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Inorganics
Special Issues
Structure and Component-Designed Functional Materials for Electrochemical Application
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Structure and Component-Designed Functional Materials for Electrochemical Application

A special issue of Inorganics (ISSN 2304-6740). This special issue belongs to the section "Inorganic Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 2685

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jing Xu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Technology of Fujian Province University, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Industrial Green Technology, Department of College of Ecology and Resource Engineering, Wuyi University, Wuyishan 354300, China
Interests: energy storage materials; metal oxides and sulfides; wearable supercapacitors; electrode-electrolyte interface regulation; advanced electrodes; machine learning; structural modification; functional composite; electrolyte gels; electrolyte activity; synergy between theory and experiment
Prof. Dr. Yibing Xie

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
Interests: energy storage materials and devices; supercapacitors; lithium batteries

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Current advancements in electrochemical energy storage devices, particularly innovations in constructing composite and hybrid materials and biomass carbon materials, are well-positioned to meet the demands of future carbon-neutral energy systems. Their uniquely tunable structures, redox activity, and exceptional stability make them indispensable for applications in enhanced energy storage and conversion systems. One of the challenges is to increase the active sites on the electroactive materials since heterogeneous electron transfer processes occur only at the interface between the solid electrode and electrolyte. The advancements will rely on atomic-level modification and electrode–electrolyte interface regulation in material design, encouraging researchers to innovate new strategies such as doping engineering, electrode/electrolyte modification, and constructing heterojunction structures. Structure component design and theoretical calculation constitute a feasible strategy to improve energy storage performance.

This Special Issue covers various strategies for structure- and component-designed functional materials in electrochemical energy systems towards achieving high performance in terms of activity, stability, capacity and so on. Contributions are invited that have a broad thematic scope, including material synthesis, structure design, interface regulation, mechanistic studies, electrochemical performance evaluation, theoretical calculation and simulation for advanced materials.

Dr. Jing Xu
Prof. Dr. Yibing Xie
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Inorganics 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 2200 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

  • hybrid/composite materials
  • derived materials
  • advanced structure materials
  • biomass carbon materials
  • electrochemical
  • energy storage and conversion
  • electrode and electrolyte
  • interface regulation

