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Catalysts
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Metal Catalysts for Renewable Energies
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Metal Catalysts for Renewable Energies

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2019) | Viewed by 11405

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Leonarda Liotta

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Nanostructured Materials, Palermo Research Division, CNR - ISMN, Via Ugo La Malfa 153, 90146 Palermo, Italy
Interests: heterogeneous catalysts for CO2 valorization; dry and steam reforming of methane; autothermal reactions; thermal and photothermal activation; H2 purification; WGS reaction and PROX; CO2 hydrogenation; methanation reaction; CO2 electrochemical reduction; SOECs; SOFCs; catalytic devices for VOCs abatement (indoor and outdoor); CO and CH2 oxidation; NO SCR by NH3, HC, EtOH; antifouling and bactericidal activity of green materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Energy generation from fossil fuels has been identified as the main cause of environmental pollution. The replacement of part of the fossil fuel consumption by renewable energy is a central strategy in the 21st century to improve resource and energy efficiency.

The hydrogen technologies can contribute to the development of new renewable energy systems. Renewable hydrogen may be obtained from biomass and water electrolysis; moreover, thermal and photocatalytic decompositions are also attracting some attention as methods to obtain renewable hydrogen. In particular, the photocatalytic water-splitting technology has a great potential for low-cost, environmentally friendly solar hydrogen production in support of the future hydrogen economy.

CO2 is a key molecule for the catalytic production of short-chain olefins (ethylene, propylene) as well as of syngas, formic acid, methanol, dimethyl ether, and hydrocarbons via the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis.

Biomass valorization is nowadays another important area of research aimed at producing energy and chemicals from sustainable resources. The three main catalytic routes to transform biomass into fuels and chemicals are gasification, pyrolysis, and hydrolysis.

Considering that the development of new catalysts and technologies for renewable energy production has been the subject of intense research efforts during the past decade, the present Special Issue will explore the application of metal catalysts for renewable energy. We invite you to submit your research in the form of original research papers, mini reviews, or perspective articles. Papers aiming at understanding catalysts’ properties and possible reaction pathways through a knowledge-driven approach are welcome.

Dr. Leonarda Francesca Liotta
Guest Editor

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. Catalysts is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2700 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

  • Renewable energies
  • water electrolysis
  • hydrogen production
  • CO2 capture and conversion
  • biomass transformation
  • bioproducts production
  • solar photocatalysis

