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Advanced Functional Nanomaterials for Energy Conversion and Storage
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Advanced Functional Nanomaterials for Energy Conversion and Storage

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2024 | Viewed by 5014

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xiaohui Sun

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Carbon Neutrality Future Technology, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 100084, China
Interests: single atom catalyst; nano catalyst; CO2 electroreduction; CO2 photoreduction; fischer-tropsch synthesis
Dr. Yongxiao Tuo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, College of New Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Interests: catalytic reaction engineering; hydrogen chemical engineering; liquid organic hydrogen storage; DFT calculation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Energy plays crucial roles in the development of our economy and society. Fossil fuels consisting of coal, crude oil and natural gas were the major energy supply in the past decades. However, the consumption of fossil fuels also brought severe environmental pollution problems. Hence, researches on clean energy conversion and storage are becoming more and more attractive. Nanomaterials with unique mechanical, electrical, and optical properties are good candidates in this domain and have shown distinct advantages in energy-related applications.

In this Special Issue, we aim to report the current progress on the preparation and utilization of nanomaterials for energy related applications. Original research articles or reviews that are related to novel nanomaterial synthesis, characterization, and the applications in sustainable energy-related thermal-, electro- and photocatalysis (e.g. carbon dioxide conversion, hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, and oxygen reduction reaction etc.) as well as electrochemical energy storage (e.g., Li-ion batteries and super-capacitors, Na-ion batteries, Zn-air batteries etc.) are welcome.

Dr. Xiaohui Sun
Dr. Yongxiao Tuo
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. Molecules 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 2700 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

  • nanomaterials synthesis
  • characterization
  • catalysis
  • battery
  • energy storage

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 3847 KiB  
Article
Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Membrane Distillation for Different Salt Solutions in Nanopores
by Jiadong Li, Yuanhe Ding, Jinyi Qin, Chuanyong Zhu and Liang Gong
Molecules 2024, 29(19), 4581; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29194581 - 26 Sep 2024
Viewed by 783
Abstract
Nanoporous membranes offer significant advantages in direct contact membrane distillation applications due to their high flux and strong resistance to wetting. This study employs molecular dynamics simulations to explore the performance of membrane distillation in a single nanopore, mainly focusing on wetting behavior, [...] Read more.
Nanoporous membranes offer significant advantages in direct contact membrane distillation applications due to their high flux and strong resistance to wetting. This study employs molecular dynamics simulations to explore the performance of membrane distillation in a single nanopore, mainly focusing on wetting behavior, liquid entry pressure, and membrane flux variations across different concentrations and types of salt solutions. The findings indicate that increasing the NaCl concentration enhances the wetting of membrane pores, thereby decreasing the entry pressure of the solution. However, at the same salt concentration, the differences in wetting and liquid entry pressure among various salts, including CaCl2, KCl, NaCl, and LiCl, are minimal. The presence of hydrated ions significantly reduces membrane flux. As the concentration of NaCl solutions increases, the number of hydrated ions rises, thereby lowering the membrane flux of the salt solution. Furthermore, the type of salt has a pronounced effect on the structure of hydrated ions. Solutions with Ca2+ and Li+ exhibit the smallest first-layer radius of hydrated ions. Under the same salt concentration, KCl solutions demonstrate the highest membrane distillation flux, while CaCl2 solutions show the lowest flux. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Functional Nanomaterials for Energy Conversion and Storage)
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17 pages, 6132 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Lithium-Ion Capacitance Performance of Nitrogen and Sulfur Co-Doped Carbon Nanosheets with Limited Space via the Vermiculite Template Method
by Fang Yang, Pingzheng Jiang, Qiqi Wu, Wei Dong, Minghu Xue and Qiao Zhang
Molecules 2024, 29(2), 536; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29020536 - 22 Jan 2024
Viewed by 1172
Abstract
Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped graphene-like carbon nanosheets (CNSs) with a two-dimensional structure are prepared by using methylene blue as a carbon source and expanded vermiculite as a template. After static negative pressure adsorption, high-temperature calcination, and etching in a vacuum oven, they are [...] Read more.
Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped graphene-like carbon nanosheets (CNSs) with a two-dimensional structure are prepared by using methylene blue as a carbon source and expanded vermiculite as a template. After static negative pressure adsorption, high-temperature calcination, and etching in a vacuum oven, they are embedded in the limited space of the vermiculite template. The addition of an appropriate number of mixed elements can improve the performance of a battery. Via scanning electron microscopy, it is found that the prepared nitrogen–sulfur-co-doped carbon nanosheets exhibit a thin yarn shape. The XPS results show that there are four elements of C, N, O, and S in the carbon materials (CNS-600, CNS-700, CNS-800, CNS-900) prepared at different temperatures, and the N atom content shows a gradually decreasing trend. It is mainly doped into a graphene-like network in four ways (graphite nitrogen, pyridine nitrogen, pyrrole nitrogen, and pyridine nitrogen oxide), while the S element shows an increasing trend, mainly in the form of thiophene S and sulfur, which is covalently linked to oxygen. The results show that CNS-700 has a discharge-specific capacity of 460 mAh/g at a current density of 0.1 A/g, and it can still maintain a specific capacity of 200 mAh/g at a current density of 2 A/g. The assembled lithium-ion capacitor has excellent energy density and power density, with a maximum power density of 20,000 W/kg. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Functional Nanomaterials for Energy Conversion and Storage)
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Graphical abstract

