Nanotechnology for Energy Generation and Storage

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy and Catalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2023) | Viewed by 4714

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Physics, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
Interests: energy storage; photodetectors and imaging

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Guest Editor
The Institute of Technological Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
Interests: aqueous batteries; hydrogel ionotronics; printable electronics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Physics, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
Interests: flexible energy storage; in situ monitoring system; electrolyte engineering

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The challenges of global warming and fossil energy consumption are driving the rapid development of advanced energy technologies. Collecting distributed and renewable energy and preserving it in proper storage cells can efficiently contribute to a green and sustainable planet, although this concept remains in its infancy far from a level of large-scale production. New technologies focused on designing advanced materials and constructing unique nanostructures are methodically promoting the performance of energy devices. To further break through the bottleneck of energy generation and storage, efforts must be devoted to analyzing device performance at an atomic/molecular scale in order to gain insight into the deep mechanisms of these devices.

This Special Issue on “Nanotechnology for Energy Generation and Storage”, will present a broad range of topics covering various fields of energy harvesting, storage, and utilization based on nanomaterials and nanostructures. In addition to individual energy conversion and storage devices, studies detailing new principles of integrated systems to elevate energy utilization efficiency and convenience are also encouraged. Original research articles as well as review papers based on experimental, theoretical, or simulation works are all welcome.

Prof. Dr. Wenjie Mai
Prof. Dr. Peihua Yang
Dr. Peng Sun
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. Nanomaterials 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 2900 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

  • batteries
  • supercapacitors
  • solar cells
  • nanogenerators
  • thermal energy
  • dielectric materials
  • fuel cells
  • catalysts
  • self-powered systems

