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Nanomaterials
Special Issues
Functional Carbon Nanocomposites for Energy Storage and Conversion
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Functional Carbon Nanocomposites for Energy Storage and Conversion

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (21 August 2020) | Viewed by 17662

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Nicolas Brun

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Universite de Montpellier, ENSCM, UMR CNRS 5253, Inst Charles Gerhardt, Pl Eugene Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier 05, France
Interests: porous carbons; functional carbon nanocomposites; biosourced materials; valorization of agrowastes; surface modification; environmental remediation; CO2 capture and conversion; adsorption; energy storage; electrocatalysis; heterogeneous biocatalysis; enzymatic and microbial electrosynthesis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, a large variety of nanostructured allotropes of carbon—i.e., nanocarbons—with singular physicochemical properties have been discovered and widely studied. Amongst some of the remarkable properties of nanocarbons, we can cite the low density of carbon aerogels and nanofoams, the outstanding electron mobility within graphene sheets, the extremely high tensile strength of carbon nanotubes, and the π-plasmon absorption of carbon quantum dots. Nanocarbons have been seen as valuable building blocks for the design of functional nanocomposites, especially in the field of energy (e.g., rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors, (bio)fuel cells, solar energy harvesting systems). This Special Issue aims to collect original articles (full papers, communications, and reviews) addressing the prosperous topic of Functional Carbon Nanocomposites for Energy Storage and Conversion.

Dr. Nicolas Brun
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. 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

  • carbon nanocomposite
  • nanoporous carbon
  • nanostructured carbon
  • carbon nanotube
  • graphene
  • graphene oxide
  • fullerene
  • carbon dot
  • nanodiamond
  • interface
  • surface modification
  • energy storage
  • fuel cell
  • electrocatalysis
  • electrosynthesis
  • photocatalysis
  • artificial photosynthesis
  • solar photovoltaics
  • clean fuel production

