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Nanomaterials
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Novel Nanomaterials for Renewable Energies and Technical Applications
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Novel Nanomaterials for Renewable Energies and Technical Applications

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy and Catalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2024 | Viewed by 4571

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Elisa Sani

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
CNR-INO National Institute of Optics, Largo E. Fermi 6, I-50125, Firenze, Italy
Interests: materials for solar energy; optical properties of materials; solar receivers; ceramics; nanofluids; nanoparticles; coatings; photon management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Renewable energy sources are resilient during global crises and result a key asset in the world future energy scenario. Nanotechnologies have a tremendous potential in improving efficiency, mitigating weaknesses, and promoting the penetration of renewable energy sources, increasing the resilience of the energy system.

The present Special Issue aims to collect outstanding contributions in the broadest field of the development of nanomaterials for renewable energies exploitation and in their technical applications. Both original research articles and reviews are welcome.

We are pleased to invite you to submit your manuscript to this Special Issue through the webpage of Nanomaterials. Manuscripts should be submitted online before 20 May 2024. We would very much appreciate it if you could let us know your interest in contributing to the paper at your earliest convenience.

Topics to be covered in this Special Issue include:

  • Nanomaterials and nanomaterials-based systems for photovoltaics;
  • Nanomaterials and nanomaterials-based systems for thermal and thermodynamic solar energy exploitation;
  • Nanomaterials and nanomaterials-based systems for thermal or electric energy storage;
  • Nanomaterials and nanomaterials-based systems for solar fuels;
  • Nanomaterials and nanomaterials-based systems for solar water purification;
  • Nanomaterials and nanomaterials-based systems for solar chemistry;
  • Nanomaterials and nanomaterials-based systems for photon management applied to one of the previously listed applications;
  • Nanomaterials and nanomaterials-based systems for green hydrogen production;
  • Nanomaterials and nanomaterials-based systems for waste heat recovery;
  • Nanomaterials and nanomaterials-based systems for renewable heating and cooling;
  • Nanomaterials and nanomaterials-based systems for the exploitation of renewable energy sources;
  • Nanomaterials and nanomaterials-based systems for emerging applications of renewables;
  • Nanomaterials and nanomaterials-based systems for catalysts applied to one of the previously listed applications.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Elisa Sani
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. Nanomaterials 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 2900 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.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 5425 KiB  
Article
Effects of Deposition Temperature and Working Pressure on the Thermal and Nanomechanical Performances of Stoichiometric Cu3N: An Adaptable Material for Photovoltaic Applications
by M. I. Rodríguez-Tapiador, A. Jiménez-Suárez, A. Lama, N. Gordillo, J. M. Asensi, G. del Rosario, J. Merino, J. Bertomeu, A. Agarwal and S. Fernández
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(22), 2950; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13222950 - 15 Nov 2023
Viewed by 912
Abstract
The pursuit of efficient, profitable, and ecofriendly materials has defined solar cell research from its inception to today. Some materials, such as copper nitride (Cu3N), show great promise for promoting sustainable solar technologies. This study employed reactive radio-frequency magnetron sputtering using [...] Read more.
The pursuit of efficient, profitable, and ecofriendly materials has defined solar cell research from its inception to today. Some materials, such as copper nitride (Cu3N), show great promise for promoting sustainable solar technologies. This study employed reactive radio-frequency magnetron sputtering using a pure nitrogen environment to fabricate quality Cu3N thin films to evaluate how both temperature and gas working pressure affect their solar absorption capabilities. Several characterization techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nanoindentation, and photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS), were used to determine the main properties of the thin films. The results indicated that, at room temperature, it is possible to obtain a material that is close to stoichiometric Cu3N material (Cu/N ratio ≈ 3) with (100) preferred orientation, which was lost as the substrate temperature increases, demonstrating a clear influence of this parameter on the film structure attributed to nitrogen re-emission at higher temperatures. Raman microscopy confirmed the formation of Cu-N bonds within the 628–637 cm−1 range. In addition, the temperature and the working pressure significantly also influence the film hardness and the grain size, affecting the elastic modulus. Finally, the optical properties revealed suitable properties at lower temperatures, including bandgap values, refractive index, and Urbach energy. These findings underscore the potential of Cu3N thin films in solar energy due to their advantageous properties and resilience against defects. This research paves the way for future advancements in efficient and sustainable solar technologies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Nanomaterials for Renewable Energies and Technical Applications)
