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Molecules
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Advanced Materials for Energy Conversion and Water Sustainability
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Advanced Materials for Energy Conversion and Water Sustainability

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2024 | Viewed by 6861

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Panpan Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China
Interests: photothermal conversion materials; graphene composites; polymer hydrogels; interfacial evaporation; desalination; water purification
Dr. Wenjing Yuan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China
Interests: two-dimensional materials; polymer composites; gas sensor; flexible strain sensor; stretchable electrodes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water is the Earth’s most precious resource for life and is becoming perilously scarce and polluted. It is imperative to advance effective, affordable and sustainable strategies to augment the water supply. This topic involves advanced material innovation via structural assembly and surface modulation associated with carbon materials (carbon nanotubes, graphene, Mxene, carbon fibers, etc.), polymer hydrogels (alginate, polyethylene glycol, polyacrylamide, polypyrrole, etc.), metal nanoparticles (gold, silver, platinum, copper, etc.), inorganic compounds (thiosulfate, titanium dioxide, etc.), metal-organic framework (MOF) and covalent organic framework (COF) materials. Subsequently, an in-depth study of the energy conversion mechanism and performance of these materials in the fields of photothermal, electrothermal, photoelectric, electrochemical, etc., is required to extend their applications in desalination, various sewage purification, sterilization, pollutant degradation, etc. Examples include solar-driven interfacial water purification, capacitive deionization, advanced oxidation, photo/electrocatalytic degradation, membrane distillation, adsorption, and other associated technologies to address the clean water crisis issue.

Dr. Panpan Zhang
Dr. Wenjing Yuan
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. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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

  • advanced material innovation
  • energy conversion
  • desalination
  • wastewater treatment
  • pollutant degradation
  • sustainable clean water harvesting

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

3 pages, 175 KiB  
Editorial
Interfacial Solar Vapour Generation: An Emerging Platform for Sustainable Clean Water Harvesting
by Panpan Zhang and Wenjing Yuan
Molecules 2023, 28(15), 5721; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28155721 - 28 Jul 2023
Viewed by 648
Abstract
Water is a precious resource of paramount importance on Earth, playing a critical role in the evolution of life [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials for Energy Conversion and Water Sustainability)

