Special Issue "Efficient and Ecofriendly Chemical Synthesis of Advanced Materials for Energy and Environment"
A special issue of Sustainable Chemistry (ISSN 2673-4079).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2021.
Special Issue Editors
Interests: solution combustion synthesis; nanomaterials for energy and environment; perovskite-type compounds; solid oxide fuel cells; rietveld analysis; sustainability and green chemistry; materials from waste; clean water production; electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reactions
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Interests: sustainable synthesis of nanomaterials for energy and environmental applications; environmental heterogeneous catalysis; design and synthesis of hybrid organic-inorganic catalysts; synthesis of functionalized material applied to the transformation of biomass components; biofuel production; added-value products; circular chemistry; waste-derived materials; sustainable procedures; process efficiency; microwave- assisted reactions; hybrid materials for wastewater purification
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Chemistry plays a fundamental role in advanced materials production. However, chemical synthesis is still bound to old procedures and methodologies that are often far from being sustainable, above all in the industrial field. Little attention has been dedicated to the efficiency of the processes, to the toxicity of the used reagents and solvents, and to quality and amount of waste produced after the procedures. The energy and the time required for the overall process are seldom taken into consideration. Furthermore, the environmental, health and ethical issues generated by the synthetic process or by the materials application are mostly neglected. In order to protect our environment without stopping the technological advancement of our society, a change is required. Therefore, a transition toward efficient and ecofriendly chemical methods for the synthesis of advanced sustainable materials is of paramount importance.
There are several reviews and Special Issues related to the synthesis of materials for energy and environmental applications. However, most of them cover quite specific topics within the wide spectrum of the synthesis and application of materials. This Special Issue, titled Efficient and Ecofriendly Chemical Synthesis of Advanced Materials for Energy and Environment, aims to give an integral perspective on the various synthesis methods of advanced materials, as well as their mechanistic features, advantages, challenges, and utilizations for energy production and environmental protection.
Sustainable chemical synthesis should take into consideration the overall process, from the feedstocks to the materials application, following the principles of a circular chemistry.
Chemists are encouraged to propose their sustainable methodologies for the synthesis of advanced materials for energy- and environment-related applications, considering at least one of the following aspects:
- eco-friendly procedures and the use of non toxic reagent and solvents
- use of waste-derived precursors in the synthesis
- improvement of the reproducibility of the synthesis, as well as its scale up, at least at a laboratory scale
- improvement of the efficiency, in terms of cost, energy and time saving, selectivity and yield.
- waste reduction in the whole synthetic process
- ethical and safety issues in the advanced materials synthesis
Looking at some of the aspects listed above, potential contributions (review articles, perspectives, original papers, and communications) should include, but are not limited to, the below topics:
- Synthesis of photoluminescent materials for solar cell applications
- Synthesis of advanced materials for applications as electrocatalysts, photocatalysts, and conventional heterogeneous catalysts
- Synthesis and application of oxide catalysts from waste materials
- Current and new strategies for synthesizing micro- and meso-structured materials
- New synthetic approaches of materials for fuel cells and metal–air batteries
- Advanced techniques for the in situ study of the synthesis of nanostructured materials
- Synthesis of carbon-/graphene-based nanomaterials, and their energy and environment applications
- Design and development of materials for water splitting reactions
- Synthesis of efficient nanocatalysts for converting CO2 to high-value products
- Design of layered-double hydroxide (LDH)-derived mixed oxides and/or LDHs-composites for energy and environmental applications
- Synthesis and application of both supported metal catalysts with nanodispersed metal active species and organic–inorganic materials
Dr. Francesca Deganello
Dr. Maria Luisa Testa
Dr. Sergio Gonzalez-Cortes
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 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. Sustainable Chemistry is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1000 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
- materials synthesis
- sustainable synthesis
- energy and environment
- advanced materials
- ecofriendly procedures
- waste reduction
- waste precursors
- waste management
- fuel battery catalysts
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: Sustainable chemical approaches for designing advanced nanomaterial
Authors: Francesca Deganello, Maria Luisa Testa and Sergio Gonzalez-Cortes
Title: Efficient oxidative esterification of Furfural by carbon supported magnetically recoverable bimetallic Mn-Fe nanocomposite
Authors: Bhanupratap Singh Solanki and Chandrashekhar V Rode
Abstract: Methyl-2-furoate is considered as utility chemical and highly value added molecule in fragrance industry. It can be synthesized by oxidative esterification of furfural. This value addition to the furfural was attempted on bimetallic combination of Mn-Fe supported on activated C. Various ratio of Mn and Fe were tried and 10% Mn-20% Fe/C was found most suitable catalyst with 98.5% conversion, 95% selectivity and 90.7% yield. Catalyst was extensively characterised by BET surface area analysis, XRD, XPS, TEM, FE-SEM, FTIR, Py-IR, NH3-TPD and cyclic voltammetry. It was found that high surface area, Oxygen defects, combined surface acidity of activate C and Mn-Fe nanohybrid played a vital role in enhancing the catalytic efficiency. While Fe promoted the activation of aldehyde group of furfural, activate C and Mn helped in esterification by oxidative dehydrogenation route. Reaction parameter optimisation study was conducted and catalyst performed best at 100°C, 5 bar external Oxygen, 5-HMF/catalyst=5.8 in 2.5 h of reaction time. Catalyst was found magnetically recoverable and reusable up to 3 times with minor drop in activity after that. A plausible reaction mechanism is also given after detailed analysis.