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Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage — towards a Sustainable Future
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Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage — towards a Sustainable Future

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 October 2022) | Viewed by 18939

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Il Tae Kim

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Gachon University, Seongnam 13120, Republic of Korea
Interests: secondary batteries; fuel cells; electrode materials; smart binder; electrolytes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Energy has been one of the significant challenges faced by humanity. As such, a vast amount of interest has continuously focused on the research and development of new and renewable energy, due to concerns about environmental pollution. Therefore, systems for energy conversion and storage have been of significance. In order to improve those systems, it is essential to achieve advanced materials that demonstrate outstanding electrochemical performances.

A variety of electrochemical energy technologies, including batteries, fuel cells, hydrogen storage materials, and so on, have been investigated in order to enhancing energy conversion and storage systems. In this regard, researching and developing advanced electrodes (anodes and cathodes), electrolytes, composite membranes, catalysts, and so on, have been dedicated to exploring some of the most efficient ways for storing and converting sustainable energies.

Comprehensive research of energy conversion and storage towards a sustainable future requires a multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, the aim of this Special Issue is to inspire energy conversion/storage-related researchers to share their interesting and promising works, particularly in the areas of advanced materials design and electrochemical performance, including the analysis of synthesis–structure–property relationships.

We invite authors to submit original research articles, review articles, communications, and concept papers describing current research trends and future perspectives in energy conversion and storage towards a sustainable future.

Prof. Dr. Il Tae Kim
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • energy storage
  • energy conversion
  • electrodes
  • electrolytes
  • catalysts
  • advanced membranes

