Materials for Solid-State Electrochemical Devices and Photocatalysis Applications

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials for Energy Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 June 2022) | Viewed by 5701

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Hydrogen Energy, Faculty of Energy and Fuels, AGH University of Science and Technology, al. A. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Krakow, Poland
2. AGH Centre of Energy, AGH University of Science and Technology, ul. Czarnowiejska 36, 30-054 Krakow, Poland
Interests: materials for SOFCs, PCFCs and high-temperature ceramic electrolyzers; oxygen storage materials; oxygen separation ceramic membranes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Pharmacy, Dali University, Dali 671000, China
Interests: developing photocatalysts for water splitting; CO2 reduction and degradation of organic pollutants; using DFT calculations to study the reaction mechanism of heterogeneous catalytic process; using ionic liquids to control synthesis of nanocrystals with desired morphologies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Hydrogen Energy, Faculty of Energy and Fuels, AGH University of Science and Technology, 30 Mickiewicza Av. 30-059 Krakow, Poland
Interests: solid oxide fuel cell; solid oxide electrolyzers; perovskite oxides; electrode materials; oxygen transport membrane; proton conductors; mixed ionic-electronic conductors

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman
Interests: various novel applications of analytical and environmental technologies for water; wastewater treatment and to combine the nanotechnology (NT) with environmental technology (ET) in order to develop environmentally friendly nanomaterials and novel nanoscale systems

Special Issue Information

Alternative energy technologies have became a dominant area of research and innovation all over the world, driven by environmental problems and economic pressure. Energy generation by combustion of fossil fuels brings many serious environmental problems, and the depletion of those fuels urgently requires the development of new, alternative clean and green energy production means. Solid oxide electrochemical cells are among the most promising technologies for both electrical power generation from renewable and traditional energy sources (by operation in fuel cell mode) and clean efficient fuel production (in electrolysis mode). Applications of photocatalytic processes are widely recognized as viable solutions to environmental problems. Photocatalysis is very promising due to its simplicity, low cost, nontoxic, high degradation efficiency, and excellent stability, and it has received great attention as a very important solution to environmental problems such as wastewater treatment and the deterioration of the environment. Therefore, the research and development of new materials for solid-state electrochemical devices and photocatalysis applications are at the forefront of materials science and engineering.

This Special Issue of Crystals aims to provide a platform to report recent results in the development of materials for solid-state electrochemical devices and photocatalysis applications, with special attention paid to their properties and crystal structure characterization.

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

Materials development for solid oxide electrochemical cells;

Materials characterization for fuel cells and electrolyzers;

Materials development for electrocatalysis applications;

Photocatalysts for application in the fields of environment and energy, such as water splitting, CO2 reduction, and pollutant degradation.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Kun Zheng
Prof. Dr. Kezhen Qi
Dr. Anna Stępień
Dr. Rengaraj Selvaraj
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. Crystals 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 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

  • Solid oxide electrochemical cells
  • Fuel cells and electrolyzers
  • Structural characterization
  • Photocatalysts
  • Photocatalytic processes.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

12 pages, 5579 KiB  
Article
Synthesis of Ag Loaded ZnO/BiOCl with High Photocatalytic Performance for the Removal of Antibiotic Pollutants
by Zhihao Zhang, Amir Zada, Nan Cui, Naiwen Liu, Minghui Liu, Yuzhuo Yang, Delong Jiang, Jianhui Jiang and Shuyuan Liu
Crystals 2021, 11(8), 981; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11080981 - 18 Aug 2021
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 2579
Abstract
Ag@ZnO/BiOCl composites were successfully prepared by in situ precipitation and hydrothermal synthesis and used for the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride antibiotics. An enhanced photodegradation efficiency was detected after loading Ag nanoparticles, which is attributed to the surface plasmon resonance effect. The optimized [...] Read more.
Ag@ZnO/BiOCl composites were successfully prepared by in situ precipitation and hydrothermal synthesis and used for the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride antibiotics. An enhanced photodegradation efficiency was detected after loading Ag nanoparticles, which is attributed to the surface plasmon resonance effect. The optimized sample containing 4% Ag showed 80.4% degradation efficiency in 80 min, which is 2.1 and 1.9 times higher than those of ZnO and ZnO/BiOCl, respectively. The major degrading species involved in the photocatalytic process were detected to be super oxide anions and holes. Based on the obtained results, a possible charge transfer and degradation mechanism has been proposed. This study shows that Ag@ZnO/BiOCl catalyst has a good potential for photodegradation of organic pollutants in water. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 4309 KiB  
Article
ZnO Nano-Rod Arrays Synthesized with Exposed {0001} Facets and the Investigation of Photocatalytic Activity
by Xinying Yang, Jin Tian, Yang Guo, Mengyuan Teng, Haixia Liu, Tianduo Li, Pingli Lv and Xuping Wang
Crystals 2021, 11(5), 522; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11050522 - 8 May 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2402
Abstract
Zinc oxide (ZnO) possesses superior chemical and physical properties so that it can occupy an essential position in the application of nanostructures. In this paper, ZnO nano-rod arrays were synthesized by a simple one-step hydrothermal approach with the assistance of cetyl trimethyl ammonium [...] Read more.
Zinc oxide (ZnO) possesses superior chemical and physical properties so that it can occupy an essential position in the application of nanostructures. In this paper, ZnO nano-rod arrays were synthesized by a simple one-step hydrothermal approach with the assistance of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). Exposure of the {0001} facets could be controlled by adjusting the amount of CTAB and the maximum exposure of the {0001} facets of ZnO nanorods is obtained at 1.2 g of CTAB. The photocurrent, EIS, and PL measurements support the facile charge transfer with minimum recombination of the photogenerated excitons of the ZnO nano-rod arrays obtained at 1.2 g of CTAB. Consequently, the obtained ZnO nano-rod arrays at the optimal CTAB of 1.2 g exhibit an excellent photocatalytic degradation rate of 99.7% for rhodamine B (RhB), while the degradation rate of RhB by the ZnO obtained without CTAB is only 35%. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop