EcoEnergy最新文献

{"title":"Challenges and Opportunities in the Use of Iron Photosensitizers for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells and Photoelectrosynthetic Cells Applications","authors":"Lakshmi Narayan Satheesh,&nbsp;Katerina Achilleos,&nbsp;Abdullah M. Abudayyeh,&nbsp;Ludovic Troian-Gautier","doi":"10.1002/ece2.70001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece2.70001","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Novel renewable alternatives to meet the needs of our current energy landscape are highly sought after. Photovoltaic solar cells (PV) are considered leading candidates for carbon neutrality due to their numerous benefits and good solar-to-energy conversion efficiency. However, the need is no longer solely focused on electric current generation but also on strategies to store that energy. This led, amongst other technologies, to the development of dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthesis cells (DSPECs), the successor of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). However, these cost-effective solar cells mostly use photosensitizers based on scarce metals such as ruthenium. Iron-based photosensitizers represent the holy grail due to their low toxicity, greater abundance, and versatile chemistry. However, they still suffer from drastic limitations: their photochemistry and extremely fast excited-state deactivation processes lead to inefficient charge injection and/or fast charge recombination. This review gathers examples of iron-based photosensitizers that have been successfully immobilized on metal oxide surfaces. A critical comparison of Fe-based photosensitizers is made based on their photophysical properties, electrochemistry, and photovoltaic performances.</p>","PeriodicalId":100387,"journal":{"name":"EcoEnergy","volume":"3 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece2.70001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145129015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biomass-Derived Carbon and Their Composites for Supercapacitor Applications: Sources, Functions, and Mechanisms","authors":"Xi Zhu,&nbsp;Yi Zeng,&nbsp;Xianhui Zhao,&nbsp;Dan Liu,&nbsp;Weiwei Lei,&nbsp;Shun Lu","doi":"10.1002/ece2.70000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece2.70000","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Biomass-derived carbons are eco-friendly and sustainable materials, making them ideal for supercapacitors due to their high surface area, excellent conductivity, cost-effectiveness, and environmental benefits. This review provides valuable insights into biomass-derived carbon and modified carbon for supercapacitors, integrating both experimental results and theoretical calculations. This review begins by discussing the origins of biomass-derived carbon in supercapacitors, including plant-based, food waste-derived, animal-origin, and microorganism-generated sources. Then, this review presents strategies to improve the performance of biomass-derived carbon in supercapacitors, including heteroatom doping, surface functionalization, and hybrid composite construction. Furthermore, this review analyzes the functions of biomass-derived carbon in supercapacitors both in its pure form and as modified materials. The review also explores composites derived from biomass-based carbon, including carbon/MXenes, carbon/MOFs, carbon/graphene, carbon/conductive polymers, carbon/transition metal oxides, and carbon/hydroxides, providing a thorough investigation. Most importantly, this review offers an innovative summary and analysis of the role of biomass-derived carbon in supercapacitors through theoretical calculations, concentrating on four key aspects: energy band structure, density of states, electron cloud density, and adsorption energy. Finally, the review concludes the future research directions for biomass carbon-based supercapacitors, including the discovery of novel biomass materials, tailoring surface functional groups, fabricating high-performance composite materials, exploring ion transfer mechanisms, and enhancing practical applications. In summary, this review offers a thorough exploration of the sources, functions, and mechanisms of biomass-derived carbon in supercapacitors, providing valuable insights for future research.