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Functional Semiconducting Nanomaterials for Sustainable Development
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Functional Semiconducting Nanomaterials for Sustainable Development

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 June 2023) | Viewed by 3154

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Xi Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Interests: in situ TEM; lithium ion battery; energy storage; low-carbon catalysis
Prof. Dr. Qunhong Weng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 110016, China
Interests: boron nitride; band gap; functional materials; biomedicine; microbattery

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Our society faces many challenges in the fields of energy, environment, health, etc. How to realize sustainable development is very important for tackling these issues. Nowadays, innovation and development in advanced materials, especially functional semiconducting nanomaterials, have played an important role in addressing these problems and achieving a sustainable society.  First of all, for clean, renewable energy harvest, storage, and utilization, semiconducting nanomaterials have exhibited substantial importance. Many cutting-edge photocatalysts have been found that can effectively produce hydrogen and other fuels under solar irradiation, including g-C3N4, ZnO, TiO2, WO3, etc. Compound semiconductor nanomaterials, such as metal dichalcogenides, phosphides, and oxides, can be used for efficient electrochemical/photophysical energy storage and conversion. In terms of environmental protection, semiconductor nanomaterials can be used to capture and catalytically decompose pollutants in air and water. Moreover, the quick development of nanomedicine has also aroused intense interest in the use of semiconductor nanomaterials with novel optical, photochemical, and photophysical properties for health-related outcomes, such as anti-tumor, anti-bacterial, bioimaging, etc. It is clear that the emerging functional semiconducting nanomaterials will provide powerful tools to study and understand nature at a new, in-depth level, and will solve the challenges we are facing in the energy, environment, and health fields, which are critical for realizing sustainable development.  Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Fabrications of semiconducting nanomaterials.
  • Luminance, electrical, and chemical properties of semiconducting nanomaterials.
  • Photocatalysts.
  • Water splitting.
  • Photothermal conversions.
  • Solar cells.
  • Hydrogen production, storage, and utilization.
  • Pollutant removal and treatment.
  • Photodynamic therapy.
  • Bioimaging.
  • Drug delivery.

Prof. Dr. Xi Wang
Prof. Dr. Qunhong Weng
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. 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

  • nanomaterials
  • optical
  • catalysis
  • battery
  • energy
  • hydrogen
  • environment

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 4352 KiB  
Article
Comparison of the Degradation Effect of Methylene Blue for ZnO Nanorods Synthesized on Silicon and Indium Tin Oxide Substrates
by Guoxiang Peng, Ni-Ni Chou, Yu-Shan Lin, Cheng-Fu Yang and Teen-Hang Meen
Materials 2023, 16(12), 4275; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16124275 - 09 Jun 2023
Viewed by 925
Abstract
In the context of ZnO nanorods (NRs) grown on Si and indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates, this study aimed to compare their degradation effect on methylene blue (MB) at different concentrations. The synthesis process was carried out at a temperature of 100 °C [...] Read more.
In the context of ZnO nanorods (NRs) grown on Si and indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates, this study aimed to compare their degradation effect on methylene blue (MB) at different concentrations. The synthesis process was carried out at a temperature of 100 °C for 3 h. After the synthesis of ZnO NRs, their crystallization was analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. The XRD patterns and top-view SEM observations demonstrate variations in synthesized ZnO NRs when different substrates were used. Furthermore, cross-sectional observations reveal that ZnO NRs synthesized on an ITO substrate exhibited a slower growth rate compared to those synthesized on a Si substrate. The as-grown ZnO NRs synthesized on the Si and ITO substrates exhibited average diameters of 110 ± 40 nm and 120 ± 32 nm and average lengths of 1210 ± 55 nm and 960 ± 58 nm, respectively. The reasons behind this discrepancy are investigated and discussed. Finally, synthesized ZnO NRs on both substrates were utilized to assess their degradation effect on methylene blue (MB). Photoluminescence spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were employed to analyze the quantities of various defects of synthesized ZnO NRs. The effect of MB degradation after 325 nm UV irradiation for different durations can be evaluated using the Beer–Lambert law, specifically by analyzing the 665 nm peak in the transmittance spectrum of MB solutions with different concentrations. Our findings reveal that ZnO NRs synthesized on an ITO substrate exhibited a higher degradation effect on MB, with a rate of 59.5%, compared to NRs synthesized on a Si substrate, which had a rate of 73.7%. The reasons behind this outcome, elucidating the factors contributing to the enhanced degradation effect are discussed and proposed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Semiconducting Nanomaterials for Sustainable Development)
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10 pages, 1939 KiB  
Article
Flexible and Wearable Zinc-Ion Hybrid Supercapacitor Based on Double-Crosslinked Hydrogel for Self-Powered Sensor Application
by Xi Wen, Kang Jiang, Heng Zhang, Hua Huang, Linyu Yang, Zeyan Zhou and Qunhong Weng
Materials 2022, 15(5), 1767; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15051767 - 26 Feb 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2568
Abstract
The rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT) has brought about great demand for high-performance sensors as well as power supply devices for those sensors. In this respect, the integration of sensors and energy storage devices, or the development of multifunctional devices having both [...] Read more.
The rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT) has brought about great demand for high-performance sensors as well as power supply devices for those sensors. In this respect, the integration of sensors and energy storage devices, or the development of multifunctional devices having both energy storage and sensing properties, is of great interest in the development of compact sensing systems. As a proof of concept, a zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitor (ZHS) based on a double-crosslinked hydrogel electrolyte is developed in this work, which can be employed not only as an energy storage device, but also as a self-powered sensor for human movement and breathing detection. The ZHS delivers a capacitance of 779 F g−1 and an energy density of 0.32 mWh cm−2 at a power density of 0.34 mW cm−2, as well as sensitive resistance response to strain. Our work provides a useful basis for future designs of self-powered sensing devices and function-integrated systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Semiconducting Nanomaterials for Sustainable Development)
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