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 3137 KiB  
Article
Environmental Impacts of Photovoltaic Energy Storage in a Nearly Zero Energy Building Life Cycle
by Rozalia Vanova and Miroslav Nemec
Materials 2022, 15(20), 7328; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15207328 - 20 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1978
Abstract
Climate change, the economic crisis and the current geopolitical situation are the biggest challenges of today. They participate to a fundamental extent in the creation of international policies. Renewable energy sources are thus gaining worldwide popularity. The paper deals with the assessment of [...] Read more.
Climate change, the economic crisis and the current geopolitical situation are the biggest challenges of today. They participate to a fundamental extent in the creation of international policies. Renewable energy sources are thus gaining worldwide popularity. The paper deals with the assessment of the impact of four selected stages of the life cycle of a NZEB building on the environment in 13 impact categories. The analysis is performed in accordance with the LCA method using the attributional modeling approach. The results show the partial and total shift of impacts on the environment of photovoltaic energy storage in comparison with photovoltaic energy export across the building life cycle. Along the climate change impact reduction as a positive effect on the environment, a substantial impact increase is observed on the depletion of abiotic resources. Results also show the total environmental impact of the building life cycle, considering the use of stored energy in a lithium-based battery as being beneficial in most categories despite the relatively high impact increment in the stage of replacement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage — towards a Sustainable Future)
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15 pages, 2720 KiB  
Article
Ga2Te3-Based Composite Anodes for High-Performance Sodium-Ion Batteries
by Vo Pham Hoang Huy, Il Tae Kim and Jaehyun Hur
Materials 2022, 15(18), 6231; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15186231 - 8 Sep 2022
Viewed by 1793
Abstract
Recently, metal chalcogenides have received considerable attention as prospective anode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) because of their high theoretical capacities based on their alloying or conversion reactions. Herein, we demonstrate a gallium(III) telluride (Ga2Te3)-based ternary composite (Ga2 [...] Read more.
Recently, metal chalcogenides have received considerable attention as prospective anode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) because of their high theoretical capacities based on their alloying or conversion reactions. Herein, we demonstrate a gallium(III) telluride (Ga2Te3)-based ternary composite (Ga2Te3–TiO2–C) synthesized via a simple high-energy ball mill as a great candidate SIB anode material for the first time. The electrochemical performance, as well as the phase transition mechanism of Ga2Te3 during sodiation/desodiation, is investigated. Furthermore, the effect of C content on the performance of Ga2Te3–TiO2–C is studied using various electrochemical analyses. As a result, Ga2Te3–TiO2–C with an optimum carbon content of 10% (Ga2Te3–TiO2–C(10%)) exhibited a specific capacity of 437 mAh·g−1 after 300 cycles at 100 mA·g−1 and a high-rate capability (capacity retention of 96% at 10 A·g−1 relative to 0.1 A·g−1). The good electrochemical properties of Ga2Te3–TiO2–C(10%) benefited from the presence of the TiO2–C hybrid buffering matrix, which improved the mechanical integrity and electrical conductivity of the electrode. This research opens a new direction for the improvement of high-performance advanced SIB anodes with a simple synthesis process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage — towards a Sustainable Future)
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12 pages, 14047 KiB  
Article
Analysing the Implications of Charging on Nanostructured Li2MnO3 Cathode Materials for Lithium-Ion Battery Performance
by Tshidi Mogashoa, Raesibe Sylvia Ledwaba and Phuti Esrom Ngoepe
Materials 2022, 15(16), 5687; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15165687 - 18 Aug 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1863
Abstract
Capacity degradation and voltage fade of Li2MnO3 during cycling are the limiting factors for its practical use as a high-capacity lithium-ion battery cathode. Here, the simulated amorphisation and recrystallisation (A + R) technique is used, for generating nanoporous Li2 [...] Read more.
Capacity degradation and voltage fade of Li2MnO3 during cycling are the limiting factors for its practical use as a high-capacity lithium-ion battery cathode. Here, the simulated amorphisation and recrystallisation (A + R) technique is used, for generating nanoporous Li2MnO3 models of different lattice sizes (73 Å and 75 Å), under molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Charging was carried out by removing oxygen and lithium ions, with oxygen charge compensated for, to restrain the release of oxygen, resulting in Li2−xMnO3−x composites. Detailed analysis of these composites reveals that the models crystallised into multiple grains, with grain boundaries increasing with decreasing Li/O content, and the complex internal microstructures depicted a wealth of defects, leading to the evolution of distorted cubic spinel LiMn2O4, Li2MnO3, and LiMnO2 polymorphs. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns for the simulated systems revealed peak broadening in comparison with calculated XRD, also, the emergence of peak 2Θ ~ 18–25° and peak 2Θ ~ 29° were associated with the spinel phase. Lithium ions diffuse better on the nanoporous 73 Å structures than on the nanoporous 75 Å structures. Particularly, the Li1.00MnO2.00 shows a high diffusion coefficient value, compared to all concentrations. This study shed insights on the structural behaviour of Li2MnO3 cathodes during the charging mechanism, involving the concurrent removal of lithium and oxygen. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage — towards a Sustainable Future)
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16 pages, 4997 KiB  
Article
First-Principles Study on the Effect of Lithiation in Spinel LixMn2O4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) Structure: Calibration of CASTEP and ONETEP Simulation Codes
by Donald Hlungwani, Raesibe Sylvia Ledwaba and Phuti Esrom Ngoepe
Materials 2022, 15(16), 5678; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15165678 - 18 Aug 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2274
Abstract
Lithium–manganese–oxide (Li-Mn-O) spinel is among the promising and economically viable, high-energy density cathode materials for enhancing the performance of lithium-ion batteries. However, its commercialization is hindered by its poor cyclic performance. In computational modelling, pivotal in-depth understanding of material behaviour and properties is [...] Read more.
