Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Conversion Applications

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "D:Materials and Processing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 6000

Special Issue Editors

Department of Semiconductor Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Seoul 04620, Korea
Interests: supercapacitors; batteries; electrocatalysts; photocatalyst; biomass
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Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, K. Ramakrishnan College of Technology, Trichy, Tamil Nadu 621112, India
Interests: materials science

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Global warming and dwindling carbon-based resources have led to great demand in developing sustainable energy from renewable energy sources to meet today’s technological advancement. Conversely, it is challenging to switch the intermittent forms of these energies, and thus, extensive research is being concentrated on the design and development of efficient energy storage and conversion devices such as fuel cells, supercapacitors, and lithium-ion batteries. Based on their electrode materials suitability, the efficiency of the energy system has been widely investigated. Porous materials, including metal oxides, carbonaceous matrixes, and polymeric materials, have been of particular interest due to their large specific area. Several metal oxides/sulfides and their variants have been shown to be good choices for electrode materials, providing significantly higher specific capacitance and power densities. However, they are relatively expensive and slightly less than environmentally friendly, which has greatly limited their application. The present Special Issue of Micromachines will address developments in the field of metal oxides/sulfides, carbon-based materials, and their nanocomposites as promising aspirants in energy storage and conversion applications.

Dr. Sankar Sekar
Dr. Sekar Saravanan
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • carbon-based materials
  • nanostructured materials for supercapacitor
  • nanocomposites
  • energy storage and conversion application
  • transition metal oxides/sulfides
  • natural resources

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 4781 KiB  
Article
Enhanced Ageing Performance of Sulfonic Acid-Grafted Pt/C Catalysts
by Yuzhen Xia, Hangwei Lei, Chuanfu Sun, Xiaohao Wen, Zichen Wang, Guilin Hu and Baizeng Fang
Micromachines 2022, 13(11), 1825; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13111825 - 26 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1305
Abstract
Chemical functionalization of carbon support for Pt catalysts is a promising way to enhance the performance of catalysts. In this study, Pt/C catalysts grafted with various amounts of phenylsulfonic acid groups were prepared under mild conditions. The influence of sulfonic acid groups on [...] Read more.
Chemical functionalization of carbon support for Pt catalysts is a promising way to enhance the performance of catalysts. In this study, Pt/C catalysts grafted with various amounts of phenylsulfonic acid groups were prepared under mild conditions. The influence of sulfonic acid groups on the physiochemical characteristics and electrochemical activities of the modified catalysts were studied using X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, a transmission electron microscope, and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The presence of the chemical groups enhanced the hydrogen adsorption onto/desorption off the Pt surface during the CV cycling. In contrast, the hydrogen peaks of the grafted catalysts increased after 500 CV cycles, especially for Pt (111) facets. The highest electrochemical surface area (ECSA) after the aging test was obtained for the catalyst with 18.0 wt.% graft, which was ca. 87.3% higher than that of the non-functionalized Pt catalyst. In the density functional theory (DFT) calculation, it was proven that SO3H adsorption on the crystalline was beneficial for Pt stability. The adsorption energy and bond distance of the adsorbed SO3H on Pt (110), (100), and (111) surfaces were calculated. All the stable configurations were obtained when O from S-O single bond or S was bound to the Pt surface, with the adsorption energy following the trend of (111)F > (100)H > (110)H. This result was consistent with the ECSA experiment, which explained the high electrochemical stability of the sulfonic acid groups-grafted Pt/C catalyst. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Conversion Applications)
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12 pages, 2579 KiB  
Article
O-Doping Configurations Reduce the Adsorption Energy Barrier of K-Ions to Improve the Electrochemical Performance of Biomass-Derived Carbon
by Kai Zhao, Changdong Chen, Ming La and Chenghao Yang
Micromachines 2022, 13(5), 806; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13050806 - 22 May 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2156
Abstract
In recent years, atomic-doping has been proven to significantly improve the electrochemical performance of biomass-derived carbon materials, which is a promising modification strategy. Among them, there are relatively few reports about O-doping. Here, porous carbon derived from orange peel was prepared by simple [...] Read more.
In recent years, atomic-doping has been proven to significantly improve the electrochemical performance of biomass-derived carbon materials, which is a promising modification strategy. Among them, there are relatively few reports about O-doping. Here, porous carbon derived from orange peel was prepared by simple carbonization and airflow-annealing processes. Under the coordination of microstructure and surface groups, the derived carbon had excellent electrochemical performance for the K-ion batteries’ anode, including a high reversible specific capacity of 320.8 mAh/g, high rate performance of 134.6 mAh/g at a current density of 2000 mA/g, and a retention rate of 79.5% even after 2000 long-term cycles, which shows great application potential. The K-ion storage mechanisms in different voltage ranges were discussed by using various characterization techniques, that is, the surface adsorbed of K-ionswas in the high-potential slope area, and the intercalation behavior corresponded to the low-potential quasi-plateau area. In addition, the density functional theory calculations further confirmed that O-doping can reduce the adsorption energy barrier of K-ions, change the charge density distribution, and promote the K-ion storage. In particular, the surface Faraday reaction between the C=O group and K-ions plays an important role in improving the electrochemical properties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Conversion Applications)
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Review

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11 pages, 3558 KiB  
Review
Mini Review of Reliable Fabrication of Electrode under Stretching for Supercapacitor Application
by Haeji Kim, Paolo Matteini and Byungil Hwang
Micromachines 2022, 13(9), 1470; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13091470 - 5 Sep 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1945
Abstract
Currently, there is an increasing demand for portable and wearable electronics. This has necessitated the development of stretchable energy storage devices, while simultaneously maintaining performance. Hence, the electrodes and electrolyte materials used in stretchable supercapacitors should be robust under severe mechanical deformation. Polymers [...] Read more.
Currently, there is an increasing demand for portable and wearable electronics. This has necessitated the development of stretchable energy storage devices, while simultaneously maintaining performance. Hence, the electrodes and electrolyte materials used in stretchable supercapacitors should be robust under severe mechanical deformation. Polymers are widely used in the fabrication of stretchable supercapacitors. It is not only crucial to choose good polymer candidates with inherent advantages, but it is also important to design suitable polymer materials for both electrodes and electrolytes. This mini-review explains the concept of stretchable supercapacitors, the theoretical background of polymer-based electrodes for supercapacitors, and the fabrication strategies of stretchable electrodes for supercapacitors. Finally, we present the drawbacks and areas that still need to be developed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Conversion Applications)
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