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 2575 KB  
Article
Effect of Doping Inorganic Acid Radical Ions on Electrochemical Properties of Polyaniline/Graphite Carbon Paper Electrodes
by Chong Ma, Chen Yao, Jing Xu and Yibing Xie
Inorganics 2026, 14(4), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics14040090 - 24 Mar 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 462
Abstract
The inorganic proton acid-doped polyaniline (H-PANI-X) is synthesized directly on a graphite carbon paper electrode. The polyaniline doped with hydrochloric acid (yielding H-PANI-Cl), sulfuric acid (yielding H-PANI-HSO4), and nitric acid (yielding H-PANI-NO3) is employed to construct both finite molecule [...] Read more.
The inorganic proton acid-doped polyaniline (H-PANI-X) is synthesized directly on a graphite carbon paper electrode. The polyaniline doped with hydrochloric acid (yielding H-PANI-Cl), sulfuric acid (yielding H-PANI-HSO4), and nitric acid (yielding H-PANI-NO3) is employed to construct both finite molecule and periodic molecule computational models. Theoretical calculation and experimental measurement of a polyaniline/graphite carbon paper electrode are adopted to reveal the doping effect of inorganic acid radical ions (Cl−, HSO4−, NO3−) on electrical and electrochemical properties of H-PANI-X. H-PANI-X shows a lower electronic band gap structure, indicating more feasible electron transfer than PANI. H-PANI-X shows a lower HOMO-LUMO orbital energy gap, indicating lower excitation energy than PANI. H-PANI-X also shows a higher electronic density of states level, indicating higher electrical conductivity than PANI. The charge density difference of H-PANI-X reveals a more delocalized electrostatic potential distribution, indicating an enhanced electrostatic interaction between protonated PANI and charge-balancing anions. Furthermore, H-PANI-HSO4 and H-PANI-NO3 exhibit hydrogen bonding between the protonated PANI and charge-balancing anions, resulting in reduced electronic band gaps and enhanced electronic density of states compared with H-PANI-Cl. H-PANI-NO3 with higher electronic states at the Fermi level and higher anionic electronegativity exhibits higher electrical conductivity than H-PANI-Cl and H-PANI-HSO4. The experimental measurement is conducted to investigate the electrochemical properties of H-PANI-X. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurement indicates H-PANI-NO3 maintains lower charge transfer resistance (0.357 Ω) than H-PANI-HSO4 (3.003 Ω) and H-PANI-Cl (10.571 Ω). The cyclic voltammetry measurement indicates that H-PANI-NO3 has much higher redox current and mean current density responses, accordingly exhibiting superior capacitance (208.0 mF cm−2) performance in comparison with H-PANI-Cl (129.5 mF cm−2) and H-PANI-HSO4 (157.9 mF cm−2). Theoretical calculation and experimental investigation confirm H-PANI-NO3 presents superior electroactivity to H-PANI-Cl and H-PANI-HSO4 for promoting its electrochemical capacitance performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Structure and Component-Designed Functional Materials for Electrochemical Application)
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19 pages, 4198 KB  
Article
Influence of Surface Morphology of High-Carbon Steel on Roughness of Copper Coating Fabricated During Electrolysis of Aqueous KOH Solution with Copper Anode
by Svetlana V. Sidorova, Alexey D. Kouptsov, Anastasia A. Felde and Alexandre N. Zakharov
Inorganics 2026, 14(3), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics14030079 - 11 Mar 2026
Viewed by 411
Abstract
Electrodeposition of copper on the surface of the high-carbon steel (HCS) cathode was carried out in situ during the electrolysis of an aqueous KOH solution with a copper anode. A mechanism was proposed for the transfer of the copper from the anode to [...] Read more.
Electrodeposition of copper on the surface of the high-carbon steel (HCS) cathode was carried out in situ during the electrolysis of an aqueous KOH solution with a copper anode. A mechanism was proposed for the transfer of the copper from the anode to the cathode, followed by the formation of a copper film on the HCS. The surface roughness of the substrate and the copper coating was studied using AFM and profilographic data. There is a discrepancy between the roughness values of the substrate and coating obtained using different techniques. The surface morphology of the substrate was found to affect the copper film quality. The roughness of the copper coating calculated using AFM data replicated the roughness of the substrate surface. It was found that, despite some difference in the roughness calculated by profilographic and AFM data, the overall roughness trend remains unchanged. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Structure and Component-Designed Functional Materials for Electrochemical Application)
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15 pages, 4701 KB  
Article
Low-Temperature Co-Sintering of Li-Glass Solid Electrolytes and Li-Glass/Graphite Composite Anodes via Hot Press Processing
by Youngsun Ko, Hanbyul Lee, Wookyung Lee, Jaeseung Choi, Jungkeun Ahn, Youngsoo Seo and Chang-Bun Yoon
Inorganics 2026, 14(2), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics14020040 - 27 Jan 2026
Viewed by 754
Abstract
With the expanding electric vehicle market, there is increasing demand for improved battery safety and fast-charging performance. Ceramic-based solid electrolytes have attracted attention due to their high thermal and electrochemical stabilities. Li-glass solid electrolytes (e.g., Li2O–LiCl–B2O3–Al2 [...] Read more.
With the expanding electric vehicle market, there is increasing demand for improved battery safety and fast-charging performance. Ceramic-based solid electrolytes have attracted attention due to their high thermal and electrochemical stabilities. Li-glass solid electrolytes (e.g., Li2O–LiCl–B2O3–Al2O3, LCBA) are promising materials because they enable low-temperature sintering (<550 °C), suppress lithium volatilization, mitigate ionic conductivity degradation, and enable cost-effective manufacturing. LCBA can be co-sintered with graphite anodes to form composite anode materials for LCBA-based all-solid-state batteries. However, insufficient densification and shrinkage mismatch often lead to limited ionic conductivity and interfacial delamination. In this study, the sintering behavior of LCBA was investigated using a hot-press-assisted process, and LCBA/graphite composite anodes were co-sintered to evaluate their electrochemical and interfacial properties. The LCBA electrolyte sintered at 550 °C exhibited high densification and an ionic conductivity of 3.86 × 10−5 S cm−1. Additionally, the composite containing 50 wt% LCBA achieved a maximum tensile stress of ~0.23 MPa and a high interfacial fracture energy of ~180–200 J m−2, indicating enhanced deformation tolerance and fracture resistance. This approach improves the densification, ionic conductivity, and interfacial mechanical stability of LCBA solid electrolytes and their composite anodes, highlighting their potential for next-generation all-solid-state secondary battery applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Structure and Component-Designed Functional Materials for Electrochemical Application)
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11 pages, 3059 KB  
Article
Integrated Effects of NiCo2O4 and Reduced Graphene Oxide in High-Performance Supercapacitor Systems
by Radhika Govindaraju, Ananthi Balakrishnan, Neela Mohan Chidambaram, Vediyappan Thirumal, Palanisamy Rajkumar and Jinho Kim
Inorganics 2026, 14(2), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics14020033 - 24 Jan 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 740
Abstract
Supercapacitors have attracted significant interest as increased energy storage devices due to their high power density, rapid charge/discharge performance, and long cyclability. In this study, NiO, Co3O4, NCO, and NCO/rGO composite electrodes were prepared and evaluated for high-performance supercapacitor [...] Read more.
Supercapacitors have attracted significant interest as increased energy storage devices due to their high power density, rapid charge/discharge performance, and long cyclability. In this study, NiO, Co3O4, NCO, and NCO/rGO composite electrodes were prepared and evaluated for high-performance supercapacitor applications. The uniform distribution of elements and the effective incorporation of rGO into the composite were confirmed by structural and morphological characterizations. Among the evaluated materials, the NCO/rGO electrode exhibited high electrochemical performance, delivering a specific capacitance of 998 F g−1 in a three-electrode configuration, attributed to the enhanced redox activity of NiCo2O4 coupled with the enhanced electrical conductivity of rGO. Additionally, an asymmetric supercapacitor device with activated carbon as the negative electrode and NCO/rGO as the positive electrode showed a power density of 750 W kg−1, an energy density of 29.2 Wh kg−1, and a specific capacitance of 93.7 F g−1. After 5000 charge/discharge cycles, the device maintained 85% of its initial capacitance and a coulombic efficiency of 99%, demonstrating exceptional cyclability. These results highlight the strong potential of the NiCo2O4/rGO composite as an advanced electrode material for next-generation energy storage systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Structure and Component-Designed Functional Materials for Electrochemical Application)
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