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Porous Materials for Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage

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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Chemistry and Chemical Physics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2023) | Viewed by 6854

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Jing Li

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Guest Editor

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China
Interests: fuel cells; electrocatalysis; porous materials; nano-materials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

To alleviate energy crises and global environmental pollution, a range of electrochemical energy storage and conversion devices, such as fuel cells, rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors, and electrolyzers, has been extensively explored in recent years. In particular, electrode materials, as the heart components of these devices, play especially crucial roles in determining the performances. A significant proportion of electrode materials is constructed into porous structures for loading more active sites and enhancing mass transport. Additionally, the porous characteristics, such as mesoscale geometries and structures, specific surface areas, pore volumes, and surface/interface properties, greatly affect the dispersion and anchoring strength of the active sites as well as the mass transfer in the catalyst layer, which then greatly affect the electrode kinetics, power output, and lifetime of the devices. The objective of this Special Issue is to collect original and review articles on the porous electrode materials for electrochemical energy conversion and storage.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Design and construction of electrode materials with well-defined porous structures.
Forming highly loaded and well-dispersed active sites in porous channels.
In-depth studies on porous structure–property relationship.
Investigations on the mass transfer characteristics of the porous electrodes.

Prof. Dr. Jing Li
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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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

porous materials
fuel cells
rechargeable batteries
supercapactiors
electrolyzers
mass transfer

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 2321 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hierarchically Porous Carbon Nanosheets from One-Step Carbonization of Zinc Gluconate for High-Performance Supercapacitors

by Zhiwei Tian, Zhangzhao Weng, Junlei Xiao, Feng Wang, Chunmei Zhang and Shaohua Jiang

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(18), 14156; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241814156 - 15 Sep 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 902

Abstract

Supercapacitors, with high energy density, rapid charge–discharge capabilities, and long cycling ability, have gained favor among many researchers. However, the universality of high-performance carbon-based electrodes is often constrained by their complex fabrication methods. In this study, the common industrial materials, zinc gluconate and ammonium chloride, are uniformly mixed and subjected to a one-step carbonization strategy to prepare three-dimensional hierarchical porous carbon materials with high specific surface area and suitable nitrogen doping. The results show that a specific capacitance of 221 F g⁻¹ is achieved at a current density of 1 A g⁻¹. The assembled symmetrical supercapacitor achieves a high energy density of 17 Wh kg⁻¹, and after 50,000 cycles at a current density of 50 A g⁻¹, it retains 82% of its initial capacitance. Moreover, the operating voltage window of the symmetrical device can be easily expanded to 2.5 V when using Et₄NBF₄ as the electrolyte, resulting in a maximum energy density of up to 153 Wh kg⁻¹, and retaining 85.03% of the initial specific capacitance after 10,000 cycles. This method, using common industrial materials as raw materials, provides ideas for the simple preparation of high-performance carbon materials and also provides a promising method for the large-scale production of highly porous carbons. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porous Materials for Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage)

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13 pages, 3836 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Laser Cutting Coupled with Electro-Exfoliation to Prepare Versatile Planar Graphene Electrodes for Energy Storage

by Jianren Wang, Tianshuo Yang, Neus Vilà and Alain Walcarius

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(6), 5599; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24065599 - 15 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1209

