Electrocatalysis of Nanocomposite Materials

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2022) | Viewed by 3258

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. School of Science & Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UK
2. Department of Chemistry, Rhodes University, PO Box 94, Makhanda 6140, South Africa
Interests: phthalocyanine; spectroscopy; electrocatalysis; nonlinear optics

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Guest Editor
1. Department of Chemistry, Rhodes University, PO Box 94, Makhanda 6140, South Africa
2. Institute for Nanotechnology Innovation, Rhodes University, PO Box 94, Makhanda 6140, South Africa
Interests: electrocatalysis; nanobiosensors; nanocomposite materials; enzyme mimetics

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0028, South Africa
Interests: nanomaterials for solar energy conversion and nanoelectrochemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The current shift of the world’s economies toward the circular economy, which is aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources, brings into sharp focus the use of electrocatalysts in detecting and converting what could be considered environmental pollutants into useful products.

Nanocomposites are materials that are combined with specific properties for targeted applications. As a catalyst, a nanocomposite material is a blend of a catalytic active material and a support material that disperses the active catalyst. In electrochemistry, electrocatalysts are a hybrid of good electron conductor materials and electroactive materials that perform the electrocataytic reaction. Nanocomposite materials can be designed to incorporate both properties by introducing different materials. Nanostructured composite materials are well known for their excellent electrocatalytic properties.

The Special Issue seeks to illustrate various aspects of nanocomposite materials, their preparation, fabrication and applications as electrocatalysts. The applications include detection of agricultural pesticides, environmental pollutants, pharmaceutical important drugs, biological molecules, and application in renewable energy. Recently, nanocomposites materials based on N4-macrocyclic complexes, pyrrolic complexes, Schiff-base complexes, metal and metal-oxide nanoparticles, carbon-based nanomaterials and their applications as electrocatalysts are of international research interest. Recent advances in method development in nanofabrication, nanostructuring, adsorption and chemisorption on nanocomposite materials onto electrode surfaces, and their electrochemical applications are investigated internationally. The use of nanocomposite materials in electrocatalysis will increasingly play an important role in the global drive towards a more sustainable future. Hence, the focus of this issue is on the application of nanocomposites as electrocatalysts.

Dr. Samson Khene
Dr. Philani Mashazi
Dr. Nolwazi Nombona
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • electrocatalysis
  • nanocomposite
  • nanomaterial
  • electrochemistry
  • pesticides
  • pollutants
  • fuel cells
  • clean energy
  • chemical sensing
  • biological sensing
  • drug sensing
  • diseases diagnosis
  • circular economy

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

9 pages, 13087 KiB  
Article
Synthesis and Characterization of Supported Pd Catalysts for Potential Application in Glycerol Electro-Oxidation
by Talent Ngwenya, Nolwazi Nombona and Mzamo Shozi
Catalysts 2022, 12(2), 192; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12020192 - 3 Feb 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2525
Abstract
Ceria-supported Pd catalysts encompassing oxides of Cu, Co, and Fe were synthesized and characterized using XRD, TEM, SEM-EDX, TPR, BET, and Raman. After the incorporation of the metal oxides, the surface area and pore volume of the ceria support decreased. XRD showed the [...] Read more.
Ceria-supported Pd catalysts encompassing oxides of Cu, Co, and Fe were synthesized and characterized using XRD, TEM, SEM-EDX, TPR, BET, and Raman. After the incorporation of the metal oxides, the surface area and pore volume of the ceria support decreased. XRD showed the presence of the metal oxide phases as well as the support, CeO2. TPR showed that the bimetallic catalyst had improved reducibility compared to the monometallic Pd/CeO2. TEM images showed irregular-shaped particles with an average size distribution of 2–10 nm. SEM-EDX showed that the metal oxides were evenly distributed over the surface of the support. The electro-oxidation of glycerol in an alkaline environment was evaluated using cyclic voltammetry, and the products formed were identified and quantified using GC-MS. Glyceric acid was the dominant product over Pd-CuO/CeO2, while glyceraldehyde and dihydroxyacetone were dominant over Pd-Co3O4/CeO2 and Pd-Fe2O3/CeO2, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrocatalysis of Nanocomposite Materials)
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