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Energies
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Emerging Materials for Energy Catalysis
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Emerging Materials for Energy Catalysis

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "D1: Advanced Energy Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 August 2023) | Viewed by 3955

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Junlian Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Interests: noble metal based catalysts; recycling of spent catalysts; separation of rare earth, Zr/Hf, Co/Ni and PGMs

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is an imperative task to explore green and renewable energy due to the shortage and non-renewability of fossil fuels and the resulting environmental pollution. Sustainable energy conversion and storage devices such as water splitting, solar cells, metal–air batteries, fuel cells, supercapacitors, etc. have drawn great attention in recent years. Electro(photo)-catalysts are essential for achieving high efficiency of H2 generation from water splitting, and gaining high performance fuel cells, solar fuels and metal–air batteries, etc. To convert mechanical energy and temperature alteration thermal power into storable chemical energy, piezocatalysts and pyrocatalysts are of great importance.

This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate the most recent advances related to the new materials of energy catalysis, including the material design, synthesis, advanced characterization methods, modelling and applications. Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to:

  • New materials for fuel cells and metal–air batteries;
  • New materials for H & O evolution reaction electrocatalysis;
  • New materials for CO2 & N2 reduction;
  • New photocatalytic materials for water splitting;
  • New piezocatalytic materials for converting mechanical energy into chemical energy;
  • New pyrocatalytic materials for converting temperature alteration thermal power into chemical energy;
  • New materials for advanced energy conversion;
  • New materials for energy storage and conversion devices;
  • New semiconductor photocatalytic materials;
  • Carbon quantum dot-, graphene quantum dot-, carbonized polymer dot-, etc. based electrocatalysts;
  • Metallic phosphide-, metallic carbide-, metallic nitride-, metallic boride-, metallic sulfide-, metallic selenide-, etc. based electrocatalysts;
  • Noble metal-, Perovskite oxide-, etc. based electrocatalysts;
  • Single atom catalysts (SAC), Diatomic site catalysts (DASC) etc.
  • Metallic oxide-, metallic sulfide-, metallic carbide-, metallic carbide-, g-C3N4-, MOFs-, COFs-, Xenes-, etc. based 1D/2D/3D photocatalysts.

Dr. Junlian Wang
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. Energies 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 2600 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