</p>","PeriodicalId":100387,"journal":{"name":"EcoEnergy","volume":"3 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece2.70000","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145128817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Insights Into the Light-Driven Conversion of Methane: Mechanisms, Characterization, and Perspective","authors":"Jiayi Chen,&nbsp;Shiqin Gao,&nbsp;Tao Gan,&nbsp;Bolun Wang","doi":"10.1002/ece2.96","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece2.96","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Methane, recognized as a promising substitute for conventional fossil fuels due to its abundant availability, low cost, and high energy density, can be converted into value-added products, providing a sustainable energy–carbon utilization approach. However, its inert molecules require significant energy for C–H bond activation. Photocatalytic conversion offers an effective mild-condition solution, reducing thermocatalysis energy demands and enhancing activation efficiency for selective chemical production. This review systematically arranges photocatalytic C–H bond activation mechanisms, categorizes conversion products, and discusses challenges, prospects, and solutions for methane photocatalysis development.</p>","PeriodicalId":100387,"journal":{"name":"EcoEnergy","volume":"3 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece2.96","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145129432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Insights into the roles of natural graphite in phase change materials","authors":"Zhaodi Tang,&nbsp;Dongmei Huang,&nbsp;Xi Zhang,&nbsp;Bin Wang,&nbsp;Sidong Yu,&nbsp;Ruoyu Guo,&nbsp;Qimin Sun,&nbsp;Jionghui Wang","doi":"10.1002/ece2.93","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece2.93","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Phase change materials (PCMs) that reversibly release or absorb thermal energy during phase transitions play a significant role in promoting renewable and sustainable energy development. However, the poor shape stability, low thermal conductivity, and inferior energy conversion efficiency of PCMs hinder their wider applicability and are difficult to meet the growing demand. As the precursor of carbon-based materials, including expanded graphite, graphene oxide, and graphene, natural graphite (NG) finds extensive applications and bring new potentials to the PCMs, enabling multiple cutting-edge thermal energy applications. Herein, we systematically discuss NG and its derivative-based composite PCMs for thermal energy storage, thermal energy conduction, and thermal energy conversion. This paper aims to offer insights into the roles of NG in PCMs and hope to provide a useful guide for the design of next-generation composite PCMs with high-energy-density, high thermal conductivity and high energy conversion efficiency.</p>","PeriodicalId":100387,"journal":{"name":"EcoEnergy","volume":"3 2","pages":"354-386"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece2.93","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144339449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Solvation chemistry in liquid electrolytes for rechargeable lithium batteries at low temperatures","authors":"Houzhen Li,&nbsp;Chuncheng Yan,&nbsp;Shuhua Wang","doi":"10.1002/ece2.94","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece2.94","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Over the past few decades, significant advancements have been made in the development of low-temperature liquid electrolytes for lithium batteries (LBs). Ongoing exploration of liquid electrolytes is crucial for further enhancing the performance of these batteries. Solvation chemistry plays a dominant role in determining the properties of the electrolyte, significantly affecting LBs performance at low temperatures (LTs). This review introduces solvation structures and their impact, discussing how these structures promote fast desolvation processes and contribute to the improvement of battery performance. Additionally, various solvent strategies are highlighted to refine solvation chemistry at LTs, including the use of linear and cyclic ethers/esters, as well as the role of functional groups within these solvents. The review also summarizes the impact of lithium salts containing organic/inorganic anions on solvation chemistry. Characterization techniques for solvent chemistry are discussed, providing a comprehensive analysis that offers valuable insights for developing next-generation electrolytes to ensure reliable battery performance across a wide temperature range.</p>","PeriodicalId":100387,"journal":{"name":"EcoEnergy","volume":"3 2","pages":"387-421"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece2.94","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144339396","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Structural and electronic double effects on S-doping dendritic mesoporous CeFeW/DM catalyst for enhancing SO2 tolerance in the low temperature NH3-SCR reaction","authors":"Xiaosheng Huang,&nbsp;Weitong Ling,&nbsp;Rongji Cui,&nbsp;Xiaona Li,&nbsp;Yongjie Xi,&nbsp;Zhicheng Tang","doi":"10.1002/ece2.95","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece2.95","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <p>SO₂ poisoning severely impedes the development of Ce-based