Lithium–manganese–oxide (Li-Mn-O) spinel is among the promising and economically viable, high-energy density cathode materials for enhancing the performance of lithium-ion batteries. However, its commercialization is hindered by its poor cyclic performance. In computational modelling, pivotal in-depth understanding of material behaviour and properties is sizably propelled by advancements in computational methods. Hence, the current work compares traditional DFT (CASTEP) and linear-scaling DFT (ONETEP) in a LiMn2O4 electronic property study to pave way for large-scale DFT calculations in a quest to improve its electrochemical properties. The metallic behaviour of LixMn2O4 (0.25 ≤ x ≤ 1) and Li2Mn2O4 was correctly determined by both CASTEP and ONETEP code in line with experiments. Furthermore, OCV during the discharge cycle deduced by both codes is in good accordance and is between 5 V and 2.5 V in the composition range of 0 ≤ x ≤ 1. Moreover, the scaling of the ONETEP code was performed at South Africa’s CHPC to provide guidelines on more productive large-scale ONETEP runs. Substantial total computing time can be saved by systematically adding the number of processors with the growing structure size. The study also substantiates that true linear scaling of the ONETEP code is achieved by a systematic truncation of the density kernel. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage — towards a Sustainable Future)
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12 pages, 4670 KiB  
Article
Boron Oxide Enhancing Stability of MoS2 Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries
by Thang Phan Nguyen and Il Tae Kim
Materials 2022, 15(6), 2034; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15062034 - 10 Mar 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2444
Abstract
Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is the most well-known transition metal chalcogenide for lithium storage applications because of its simple preparation process, superior optical, physical, and electrical properties, and high stability. However, recent research has shown that bare MoS2 nanosheet (NS) can [...] Read more.
Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is the most well-known transition metal chalcogenide for lithium storage applications because of its simple preparation process, superior optical, physical, and electrical properties, and high stability. However, recent research has shown that bare MoS2 nanosheet (NS) can be reformed to the bulk structure, and sulfur atoms can be dissolved in electrolytes or form polymeric structures, thereby preventing lithium insertion/desertion and reducing cycling performance. To enhance the electrochemical performance of the MoS2 NSs, B2O3 nanoparticles were decorated on the surface of MoS2 NSs via a sintering technique. The structure of B2O3 decorated MoS2 changed slightly with the formation of a lattice spacing of ~7.37 Å. The characterization of materials confirmed the formation of B2O3 crystals at 30% weight percentage of H3BO3 starting materials. In particular, the MoS2_B3 sample showed a stable capacity of ~500 mAh·g−1 after the first cycle. The cycling test delivered a high reversible specific capacity of ~82% of the second cycle after 100 cycles. Furthermore, the rate performance also showed a remarkable recovery capacity of ~98%. These results suggest that the use of B2O3 decorations could be a viable method for improving the stability of anode materials in lithium storage applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage — towards a Sustainable Future)
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11 pages, 2185 KiB  
Article
Gallium-Indium-Tin Eutectic as a Self-Healing Room-Temperature Liquid Metal Anode for High-Capacity Lithium-Ion Batteries
by Weldejewergis Gebrewahid Kidanu, Jaehyun Hur and Il Tae Kim
Materials 2022, 15(1), 168; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15010168 - 27 Dec 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 5060
Abstract
Owing to their intrinsic properties, such as deformability, high electrical conductivity, and superior electrochemical performance, room-temperature liquid metals and liquid metal alloys have attracted the attention of researchers for a wide variety of applications, including portable and large-scale energy storage applications. In this [...] Read more.
Owing to their intrinsic properties, such as deformability, high electrical conductivity, and superior electrochemical performance, room-temperature liquid metals and liquid metal alloys have attracted the attention of researchers for a wide variety of applications, including portable and large-scale energy storage applications. In this study, novel gallium-indium-tin eutectic (EGaInSn) room-temperature liquid metal nanoparticles synthesized using a facile and scalable probe-ultrasonication method were used as anode material in lithium-ion batteries. The morphology, geometry, and self-healing properties of the synthesized room-temperature liquid metal nanoparticles were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS and TEM/EDS). The synthesized room-temperature liquid metal nanoparticles delivered a specific capacity of 474 mAh g–1 and retained 77% of the stable reversible capacity after 500 galvanostatic charge-discharge cycles at a constant current density of 0.1 A g–1. The high theoretical specific capacity, combined with its self-healing and fluidic features, make EGaInSn room-temperature liquid metal nanoparticles a potential anode material for large-scale energy storage applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage — towards a Sustainable Future)
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12 pages, 57060 KiB  
Article
Nanocrystalline Cellulose Supported MnO2 Composite Materials for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries
by Quang Nhat Tran, Thuan Ngoc Vo, Il Tae Kim, Ji Hyeon Kim, Dal Ho Lee and Sang Joon Park
Materials 2021, 14(21), 6619; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14216619 - 3 Nov 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2368
Abstract
The rate capability and poor cycling stability of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are predominantly caused by the large volume expansion upon cycling and poor electrical conductivity of manganese dioxide (MnO2), which also exhibits the highest theoretical capacity among manganese oxides. In this [...] Read more.
The rate capability and poor cycling stability of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are predominantly caused by the large volume expansion upon cycling and poor electrical conductivity of manganese dioxide (MnO2), which also exhibits the highest theoretical capacity among manganese oxides. In this study, a nanocomposite of nanosized MnO2 and pyrolyzed nanocrystalline cellulose (CNC) was prepared with high electrical conductivity to enhance the electrochemical performance of LIBs. The nanocomposite electrode showed an initial discharge capacity of 1302 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 and exhibited a high discharge capacity of 305 mAh g−1 after 1000 cycles. Moreover, the MnO2-CNC nanocomposite delivered a good rate capability of up to 10 A g−1 and accommodated the large volume change upon repeated cycling tests. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage — towards a Sustainable Future)
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