Research

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12 pages, 5129 KiB  
Article
Core–Shell CoS2@MoS2 with Hollow Heterostructure as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Boosting Oxygen Evolution Reaction
by Donglei Guo, Jiaqi Xu, Guilong Liu and Xu Yu
Molecules 2024, 29(8), 1695; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29081695 - 9 Apr 2024
Viewed by 461
Abstract
It is imperative to develop an efficient catalyst to reduce the energy barrier of electrochemical water decomposition. In this study, a well-designed electrocatalyst featuring a core–shell structure was synthesized with cobalt sulfides as the core and molybdenum disulfide nanosheets as the shell. The [...] Read more.
It is imperative to develop an efficient catalyst to reduce the energy barrier of electrochemical water decomposition. In this study, a well-designed electrocatalyst featuring a core–shell structure was synthesized with cobalt sulfides as the core and molybdenum disulfide nanosheets as the shell. The core–shell structure can prevent the agglomeration of MoS2, expose more active sites, and facilitate electrolyte ion diffusion. A CoS2/MoS2 heterostructure is formed between CoS2 and MoS2 through the chemical interaction, and the surface chemistry is adjusted. Due to the morphological merits and the formation of the CoS2/MoS2 heterostructure, CoS2@MoS2 exhibits excellent electrocatalytic performance during the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) process in an alkaline electrolyte. To reach the current density of 10 mA cm−2, only 254 mV of overpotential is required for CoS2@MoS2, which is smaller than that of pristine CoS2 and MoS2. Meanwhile, the small Tafel slope (86.9 mV dec−1) and low charge transfer resistance (47 Ω) imply the fast dynamic mechanism of CoS2@MoS2. As further confirmed by cyclic voltammetry curves for 1000 cycles and the CA test for 10 h, CoS2@MoS2 shows exceptional catalytic stability. This work gives a guideline for constructing the core–shell heterostructure as an efficient catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials for Energy Conversion and Water Sustainability)
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14 pages, 5518 KiB  
Article
Study on the Catalytic Oxidation of Toluene Using CeO2@S-AZMB Prepared from Spent Zn-Mn Batteries
by Yu Zou, Huan Du, Zhong Zhao and Zhuozhi Wang
Molecules 2024, 29(3), 616; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29030616 - 27 Jan 2024
Viewed by 599
Abstract
The recycling and utilization of waste alkaline zinc manganese batteries (S-AZMB) has always been a focus of attention in the fields of environment and energy. However, current research mostly focuses on the recycling of purified materials, while neglecting the direct reuse of waste [...] Read more.
The recycling and utilization of waste alkaline zinc manganese batteries (S-AZMB) has always been a focus of attention in the fields of environment and energy. However, current research mostly focuses on the recycling of purified materials, while neglecting the direct reuse of waste batteries. Here, we propose a new concept of preparing thermal catalysts by combining unpurified S-AZMB with CeO2 by means of ball milling. A series of characterizations and experiments have confirmed that the combination with S-AZMB not only enhances the thermal catalytic activity of CeO2 but also significantly enhances the concentration of surface oxygen vacancies. In the toluene removal experiment, the temperature (T90) at 90% toluene conversions of CeO2@S-AZMB was 180 °C, lower than the 220 °C for CeO2. More noteworthy is that this S-AZMB-based thermal catalyst can maintain a good structure and thermal catalytic stability in cyclic catalysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials for Energy Conversion and Water Sustainability)
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12 pages, 4053 KiB  
Article
The Construction of Surface-Frustrated Lewis Pair Sites to Improve the Nitrogen Reduction Catalytic Activity of In2O3
by Mingqian Wang, Ming Zheng, Yuchen Sima, Chade Lv and Xin Zhou
Molecules 2023, 28(20), 7130; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28207130 - 17 Oct 2023
Viewed by 864
Abstract
The construction of a surface-frustrated Lewis pairs (SFLPs) structure is expected to break the single electronic state restriction of catalytic centers of P-region element materials, due to the existence of acid-base and basic active canters without mutual quenching in the SFLPs system. Herein, [...] Read more.
The construction of a surface-frustrated Lewis pairs (SFLPs) structure is expected to break the single electronic state restriction of catalytic centers of P-region element materials, due to the existence of acid-base and basic active canters without mutual quenching in the SFLPs system. Herein, we have constructed eight possible SFLPS structures on the In2O3 (110) surface by doping non-metallic elements and investigated their performance as electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction catalysts using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results show that P atom doping (P@In2O3) can effectively construct the structure of SFLPs, and the doped P atom and In atom near the vacancy act as Lewis base and acid, respectively. The P@In2O3 catalyst can effectively activate N2 molecules through the enzymatic mechanism with a limiting potential of −0.28 eV and can effectively suppress the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Electronic structure analysis also confirmed that the SFLPs site can efficiently capture N2 molecules and activate N≡N bonds through a unique “donation-acceptance” mechanism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials for Energy Conversion and Water Sustainability)
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15 pages, 5001 KiB  
Article
Magnetic Biochar Derived from Fenton Sludge/CMC for High-Efficiency Removal of Pb(II): Synthesis, Application, and Mechanism
by Zongwu Wang, Juan Guo, Junwei Jia, Wei Liu, Xinding Yao, Jinglan Feng, Shuying Dong and Jianhui Sun
Molecules 2023, 28(13), 4983; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28134983 - 25 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 831
Abstract
Magnetic biochar composites (MBC) were developed by a simple one-step pyrolysis method using Fenton sludge waste solid and carboxymethyl cellulose sodium. Detailed morphological, chemical, and magnetic characterizations corroborate the successful fabrication of MBC. Batch adsorption experiments show that the synthesized MBC owns high-efficiency [...] Read more.
Magnetic biochar composites (MBC) were developed by a simple one-step pyrolysis method using Fenton sludge waste solid and carboxymethyl cellulose sodium. Detailed morphological, chemical, and magnetic characterizations corroborate the successful fabrication of MBC. Batch adsorption experiments show that the synthesized MBC owns high-efficiency removal of Pb(II), accompanied by ease-of-separation from aqueous solution using magnetic field. The experiment shows that the equilibrium adsorption capacity of MBC for Pb(II) can reach 199.9 mg g−1, corresponding to a removal rate of 99.9%, and the maximum adsorption capacity (qm) reaches 570.7 mg g−1, which is significantly better than that of the recently reported magnetic similar materials. The adsorption of Pb(II) by MBC complies with the pseudo second-order equation and Langmuir isotherm model, and the adsorption is a spontaneous, endothermic chemical process. Investigations on the adsorption mechanism show that the combination of Pb(II) with the oxygen-containing functional groups (carboxyl, hydroxyl, etc.) on biochar with a higher specific surface area are the decisive factors. The merits of reusing solid waste resource, namely excellent selectivity, easy separation, and simple preparation make the MBC a promising candidate of Pb(II) purifier. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials for Energy Conversion and Water Sustainability)
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14 pages, 6087 KiB  
Article
A Bifunctional BiOBr/ZIF-8/ZnO Photocatalyst with Rich Oxygen Vacancy for Enhanced Wastewater Treatment and H2O2 Generation
by Xiao Han, Tianduo Zhang, Yang Cui, Zhaoyang Wang, Ruoyu Dong, Yuhan Wu, Cuiwei Du, Ruyan Chen, Chongfei Yu, Jinglan Feng, Jianhui Sun and Shuying Dong
Molecules 2023, 28(6), 2422; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28062422 - 7 Mar 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1822
Abstract
Photocatalytic technology is considered an ideal approach for clean energy conversion and environmental pollution applications. In this work, a bifunctional BiOBr/ZIF-8/ZnO photocatalyst was proposed for removing phenols in wastewater and generating hydrogen peroxide. Insights from scanning electron microscopy measurements revealed the well-dispersion of [...] Read more.
Photocatalytic technology is considered an ideal approach for clean energy conversion and environmental pollution applications. In this work, a bifunctional BiOBr/ZIF-8/ZnO photocatalyst was proposed for removing phenols in wastewater and generating hydrogen peroxide. Insights from scanning electron microscopy measurements revealed the well-dispersion of ZIF-8/ZnO was on the BiOBr layer, which could effectively prevent agglomeration of ZIF-8 and facilitate the separation of carriers. In addition, the optimal H2O2 yield of the BiOBr/ZIF-8/ZnO sample could reach 116 mmol·L−1·g−1 within 2 h, much higher than that of pure BiOBr (with the value of 82 mmol·L−1·g−1). The optimal BiOBr/ZIF-8/ZnO sample could also remove 90% of the phenol or bisphenol A in 2 h, and its kinetic constants were 3.8 times and 2.3 times that of pure BiOBr, respectively. Based on the analysis of the various experimental characterizations, the photocatalytic mechanism of the S-scheme BiOBr/ZIF-8/ZnO composite for the degradation of phenolic pollutants and generation of H2O2 was proposed. The formation of the heterojunction and the oxygen vacancy work together to significantly improve its photocatalytic efficiency. In addition, the BiOBr/ZIF-8/ZnO catalyst has a certain impact on the degradation of phenol in actual wastewater, providing a way to effectively remove refractory pollutants and generate H2O2 in actual water. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials for Energy Conversion and Water Sustainability)
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Review

