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Catalysts for Small Molecules Activization: Design, Materials, and Applications

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2023) | Viewed by 1665

Special Issue Editors

School of Resources, Environment, and Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
Interests: single-atom catalysts; electrolysis; energy storage
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, China
Interests: PEMFC; multiscale modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, different catalytic materials have been widely used in energy fields, such as solar cells, fuel cells, lithium-ion batteries, metal air/carbon dioxide batteries, etc. Catalysts have different structural characteristics from atomic electrocatalysts, nanoparticles, and bulk materials and enable efficient electrochemical conversion in energy systems, e.g., prominent photo- and/or electro-reactions (hydrogen evolution, oxygen evolution, hydrogen oxidation, oxygen reduction, nitrogen reduction, carbon dioxide reduction, etc.) and sustainable energy devices. Therefore, the aim of this Special Issue is to collect studies on recent progress in catalysts for small molecule activization. This issue includes but is not limited to the following:

  • The determination of real active sites in dynamic structure evolution between catalytic centers and reactive intermediates;
  • High-throughput screening of catalysts for batteries based on different scale simulation methods;
  • The low-cost industrialization method to improve production and develop multi-functionality of catalysts;
  • The practical application of catalysts to expand sustainable energy technologies;
  • Combination of chemistry and other disciplines in different fields.

Therefore, the joint efforts of researchers from all over the world are needed to address the above existing challenges. In this Special Issue of Materials on “Catalysts for Small Molecules Activization: Design, Materials, and Applications”, we welcome your original papers to quickly share your research results in this field.

Prof. Dr. Xijun Liu
Dr. Jia He
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Materials 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.

Keywords

  • atomic catalysts
  • synthesis strategies
  • structure–function relationship
  • heterogeneous catalysis
  • sustainable energy devices

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 3307 KiB  
Article
Copper Phosphide Nanowires as High-Performance Catalysts for Urea-Assisted Hydrogen Evolution in Alkaline Medium
by Hui Shen, Tianran Wei, Junyang Ding and Xijun Liu
Materials 2023, 16(11), 4169; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16114169 - 03 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1472
Abstract
Water electrolysis represented a promising avenue for the large-scale production of high-purity hydrogen. However, the high overpotential and sluggish reaction rates associated with the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) posed significant obstacles to efficient water splitting. To tackle these challenges, the urea oxidation [...] Read more.
Water electrolysis represented a promising avenue for the large-scale production of high-purity hydrogen. However, the high overpotential and sluggish reaction rates associated with the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) posed significant obstacles to efficient water splitting. To tackle these challenges, the urea oxidation reaction (UOR) emerged as a more favorable thermodynamic alternative to OER, offering both the energy-efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the potential for the treating of urea-rich wastewater. In this work, a two-step methodology comprising nanowire growth and phosphating treatment was employed to fabricate Cu3P nanowires on Cu foam (Cu3P-NW/CF) catalysts. These novel catalytic architectures exhibited notable efficiencies in facilitating both the UOR and HER in alkaline solutions. Specifically, within urea-containing electrolytes, the UOR manifested desirable operational potentials of 1.43 V and 1.65 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (vs. RHE) to reach the current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm−2, respectively. Concurrently, the catalyst displayed a meager overpotential of 60 mV for the HER at a current density of 10 mA cm−2. Remarkably, the two-electrode urea electrolysis system, exploiting the designed catalyst as both the cathode and anode, demonstrated an outstanding performance, attaining a low cell voltage of 1.79 V to achieve a current density of 100 mA cm−2. Importantly, this voltage is preferable to the conventional water electrolysis threshold in the absence of urea molecules. Moreover, our study shed light on the potential of innovative Cu-based materials for the scalable fabrication of electrocatalysts, energy-efficient hydrogen generation, and the treatment of urea-rich wastewater. Full article
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