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Emerging Electrode Materials for Energy Harvesting and Storage Applications

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2025 | Viewed by 2503

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Mechanical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, Republic of Korea
Interests: nanomaterial for energy storage; energy harvesting; flexible electrodes
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soft and stretchable materials are in focus as candidates for sustainable solutions for energy generation and storage. In these devices, achieving a balance of lightweight, cost-effective, soft, sustainable, robust, and stretchable aspects in elastomer-based devices is challenging and in focus. Recently, such flexible devices have frequently been used for new-generation applications such as wearable electronics, health monitoring, pressure sensing, triboelectric energy generators, or energy storage. Most recently, energy generation through stretchable devices such as flexible solar cells has been in focus. Moreover, energy storage through flexible batteries, supercapacitors, or integrated generation-to-storage combinations has gained much attention from researchers. Finally, the manipulation of challenges such as controlling mechanical stiffness and mechanical stability against failure is in focus to meet the demand of applications. Overall, researchers are exploring new ways to fabricate devices using novel and new-generation materials to achieve high-efficiency sustainable energy generation and storage.  

Keeping the above issues in mind, this Special Issue focuses on obtaining sustainable energy solutions as well as on obtaining improved mechanical, electrical, thermal, or electrochemical properties. Finally, the use of these properties from an energy perspective is explored. The authors with a focus on these aspects are requested to submit reviews, research papers, and communications. Overall, this Special Issue offers scope for soft and stretchable energy solutions and offers industrial-oriented research as summarized in the following points:

  • Soft and stretchable sustainable energy-generating materials such as energy generators in rubber composite materials or flexible solar cells;
  • Energy storage through stretchable batteries, supercapacitors, or integrated energy generations to storage combinations;
  • Energy generated through triboelectric or piezoelectric materials in composite materials;
  • Wearable and lightweight electronic materials for e-skin or health monitoring applications;
  • Biologically compatible and non-toxic composite materials for biological applications such as tissue engineering or implants.

Dr. Manesh Yewale
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • energy storage
  • triboelectric or piezoelectric materials
  • energy-generating materials
  • nanostructured materials
  • energy materials synthesis and characterization
  • supercapacitors
  • battery
  • energy devices
  • thin films

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 6615 KiB  
Article
Cationic Surfactant-Driven Evolution of NiFe2O4 Nanosheets for High-Performance Asymmetric Supercapacitors
by Pritam J. Morankar, Rutuja U. Amate, Aviraj M. Teli, Mrunal K. Bhosale, Sonali A. Beknalkar and Chan-Wook Jeon
Materials 2025, 18(9), 1987; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18091987 - 27 Apr 2025
Viewed by 223
Abstract
This work explores the role of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a morphology-directing agent in the hydrothermal synthesis of NiFe2O4 electrodes for high-performance supercapacitor applications. By fine-tuning CTAB concentrations (0.5%, 1%, and 1.5%), a tunable nanosheet morphology was achieved, with the [...] Read more.
This work explores the role of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a morphology-directing agent in the hydrothermal synthesis of NiFe2O4 electrodes for high-performance supercapacitor applications. By fine-tuning CTAB concentrations (0.5%, 1%, and 1.5%), a tunable nanosheet morphology was achieved, with the NiFe-1 sample exhibiting uniformly interconnected nanosheets that enhanced ion diffusion, charge transport, and surface redox activity. Structural and surface analyses confirmed the formation of single-phase cubic NiFe2O4 and the presence of Ni2+ and Fe3+ oxidation states. Electrochemical characterization in a 2 M KOH electrolyte revealed that the NiFe-1 electrode achieved an areal capacitance of 8.21 F/cm2 at 20 mA/cm2, with an energy density of 0.34 mWh/cm2 and a power density of 5.5 mW/cm2. The electrode retained 79.61% of its capacitance after 10,000 cycles, demonstrating excellent stability. An asymmetric pouch-type supercapacitor device (APSD), assembled using NiFe-1 and activated carbon, exhibited an areal capacitance of 1.215 F/cm2 and delivered an energy density of 0.285 mWh/cm2 at a power density of 6.5 mW/cm2 across a wide 0–1.8 V voltage window. These results confirm that CTAB-assisted nanostructuring significantly improves the electrochemical performance of NiFe2O4 electrodes, offering a scalable and effective approach for next-generation energy storage applications. Full article
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17 pages, 6954 KiB  
Article
Smart Textile Flexible MnCo2O4 Electrodes: Urea Surface Modification for Improved Electrochemical Functionality
by Manesh A. Yewale, Aviraj M. Teli, Sonali A. Beknalkar, Vineet Kumar and Dong-Kil Shin
Materials 2024, 17(8), 1866; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17081866 - 18 Apr 2024
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1609
Abstract
Surface microstructure modification of metal oxides also improves the electrochemical performance of metal oxide nanoparticles. The present investigation demonstrates how varying the urea molar content during the hydrothermal process altered the surfaces of MnCo2O4 nanoparticles. Successive increases of 0.1 M [...] Read more.
Surface microstructure modification of metal oxides also improves the electrochemical performance of metal oxide nanoparticles. The present investigation demonstrates how varying the urea molar content during the hydrothermal process altered the surfaces of MnCo2O4 nanoparticles. Successive increases of 0.1 M in urea concentration transformed the surface shape of MnCo2O4 nanoparticles from flower-like to sheet-like microstructures. Excellent electrochemical performance of MnCo2O4 nanoparticles was demonstrated in an aqueous 1 M KOH electrolyte. The improved MnCo2O4 nanoparticles have been employed to develop an asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC). The ASC device exhibits an energy density of 13 Wh/kg at a power density of 553 W/kg and a specific capacitance of 29 F g−1 at a current density of 4 mA/cm2. The MnCo2O4 nanoparticle electrode demonstrates remarkable electrocatalytic activity in both HER and OER. The MnCo2O4 electrode shows overpotential for HER and OER at 356 mV and 1.46 V, respectively. The Tafel slopes for HER and OER of the MnCo2O4 electrode are 356 mV/dec and 187 mV/dec, respectively. Full article
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