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New Developments in Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Conversions

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A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2017) | Viewed by 37173

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Shuangqiang Chen

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Guest Editor

Humboldt Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstraße 1, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Interests: materials chemistry; electrochemistry and electroanalysis; functional carbon based materials; porous materials(marco-, meso-, micro-); Li/Na/Al ion batteries; Li/Na air batteries; Li-S batteries; supercapacitors.

Dr. Laifa Shen

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Guest Editor

Humboldt Research Fellow, High-cited Reseacher 2016, by Thomson Reuters Co., Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstraße 1, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Interests: materials chemistry; electrochemistry and electroanalysis; functional carbon based materials; porous materials(marco-, meso-, micro-); Li/Na/Al ion batteries; supercapacitors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the fast development of modern society, global energy demand is dramatically increasing to power millions of electronic devices and electric vehicles. Fossil fuels should be gradually substituted by renewable energy sources due to severe environmental pollution. Tremendous efforts have been devoted to developing novel materials for energy-related rechargeable systems, including lithium/sodium ion batteries, lithium/sodium sulfur batteries, metal-air batteries, and supercapacitors. Nonetheless, great challenges still remain to optimize the electrochemical performance of rechargeable batteries, such as low initial Coulombic efficiency, unstable solid electrolyte interfaces, electrode pulverization and capacity fades. Novel techniques for highly efficient energy conversions and stable electrocatalysis are critically required. New developments in material fabrications or reaction mechanism discoveries in rechargeable batteries are highly welcomed.

In this Special Issue of New Developments in Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Conversions, we would like to invite submissions of review articles and original research papers from leading groups in the fields of rechargeable batteries, fuel cells, solar cells and supercapacitors.

Dr. Shuangqiang Chen
Dr. Laifa Shen
Guest Editors

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

lithium ion batteries
sodium ion batteries
aluminum ion batteries
lithium sulfur batteries
sodium sulfur batteries
lithium oxygen batteries
electrocatalysis/photocatalysis
supercapacitors
functionalized carbon based materials
highly ordered or porous materials

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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1894 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhanced Efficiency in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells by Electron Transport and Light Scattering on Freestanding TiO₂ Nanotube Arrays

by Won-Yeop Rho, Da Hyun Song, Sang Hun Lee and Bong-Hyun Jun

Nanomaterials 2017, 7(10), 345; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano7100345 - 24 Oct 2017

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3789

Abstract

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated with closed- or open-ended freestanding TiO₂ nanotube arrays as photoelectrodes that were decorated with carbon materials and large TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) to enhance energy conversion efficiency. The energy conversion efficiency of DSSCs based on open-ended freestanding TiO₂ nanotube arrays increased from 4.47% to 5.39%, compared to the DSSCs based on closed-ended freestanding TiO₂ nanotube arrays. In DSSCs based on the open-ended freestanding TiO₂ nanotube arrays, the energy conversion efficiency with carbon materials increased from 5.39% to 6.19% due to better electron transport, and that with a scattering layer from 5.39% to 6.24% due to more light harvesting compared to the DSSCs without carbon materials or scattering layer. Moreover, the energy conversion efficiency of DSSCs based on the open-ended freestanding TiO₂ nanotube arrays with both carbon materials and scattering layer increased from 5.39% to 6.98%, which is an enhancement of 29.50%. In DSSCs based on the TiO₂ nanotube arrays, the carbon materials can improve electron transport by π-π conjugation, and the large TiO₂ NPs can enhance the capacity to light-harvest by scattering. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Developments in Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Conversions)

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2178 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Flexible Carbon Nanotube Modified Separator for High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

by Bin Liu, Xiaomeng Wu, Shan Wang, Zhen Tang, Quanling Yang, Guo-Hua Hu and Chuanxi Xiong

Nanomaterials 2017, 7(8), 196; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano7080196 - 26 Jul 2017

Cited by 40 | Viewed by 6833

Abstract

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have become promising candidates for electrical energy storage systems due to their high theoretical specific energy density, low cost and environmental friendliness. However, there are some technical obstacles of lithium-sulfur batteries to be addressed, such as the shuttle effect of polysulfides. Here, we introduced organically modified carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a coating layer for the separator to optimize structure and enhance the performance of the Li-S battery. The results showed that the cell with a CNTs-coated separator exhibited an excellent cycling performance. Compared to the blank separator, the initial discharge capacity and the capacity after 100 cycles for the CNTs-coated separator was increased by 115% and 161%, respectively. Besides, according to the rate capability test cycling from 0.1C to 2C, the battery with a CNTs-coated separator still released a capacity amounting to 90.2% of the initial capacity, when the current density returned back to 0.1C. It is believed that the organically modified CNTs coating effectively suppresses the shuttle effect during the cycling. The employment of a CNTs-coated separator provides a promising approach for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Developments in Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Conversions)