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 3567 KiB  
Article
Hydrogen Production from Formic Acid over Au Catalysts Supported on Carbon: Comparison with Au Catalysts Supported on SiO2 and Al2O3
by Dmitri A. Bulushev, Vladimir I. Sobolev, Larisa V. Pirutko, Anna V. Starostina, Igor P. Asanov, Evgenii Modin, Andrey L. Chuvilin, Neeraj Gupta, Alexander V. Okotrub and Lyubov G. Bulusheva
Catalysts 2019, 9(4), 376; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal9040376 - 22 Apr 2019
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 3993
Abstract
Characteristics and catalytic activity in hydrogen production from formic acid of Au catalysts supported on porous N-free (Au/C) and N-doped carbon (Au/N-C) have been compared with those of Au/SiO2 and Au/Al2O3 catalysts. Among the catalysts examined, the Au/N-C catalyst [...] Read more.
Characteristics and catalytic activity in hydrogen production from formic acid of Au catalysts supported on porous N-free (Au/C) and N-doped carbon (Au/N-C) have been compared with those of Au/SiO2 and Au/Al2O3 catalysts. Among the catalysts examined, the Au/N-C catalyst showed the highest Au mass-based catalytic activity. The following trend was found at 448 K: Au/N-C > Au/SiO2 > Au/Al2O3, Au/C. The trend for the selectivity in hydrogen production was different: Au/C (99.5%) > Au/Al2O3 (98.0%) > Au/N-C (96.3%) > Au/SiO2 (83.0%). According to XPS data the Au was present in metallic state in all catalysts after the reaction. TEM analysis revealed that the use of the N-C support allowed obtaining highly dispersed Au nanoparticles with a mean size of about 2 nm, which was close to those for the Au catalysts on the oxide supports. However, it was by a factor of 5 smaller than that for the Au/C catalyst. The difference in dispersion could explain the difference in the catalytic activity for the carbon-based catalysts. Additionally, the high activity of the Au/N-C catalyst could be related to the presence of pyridinic type nitrogen on the N-doped carbon surface, which activates the formic acid molecule forming pyridinium formate species further interacting with Au. This was confirmed by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results of this study may assist the development of novel Au catalysts for different catalytic reactions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal Catalysts for Renewable Energies)
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22 pages, 6953 KiB  
Article
Biofuel Synthesis from Sorbitol by Aqueous Phase Hydrodeoxygenation over Bifunctional Catalysts: In-depth Study of the Ru–Pt/SiO2–Al2O3 Catalytic System
by Davina Messou, Laurence Vivier, Christine Canaff and Catherine Especel
Catalysts 2019, 9(2), 146; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal9020146 - 02 Feb 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3212
Abstract
The catalytic performances of Ru–Pt/SiO2–Al2O3 catalysts synthetized by three methods (co-impregnation (CI), successive impregnations (SI) and redox deposition (CR)) were compared for their sorbitol transformation to hexane under hydrothermal conditions. The existence of Pt–Ru interaction was demonstrated by [...] Read more.
The catalytic performances of Ru–Pt/SiO2–Al2O3 catalysts synthetized by three methods (co-impregnation (CI), successive impregnations (SI) and redox deposition (CR)) were compared for their sorbitol transformation to hexane under hydrothermal conditions. The existence of Pt–Ru interaction was demonstrated by TEM-EDX only on SI and CR samples, with a PtRu alloy suspected by XRD and XPS. The chemical nature of the Ru species differed according to the synthesis method with the presence of Ru4+ species on SI–(Ru–Pt) and CR catalysts. The SI–(Ru–Pt)/SiO2–Al2O3 system displayed the best metal–acid function balance leading to the highest selectivity to hexane. The study of the reactivity of isosorbide and 2,5-dimethylfuran intermediates highlighted that the first one was poorly reactive compared to the second one, and the latter was selectively convertible to hexane. The synergy effect on SI– (Ru–Pt)/SiO2–Al2O3 catalyst was attributed to the presence of small-sized bimetallic particles favoring an electronic exchange from Ru to Pt, and increasing the formation of 2,5-dimethylfuran. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal Catalysts for Renewable Energies)
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16 pages, 6542 KiB  
Article
Surface Probing by Spectroscopy on Titania-Supported Gold Nanoparticles for a Photoreductive Application
by Matteo Compagnoni, Alberto Villa, Elnaz Bahdori, David J. Morgan, Laura Prati, Nikolaos Dimitratos, Ilenia Rossetti and Gianguido Ramis
Catalysts 2018, 8(12), 623; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal8120623 - 05 Dec 2018
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3478
Abstract
The continuous increase in scientific reports concerning photocatalysis and in particular CO2 photoreduction in recent years reveals the high degree of interest around the topic. However, the adsorption and activation mechanisms of CO2 on TiO2, the most used photocatalyst, [...] Read more.
The continuous increase in scientific reports concerning photocatalysis and in particular CO2 photoreduction in recent years reveals the high degree of interest around the topic. However, the adsorption and activation mechanisms of CO2 on TiO2, the most used photocatalyst, are poorly understood and investigated. Gold nanoparticles were prepared by a modified deposition-precipitation method using urea and a chemical reductant. Bare P25 was used as reference. Combined spectroscopic investigations of fresh and spent samples with photoactivity studies reported in this article provide new insights to the role of CO2 adsorption and carbonate formation on Au/TiO2 during CO2 photocatalytic reduction. The key intermediates’ and products’ adsorption (CO, methanol, ethanol) was studied, coupled with X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPS) and UV-Visible spectroscopy. The adsorption of CO2 on fresh and spent catalysts changes radically considering the carbonate formation and the gold surface presence. Methanol and ethanol revealed new adsorbed species on Au with respect to bare titania. The characterisation of the spent catalysts revealed the good stability of these samples. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal Catalysts for Renewable Energies)
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