The Versatility of Ceramic and Metal-Based Materials for Energy Applications: From Fabrication Processes to Applications

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 8066

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
High Temperature Fuel Cells Group, Center of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Research, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Hwarangno 14-gil 5, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-791, Korea
Interests: ceramic materials for energy applications; electrolytes; material science and engineering; material characterization; impedance spectroscopy; high temperature fuel cells; solid oxide fuel cells and microbial fuel cells

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Tecnologie, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
Interests: synthesis, design, and characterization of functional ceramic materials for chemical sensors; ceramic composites for high and intermediate temperature SOFCs

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The current energy demand and the environmental concern require multidisciplinary and integrated research in the material science and engineering field. The pivotal role of ceramics, metals, alloys, and their composites is the key to improve the capability, performance, durability, and commercialization of electrochemical energy devices and technologies based on sustainable and renewable sources. The main componentry and core elements of several electrochemical energy devices, as, for example, high-temperature fuel cells and batteries, includes advanced ceramic oxides, alloys, and metal-based catalysts. The mission of researchers in the multidisciplinary field of materials for energy applications is to exploit the versatility offered by these materials to optimize structures, properties, fabrication, formulation, and application. This Special Issue is devoted to showcasing the latest trends in these various aspects, with a special focus on the synthesis, characterization, fabrication, and testing of ceramics and metal-based materials as components in any type of electrochemical energy devices.

Dr. Grazia Accardo
Prof. Elisabetta Di Bartolomeo
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. Applied Sciences 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 2400 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

  • Fabrication
  • Synthesis
  • Characterization
  • SOFCs
  • MCFCs
  • Batteries
  • Performance
  • Durability
  • Ceramics
  • Metal-based

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 2043 KiB  
Article
Iron-Based Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion: Effect of Ball Milling on Oxygen Reduction Activity
by Maida Aysla Costa de Oliveira, Pedro Pablo Machado Pico, Williane da Silva Freitas, Alessandra D’Epifanio and Barbara Mecheri
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(15), 5278; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10155278 - 30 Jul 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2884
Abstract
In this work, we synthesized new materials based on Fe(II) phthalocyanine (FePc), urea and carbon black pearls (BP), called Fe-N-C, as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in neutral solution. The electrocatalysts were prepared by combining ball-milling and pyrolysis treatments, which affected [...] Read more.
In this work, we synthesized new materials based on Fe(II) phthalocyanine (FePc), urea and carbon black pearls (BP), called Fe-N-C, as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in neutral solution. The electrocatalysts were prepared by combining ball-milling and pyrolysis treatments, which affected the electrochemical surface area (ECSA) and electrocatalytic activity toward ORR, and stability was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. Ball-milling allowed us to increase the ECSA, and the ORR activity as compared to the Fe-N-C sample obtained without any ball-milling. The effect of a subsequent pyrolysis treatment after ball-milling further improved the electrocatalytic stability of the materials. The set of results indicated that combining ball-milling time and pyrolysis treatments allowed us to obtain Fe-N-C catalysts with high catalytic activity toward ORR and stability which makes them suitable for microbial fuel cell applications. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 3912 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of the Microstructure and the Electrochemical Properties of Ce0.8(1−x)Gd0.2(1−x)CuxO[1.9(1−x)+x] Electrolytes for IT-SOFCs
by Grazia Accardo, Jae Kwan Bae and Sung Pil Yoon
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(13), 4573; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10134573 - 01 Jul 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1939
Abstract
The influence of copper addition (0.5–2 mol%) on the crystal structure, densification microstructure, and electrochemical properties of Ce0.8Gd0.2O1.9 synthesized in a one-step sol–gel combustion synthesis route has been studied. It has been found that Cu is very active [...] Read more.
The influence of copper addition (0.5–2 mol%) on the crystal structure, densification microstructure, and electrochemical properties of Ce0.8Gd0.2O1.9 synthesized in a one-step sol–gel combustion synthesis route has been studied. It has been found that Cu is very active as sintering aids, with a significative reduction of GDC firing temperature. A reduction of 500 °C with a small amount of copper (0.5 mol%) was observed achieving dense bodies with considerable ionic conductivities. Rietveld refined was used to investigate the crystal structure while relative density and microstructural examination were performed in the sintering temperature range of 1000–1200 °C after dilatometer analysis. High dense bodies were fabricated at the lowest sintering temperature, which promotes the formation of Ce0.8(1−x)Gd0.2(1−x)CuxO[1.9(1−x)+x] solid solution and the absence of secondary phase Cu-rich or the segregation or copper at the grain boundary. As compared to the pure GDC an improvement of total conductivity was achieved with a maximum for the highest copper content of 2.23·10−3–9.19·10−2 S cm−1 in the temperature range of 200–800 °C. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 6468 KiB  
Article
Nickel-Based Structured Catalysts for Indirect Internal Reforming of Methane
by Mariarita Santoro, Igor Luisetto, Simonetta Tuti, Silvia Licoccia, Claudia Romano, Andrea Notargiacomo and Elisabetta Di Bartolomeo
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(9), 3083; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10093083 - 28 Apr 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2583
Abstract
A structured catalyst for the dry reforming of methane (DRM) was investigated as a biogas pre-reformer for indirect internal reforming solid oxide fuel cell (IIR-SOFC). For this purpose, a NiCrAl open-cell foam was chosen as support and Ni-based samarium doped ceria (Ni-SmDC) as [...] Read more.
A structured catalyst for the dry reforming of methane (DRM) was investigated as a biogas pre-reformer for indirect internal reforming solid oxide fuel cell (IIR-SOFC). For this purpose, a NiCrAl open-cell foam was chosen as support and Ni-based samarium doped ceria (Ni-SmDC) as catalyst. Ni-SmDC powder is a highly performing catalyst showing a remarkable carbon resistance due to the presence of oxygen vacancies that promote coke gasification by CO2 activation. Ni-SmDC powder was deposited on the metallic support by wash-coating method. The metallic foam, the powder, and the structured catalyst were characterized by several techniques such as: N2 adsorption-desorption technique, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), focused ion beam (FIB), temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR), and Raman spectroscopy. Catalytic tests were performed on structured catalysts to evaluate activity, selectivity, and stability at SOFC operating conditions. Full article
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop