Electrocatalytic Processing of Biomass for Energy Conversion and Storage

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Electrocatalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2021) | Viewed by 6430

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, USA
Interests: electrochemical reactions; fuel cells; hydrogen production; biomass upgrading; catalysis

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Guest Editor
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Interests: heterogeneous catalysis; electrocatalysis; kinetics; hydrotreating; biomass conversion

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Guest Editor
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Interests: computational catalysis; multiscale modeling; electrochemical conversions; biomass conversion

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Guest Editor
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Interests: Electronic structure, molecular dynamics, data science, CO2 capture and conversion, catalysis, seperations

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Guest Editor
Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
Interests: electrocatalysis; hydrogen production; surface chemistry; energy storage; fuel cells

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Guest Editor
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Interests: electrocatalytic reactions; hydrogen production; waste valorization; biomass upgrading; heterogeneous catalysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Given the surge in interest for sustainable and resilient energy systems, we are publishing a Special Issue dedicated to combining fuel cell technology with conversion of organic compounds. This issue will focus on using biomass in fuel cells to generate power, or in electrolysis cells to generate hydrogen, as well as transforming biomass into products with fuel cell technology. The issue will include reviews and original research describing recent advances in catalyst and process development, catalytic fuel cells and electrolyzers, microbial fuel cells and electrolyzers, computational studies, and technoeconomic analysis.

Dr. Jamie Holladay
Dr. Oliver Y. Gutierrez
Dr. Roger Rousseau
Dr. Vassiliki-Alexandra Glezakou
Dr. Kelsey Stoerzinger
Dr. Juan Lopez-Ruiz
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • fuel cells
  • electrocatalysts
  • electrochemical oxidation, electrochemical reduction
  • oxygen evolution reaction
  • biomass conversion, electrochemical synthesis
  • theory and simulation, computational catalysis, electrocatalysis
  • electrochemistry
  • hydrogen production
  • electrosynthesis
  • microbial fuel cells
  • microbial electrolyzers

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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13 pages, 4026 KiB  
Article
Elucidating the Influence of Electric Fields toward CO2 Activation on YSZ (111)
by Nisa Ulumuddin, Fanglin Che, Jung-Il Yang, Su Ha and Jean-Sabin McEwen
Catalysts 2021, 11(2), 271; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal11020271 - 18 Feb 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3613
Abstract
Despite its high thermodynamic stability, the presence of a negative electric field is known to facilitate the activation of CO2 through electrostatic effects. To utilize electric fields for a reverse water gas shift reaction, it is critical to elucidate the role of [...] Read more.
Despite its high thermodynamic stability, the presence of a negative electric field is known to facilitate the activation of CO2 through electrostatic effects. To utilize electric fields for a reverse water gas shift reaction, it is critical to elucidate the role of an electric field on a catalyst surface toward activating a CO2 molecule. We conduct a first-principles study to gain an atomic and electronic description of adsorbed CO2 on YSZ (111) surfaces when external electric fields of +1 V/Å, 0 V/Å, and −1 V/Å are applied. We find that the application of an external electric field generally destabilizes oxide bonds, where the direction of the field affects the location of the most favorable oxygen vacancy. The direction of the field also drastically impacts how CO2 adsorbs on the surface. CO2 is bound by physisorption when a +1 V/Å field is applied, a similar interaction as to how it is adsorbed in the absence of a field. This interaction changes to chemisorption when the surface is exposed to a −1 V/Å field value, resulting in the formation of a CO3 complex. The strong interaction is reflected through a direct charge transfer and an orbital splitting within the Olatticep-states. While CO2 remains physisorbed when a +1 V/Å field value is applied, our total density of states analysis indicates that a positive field pulls the charge away from the adsorbate, resulting in a shift of its bonding and antibonding peaks to higher energies, allowing a stronger interaction with YSZ (111). Ultimately, the effect of an electric field toward CO2 adsorption is not negligible, and there is potential in utilizing electric fields to favor the thermodynamics of CO2 reduction on heterogeneous catalysts. Full article
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8 pages, 2562 KiB  
Perspective
Electrocatalysts for Using Renewably-Sourced, Organic Electrolytes for Redox Flow Batteries
by Robert S. Weber
Catalysts 2021, 11(3), 315; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal11030315 - 28 Feb 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1950
Abstract
Biomass could be a source of the redox shuttles that have shown promise for operation as high potential, organic electrolytes for redox flow batteries. There is a sufficient quantity of biomass to satisfy the growing demand to buffer the episodic nature of renewably [...] Read more.
Biomass could be a source of the redox shuttles that have shown promise for operation as high potential, organic electrolytes for redox flow batteries. There is a sufficient quantity of biomass to satisfy the growing demand to buffer the episodic nature of renewably produced electricity. However, despite a century of effort, it is still not evident how to use existing information from organic electrochemistry to design the electrocatalysts or supporting electrolytes that will confer the required activity, selectivity and longevity. In this research, the use of a fiducial reaction to normalize reaction rates is shown to fail. Full article
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