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15 pages, 2935 KiB  
Review
A Review of Synthesis and Applications of Al2O3 for Organic Dye Degradation/Adsorption
by Sundarakannan Rajendran, Geetha Palani, Vigneshwaran Shanmugam, Herri Trilaksanna, Karthik Kannan, Marek Nykiel, Kinga Korniejenko and Uthayakumar Marimuthu
Molecules 2023, 28(23), 7922; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28237922 - 4 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1129
Abstract
This comprehensive review investigates the potential of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) as a highly effective adsorbent for organic dye degradation. Al2O3 emerges as a promising solution to address environmental challenges associated with dye discharge due to its [...] Read more.
This comprehensive review investigates the potential of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) as a highly effective adsorbent for organic dye degradation. Al2O3 emerges as a promising solution to address environmental challenges associated with dye discharge due to its solid ceramic composition, robust mechanical properties, expansive surface area, and exceptional resistance to environmental degradation. The paper meticulously examines recent advancements in Al2O3-based materials, emphasizing their efficacy in both organic dye degradation and adsorption. Offering a nuanced understanding of Al2O3’s pivotal role in environmental remediation, this review provides a valuable synthesis of the latest research developments in the field of dye degradation. It serves as an insightful resource, emphasizing the significant potential of aluminum oxide in mitigating the pressing environmental concerns linked to organic dye discharge. The application of Al2O3-based catalysts in the photocatalytic treatment of multi-component organic dyes necessitates further exploration, particularly in addressing real-world wastewater complexities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials for Energy Conversion and Water Sustainability)
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