Following intensive research and development, Suntech Power has successfully commercialised its Pluto technology with 0.5 GW annual production capacity, delivering up to 10% performance advantage over conventional screen-printed cells. The next generation of Pluto involves the development of improved rear surface design based on the design features of passivated emitter and rear locally diffused cells. Cells with an average efficiency over 20% were fabricated on 155 cm 2 commercial-grade p-type wafers using mass-manufacturing processes and equipment, with the highest single-cell efficiency independently confirmed at 20.3%. This is believed to be a record efficiency for this wafer type. Further optimisation work on contact pattern and rear surface passivation suggests the potential for further efficiency increase approaching 23%.

Bimetallic catalysts have been widely employed in the lignin hydrogenolysis research, which is attributed to that the interaction between the two metals can regulate the catalyst surface properties, thus improving the catalytic performance. The metal promoters can change the adsorption strength and orientation between the catalyst surface and the substrates, the active sites dispersion and the catalyst stability, so the activity, selectivity and stability of bimetallic catalysts are better than those of the corresponding monometallic catalysts in lignin hydrogenolysis. The effects between the two metals can be divided into the following four types: the electronic (ligand) effect, synergistic effect, stabilizing effect and geometric (ensemble) effect. Herein, these four different effects between the two metals and the reaction mechanisms over different bimetallic catalysts in lignin hydrogenolysis are discussed in this minireview, aiming to point out the challenges and further perspectives in the design of efficient bimetallic catalysts.

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H4Nb2O7 modified MoS2 catalyst enables the highly selective demethylation of anisole to phenol which opens a window for the hydrogenolysis of lignin to value-added chemicals.

The Cover Feature shows that various lignin derivatives are catalytically transformed to value‐added chemicals and biofuel using bimetallic catalysts supported on a network as background. In their Minireview, T. Li et al. discuss that there are four different effects between the two metals in the bimetallic catalysts: The electronic (ligand) effect, the synergistic effect, the stabilizing effect and the geometric (ensemble) effect. These effects lead to changes in the surface properties, thus improving the catalytic performance of lignin hydrogenolysis. Further perspectives for the design of more efficient bimetallic catalysts in biomass conversion are presented. More information can be found in the Minireview by T. Li et al.