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Dear Colleagues,

Electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems, including rechargeable batteries, fuel cells, and water electrolysis, have been attracting increasing attention as keys for a clean energy future. There have been tremendous efforts to further develop the overall performance (lifetime, rate capability, energy density, etc.) of electrochemical electrodes, and nanomaterials are of particular interest. This is because the decrease in dimension or size of materials allows the tuning of their fundamental properties, e.g., phase transformation thermodynamics, energy transfer kinetics, surface-to-volume ratio, electronic structures, and ionic transport resistance. Thus, it is highly important for researchers to develop novel nanomaterial fabrication technology and further apply it to electrochemical devices for performance enhancement.

This Special Issue of Nanomaterials will attempt to cover the recent advancements in the field of nanostructured electrodes for electrochemical systems, including (but not limited to) lithium-ion batteries, next-generation rechargeable batteries, water electrolysis, fuel cells, electrochemical sensors, photoelectrochemical systems, and supercapacitors.

Prof. Dr. Jongwoo Lim
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 papers will be 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 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

energy storage and conversion
rechargeable batteries
electrocatalysts
in situ analysis
nanomaterials
fuel cells
water electrolysis
energy transport

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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Open AccessArticle

Nanocrystalline TiO₂/Carbon/Sulfur Composite Cathodes for Lithium–Sulfur Battery

and

Nanomaterials 2021, 11(2), 541; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11020541 - 20 Feb 2021

Abstract

This paper evaluates the influence of the morphology, surface area, and surface modification of carbonaceous additives on the performance of the corresponding cathode in a lithium–sulfur battery. The structure of sulfur composite cathodes with mesoporous carbon, activated carbon, and electrochemical carbon is studied by X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption measurements, and Raman spectroscopy. The sulfur cathode containing electrochemical carbon with the specific surface area of 1606.6 m² g⁻¹ exhibits the best electrochemical performance and provides a charge capacity of almost 650 mAh g⁻¹ in cyclic voltammetry at a 0.1 mV s⁻¹ scan rate and up to 1300 mAh g⁻¹ in galvanostatic chronopotentiometry at a 0.1 C rate. This excellent electrochemical behavior is ascribed to the high dispersity of electrochemical carbon, enabling a perfect encapsulation of sulfur. The surface modification of carbonaceous additives by TiO₂ has a positive effect on the electrochemical performance of sulfur composites with mesoporous and activated carbons, but it causes a loss of dispersity and a consequent decrease of the charge capacity of the sulfur composite with electrochemical carbon. The composite of sulfur with TiO₂-modified activated carbon exhibited the charge capacity of 393 mAh g⁻¹ in cyclic voltammetry and up to 493 mAh g⁻¹ in galvanostatic chronopotentiometry. The presence of an additional Sigracell carbon felt interlayer further improves the electrochemical performance of cells with activated carbon, electrochemical carbon, and nanocrystalline TiO₂-modified activated carbon. This positive effect is most pronounced in the case of activated carbon modified by nanocrystalline TiO₂. However, it is not boosted by additional coverage by TiO₂ or SnO₂, which is probably due to the blocking of pores. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials for Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion Systems)

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Open AccessPerspective

Perspectives on Nickel Hydroxide Electrodes Suitable for Rechargeable Batteries: Electrolytic vs. Chemical Synthesis Routes

Baladev Ash

Venkata Swamy Nalajala

Ashok Kumar Popuri

Tondepu Subbaiah

and

Manickam Minakshi

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(9), 1878; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10091878 - 19 Sep 2020

Cited by 1

Abstract

A significant amount of work on electrochemical energy storage focuses mainly on current lithium-ion systems with the key markets being portable and transportation applications. There is a great demand for storing higher capacity (mAh/g) and energy density (Wh/kg) of the electrode material for electronic and vehicle applications. However, for stationary applications, where weight is not as critical, nickel-metal hydride (Mi-MH) technologies can be considered with tolerance to deep discharge conditions. Nickel hydroxide has gained importance as it is used as the positive electrode in nickel-metal hydride and other rechargeable batteries such as Ni-Fe and Ni-Cd systems. Nickel hydroxide is manufactured industrially by chemical methods under controlled conditions. However, the electrochemical route is relatively better than the chemical counterpart. In the electrochemical route, a well-regulated OH⁻ is generated at the cathode forming nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH)₂) through controlling and optimizing the current density. It produces nickel hydroxide of better purity with an appropriate particle size, well-oriented morphology, structure, et cetera, and this approach is found to be environmentally friendly. The structures of the nickel hydroxide and its production technologies are presented. The mechanisms of product formation in both chemical and electrochemical preparation of nickel hydroxide have been presented along with the feasibility of producing pure nickel hydroxide in this review. An advanced Ni(OH)₂-polymer embedded electrode has been reported in the literature but may not be suitable for scalable electrochemical methods. To the best of our knowledge, no such insights on the Ni(OH)₂ synthesis route for battery applications has been presented in the literature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials for Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion Systems)

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