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Technology and Applications of Green Energy-Based Materials

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 September 2023) | Viewed by 5187

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Interests: ammonia; green energy; environmental remediation; holistic green approach; chemical reaction mechanism; micropropulsion; alternative fuel

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung City, Taiwan
Interests: biopolymers; circular economy; waste valorization; life cycle assessment; zero carbon emission technology
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Co-Guest Editor
School of Chemical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia
Interests: catalysis; hydrogen energy; hydrogen storage; synthesis of molecules

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recently, greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction has represented a pressing matter for academia, industrialists and governments all over the world. Green energy research has been significantly “energized” through the launch of zero-carbon initiatives worldwide aiming to replace conventional fossil fuel sources (natural gas/coal). Various green energies have been developed to reduce GHGs, including hydrogen, ammonia, biofuels and wind.

Hydrogen and ammonia, as green energy vectors, are considered promising future fuels. Fuel cells constitute one of the major applications of such resources. Green hydrogen and ammonia will also find application in the near future in renewable energy production. Biofuels, on the other hand, burn cleaner than gasoline and thus excel in GHG reduction.

The interest of this Special Issue, “Technology and Applications of Green Energy-based Materials”, lies within the material development and usage of green energy production, catalytic reaction, storage behavior and transport. Particular attention will be paid to engineering applications and challenges presented by the development and usage of the aforementioned materials. Commercialization aspects and the economics of such materials are also of great import and must be considered in order to realize GHG reduction.

It is my pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue. Full papers, communications and reviews are all welcome.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • Green energy
  • Materials
  • Production
  • Catalytic reaction
  • Storage
  • Fuel cell
  • Lifecycle analysis
  • Environmental remediation

Dr. Wai Siong Chai
Dr. Yoong Kit Leong
Dr. Yong Shen Chua
Guest Editors

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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

  • green energy
  • materials
  • production
  • catalytic reaction
  • storage
  • fuel cell
  • lifecycle analysis
  • environmental remediation

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 4890 KiB  
Article
Nanosizing Approach—A Case Study on the Thermal Decomposition of Hydrazine Borane
by Nur Ain Abu Osman, Nor Izzati Nordin, Khai Chen Tan, Nur Aida Hanisa An Hosri, Qijun Pei, Eng Poh Ng, Muhammad Bisyrul Hafi Othman, Mohammad Ismail, Teng He and Yong Shen Chua
Materials 2023, 16(2), 867; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16020867 - 16 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1985
Abstract
Hydrazine borane (HB) is a chemical hydrogen storage material with high gravimetric hydrogen density of 15.4 wt%, containing both protic and hydridic hydrogen. However, its limitation is the formation of unfavorable gaseous by-products, such as hydrazine (N2H4) and ammonia [...] Read more.
Hydrazine borane (HB) is a chemical hydrogen storage material with high gravimetric hydrogen density of 15.4 wt%, containing both protic and hydridic hydrogen. However, its limitation is the formation of unfavorable gaseous by-products, such as hydrazine (N2H4) and ammonia (NH3), which are poisons to fuel cell catalyst, upon pyrolysis. Previous studies proved that confinement of ammonia borane (AB) greatly improved the dehydrogenation kinetics and thermodynamics. They function by reducing the particle size of AB and establishing bonds between silica functional groups and AB molecules. In current study, we employed the same strategy using MCM-41 and silica aerogel to investigate the effect of nanosizing towards the hydrogen storage properties of HB. Different loading of HB to the porous supports were investigated and optimized. The optimized loading of HB in MCM-41 and silica aerogel was 1:1 and 0.25:1, respectively. Both confined samples demonstrated great suppression of melting induced sample foaming. However, by-products formation was enhanced over dehydrogenation in an open system decomposition owing to the presence of extensive Si-O···BH3(HB) coordination that further promote the B-N bond cleavage to release N2H4. The Si-OH···N(N2H4) hydrogen bonding may further promote N-N bond cleavage in the resulting N2H4, facilitating the formation of NH3. As temperature increases, the remaining N-N-B oligomeric chains in the porous silica, which are lacking the long-range structure may further undergo intramolecular B-N or N-N cleavage to release substantial amount of N2H4 or NH3. Besides open system decomposition, we also reported a closed system decomposition where complete utilization of the N-H from the released N2H4 and NH3 in the secondary reaction can be achieved, releasing mainly hydrogen upon being heated up to high temperatures. Nanosizing of HB particles via PMMA encapsulation was also attempted. Despite the ester functional group that may favor multiple coordination with HB molecules, these interactions did not impart significant change towards the decomposition of HB selectively towards dehydrogenation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Technology and Applications of Green Energy-Based Materials)
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Review

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20 pages, 2074 KiB  
Review
Perspectives on Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology for Sustainable Bioenergy Generation
by Kalaimani Markandan and Wai Siong Chai
Materials 2022, 15(21), 7769; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15217769 - 3 Nov 2022
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 2279
Abstract
The issue of global warming calls for a greener energy production approach. To this end, bioenergy has significant greenhouse gas mitigation potential, since it makes use of biological products/wastes and can efficiently counter carbon dioxide emission. However, technologies for biomass processing remain limited [...] Read more.
The issue of global warming calls for a greener energy production approach. To this end, bioenergy has significant greenhouse gas mitigation potential, since it makes use of biological products/wastes and can efficiently counter carbon dioxide emission. However, technologies for biomass processing remain limited due to the structure of biomass and difficulties such as high processing cost, development of harmful inhibitors and detoxification of produced inhibitors that hinder widespread usage. Additionally, cellulose pre-treatment is often required to be amenable for an enzymatic hydrolysis process. Nanotechnology (usage of nanomaterials, in this case) has been employed in recent years to improve bioenergy generation, especially in terms of catalyst and feedstock modification. This review starts with introducing the potential nanomaterials in bioenergy generation such as carbon nanotubes, metal oxides, silica and other novel materials. The role of nanotechnology to assist in bioenergy generation is discussed, particularly from the aspects of enzyme immobilization, biogas production and biohydrogen production. Future applications using nanotechnology to assist in bioenergy generation are also prospected. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Technology and Applications of Green Energy-Based Materials)
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