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2537 KiB  
Article
Electrochemical Lithium Extraction with Gas Flushing of Porous Electrodes
by Shengyao Wang, Xuyu Yu and Xuejiao Hu
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(9), 1471; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13091471 - 26 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1470
Abstract
Electrochemical extraction of lithium from seawater/brine is receiving more and more attention because of its environment-friendly and energy-saving features. In this work, an electrochemical lithium extraction system with gas flushing of porous electrodes is proposed. We verified that the operation of multiple gas [...] Read more.
Electrochemical extraction of lithium from seawater/brine is receiving more and more attention because of its environment-friendly and energy-saving features. In this work, an electrochemical lithium extraction system with gas flushing of porous electrodes is proposed. We verified that the operation of multiple gas washes can significantly reduce the consumption of ultrapure water during the solution exchange and save the time required for the continuous running of the system. The water consumption of multiple gas flush operations is only 1/60 of that of a normal single flush to obtain a purity close to 100% in the recovery solution. By comparing the ion concentration distribution on the electrode surface in flow-through and flow-by-flow modes, we demonstrate that the flow-through mode performs better. We also verified the lithium extraction performance of the whole system, achieving a purity close to 100% and average energy consumption of 0.732 kWh∙kg−1 in each cycle from the source solution of the simulated Atacama salt lake water. These results provide a feasible approach for the large-scale operation of electrochemical lithium extraction from seawater/brine. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanotechnology for Energy Generation and Storage)
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8 pages, 2197 KiB  
Article
A Stretchable Expanded Polytetrafluorethylene-Silicone Elastomer Composite Electret for Wearable Sensor
by Jianbo Tan, Kaikai Chen, Jinzhan Cheng, Zhaoqin Song, Jiahui Zhang, Shaodi Zheng, Zisheng Xu and Shiju E
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(1), 158; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13010158 - 29 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1622
Abstract
Soaring developments in wearable electronics raise an urgent need for stretchable electrets. However, achieving soft electrets simultaneously possessing excellent stretchability, longevity, and high charge density is still challenging. Herein, a facile approach is proposed to prepare an all-polymer hybrid composite electret based on [...] Read more.
Soaring developments in wearable electronics raise an urgent need for stretchable electrets. However, achieving soft electrets simultaneously possessing excellent stretchability, longevity, and high charge density is still challenging. Herein, a facile approach is proposed to prepare an all-polymer hybrid composite electret based on the coupling of elastomer and ePTFE membrane. The composite electrets are fabricated via a facile casting and thermal curing process. The obtained soft composite electrets exhibit constantly high surface potential (−0.38 kV) over a long time (30 days), large strain (450%), low hysteresis, and excellent durability (15,000 cycles). To demonstrate the applications, the stretchable electret is utilized to assemble a self-powered flexible sensor based on the electrostatic induction effect for the monitoring of human activities. Additionally, output signals in the pressure mode almost two orders of magnitude larger than those in the strain mode are observed and the sensing mechanism in each mode is investigated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanotechnology for Energy Generation and Storage)
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20 pages, 8801 KiB  
Article
Contact and Tribological Study of Micro/Nano Groove Texture on the Surface of Gas Bearing Materials Based on Nanoscale
by Liguang Yang, Wensuo Ma, Fei Gao, Shiping Xi, Zhenyu Ma and Zhenhao Ma
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(1), 152; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13010152 - 28 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1598
Abstract
As a kind of sliding bearing, the gas bearing is widely used in high-speed rotating machinery. It realizes energy cleaning in the field of high-speed rotating machinery. In order to solve the problem of reducing the service life of gas bearings due to [...] Read more.
As a kind of sliding bearing, the gas bearing is widely used in high-speed rotating machinery. It realizes energy cleaning in the field of high-speed rotating machinery. In order to solve the problem of reducing the service life of gas bearings due to friction during startup and shutdown, we use micromachining technology to process groove textures with different groove widths on the surface of 0Cr17Ni7Al, a common material for gas bearings. A ball–disc friction contrast test is conducted under dry friction conditions with and without texture. The experiment shows that the lowest average friction coefficient of 0.8 mm texture is σ = 0.745. When the friction radius is 22.5 mm, the wear rate of 1.0 mm texture is the lowest at ω = 3.118 × 104mm3/N·mm. However, the maximum friction coefficient reached is σ = 0.898. Under the nanometer scale, the contact between friction pairs is fully analyzed. The influence mechanism of different groove widths, friction impacts and climbing heights on the friction and wear properties of the micromechanical groove texture on the surface of 0Cr17Ni7Al stainless steel is studied at the nano-fractal scale. The effects of different width grooves on the surface texture and tribological properties of the micromachine are studied. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanotechnology for Energy Generation and Storage)
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13 pages, 3815 KiB  
Article
Modulating Charge Mobility in Microwave Synthesized Ti-doped ZnS Nanoparticles for Potential Photoanode Applications
by Mpho W. Maswanganye, Guy L. Kabongo and Mokhotjwa S. Dhlamini
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(1), 77; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13010077 - 23 Dec 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1158
Abstract
Doping ZnS nanoparticles with different metal and/or non-metal ions is one of the ways to improve their properties. That is because dopants introduce strain into the lattice of the ZnS nanoparticles. The influence of Ti on the ZnS nanoparticles was investigated on the [...] Read more.
Doping ZnS nanoparticles with different metal and/or non-metal ions is one of the ways to improve their properties. That is because dopants introduce strain into the lattice of the ZnS nanoparticles. The influence of Ti on the ZnS nanoparticles was investigated on the structural properties, optical properties, and also electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The presence of Ti in the crystal lattice of the ZnS introduced strain into the crystal structure, hence causing a lattice expansion and reducing the crystallite sizes of the ZnS nanoparticles. Ti doping was observed to increase the energy band gap of ZnS nanoparticles and also reduce the charge carrier recombination. Doping Ti into ZnS was observed to decrease the charge transfer resistance of ZnS nanoparticles with an increase in dopant concentration indicating an improved charge transfer mobility owing to the presence of strain in the crystal lattice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanotechnology for Energy Generation and Storage)
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