Nanomaterials for Energy and Environment Applications

A special issue of AppliedChem (ISSN 2673-9623).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 8747

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, Republic of Korea
Interests: photoelectrochemistry; electrochemistry; catalysis; nanomaterials synthesis for energy application
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Hydrogen Energy Technology Laboratory, Korea Institute of Energy Technology (KENTECH), 200 Hyeoksin-ro, Naju, Jeonnam 58330, Republic of Korea
Interests: electrochemistry; catalysis; nanomaterials synthesis for energy application

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Establishing current clean energy resources is essential for developing renewable, sustainable, economic, and eco-friendly strategies to tackle the impending energy crisis. Over recent decades, scientists have been developing electrochemical (EC) and photo-electrochemical (PEC) systems such as rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors, water electrolyzers, fuel cells, solar cells, photovoltaic cells, and sensors to tackle the green energy crisis that has been a major concern. Yet, these systems face severe limitations in terms of their electrode materials, leading to sluggish reaction kinetics, long-term stability loss, and industrial applications, which pose a serious issue in their performances. Recently, the potential developments in the design of nanomaterials and their synthesis procedures have been focused on to cater to clean energy needs. The engineered nanomaterials are applied as electrode materials in EC and PEC reactions, implying various energy conversion and storage device applications. Thus, the production cost per unit of energy, industrial installation costs, and environment vulnerability reduces considerably. An enormous number of research articles cover the phenomenal performances of these materials; however, deep insights into the interpretation of these materials lack discussion. Moreover, significant efforts to devise the efficient implementation of the materials are essential to achieve realistic supremacy.

This Special Issue aims to present research articles that showcase the development of the new and modular synthesis of the nanomaterials that enhance the pollution-free aspect of the green energy race. Research analysis fused with theory, simulation, and experiment is desired to work out the challenges the green energy race faces that are bound to the electrochemical (EC) and photo-electrochemical (PEC) systems.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Nanomaterials for energy conversion and storage systems;
  • Photocatalysis;
  • Electrocatalysis;
  • Organic and Inorganic Photovoltaics;
  • Fuel Cells;
  • Metal-gas (O2/N2/CO2) Batteries;
  • Solar Cells;
  • Energy technologies for sustainable environment.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Uk Sim
Dr. Subramani Surendran
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. AppliedChem is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1000 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

  • nanotechnology
  • functional materials
  • energy conversion
  • energy storage
  • solar energy

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 3546 KiB  
Article
The Facile Microwave-Assisted Coprecipitation Route to Obtain Polyoxoniobate (Na7(H3O)Nb6O19·14H2O) Nanorods Modified with Copper for CO2 Photoreduction
by Joelma R. C. Souza, Juliana A. Torres, Lucas S. Ribeiro, Jose B. G. Filho, Fabiana L. Santos, Nicholas Malgioglio, Luiz Fernando Gorup, Alexandre H. Pinto and André E. Nogueira
AppliedChem 2023, 3(2), 320-333; https://doi.org/10.3390/appliedchem3020020 - 12 Jun 2023
Viewed by 1553
Abstract
The CO2 reduction by solar means has been discussed as an alternative to emission abatement, a fundamental topic for sustainable, carbon-free production in the future. However, the choice of efficient systems, starting with the catalysts, is still a critical issue, especially due [...] Read more.
The CO2 reduction by solar means has been discussed as an alternative to emission abatement, a fundamental topic for sustainable, carbon-free production in the future. However, the choice of efficient systems, starting with the catalysts, is still a critical issue, especially due to the poor activity of available options. Polyoxometalates have been extensively studied as promising photocatalysts due to their semiconducting properties. Nevertheless, the synthetic conditions of polyoxoniobate are stringent due to the low reaction activity of Nb species, the lack of soluble precursors, and the narrow pH range. Unlike the literature, in the present study, we report a simple polyoxoniobate synthesis method. This synthesis method has some remarkable features, such as low processing time and temperature and good activity and selectivity in the CO2 photoreduction process. The results revealed an outstanding efficiency for the CO2 reduction reaction with a high selectivity of CO2 to CO conversion (92.5%). Furthermore, C2 compounds (e.g., acetate) were produced in the liquid phase of the reaction system. Our findings are significant for indicating the potential of polyoxoniobate for CO2 photoreduction, which opens a way to control competitive reactions with synthesis, leading to higher selectivity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials for Energy and Environment Applications)
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Review

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14 pages, 914 KiB  
Review
Preprocessing and Leaching Methods for Extraction of REE from Permanent Magnets: A Scoping Review
by Sotiria Papagianni, Anastasia Maria Moschovi, Konstantinos Miltiadis Sakkas, Michail Chalaris and Iakovos Yakoumis
AppliedChem 2022, 2(4), 199-212; https://doi.org/10.3390/appliedchem2040014 - 12 Oct 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2782
Abstract
The demand for REEs is continuously increasing in the European Union due to the rapid development of high-tech applications that contain REEs, mainly those based on electrification. However, the REE supply in Europe is limited because of the exclusive production of these metals [...] Read more.
The demand for REEs is continuously increasing in the European Union due to the rapid development of high-tech applications that contain REEs, mainly those based on electrification. However, the REE supply in Europe is limited because of the exclusive production of these metals by third-world countries. The European supply/demand gap for REEs can be covered with the development of recycling technologies from secondary resources, such as REE permanent magnets. NdFeB and SmCo magnets are the two main categories of REE-containing permanent magnets. In the following work, studies focusing on the preprocessing and leaching methods in order to extract REEs were identified and discussed. Although preprocessing includes controversial steps, i.e., milling and demagnetizing, numerous studies have focused on the leaching of REEs from NdFeB magnets using either inorganic or organic solvents. Meanwhile, the literature based on Sm recovery methods from SmCo magnets has been limited. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials for Energy and Environment Applications)
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25 pages, 7267 KiB  
Review
Synthesis of Graphene and Related Materials by Microwave-Excited Surface Wave Plasma CVD Methods
by Golap Kalita and Masayoshi Umeno
AppliedChem 2022, 2(3), 160-184; https://doi.org/10.3390/appliedchem2030012 - 30 Aug 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3251
Abstract
Several kinds of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods have been extensively used in the semiconductor industries for bulk crystal growth, thin film deposition, and nanomaterials synthesis. In this article, we focus on the microwave-excited surface wave plasma CVD (MW-SWP CVD) method for growth [...] Read more.
Several kinds of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods have been extensively used in the semiconductor industries for bulk crystal growth, thin film deposition, and nanomaterials synthesis. In this article, we focus on the microwave-excited surface wave plasma CVD (MW-SWP CVD) method for growth of graphene and related materials. The MW-SWP CVD system consisting of waveguide, slot antenna, and dielectric windows is significant for generating high density plasma with low electron temperature, enabling low temperature growth of materials without damaging the surface of base substrates. The synthesis of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) films has been achieved on metals, semiconductors, insulators, and dielectric substrates for application in photovoltaics, sensors, batteries, supercapacitors, fuel cells, and various other electronic devices. The details of the synthesis process for graphene films, vertically-oriented graphene, doped-graphene, and hBN films by the MW-SWP CVD method are summarized to understand the growth mechanism, which will enable further development of the plasma CVD process for material synthesis at a low temperature for industrial applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials for Energy and Environment Applications)
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