catalysts in NH₃-SCR process for nitrogen oxides elimination. S-doping dendritic mesoporous</p>\u0000 \u0000 <p>(DM)-structured CeFeW/DM catalyst has been carefully designed in this work and its tolerance to SO₂ has been effectively enhanced. The DM structure allowed metal oxides to be highly dispersed and generated Ce–O–Fe active pairs with enhancing redox ability via the efficient electron transfer between Ce³⁺ + Fe³⁺ ↔ Ce⁴⁺ + Fe²⁺. Importantly, the opened center–radial pore channels not only facilitated rapid adsorption of NO and NH₃, but also distinctly alleviated the problem of ammonium sulfate blocking the catalyst pores during the NH₃-SCR process. Notably, S-doping enhanced the surface acidity and inhibited the adsorption and oxidation of SO₂ effectively. Besides, density functional theory calculation revealed that S-doping further perturbed the local electronic environment and formed an electron enrichment region around the Ce–O–Fe interface, which made SO₂ preferentially adsorbed on Fe sites, whereas NO was more inclined to be adsorbed on Ce sites. Therefore, the Ce active site was protected from SO₂ poisoning, enabling both L-H and E-R reaction pathways simultaneously occurring with smooth adsorption and activation of NO on CeFeW/DM. This study deeply reveals the coordination efforts between catalyst structure and electronic effects, which provided a new idea for designing highly efficient SO₂-resistant Ce-based catalysts for low temperature NH₃-SCR reaction.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":100387,"journal":{"name":"EcoEnergy","volume":"3 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece2.95","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145129045","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The role of dopants in mitigating the chemo-mechanical degradation of Ni-rich cathode: A critical review","authors":"Imesha Rambukwella,&nbsp;Hanisha Ponnuru,&nbsp;Cheng Yan","doi":"10.1002/ece2.92","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece2.92","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ni-rich cathodes are more promising candidates to the increasing demand for high capacity and the ability to operate at high voltages. However, the high Ni content creates a trade-off between energy density and cycling stability, mainly caused by the chemo-mechanical degradation. Oxygen evolution, cation mixing, rock salt formation, phase transition, and crack formation contribute to the degradation process. To overcome this problem, strategies such as doping, surface coating, and core-shell structures have been employed. The advantage of doping is to engineer the cathode surface, structure, and particle morphology simultaneously. This review aims to summarize recent advances in understanding chemo-mechanical degradation mechanism and the role of different dopants in enhancing the thermal stability and overall electrochemical performance. The pinning and pillaring effects of dopants on suppressing oxygen evolution, cation mixing, and phase transition are introduced. It is found that the higher ionic radii enable dopants to reside on cathode particles, preserving the particle surface and refining particle morphology to suppress crack formation. Finally, the effect of doping on Li ion diffusion, rate capability, and long-term stability are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":100387,"journal":{"name":"EcoEnergy","volume":"3 2","pages":"321-353"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece2.92","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144339230","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"1 min synthesis of phase pure nanocrystalline high-entropy sulfides for efficient water electrolysis","authors":"Judith Zander,&nbsp;Roland Marschall","doi":"10.1002/ece2.91","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece2.91","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The development of noble-metal free electrocatalysts with low production cost is of utmost importance for sustainable water electrolysis. Herein, we present a fast flexible synthesis pathway for the preparation of a variety of different medium- and high-entropy spinel sulfides of various compositions, using a non-aqueous microwave-assisted synthesis without any H₂S. Nanoparticulate high-entropy sulfides containing up to 8 different metal cations can be obtained after an extremely short synthesis time of only 1 min and comparatively low temperatures of 200–230°C. We further demonstrate the high activity of the obtained sulfides for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER).