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Energy Storage: From Chemicals to Materials and More Ⅱ

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "D: Energy Storage and Application".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 5903

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Nídia Caetano

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Department of Chemical Engineering, Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP), Porto, Portugal
Interests: biodiesel; bioethanol; biorefinery; energy storage systems; microalgae biorefineries; sustainable energy systems; waste valorization; wastewater treatment; waste-to-energy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Carlos Felgueiras

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Center for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology (CIETI) and School of Engineering (ISEP), Polytechnic of Porto (P.PORTO), R. Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida 431, 4249-015 Porto, Portugal
Interests: energy quality; energy and buildings; energy and environmental indicators; renewable energy systems; sustainable energy systems; engineering education
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Dr. Antonio A. Martins

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Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP), R. Dr. Roberto Frias S/N, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Interests: sustainability; energy; economics
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Dr. Hooman Farzaneh

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Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, 76-1, Kasuga-koen, Kasuga-shi, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan
Interests: energy systems modeling; co-benefits assessment of climate change mitigation strategies; hybrid renewable energy systems; energy systems integration
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Dr. Meisam Tabatabaei

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Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE), Institute of Tropical Aquaculture and Fisheries (AKUATROP), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus 21030, Terengganu, Malaysia
Interests: climate change; sustainability

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The world we know has changed and developed exponentially in the past century. Central to this development is the increasing use of energy, mostly generated using fossil resources such as oil, coal, and natural gas. The current situation results in significant impacts, not only environmental (particularly climate change, which has started to show its devastating effects all over the world) but also economic and social, as energy utilization transverses all human activities. Many governments and international organizations have recognized the need to tackle these issues, resulting in the definition and/or implementation of various strategies to minimize the impacts of energy generation, for example, by promoting energy efficiency or by supporting the production and utilization of renewable energy. Concerning the later, the United Nations has recognized this fact in goal 7 of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which stresses the need to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy, which is relevant to other SDG goals such as 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 12 (Responsible Production and Consumption), and 13 (Climate Action). Thus, nations have committed themselves to improve their energy performance in various arenas, including through the efficient use of energy resources and more sustainable sources of energy, of which renewable energy carriers are believed to be an indispensable part of the solution. However, the intermittency of many of these renewable energy resources makes them unreliable, which introduces significant economic and security issues. Energy storage is currently seen as one of the best ways of minimizing those effects, further highlighting the significance of this topic. The current discussion in this domain mainly revolves around ways to store surplus energy in a safe and efficient way, so that it can be used whenever and wherever it is needed.

Therefore, this Special Issue of Energies aims to contribute to the energy storage agenda through the presentation of a combination of multidisciplinary and state-of-the-art scientific knowledge toward improving energy availability, security, and the performance and competitiveness of current or future renewable energy generation systems.

We invite authors of papers on innovative technical developments, reviews, case studies, and strategic and policy discussions as well as assessments from different disciplines that are relevant to energy storage. Some examples are topics such as the development, analysis, and implementation of novel batteries; phase change materials and their applications; energy systems integration; life cycle analysis of energy storage systems; the integration of energy storage systems in sustainable buildings; pumped-hydro energy storage; energy storage and electrical vehicles; fuel cells; hydrogen and methane as energy carriers; power-to-gas or other forms of energy storage in chemical compounds; information management; financial and economic analysis of energy storage systems; smart grids and energy systems; and energy policy.

Prof. Dr. Nídia Caetano
Prof. Dr. Carlos Felgueiras
Dr. Antonio A. Martins
Dr. Hooman Farzaneh
Dr. Meisam Tabatabaei
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

battery design and project
biofuels as liquid carriers of energy
distributed generation
energy policy
energy storage and transportation
energy storage integration in renewable energy systems
energy storage systems
energy systems integration
fuel cells
hydrogen or methane as energy carriers
information management
information management and financial and economic analysis of energy storage systems
integration of storage energy storage systems in sustainable buildings
life cycle analysis of energy storage systems
novel batteries
novel energy sources
optimization
phase change materials
pumped-hydro energy storage
PV and energy storage systems
smart grids and energy systems
thermal energy storage

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 25784 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Characterisation of Novel and High Performing Double-Sided Microporous-Layers-Coated Gas Diffusion Layers for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

by Fernando Ruscillo, Kun Zhang, Mohammed S. Ismail, Kevin J. Hughes, Derek B. Ingham, Lin Ma and Mohamed Pourkashanian

Energies 2023, 16(22), 7601; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16227601 - 16 Nov 2023

