Hydrogen as a Sustainable Energy: Current Status and Future Prospect

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on the status and the future prospect of hydrogen as a sustainable energy in the fields from the hydrogen production to the applications, from the technologies to the economy and policies. The relationships revealed would help to shape integrated sustainable planning and development strategies of hydrogen energy.

There is a growing amount of research studying the engineering technologies of hydrogen-fueled power devices (like internal combustion engines, gas turbines, propulsion) in the field of energy and fuels to solve the energy and environment issues brought by the combustion of fossil-fuels, as well as research studying the fundamental characteristics of hydrogen (like spray characteristics, combustion characteristics), the engineering technologies of hydrogen production-delivery-storage, as well as the safety issues of hydrogen attract more attentions in the field of nature science for promoting the applications. Meanwhile, a growing amount of research concerning the conflicts in response to scientific technologies and social issues (including the economy, the policies in current market, and the ethics to environment). However, there is a lack of understanding of the different scientific subjects, more engineering technologies of hydrogen application are not suitable for promotion without the considerations of social sustainability, as well as some policies of hydrogen energy hardly be effectively conducted due to the technology development lagging. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore the aspects of hydrogen energy together with the wisdoms from both the nature sciences and social sciences, examine and correct the current problems hydrogen facing up to as a future energy, and propose feasible and flexible routes of hydrogen as a sustainable energy.

The Special Issue aims to collect high-standard empirical studies and review papers, which explore the fundamental science, the engineering technologies, the economic and society issues of hydrogen as a proliferating energy towards Carbon neutrality, within both the fields of nature sciences and social sciences. Potential topics include but are not limited to the followings:

• Hydrogen production: technologies, economic analysis, market potential of hydrogen energy
• Hydrogen delivery: technologies, delivery efficiency, international delivery web
• Hydrogen storage: hydrogen storage, crystal structure, nanostructure
• Hydrogen fuel: physical properties, combustion characteristics
• Hydrogen engines: hydrogen internal combustion engines, hydrogen gas turbine, hydrogen propulsion
• Hydrogen fuel cells: fuel cells performances, electrochemical reaction, catalytical materials, life-cycle assessment
• Hydrogen safety: explosion characteristics, leakage potential, spontoons ignition
• Hydrogen economy and energy policy: public attitude, dynamics of hydrogen economy development and energy policy towards Carbon Neutral society
• Hydrogen ethics: environmental risk in hydrogen production, environmental risk in w2w

This Special Issue will contribute to the existing literature on the interdisciplinary field of the impacts of scientific technologies and social risks, as well as facilitating comprehensive approaches to the hydrogen era.

Prof. Dr. Zuoyu Sun
Dr. Wang Mou
Guest Editors

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