Innovative materials for renewable energy

<正>Fossil fuels have sustained the prosperity of human civilization for centuries since the invention of internal combustion engine during the first industrial revolution.However,several drawbacks also come along with the wide-spread adoption of fossil fuels,namely,energy shortage,environmental pollution,global warming,and so on.It is therefore highly desirable to conduct     

Redox targeting of energy materials

The redox-mediated electrochemical–chemical process, when it involves the redox-targeting reaction with energy materials, has shown intriguing potential for various energy-related applications. This review starts with a brief discussion on the evolution of redox-targeting reactions for high-energy redox-flow batteries and the critical future studies for large-scale energy storage. Then, with spatially decoupled water electrolysis as an example, the merits of redox-targeting reaction by liberating the catalyst from electrode surface are highlighted, followed by an introduction of redox targeting–based thermal-to-electrical conversion. We have also featured various redox-targeting processes in other fields of study, such as electrochromic window, redox catalysis, and spent battery material recycling. Overall, this review attempts to demonstrate the incredible versatility and prospects of redox-targeting process for energy-related applications.     

A perspective on carbon materials for future energy application

Nanocarbon materials play a critical role in the development of new or improved technologies and devices for sustainable production and use of renewable energy. This perspective paper defines some of the trends and outlooks in this exciting area, with the effort of evidencing some of the possibilities offered from the growing level of knowledge, as testified from the exponentially rising number of publications, and putting bases for a more rational design of these nanomaterials. The basic members of the new carbon family are fullerene, graphene, and carbon nanotube. Derived from them are carbon quantum dots, nanohorn, nanofiber, nano ribbon, nanocapsulate, nanocage and other nanomorphologies. Second generation nanocarbons are those which have been modified by surface functionalization or doping with heteroatoms to create specific tailored properties. The third generation of nanocarbons is the nanoarchitectured supramolecular hybrids or composites of the first and second generation nanocarbons, or with organic or inorganic species. The advantages of the new carbon materials, relating to the field of sustainable energy, are discussed, evidencing the unique properties that they offer for developing next generation solar devices and energy storage solutions.     

Lithium nitrides as sustainable energy materials

Lithium nitride is an exceptional yet simple compound with remarkable properties that can be tuned with judicious chemical modifications. A unique structure coupled with high ionic mobility present both a fundamental model and an advanced material for energy applications, involving either storage of charge (lithium) or storage of hydrogen. In the former case, and as an electrode material, the system can be modified to increase defects and the number of charge carriers, both ionic and electronic. In so doing, one can create anodes of high reversible capacity. In the latter context, tailoring structure, microstructure, and composition has profound effects on both the amount of hydrogen one can store in the solid state and the rate at which this process (uptake and release) can be achieved. © 2008 The Japan Chemical Journal Forum and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Chem Rec 8: 229–239; 2008: Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ) DOI 10.1002/tcr.20151     

Nanoconfinement effects in energy storage materials

Nanoconfinement effects have been studied to understand and to modify thermodynamic and kinetic properties of energy storage materials and to improve their cyclic behaviour. The paper addresses various aspects in the research and development of hydrogen storage materials and batteries. Fundamental relationships and the state-of-the art in the prediction of properties and experimental observations will be outlined and structure-property-relationships will be discussed for some hydrogen storage materials. Similar nanoconfinement effects in lithium battery anode materials will be addressed.     

2020 roadmap on two-dimensional materials for energy storage and conversion

Energy storage and conversion have attained significant interest owing to its important applications that reduce CO₂ emission through employing green energy. Some promising technologies are included metal-air batteries, metal-sulfur batteries, metal-ion batteries, electrochemical capacitors, etc. Here, metal elements are involved with lithium, sodium, and magnesium. For these devices, electrode materials are of importance to obtain high performance. Two-dimensional (2D) materials are a large kind of layered structured materials with promising future as energy storage materials, which include graphene, black phosporus, MXenes, covalent organic frameworks (COFs), 2D oxides, 2D chalcogenides, and others. Great progress has been achieved to go ahead for 2D materials in energy storage and conversion. More researchers will join in this research field. Under the background, it has motivated us to contribute with a roadmap on ‘two-dimensional materials for energy storage and conversion.     

Computational studies on polynitrohexaazaadmantanes as potential high energy density materials

Polynitrohexaazaadamantanes (PNHAAs) have been the subject of much recent research because of their potential as high energy density materials (HEDMs). The B3LYP/6-31G method was employed to evaluate the heats of formation (HOFs) for PNHAAs by designing isodesmic reactions. The HOFs are found to be correlative with the number (n) and the space orientations of nitro groups. Detonation velocities (D) and detonation pressures (P) were estimated for PNHAAs by using the well-known Kamlet-Jacobs equations, based on the theoretical densities (rho) and HOFs. It is found that D and P increase as n ranges from 1 to 6, and PNHAAs with 4-6 nitro groups meet the criteria of an HEDM. When n is over 6, rho of PNHAAs slightly increases; however, the chemical energy of detonation (Q) decreases so greatly that both D and P decrease. The calculations on bond dissociation energies suggest that the N-N bond be the trigger bond during the pyrolysis initiation process of each PNHAA, and with increasing n, N-N bond dissociation energy (E(N-N)) decreases on the whole, that is to say, the relative stability of PNHAAs decreases. All E(N-N)(s) of PNHAAs are more than 30 kcal.mol(-1), which further proves that four PNHAAs with 4-6 nitro groups can be used as the candidates of HEDMs. Considering the synthesis difficulty and the performance as an energetic compound, we finally recommended 2,4,6,8,10-pentanitrohexaazaadamantane as the target HEDM for PNHAAs.     