Viewed by 723

Abstract

This study aims to experimentally evaluate the impact of a double-sided microporous layer coating on gas diffusion layers in terms of their key properties and fuel cell performance, in comparison to conventional single-sided coated gas diffusion layers (GDLs). Vulcan black and Ketjenblack were used as the carbon black materials. This was to investigate the sensitivity of the results with respect to the type of carbon black used. The results showed that the in-plane electrical conductivity is almost insensitive to microporous layer (MPL) loading and carbon black type. Furthermore, the electrical conductivity of all the MPL-coated GDLs are slightly lower than that of the uncoated GDL. The Ketjenblack black MPL samples were found to demonstrate higher gas permeability than the Vulcan black samples. The addition of the MPL resulted in a favourable shift in pore size distribution, with prominent micropores observed in both single- and double-sided MPL-coated GDLs. Contact angle measurements indicated a slight increase in the hydrophobicity with the addition of a microporous layer, but without significant differences between carbon black types or loading levels. Cross-sectional SEM images showed that there was a higher level of MPL penetration into the carbon substrate for the GDLs coated with Vulcan black as compared to a Ketjenblack coating. In situ fuel cell testing demonstrated the superior performance of the double-sided Vulcan black MPL-coated GDL under high humidity conditions, while the single-sided Vulcan black MPL-coated GDL exhibited better performance at low humidity conditions. All the above findings have been thoroughly discussed and justified. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Storage: From Chemicals to Materials and More Ⅱ)

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20 pages, 4277 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

LCA and C-LCC Indicator as Tools for Sodium-Ion Batteries’ Eco-Design

by Maria Leonor Carvalho, Maria Anna Cusenza, Giulio Mela, Andrea Temporelli, Irene Quinzeni and Pierpaolo Girardi

Energies 2023, 16(17), 6220; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16176220 - 27 Aug 2023

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Abstract

Sodium-ion batteries are considered promising alternatives to lithium-ion technology; however, the diffusion on a commercial scale is hindered by the struggle to identify materials with high electrochemical performances. Studies available in the literature are mainly focused on electrochemical performance and neglect aspects related to the environmental sustainability. In fact, the current state-of-the-art (presented in this study) shows that life cycle assessment (LCA) studies related to the production processes of electrode materials for Na-ion batteries are still very limited. The LCA methodology applied during the development of a technology phase can constitute a valid support for an eco-oriented design and, therefore, to the choice of solutions characterized by a lower environmental impact with the same electrochemical performance. In this context, a life cycle-based environmental–economic assessment was performed to evaluate the environmental impacts of the production process of cathode and anode materials for sodium-ion batteries. The study is focused on the cathodic active material Na_0.66MnO₂, considering two synthesis paths, and the anodic material consisting of tin (Sn) and Sn-carbon nanofiber (Sn-Cn) active material, binder, and other additives. Results illustrate the environmental performance of the different materials and constitute a useful input for their selection within an eco-design view. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Storage: From Chemicals to Materials and More Ⅱ)

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Review

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42 pages, 3948 KiB

Open AccessReview

Compressed Air Energy Storage as a Battery Energy Storage System for Various Application Domains: A Review

by Olusola Fajinmi, Josiah L. Munda, Yskandar Hamam and Olawale Popoola

Energies 2023, 16(18), 6653; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16186653 - 16 Sep 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2372

Abstract

The recent increase in the use of carbonless energy systems have resulted in the need for reliable energy storage due to the intermittent nature of renewables. Among the existing energy storage technologies, compressed-air energy storage (CAES) has significant potential to meet techno-economic requirements in different storage domains due to its long lifespan, reasonable cost, and near-zero self-decay. When viewed as a battery system, the key performance metrics of CAES, like energy density (ED), round trip efficiency (RTE), and the depth of discharge (DoD), have poor values when compared with other battery technologies in similar domains. This prevents CAES from transitioning to a state-of-the-art form of energy storage. This paper reviews the transition of CAES concepts from carbonized to carbonless types of CAES, along with different single-objective optimization strategies and their effects on the overall system’s performance. It was discovered that competing performance metrics attributes cause single-objective optimization to have trade-offs that worsen at least one other preferred metric. The topology limitations of the generic CAES design were noted to prevent its use in different domains. To ensure that the optimal convergence of subsystem parameters is retained during charging and discharging periods, a suitable topology and subunit combinations for different domains are necessary. Possible options for solving these problems are identified so that the effects of the trade-offs imposed by optimization are either suppressed or eliminated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Storage: From Chemicals to Materials and More Ⅱ)

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22 pages, 1129 KiB

Open AccessReview

Synergizing Machine Learning and the Aviation Sector in Lithium-Ion Battery Applications: A Review

by Julan Chen, Guangheng Qi and Kai Wang

Energies 2023, 16(17), 6318; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16176318 - 31 Aug 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1190

Abstract

Lithium-ion batteries, as a typical energy storage device, have broad application prospects. However, developing lithium-ion batteries with high energy density, high power density, long lifespan, and safety and reliability remains a huge challenge. Machine learning, as an emerging artificial intelligence technology, has successfully solved many problems in academic research on business, financial management, and high-dimensional complex problems. It has great potential for mining and revealing valuable information from experimental and theoretical datasets. Therefore, quantitative “structure function” correlations can be established to predict battery health status. Machine learning also shows significant advantages in strategy optimization such as energy optimization management strategy. For lithium-ion batteries, their performance and safety are closely related to the material structure, battery health, fault analysis, and diagnosis. This article reviews the application of machine learning in lithium-ion battery material research, battery health estimation, fault analysis, and diagnosis, and analyzes its application in aviation batteries in conjunction with the development of green aviation technology. By exploring the practical applications of machine learning algorithms and the advantages and disadvantages of different applications, this article summarizes and prospects the application of machine learning in lithium batteries, which is conducive to further understanding and development in this direction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Storage: From Chemicals to Materials and More Ⅱ)

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