</p>","PeriodicalId":100387,"journal":{"name":"EcoEnergy","volume":"3 2","pages":"482-498"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece2.91","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144339228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nanoflower MnxNi2−xP as efficient bifunctional catalyst for hydrogen production with urea-assisted energy-saving in alkaline freshwater and seawater","authors":"Min Song,&nbsp;Xue Yang,&nbsp;Chenyang Guo,&nbsp;Shuo Zhang,&nbsp;Junwei Ma,&nbsp;Hongtao Gao","doi":"10.1002/ece2.90","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece2.90","url":null,"abstract":"<p>To achieve efficient and stable hydrogen production while addressing the corrosive effects of seawater on electrodes, integrating the energy-saving urea oxidation reaction (UOR) with the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) presents a promising low-energy solution. However, developing low-cost, high-performance bifunctional electrocatalysts for both HER and UOR remains a significant challenge. In this work, we prepared bifunctional electrocatalysts featuring Mn_<i>x</i>Ni_2−<i>x</i>P nanoflower structures grown on nickel foam using a simple hydrothermal phosphatization method. These catalysts demonstrated excellent performance in alkaline freshwater and seawater, with notably low overpotentials of 251 and 257 mV for HER, and 1.33 and 1.37 V for UOR. Combining its bifunctional activity in UOR and HER in a two-electrode system, an energy saving of 0.19 V potential compared to water electrolysis through water oxidation can be acquired to reach 100 mA cm⁻² current density. Moreover, the catalyst also maintains fairly stable after long-term testing, indicating its potential for efficient and energy-saving hydrogen production. Our study reveals that the synergistic interaction between Ni and Mn metals enhances the electronic structure of the electrocatalysts, significantly boosting both UOR and HER activities. Additionally, Mn doping alters the morphological structure, creating nanoflowers with abundant active sites, while nickel-iron phosphides improve the catalyst's corrosion resistance in seawater. This work provides valuable insights into the design of low-cost, stable non-precious metal electrocatalysts for seawater and freshwater splitting, combining hydrogen evolution with urea-assisted energy-saving.</p>","PeriodicalId":100387,"journal":{"name":"EcoEnergy","volume":"3 2","pages":"470-481"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece2.90","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144339395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Thermoelectric performance enhancement of environmentally-friendly SrTiO3 epitaxial films by hydrogen substitution","authors":"Masatoshi Kimura,&nbsp;Masahiro Ochiai,&nbsp;Xinyi He,&nbsp;Takayoshi Katase,&nbsp;Hidenori Hiramatsu,&nbsp;Hideo Hosono,&nbsp;Toshio Kamiya","doi":"10.1002/ece2.89","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ece2.89","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Developing high-efficiency and environmentally-friendly thermoelectric materials has been a significant challenge. Conventional thermometric materials consist of heavy (toxic) elements to reduce thermal conductivity (<i>κ</i>), while we demonstrated light-element hydride anion (H⁻) substitution in SrTiO₃ can largely reduce <i>κ</i> and enhance thermometric efficiency (<i>ZT</i>) without heavy elements. In this paper, we succeeded in maximizing the <i>ZT</i> of SrTiO_3−<i>x</i>H_<i>x</i> by applying topochemical reaction directly to SrTiO₃ epitaxial films with CaH₂, which realized wide-range control of carrier concentration (<i>n</i>_e) from 1.5 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³ to 4.1 × 10²¹ cm⁻³. The power factor (PF) showed a dome-shaped behavior with respect to <i>n</i>_e, and the maximum PF = 22.5 μW/(cmK²) was obtained at the optimal <i>n</i>_e = 3.4 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³. Carrier transport analyses clarified that the carrier mobility was limited by impurity scattering of H-related impurities in the SrTiO_3−<i>x</i>H_<i>x</i> films, while the hydrogen substitution induced a much lower <i>κ</i> of 4.6 W/(mK) than other heavy-element substituted Sr_1−<i>x</i>La_<i>x</i>TiO₃ and SrTi_1−<i>x</i>Nb_<i>x</i>O₃ films in the wide <i>n</i>_e range, resulting in the higher <i>ZT</i> value of 0.14 in maximum at room temperature. In addition, the <i>ZT</i> increased to 0.17 at 373 K due to the large decrease in <i>κ</i> for a SrTiO_3−<i>x</i>H_<i>x</i> film with the hydrogen concentration of 1.2 × 10²¹ cm⁻³. Further study on H⁻ substitution approach and modulation of the H state in transition metal oxides would lead to development of high <i>ZT</i> environmentally-friendly thermoelectric materials.</p>","PeriodicalId":100387,"journal":{"name":"EcoEnergy","volume":"3 2","pages":"459-469"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece2.89","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144339582","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}