Abstract

The study of planar energy storage devices, characterized by low-cost, high capacity, and satisfactory flexibility, is becoming a valuable research hotspot. Graphene, monolayer sp² hybrid carbon atoms with a large surface area, always acts as its active component, yet there is a tension between its high conductivity and ease of implementation. Although the difficult-to-assemble graphene can easily achieve planar assemblies in its highly oxidized form (GO), the undesirable conductivity, even after proper reduction, still restricts its further applications. Here, a facile “Top-down” method has been proposed to prepare the graphene planar electrode via in situ electro-exfoliation of graphite supported on a piece of laser-cutting patterned scotch tape. Detailed characterizations have been performed to study its physiochemical property evolution during electro-exfoliation. The obtained flexible graphene planar electrodes show decent energy storage performance, e.g., 40.8 mF cm⁻² at a current density of 0.5 mA cm⁻² and an 81% capacity retention at a current density of 8 mA cm⁻² for the optimized sample G-240. Their high conductivity also makes it possible to couple them with other redox-active materials through electrodeposition to improve their performance, e.g., ferrocene-functionalized mesoporous silica film (Fc-MS), MnO₂, and polyaniline (PANI). The highest capacity was achieved with the PANI functionalized sample, which achieved a 22-fold capacity increase. In a word, the versatility, practicality, and adaptability of the protocol to prepare the planar graphene electrode proposed in this work make it a potential candidate to meet the continuously growing energy storage demands. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porous Materials for Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage)

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10 pages, 3860 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hybrid Carbon Supports Composed of Small Reduced Graphene Oxide and Carbon Nanotubes for Durable Oxygen Reduction Catalysts in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

by Su-Jeong Bak, Mingyu Son, Jeehoon Shin, Sun-I Kim, Jung Woo Lee and Duck Hyun Lee

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(21), 13312; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232113312 - 01 Nov 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1706

Abstract

We demonstrated highly active and durable hybrid catalysts (HCs) composed of small reduced graphene oxide (srGO) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for use as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts in proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Pt/srGO and Pt/CNTs were prepared by loading Pt nanoparticles onto srGO and CNTs using a polyol process, and HCs with different Pt/CNT and Pt/srGO ratios were prepared by mechanically mixing the two components. The prepared HCs consisted of Pt/CNTs well dispersed on Pt/srGO, with catalyst HC55, which was prepared using Pt/srGO and Pt/CNTs in a 5:5 ratio, exhibiting excellent oxygen reduction performance and high stability over 1000 cycles of the accelerated durability test (ADT). In particular, after 1000 cycles of the ADT, the normalized electrochemically active surface area of Pt/HC55 decreased by 11.9%, while those of Pt/srGO and Pt/C decreased by 21.2% and 57.6%, respectively. CNTs have strong corrosion resistance because there are fewer defect sites on the surface, and the addition of CNTs in rGO further improved the durability and the electrical conductivity of the catalyst. A detailed analysis of the structural and electrochemical properties of the synthesized catalysts suggested that the synergetic effects of the high specific surface area of srGO and the excellent electrical conductivity of CNTs were responsible for the enhanced efficiency and durability of the catalysts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porous Materials for Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage)

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Review

Jump to: Research

49 pages, 20326 KiB

Open AccessReview

Mesoporous Carbon-Based Materials for Enhancing the Performance of Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

by Fangzheng Wang, Yuying Han, Xin Feng, Rui Xu, Ang Li, Tao Wang, Mingming Deng, Cheng Tong, Jing Li and Zidong Wei

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(8), 7291; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24087291 - 14 Apr 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2554

Abstract

The most promising energy storage devices are lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs), which offer a high theoretical energy density that is five times greater than that of lithium-ion batteries. However, there are still significant barriers to the commercialization of LSBs, and mesoporous carbon-based materials (MCBMs) have attracted much attention in solving LSBs’ problems, due to their large specific surface area (SSA), high electrical conductivity, and other unique advantages. The synthesis of MCBMs and their applications in the anodes, cathodes, separators, and “two-in-one” hosts of LSBs are reviewed in this study. Most interestingly, we establish a systematic correlation between the structural characteristics of MCBMs and their electrochemical properties, offering recommendations for improving performance by altering the characteristics. Finally, the challenges and opportunities of LSBs under current policies are also clarified. This review provides ideas for the design of cathodes, anodes, and separators for LSBs, which could have a positive impact on the performance enhancement and commercialization of LSBs. The commercialization of high energy density secondary batteries is of great importance for the achievement of carbon neutrality and to meet the world’s expanding energy demand. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Porous Materials for Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage)

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