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 4016 KiB  
Article
Mesoporous Carbons from Polysaccharides and Their Use in Li-O2 Batteries
by María Uriburu-Gray, Aránzazu Pinar-Serrano, Gokhan Cavus, Etienne Knipping, Christophe Aucher, Aleix Conesa-Cabeza, Amro Satti, David Amantia and Sandra Martínez-Crespiera
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(10), 2036; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10102036 - 15 Oct 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2512
Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated that the mesoporosity of carbon material obtained by the Starbon® process from starch-formed by amylose and amylopectin can be tuned by controlling this ratio (the higher the amylose, the higher the mesoporosity). This study shows that starch type [...] Read more.
Previous studies have demonstrated that the mesoporosity of carbon material obtained by the Starbon® process from starch-formed by amylose and amylopectin can be tuned by controlling this ratio (the higher the amylose, the higher the mesoporosity). This study shows that starch type can also be an important parameter to control this mesoporosity. Carbons with controlled mesoporosity (Vmeso from 0.1–0.7 cm3/g) have been produced by the pre-mixing of different starches using an ionic liquid (IL) followed by a modified Starbon® process. The results show that the use of starch from corn and maize (commercially available Hylon VII with maize, respectively) is the better combination to increase the mesopore volume. Moreover, “low-cost” mesoporous carbons have been obtained by the direct carbonization of the pre-treated starch mixtures with the IL. In all cases, the IL can be recovered and reused, as demonstrated by its recycling up to three times. Furthermore, and as a comparison, chitosan has been also used as a precursor to obtain N-doped mesoporous carbons (5.5 wt% N) with moderate mesoporosity (Vmeso = 0.43 cm3/g). The different mesoporous carbons have been tested as cathode components in Li-O2 batteries and it is shown that a higher carbon mesoporosity, produced from starch precursor, or the N-doping, produced from chitosan precursor, increase the final battery cell performance (specific capacity and cycling). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Carbon Nanocomposites for Energy Storage and Conversion)
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15 pages, 4636 KiB  
Article
TinO2n−1 Suboxide Phases in TiO2/C Nanocomposites Engineered by Non-hydrolytic Sol–Gel with Enhanced Electrocatalytic Properties
by Shuxian Zou, Romain Berthelot, Bruno Boury, Pierre Hubert Mutin and Nicolas Brun
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(9), 1789; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10091789 - 09 Sep 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2555
Abstract
We report a non-hydrolytic sol-gel (NHSG) route to engineer original mesoporous TinO2n−1@TiO2/C nanocomposites. The synthetic approach is straightforward, solvent-free, additive-free, and meets the challenge of atom economy, as it merely involves TiCl4 and THF [...] Read more.
We report a non-hydrolytic sol-gel (NHSG) route to engineer original mesoporous TinO2n−1@TiO2/C nanocomposites. The synthetic approach is straightforward, solvent-free, additive-free, and meets the challenge of atom economy, as it merely involves TiCl4 and THF in stoichiometric amounts. We found that these nanocomposites present enhanced electrocatalytic properties towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in 0.1 M KOH. We believe that these preliminary results will open a window of opportunity for the design of metal suboxides/carbon nanocomposites through NHSG routes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Carbon Nanocomposites for Energy Storage and Conversion)
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11 pages, 3140 KiB  
Article
CO2 Conversion into N-Doped Porous Carbon-Encapsulated NiO/Ni Composite Nanomaterials as Outstanding Anode Material of Li Battery
by Yayong Li, Chunxiao Xu, Kaiyuan Liu, Pengwan Chen and Xin Gao
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(8), 1502; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10081502 - 31 Jul 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3102
Abstract
N-doped porous carbon encapsulated NiO/Ni composite nanomaterials (N-doped NiO/Ni@C) was successfully obtained by a one-step solution combustion method. This study demonstrates a one-step combustion method to synthesize n-doped porous carbon encapsulated NiO/Ni composite nanomaterials, using carbon dioxide as the carbon source, nickel nitrate [...] Read more.
N-doped porous carbon encapsulated NiO/Ni composite nanomaterials (N-doped NiO/Ni@C) was successfully obtained by a one-step solution combustion method. This study demonstrates a one-step combustion method to synthesize n-doped porous carbon encapsulated NiO/Ni composite nanomaterials, using carbon dioxide as the carbon source, nickel nitrate as the nickel source, and hydrazine hydrate as the reaction solution. Spherical NiO nanoparticles with a particle size of 20 nm were uniformly distributed in the carbon matrix. The load of NiO/Ni can be controlled by the amount of nickel nitrate. The range of carbon content of recovered samples is 69–87 at%. The content of incorporated nitrogen for recovered samples is 1.94 at%. As the anode of lithium ion battery, the composite material exhibits high capacity, excellent multiplier performance and stable circulation performance. N-doped NiO/Ni@C-2 was applied to lithium ion batteries, and its reversible capacity maximum is 980 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles at the current density of 0.1 A g−1. Its excellent electrochemical properties imply its high potential application for high-performance lithium-ion battery anode materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Carbon Nanocomposites for Energy Storage and Conversion)
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10 pages, 3103 KiB  
Article
Facile Preparation of Ni-Co Bimetallic Oxide/Activated Carbon Composites Using the Plasma in Liquid Process for Supercapacitor Electrode Applications
by Heon Lee, In-Soo Park, Young-Kwon Park, Kay-Hyeok An, Byung-Joo Kim and Sang-Chul Jung
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(1), 61; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10010061 - 26 Dec 2019
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3247
Abstract
In this study, a plasma in a liquid process (PiLP) was used to facilely precipitate bimetallic nanoparticles composed of Ni and Co elements on the surface of activated carbon. The physicochemical and electrochemical properties of the fabricated composites were evaluated to examine the [...] Read more.
In this study, a plasma in a liquid process (PiLP) was used to facilely precipitate bimetallic nanoparticles composed of Ni and Co elements on the surface of activated carbon. The physicochemical and electrochemical properties of the fabricated composites were evaluated to examine the potential of supercapacitors as electrode materials. Nickel and cobalt ions in the aqueous reactant solution were uniformly precipitated on the AC surface as spherical nanoparticles with a size of about 100 nm by PiLP reaction. The composition of nanoparticles was determined by the molar ratio of nickel and cobalt precursors and precipitated in the form of bimetallic oxide. The electrical conductivity and specific capacitance were increased by Ni-Co bimetallic oxide nanoparticles precipitated on the AC surface. In addition, the electrochemical performance was improved by stable cycling stability and resistance reduction and showed the best performance when the molar ratios of Ni and Co precursors were the same. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Carbon Nanocomposites for Energy Storage and Conversion)
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13 pages, 4645 KiB  
Article
Activated Carbon-Decorated Spherical Silicon Nanocrystal Composites Synchronously-Derived from Rice Husks for Anodic Source of Lithium-Ion Battery
by Sankar Sekar, Abu Talha Aqueel Ahmed, Akbar I. Inamdar, Youngmin Lee, Hyunsik Im, Deuk Young Kim and Sejoon Lee
Nanomaterials 2019, 9(7), 1055; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9071055 - 23 Jul 2019
Cited by 35 | Viewed by 5784
Abstract
The nanocomposites of activated-carbon-decorated silicon nanocrystals (AC<nc-Si>AC) were synchronously derived in a single step from biomass rice husks, through the simple route of the calcination method together with the magnesiothermic reduction process. The final product, AC<nc-Si>AC, exhibited an aggregated structure of activated-carbon-encapsulated nanocrystalline [...] Read more.
The nanocomposites of activated-carbon-decorated silicon nanocrystals (AC<nc-Si>AC) were synchronously derived in a single step from biomass rice husks, through the simple route of the calcination method together with the magnesiothermic reduction process. The final product, AC<nc-Si>AC, exhibited an aggregated structure of activated-carbon-encapsulated nanocrystalline silicon spheres, and reveals a high specific surface area (498.5 m2/g). Owing to the mutualization of advantages from both silicon nanocrystals (i.e., low discharge potential and high specific capacity) and activated carbon (i.e., high porosity and good electrical conductivity), the AC<nc-Si>AC nanocomposites are able to play a substantial role as an anodic source material for the lithium-ion battery (LIB). Namely, a high coulombic efficiency (97.5%), a high discharge capacity (716 mAh/g), and a high reversible specific capacity (429 mAh/g after 100 cycles) were accomplished when using AC<nc-Si>AC as an LIB anode. The results advocate that the simultaneous synthesis of biomass-derived AC<nc-Si>AC is beneficial for green energy-storage device applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Carbon Nanocomposites for Energy Storage and Conversion)
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