Advanced Electrocatalytic Materials for Polymer Electrolyte Water Electrolyzers and Metal–Air Batteries
A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Electrocatalysis".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 March 2024) | Viewed by 5101
Special Issue Editors
Interests: fuel cells; electrochemistry of energy conversion and storage devices; structure and transport properties in polymer electrolytes; electrocatalysis; bioelectrochemical systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: electrochemistry of energy conversion and storage devices; synthesis and characterization of carbon-based nanostructured electrocatalysts; fuel cells; bioelectrochemical systems; redox flow batteries, zinc–air batteries and electrolyzers
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Transition towards the decarbonization of the global economy calls for innovative scientific and technological solutions for power generation and energy storage that are able to reduce the dependence of mobility and industry sectors on fossil fuels. Currently, low-temperature polymer electrolyte water electrolyzers (PEWEs) operating in acidic or alkaline environments and rechargeable metal–air batteries (e.g., alkaline zinc–air batteries (ZABs)) are hot research topics. ZABs are promising for energy storage and power supply in electrical vehicles, and the hydrogen economy relies on the electrochemical water splitting in PEWEs. Despite the high performance of ZABs and PEWEs, their development has been particularly hampered by the sluggish oxygen redox kinetics and performance durability. Both oxygen evolution and reduction reactions (OER/ORR) at the cathode of ZABs require the use of low-abundance and expensive platinum-group metals (PGMs). Moreover, the durability of the cathode performance over long-term cycling, cathode configuration, as well as the presence of parasitic reactions at the Zn anode need to be addressed. In PEWE systems, the sluggish OER at the anode and the management of gas (H2 and O2) bubbles at both the electrodes’ surface and porous transport layers limit performance and durability. This Special Issue aims to collect innovative scientific contributions focusing on the main issues found in Zn–air batteries and PEWEs devices including, but not limited to, the development and characterization of PGM-free electrocatalysts for both anodic and cathodic reactions, as well as the optimization of electrode configurations and membranes.
Dr. Barbara Mecheri
Dr. Williane Da Silva Freitas
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- acidic and alkaline polymer electrolyte water electrolyzers
- zinc–air batteries
- hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)
- multi-functional catalysts for OER, ORR and HER
- electrode materials
- porous transport layer
- platinum group metal-free catalysts
- nanostructured carbon-based catalysts
- OER, ORR and HER kinetics
- anode and cathode characterization and modeling
- polymeric membranes
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