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4654 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Preparation of Ce- and La-Doped Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ Nanosheets and Their Electrochemical Performance in Li Half Cell and Li₄Ti₅O₁₂/LiFePO₄ Full Cell Batteries

by Meng Qin, Yueming Li and Xiao-Jun Lv

Nanomaterials 2017, 7(6), 150; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano7060150 - 20 Jun 2017

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 6972

Abstract

This work reports on the synthesis of rare earth-doped Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ nanosheets with high electrochemical performance as anode material both in Li half and Li₄Ti₅O₁₂/LiFePO₄ full cell batteries. Through the combination of decreasing the particle size and doping by rare earth atoms (Ce and La), Ce and La doped Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ nanosheets show the excellent electrochemical performance in terms of high specific capacity, good cycling stability and excellent rate performance in half cells. Notably, the Ce-doped Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ shows good electrochemical performance as anode in a full cell which LiFePO₄ was used as cathode. The superior electrochemical performance can be attributed to doping as well as the nanosized particle, which facilitates transportation of the lithium ion and electron transportation. This research shows that the rare earth doped Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ nanosheets can be suitable as a high rate performance anode material in lithium-ion batteries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Developments in Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Conversions)

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Review

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12253 KiB

Open AccessReview

Recent Progresses and Development of Advanced Atomic Layer Deposition towards High-Performance Li-Ion Batteries

by Wei Lu, Longwei Liang, Xuan Sun, Xiaofei Sun, Chen Wu, Linrui Hou, Jinfeng Sun and Changzhou Yuan

Nanomaterials 2017, 7(10), 325; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano7100325 - 14 Oct 2017

Cited by 41 | Viewed by 9039

Abstract

Electrode materials and electrolytes play a vital role in device-level performance of rechargeable Li-ion batteries (LIBs). However, electrode structure/component degeneration and electrode-electrolyte sur-/interface evolution are identified as the most crucial obstacles in practical applications. Thanks to its congenital advantages, atomic layer deposition (ALD) methodology has attracted enormous attention in advanced LIBs. This review mainly focuses upon the up-to-date progress and development of the ALD in high-performance LIBs. The significant roles of the ALD in rational design and fabrication of multi-dimensional nanostructured electrode materials, and finely tailoring electrode-electrolyte sur-/interfaces are comprehensively highlighted. Furthermore, we clearly envision that this contribution will motivate more extensive and insightful studies in the ALD to considerably improve Li-storage behaviors. Future trends and prospects to further develop advanced ALD nanotechnology in next-generation LIBs were also presented. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Developments in Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Conversions)

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2981 KiB

Open AccessReview

One-Dimensional Electron Transport Layers for Perovskite Solar Cells

by Ujwal K. Thakur, Ryan Kisslinger and Karthik Shankar

Nanomaterials 2017, 7(5), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano7050095 - 29 Apr 2017

Cited by 42 | Viewed by 9988

Abstract

The electron diffusion length (L_n) is smaller than the hole diffusion length (L_p) in many halide perovskite semiconductors meaning that the use of ordered one-dimensional (1D) structures such as nanowires (NWs) and nanotubes (NTs) as electron transport layers (ETLs) is a promising method of achieving high performance halide perovskite solar cells (HPSCs). ETLs consisting of oriented and aligned NWs and NTs offer the potential not merely for improved directional charge transport but also for the enhanced absorption of incoming light and thermodynamically efficient management of photogenerated carrier populations. The ordered architecture of NW/NT arrays affords superior infiltration of a deposited material making them ideal for use in HPSCs. Photoconversion efficiencies (PCEs) as high as 18% have been demonstrated for HPSCs using 1D ETLs. Despite the advantages of 1D ETLs, there are still challenges that need to be overcome to achieve even higher PCEs, such as better methods to eliminate or passivate surface traps, improved understanding of the hetero-interface and optimization of the morphology (i.e., length, diameter, and spacing of NWs/NTs). This review introduces the general considerations of ETLs for HPSCs, deposition techniques used, and the current research and challenges in the field of 1D ETLs for perovskite solar cells. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Developments in Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Conversions)

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