or a critical analysis of activity in a specialist area. By their nature they will not be comprehensive reviews of a field of materials chemistry. 

Comments/Replies

Comments and Replies are a medium for the discussion and exchange of scientific opinions between authors and readers concerning material published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

For publication, a Comment should present an alternative analysis of and/or new insight into the previously published material. Any Reply should further the discussion presented in the original article and the Comment. Comments and Replies that contain any form of personal attack are not suitable for publication. 

Comments that are acceptable for publication will be forwarded to the authors of the work being discussed, and these authors will be given the opportunity to submit a Reply. The Comment and Reply will both be subject to rigorous peer review in consultation with the journal’s Editorial Board where appropriate. The Comment and Reply will be published together.

Guideline statement

Authors and referees should note the following guidelines for articles reporting the efficiency of solar conversion devices. Authors should ensure the following information is provided in the main manuscript or supplementary information as appropriate.

A full, conventional error analysis should be carried out and reported. This should consist of both random and systematic/biased analyses of values to support the main claims presented in the article, and information on how the error analysis was carried out.

Efficiencies should be reported to an appropriate number of significant figures, along with a standard deviation. This also includes presenting error bars on graphs.

A sufficient number of samples should be tested, and a sufficient number of trials performed.

The 1 Sun AM 1.5G reference spectrum should be used as standard for testing power conversion efficiency and a justification provided where this is not used.

Full experimental conditions under which the efficiency is measured should be declared. Special attention should be paid to documenting the active area of the device, the calibration protocol and the properties of the illumination including spectral irradiance and intensity. This may also include as appropriate, but is not limited to, air temperature, use of a glove box, properties and characteristics of the test cell and standardized cell used for calibration, including dimensions and spatial non-uniformity, and calibration and measurement protocols.

Independent certification of the photovoltaic performance of the device being reported is encouraged when the main claims rely on the absolute efficiency value being reported.

If incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE), also referred to as external quantum efficiency (EQE) measurements are performed, the results should be integrated into a resulting short circuit current that can be compared with 1 Sun AM 1.5G power conversion efficiency data.  The details of how this calculation is done and any correction factors should be clearly defined.

If hysteresis is observed, details on the timescale and stability of the efficiency should be provided.

Guideline Statement

Authors and referees should note the following guidelines for articles reporting electrochemical data and the setup of batteries. Authors should ensure the following information is provided in the main manuscript or supplementary information as appropriate.

The setup used for electrochemical testing (full or half cells, reference electrode [if used], testing temperature, etc.) must be clearly specified in the Experimental Information.

When reporting electrochemical performance data, the authors must clearly state on how many experimental runs these data are based off (one-time measurement? n-time measurement?). The electrochemical performance value calculations must be clearly explained (including information on using charging or discharging values). Thereby, all electrochemical data must be reported to an appropriate number of significant figures, along with a standard deviation and error bars on graphs.

When reporting electrode performance values, the thickness of the electrode and the mass percentage of all electrode components (active material, additive, binder, etc.), the total mass of the electrode, and the geometric area of the electrode must be provided.

When reporting device-level performance values, the mass percentage of all battery components (active material, additive, binder, casing, current collector, electrolyte, separator, etc.), the total mass of the battery, and the geometric area of the electrode must be reported.

The mass percent and theoretical capacity of the active material should be provided if the theoretical capacity of the studied material is known. The theoretical capacity should be used to calculate C-rate. Alternatively, a rigorous use of A g-1 is recommended.

Pre-cycling and/or first cycle data should be reported.

Calculations of battery capacity must report capacity obtained (in mAh g-1; if appropriate, volumetric values can be added in the unit of mAh cm-3) with the cycling rate and at what cycle number this capacity was obtained clearly stated. Average capacities for ≥3 cells with standard deviation are preferred.