13 pages, 5301 KiB  
Article
Atomistic Insights into the Effect of Functional Groups on the Adsorption of Water by Activated Carbon for Heat Energy Storage
by Xin-Yue Duan, Zeng-Hui Qian, Yong-Xiao Tuo, Liang Gong and Chuan-Yong Zhu
Molecules 2024, 29(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29010011 - 19 Dec 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1229
Abstract
Adsorption heat storage holds great promise for solar energy applications. The development of new adsorbent materials is currently the research focus in this area. The present work designs several activated carbon models with different functional groups, including -OH, -NH2, -COOH, and [...] Read more.
Adsorption heat storage holds great promise for solar energy applications. The development of new adsorbent materials is currently the research focus in this area. The present work designs several activated carbon models with different functional groups, including -OH, -NH2, -COOH, and -SO3H, and explores the influence of functional groups’ categories and numbers on the water adsorption capacity of the activated carbon using the GCMC method. The adsorption mechanism between functional groups and water molecules is analyzed using density functional theory. The results show that the functional groups could significantly improve the water adsorption capacity of activated carbon due to the hydrogen bond between functional groups and water molecules. In the scope of this paper, under low pressure, the activated carbon with -SO3H exhibits the best adsorption capacity, followed by the activated carbon with -COOH. Under low and medium pressure, increasing the number of -SO3H functional groups could increase the water adsorption capacity; however, when the pressure is high, increasing the functional group numbers might decrease the water adsorption capacity. As the temperature increases, the water adsorption capacity of activated carbons decreases, and the activated carbon with -SO3H is proven to have excellent application prospects in heat energy storage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Functional Nanomaterials for Energy Conversion and Storage)
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Graphical abstract

9 pages, 4361 KiB  
Communication
Combination of Mn-Mo Oxide Nanoparticles on Carbon Nanotubes through Nitrogen Doping to Catalyze Oxygen Reduction
by Min Wang, Shilin Zhang, Juejin Teng, Shunsheng Zhao, Zhongtao Li and Mingbo Wu
Molecules 2023, 28(14), 5544; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28145544 - 20 Jul 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1263
Abstract
An efficient and low-cost oxygen catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) was developed by in situ growth of Mn-Mo oxide nanoparticles on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (NCNTs). Doped nitrogen effectively increases the electron conductivity of the MnMoO4@NCNT complex and the binding [...] Read more.
An efficient and low-cost oxygen catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) was developed by in situ growth of Mn-Mo oxide nanoparticles on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (NCNTs). Doped nitrogen effectively increases the electron conductivity of the MnMoO4@NCNT complex and the binding energy between the Mn-Mo oxide nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), leading to fast charge transfer and more catalytically active sites. Combining Mn and Mo with NCNTs improves the catalytic activity and promotes both electron and mass transfers, greatly enhancing the catalytic ability for ORR. As a result, MnMoO4@NCNT exhibited a comparable half-wave potential to commercial Pt/C and superior durability, demonstrating great potential for application in renewable energy conversion systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Functional Nanomaterials for Energy Conversion and Storage)
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