17 pages, 4493 KiB  
Article
Simulation of Boosting Efficiency of GaAs Absorption Layers with KNbO3 Scatterers for Solar Cells
by Lin Zhou, Yihua Wu, Xiaoning Liu, Jiajia Quan, Zhijie Bi, Feng Yuan and Yong Wan
Energies 2023, 16(7), 3067; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16073067 - 28 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1019
Abstract
In this work, gallium arsenide (GaAs), which has an adjustable band gap and low cost, was adopted as an absorption layer in which KNbO3, having good dielectric, photoelectric, and piezoelectric properties, served as a scattering element for the improvement in absorption [...] Read more.
In this work, gallium arsenide (GaAs), which has an adjustable band gap and low cost, was adopted as an absorption layer in which KNbO3, having good dielectric, photoelectric, and piezoelectric properties, served as a scattering element for the improvement in absorption efficiency of solar cells. Benefited by the high absorption efficiency of KNbO3, the utilization of the ultraviolet and infrared bands for solar cells can be strengthened. In addition, the ferroelectric and photovoltaic characteristics of KNbO3 enable the realization of decreased thickness of solar cells. Based on the simulation of the shape, width, and period of the scattering element, the effect of the thickness of the scattering element on the absorption efficiency, quantum efficiency, and total efficiency of absorption efficiency was comprehensively simulated. The results show that the absorption layer delivers the optimal performance when using a hexagonal KNbO3 scattering element. The absorption efficiency of the GaAs absorption layer with KNbO3 as the scattering element is increased by 28.42% compared with that of a GaAs absorption layer with empty holes. In addition, the quantum efficiency is maintained above 98% and the total efficiency is 91.59%. At the same time, the efficiency of such an absorption layer is still above 90% when the angle ranges from 0 to 70°. This work provides theoretical guidance for the rational design of solar cells based on photonic crystal structures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Materials for Energy Catalysis)
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17 pages, 4554 KiB  
Article
TiO2–Graphene Oxide and TiO2–Reduced Graphene Oxide Composite Thin Films for Solar Photocatalytic Wastewater Treatment
by Ioana Tismanar, Alexandru Cosmin Obreja, Octavian Buiu and Anca Duta
Energies 2022, 15(24), 9416; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15249416 - 12 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1149
Abstract
This research reports on Vis- and solar-active photocatalytic bi-layered films of TiO2 (layer 1) and a composite with TiO2 matrix and graphene oxide or reduced graphene oxide filler (layer 2) obtained by coupling two methods: spray pyrolysis deposition followed by spraying [...] Read more.
This research reports on Vis- and solar-active photocatalytic bi-layered films of TiO2 (layer 1) and a composite with TiO2 matrix and graphene oxide or reduced graphene oxide filler (layer 2) obtained by coupling two methods: spray pyrolysis deposition followed by spraying a diluted sol. The thin films crystallinity degree, surface morphology and elemental composition were recorded and the composites were tested in photo-degradation processes, using the standard 10 ppm methylene blue solution, under simulated UV + VIS irradiation conditions using an irradiance measured to be close to the natural one, in continuous flow process, at demonstrator scale; these results were compared with those recorded when using low irradiance values in static regime. The effect of the increase in the graphene oxide content was investigated in the concentration range 1.4%w...10%w and was found to increase the process efficiency. However, the photocatalytic efficiencies increased only by 15% at high irradiance values compared with the values recorded at low irradiance as result of the electron-hole recombination in the composite-thin film. Similar experiments were run using composites having reduced graphene oxide as filler. The interfaces developed between the matrix and the filler were discussed outlining the influence of the filler’s polarity. The thin films stability in aqueous medium was good, confirmed by the results that outlined no significant differences in the surface aspect after three successive photocatalytic cycles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Materials for Energy Catalysis)
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10 pages, 2816 KiB  
Article
The Recycling of Waste Per-Fluorinated Sulfonic Acid for Reformulation and Membrane Application in Iron-Chromium Redox Flow Batteries
by Quan Xu, Xinyi Chen, Siyang Wang, Chao Guo, Yingchun Niu, Runguo Zuo, Ziji Yang, Yang Zhou and Chunming Xu
Energies 2022, 15(22), 8717; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15228717 - 20 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1368
Abstract
Iron–chromium redox flow batteries (ICRFB) possess the advantage of low raw material cost, intrinsic safety, long charge–discharge cycle life, good life-cycle economy, and environmental friendliness, which has attracted attention from academia and industry over time. The proton exchange membrane (PEM) is an important [...] Read more.
Iron–chromium redox flow batteries (ICRFB) possess the advantage of low raw material cost, intrinsic safety, long charge–discharge cycle life, good life-cycle economy, and environmental friendliness, which has attracted attention from academia and industry over time. The proton exchange membrane (PEM) is an important part of the ICRFB system, impacting the efficiency and lifetime of the battery. Currently, the most widely used PEMs in the market are per-fluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes, which possess high electrolyte stability and achieve the separation of positive and negative electrolytes. In addition, the complex preparation process and extremely high market price limited the usage of PEM in ICRFB. In this paper, we developed a remanufactured membrane (RM) strategy from waste PFSA resins. The RM has higher electrical conductivity and better proton transport ability than the commodity membrane N212. In the cell performance test, the RM exhibits similar coulombic efficiency (CE) as N212 at different current densities, which is stabilized at over 95%. Furthermore, the voltage efficiency (VE) and energy efficiency (EE) of the RM are improved compared to N212. At a current strength of 140 mA cm−2, the degree of energy loss is lower in the RM, and after 60 cycles, the capacity decay rate is lower by only 16.66%, leading to long-term battery life. It is a cost-effective method for membrane recovery and reformulation, which is suitable for large-scale application of ICRFB in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Materials for Energy Catalysis)
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