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15 pages, 10906 KiB  
Article
Multi-Scale Femtosecond-Laser Texturing for Photothermal Efficiency Enhancement on Solar Absorbers Based on TaB2 Ceramics
by Elisa Sani, Diletta Sciti, Simone Failla, Cesare Melandri, Alessandro Bellucci, Stefano Orlando and Daniele M. Trucchi
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(10), 1692; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13101692 - 21 May 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1140
Abstract
Tantalum boride is an ultra-refractory and ultra-hard ceramic known so far for its favorable high-temperature thermo-mechanical properties and also characterized by a low spectral emittance, making it interesting for novel high-temperature solar absorbers for Concentrating Solar Power. In this work, we investigated two [...] Read more.
Tantalum boride is an ultra-refractory and ultra-hard ceramic known so far for its favorable high-temperature thermo-mechanical properties and also characterized by a low spectral emittance, making it interesting for novel high-temperature solar absorbers for Concentrating Solar Power. In this work, we investigated two types of TaB2 sintered products with different porosities, and on each of them, we realized four femtosecond laser treatments differing in the accumulated laser fluence. The treated surfaces were then characterized by SEM-EDS, roughness analysis, and optical spectrometry. We show that, depending on laser processing parameters, the multi-scale surface textures produced by femtosecond laser machining can greatly increase the solar absorptance, while the spectral emittance increase is significantly lower. These combined effects result in increased photothermal efficiency of the absorber, with interesting perspectives for the application of these ceramics in Concentrating Solar Power and Concentrating Solar Thermal. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of successful photothermal efficiency enhancement of ultra-hard ceramics using laser machining. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Nanomaterials for Renewable Energies and Technical Applications)
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12 pages, 3081 KiB  
Article
In Situ Ethanolamine ZnO Nanoparticle Passivation for Perovskite Interface Stability and Highly Efficient Solar Cells
by Humberto Emmanuel Sánchez-Godoy, K. M. Muhammed Salim, Rubén Rodríguez-Rojas, Isaac Zarazúa and Sofia Masi
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(5), 823; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12050823 - 28 Feb 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2177
Abstract
Zinc oxide (ZnO) has interesting optoelectronic properties, but suffers from chemical instability when in contact with perovskite interfaces; hence, the perovskite deposited on the top degrades promptly. Surface passivation strategies alleviate this instability issue; however, synthesis to passivate ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) in situ [...] Read more.
Zinc oxide (ZnO) has interesting optoelectronic properties, but suffers from chemical instability when in contact with perovskite interfaces; hence, the perovskite deposited on the top degrades promptly. Surface passivation strategies alleviate this instability issue; however, synthesis to passivate ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) in situ has received less attention. Here, a new synthesis at low temperatures with an ethanolamine post treatment has been developed. By using ZnO NPs prepared with ethanolamine and butanol (BuOH), (E-ZnO), the stability of the FA0.9Cs0.1PbI3 (FACsPI)–ZnO interface was achieved, with a photoconversion efficiency of >18%. Impedance spectroscopy demonstrates that the recombination at the interface was reduced in the system with E-ZnO/perovskite compared to common SnO2/perovskite and that the quality of the perovskite on the top is clearly due to the ZnO in situ passivation with ethanolamine. This work extends the use of E-ZnO as an n-type charge extraction layer and demonstrates its feasibility with methylammonium perovskite. Moreover, this study paves the way for other in situ passivation methods with different target molecules, along with new insights regarding the perovskite interface rearrangement when in contact with the modified electron transport layer (ETL). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Nanomaterials for Renewable Energies and Technical Applications)
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