Engineering Micro/Nanostructured Electrodes for Electrochemical Systems

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 2021) | Viewed by 12884

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Graduate School of Energy Science and Technology, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34134, Korea
Interests: nanostructured materials; desalination; capacitive deionization; energy storage and conversion; supercapacitors; solar to steam

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last few decades, revolutionary advances have been made in electrochemical systems expanding the capabilities and performances of these systems in a variety of fields. Electrochemical systems are mainly associated with energy storage and conversion devices, with well-known examples including batteries and supercapacitors. Additionally, other electrochemical systems, such as capacitive deionization (CDI) and electrodialysis (ED), have long been identified as promising solutions for energy- and infrastructure-efficient brackish water desalination. It is convenient to take inspiration from the highly developed energy storage field to develop next-generation electrochemical systems for water desalination.

Electrode material, being one of the key factors that determine electrochemical devices’ performance, has continued to gain much research interest. Carbon-based nanomaterials, transition metals, and conducting polymers are some of the commonly used electrode materials.

The aim of this Special Issue of Micromachines is to collect state-of-the-art contributions related to recent advancements in the field of developing high‐performance electrode materials for electrochemical systems, including (but not limited to) supercapacitors, capacitive deionization, electrodialysis, lithium-ion batteries, fuel cells, and electrochemical sensors.

Dr. Ahmed S. Yasin
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Batteries and energy storage
  • Nanohybrid materials
  • Fuel Cells and energy conversion
  • Capacitive deionization
  • Electrodialysis
  • Solar cells
  • Corrosion
  • Processes on electrodes

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 3100 KiB  
Article
Synthesis of Carbon-Supported PdIrNi Catalysts and Their Performance towards Ethanol Electrooxidation
by Ahmed Elsheikh, Hamouda M. Mousa and James McGregor
Micromachines 2021, 12(11), 1327; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12111327 - 28 Oct 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1644
Abstract
Direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) have shown a high potential to supply energy and contribute to saving the climate due to their bioethanol sustainability and carbon neutrality. Nonetheless, there is a consistent need to develop new catalyst electrodes that are active for the [...] Read more.
Direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) have shown a high potential to supply energy and contribute to saving the climate due to their bioethanol sustainability and carbon neutrality. Nonetheless, there is a consistent need to develop new catalyst electrodes that are active for the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR). In this work, two C-supported PdIrNi catalysts, that have been reported only once, are prepared via a facile NaBH4 co-reduction route. Their physiochemical characterization (X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)) results show alloyed PdIrNi nanoparticles that are well dispersed (<3 nm) and exist in metallic state that is air-stable apart from Ni and, slightly, Pd. Their electrocatalytic activity towards EOR was evaluated by means of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA). Even though the physiochemical characterization of PdIrNi/C and Pd4Ir2Ni1/C is promising, their EOR performance has proven them less active than their Pd/C counterpart. Although the oxidation current peak of Pd/C is 1.8 A/mgPd, it is only 0.48 A/mgPd for Pd4Ir2Ni1/C and 0.52 A/mgPd for PdIrNi/C. These results were obtained three times and are reproducible, but since they do not add up with the sound PdIrNi microstructure, more advanced and in situ EOR studies are necessary to better understand the poor EOR performance. Full article
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12 pages, 4216 KiB  
Article
High Performance Asymmetric Supercapacitor Based on Hierarchical Carbon Cloth In Situ Deposited with h-WO3 Nanobelts as Negative Electrode and Carbon Nanotubes as Positive Electrode
by Jianhao Lin and Xusheng Du
Micromachines 2021, 12(10), 1195; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12101195 - 30 Sep 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2454
Abstract
Urchin-like tungsten oxide (WO3) microspheres self-assembled with nanobelts are deposited on the surface of the hydrophilic carbon cloth (CC) current collector via hydrothermal reaction. The WO3 nanobelts in the urchin-like microspheres are in the hexagonal crystalline phase, and their widths [...] Read more.
Urchin-like tungsten oxide (WO3) microspheres self-assembled with nanobelts are deposited on the surface of the hydrophilic carbon cloth (CC) current collector via hydrothermal reaction. The WO3 nanobelts in the urchin-like microspheres are in the hexagonal crystalline phase, and their widths are around 30–50 nm. The resulted hierarchical WO3/CC electrode exhibits a capacitance of 3400 mF/cm2 in H2SO4 electrolyte in the voltage window of −0.5~0.2 V, which makes it an excellent negative electrode for asymmetric supercapacitors. To improve the capacitive performance of the positive electrode and make it comparable with that of the WO3/CC electrode, both the electrode material and the electrolyte have been carefully designed and prepared. Therefore, the hydrophilic CC is further coated with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to create a hierarchical CNT/CC electrode via a convenient flame synthesis method, and a redox-active electrolyte containing an Fe2+/Fe 3+ couple is introduced into the half-cell system as well. As a result, the high performance of the asymmetric supercapacitor assembled with both the asymmetric electrodes and electrolytes has been realized. It exhibits remarkable energy density as large as 403 μW h/cm2 at 15 mW/cm2 and excellent cyclic stability after 10,000 cycles. Full article
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13 pages, 5465 KiB  
Article
Efficiency Enhancement of Electro-Adsorption Desalination Using Iron Oxide Nanoparticle-Incorporated Activated Carbon Nanocomposite
by Ahmed S. Yasin, Ahmed Yousef Mohamed, Donghyun Kim, Sungmin Yoon, Howon Ra and Kyubock Lee
Micromachines 2021, 12(10), 1148; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12101148 - 24 Sep 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2074
Abstract
Capacitive deionization (CDI) technology is currently considered a potential candidate for brackish water desalination. In this study, we designed iron oxide nanoparticle-incorporated activated carbon (AC/Fe2O3) via a facile and cost-effective hydrothermal process. The as-synthesized material was characterized using several [...] Read more.
Capacitive deionization (CDI) technology is currently considered a potential candidate for brackish water desalination. In this study, we designed iron oxide nanoparticle-incorporated activated carbon (AC/Fe2O3) via a facile and cost-effective hydrothermal process. The as-synthesized material was characterized using several techniques and tested as electrodes in CDI applications. We found that the distinctive properties of the AC/Fe2O3 electrode, i.e., high wettability, high surface area, unique structural morphology, and high conductivity, resulted in promising CDI performance. The electrosorptive capacity of the AC/Fe2O3 nanocomposite reached 6.76 mg g−1 in the CDI process, with a high specific capacitance of 1157.5 F g−1 at 10 mV s−1 in a 1 M NaCl electrolyte. This study confirms the potential use of AC/Fe2O3 nanocomposites as viable electrode materials in CDI and other electrochemical applications. Full article
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Review