Single-atom site catalysts supported on two-dimensional materials for energy applications

Single-atom site catalysts (SACs) and two-dimensional materials (2DM) have gradually become two hot topics in catalysis over the past decades. Their combination with each other can further endow the derived SACs with extraordinary properties such as high loading, identical active sites, uniform coordination environment, distinctive metal-support interaction, and enhanced catalytic activities. In this review, we highlight the recent development in this specific research topic according to the types of substrates and focus on their applications in energy conversion field. Additionally, we also make a brief introduction to the synthesis and characterization methods for SACs supported on 2DM (SACs/2DM). Finally, the challenges and perspectives are summarized based on the current development status. It is believed that this work will make contributions to the rational design and fabrication of novel SACs/2DM, promoting their practical energy applications in the future.     

2020 roadmap on pore materials for energy and environmental applications

Porous materials have attracted great attention in energy and environment applications, such as metal organic frameworks (MOFs), metal aerogels, carbon aerogels, porous metal oxides. These materials could be also hybridized with other materials into functional composites with superior properties. The high specific area of porous materials offer them the advantage as hosts to conduct catalytic and electrochemical reactions. On one hand, catalytic reactions include photocatalytic, photoelectrocatalytic and electrocatalytic reactions over some gases. On the other hand, they can be used as electrodes in various batteries, such as alkaline metal ion batteries and electrochemical capacitors. So far, both catalysis and batteries are extremely attractive topics. There are also many obstacles to overcome in the exploration of these porous materials. The research related to porous materials for energy and environment applications is at extremely active stage, and this has motivated us to contribute with a roadmap on ‘porous materials for energy and environment applications’.     

2020 roadmap on pore materials for energy and environmental applications

Porous materials have attracted great attention in energy and environment applications. In this roadmap, several porous materials are discussed for energy storage and conversion. It will help the researchers to obtain them guidance from it in future.     

2020 roadmap on two-dimensional materials for energy storage and conversion

In this roadmap, two-dimensional materials including graphene, black phosporus, MXenes, covalent organic frameworks, oxides, chalcogenides, and others, are highlighted in energy storage and conversion.     

Computational studies on tetrazole derivatives as potential high energy materials

The tetrazole is an important functionality of the most of energetic materials due to 80% nitrogen content, stability, and high enthalpy of formation. The present structure–property relationship study focuses on the optimized geometries of tetrazole derivatives obtained from density functional theory (DFT) calculations at B3LYP/6-31G* levels. The heat of formation (HOF) of tetrazole derivatives have been calculated by designing the appropriate isodesmic reactions. The increase in nitro groups on azole rings shows the remarkable increase in HOF. Density has been predicted by using CVFF force field. Increase in the nitro group increases the density. Detonation properties of the designed compounds were evaluated by using the Kamlet–Jacobs equation based on predicted densities and HOFs. Designed tetrazole derivatives show detonation velocity (D) over 8 km/s and detonation pressure (P) of about 32 GPa. Thermal stability was evaluated via bond dissociation energies (BDE) of the weakest C–NO₂ bond at B3LYP/6-31G* level. Charge on the nitro group has been used to assess the sensitivity correlation. Overall, the study implies that designed compounds of this series are found to be stable and expected to be the novel candidates of high energy materials (HEMs).     

Novel carbon materials for thermal energy harvesting

To decrease the consumption of fossil fuels, research has been done on utilizing low grade heat, sourced from industrial waste streams. One promising thermoenergy conversion system is a thermogalvanic cell; it consists of two identical electrodes held at different temperatures that are placed in contact with a redox-based electrolyte [1, 2]. The temperature dependence of the direction of redox reactions allows power to be extracted from the cell [3, 4]. This study aims to increase the power conversion efficiency and reduce the cost of thermogalvanic cells by optimizing the electrolyte and utilizing a carbon based electromaterial, reduced graphene oxide, as electrodes. Thermal conductivity measurements of the K₃Fe(CN)₆/K₄Fe(CN)₆ solutions used, indicate that the thermal conductivity decreases from 0.591 to 0.547?W/m?K as the concentration is increased from 0.1 to 0.4?M. The lower thermal conductivity allowed a larger temperature gradient to be maintained in the cell. Increasing the electrolyte concentration also resulted in higher power densities, brought about by a decrease in the ohmic overpotential of the cell, which allowed higher values of short circuit current to be generated. The concentration of 0.4?M K₃Fe(CN)₆/K₄Fe(CN)₆ is optimal for thermal harvesting applications using R-GO electrodes due to the synergistic effect of the reduction in thermal flux across the cell and the enhancement of power output, on the overall power conversion efficiency. The maximum mass power density obtained using R-GO electrodes was 25.51?W/kg (three orders of magnitude higher than platinum) at a temperature difference of 60?°C and a K₃Fe(CN)₆/K₄Fe(CN)₆ concentration of 0.4?M.