Advanced Materials for Applications in Water Splitting

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials for Energy Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 December 2024 | Viewed by 1502

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Physical Science and Technology, School of Resources, Environment and Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Interests: electrochemistry; electrocatalysis; electron microscopy; battery

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Hydrogen energy with high energy density, sustainability, and environmental friendliness has been regarded as a prospective energy to meet global energy demands. Electrochemical water splitting is one of the most attractive strategies to gain hydrogen, which can effectively address energy and environmental issues. To enhance the conversion efficiency of water splitting, it is necessary to use catalysts to accelerate the reaction kinetics and reduce reaction energy barriers.

At present, electrocatalysts have become a research hotspot, including precious metal (Pt, Pd, Ru, Ir), transition metal (Fe, Co, Ni, Mo), and non-metallic materials. Researchers have been devoted to exploring and designing high-performance and stable catalysts. Structural design, especially heterostructures, is crucial for realizing efficient catalysts. Heterostructures can fully combine the advantages of various active components to form multi-dimensional composite structures. Their rich heterogeneous interfaces can generate interfacial effects and electronic coupling effects, thus optimizing the adsorption energy of intermediates and improving electrocatalytic performance. Component regulation is also an effective strategy, such as for transition metal oxides, sulfides, phosphides, and various composite materials.  Advanced characterization techniques are applied to explore the structure–activity relationship of the catalysts. Density functional theory can be applied to reveal the electrocatalytic mechanism.

Based on the above considerations, we are pleased to invite you to contribute to our Special Issue entitled "Advanced Materials for Applications in Water Splitting". The Special Issue aims to study the material design, characterization, catalytic property, and mechanism for electrochemical water splitting. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Zhiyi Pan
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • hydrogen energy
  • advanced electrocatalyst
  • water splitting
  • material design
  • structural characterization
  • simulated calculation
  • structure–activity relationship
  • mechanism

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 2173 KiB  
Article
Abundant Catalytic Edge Sites in Few-Layer Horizontally Aligned MoS2 Nanosheets Grown by Space-Confined Chemical Vapor Deposition
by Alin Velea, Angel-Theodor Buruiana, Claudia Mihai, Elena Matei, Teddy Tite and Florinel Sava
Crystals 2024, 14(6), 551; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst14060551 - 14 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 966
Abstract
Recently, a smart strategy for two-dimensional (2D) materials synthesis has emerged, namely space-confined chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Its extreme case is the microreactor method, in which the growth substrate is face-to-face stacked on the source substrate. In order to grow 2D transition metal [...] Read more.
Recently, a smart strategy for two-dimensional (2D) materials synthesis has emerged, namely space-confined chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Its extreme case is the microreactor method, in which the growth substrate is face-to-face stacked on the source substrate. In order to grow 2D transition metal dichalcogenides by this method, transition metal oxides, dispersed in very small amounts on the source substrate, are used as source materials in most of the published reports. In this paper, a colloidal dispersion of MoS2 in saline solution is used and MoS2 nanosheets with various shapes, sizes (between 5 and 60 μm) and thicknesses (2–4 layers) have been synthesized. Small MoS2 flakes (regular or defective) are present on the surface of the nanosheets. Catalytic sites, undercoordinated atoms located at the edges of MoS2 flakes and nanosheets, are produced in a high number by a layer-plus-island (Stranski–Krastanov) growth mechanism. Several double-resonance Raman bands (at 147, 177, 187, 225, 247, 375 cm−1) are assignable to single phonon processes in which the excited electron is elastically scattered on a defect. The narrow 247 cm−1 peak is identified as a topological defect-activated peak. These findings highlight the potential of defect engineering in material property optimization, particularly for solar water splitting applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials for Applications in Water Splitting)
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