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33 pages, 2415 KiB  
Review
The Application of Nanomaterials for the Electrochemical Detection of Antibiotics: A Review
by Norah Salem Alsaiari, Khadijah Mohammedsaleh M Katubi, Fatimah Mohammed Alzahrani, Saifeldin M. Siddeeg and Mohamed A. Tahoon
Micromachines 2021, 12(3), 308; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12030308 - 15 Mar 2021
Cited by 42 | Viewed by 6125
Abstract
Antibiotics can accumulate through food metabolism in the human body which may have a significant effect on human safety and health. It is therefore highly beneficial to establish easy and sensitive approaches for rapid assessment of antibiotic amounts. In the development of next-generation [...] Read more.
Antibiotics can accumulate through food metabolism in the human body which may have a significant effect on human safety and health. It is therefore highly beneficial to establish easy and sensitive approaches for rapid assessment of antibiotic amounts. In the development of next-generation biosensors, nanomaterials (NMs) with outstanding thermal, mechanical, optical, and electrical properties have been identified as one of the most hopeful materials for opening new gates. This study discusses the latest developments in the identification of antibiotics by nanomaterial-constructed biosensors. The construction of biosensors for electrochemical signal-transducing mechanisms has been utilized in various types of nanomaterials, including quantum dots (QDs), metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), magnetic nanoparticles (NPs), metal nanomaterials, and carbon nanomaterials. To provide an outline for future study directions, the existing problems and future opportunities in this area are also included. The current review, therefore, summarizes an in-depth assessment of the nanostructured electrochemical sensing method for residues of antibiotics in different systems. Full article
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