Energy advances最新文献

{"title":"Synergistic interactions in LaMnO3/CuO composites with enhanced supercapacitive performance","authors":"Alisha Dhakal, Felio R. Perez, Shawn David Pollard and Sanjay R. Mishra","doi":"10.1039/D5YA00339C","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/D5YA00339C","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Composites of La-based perovskites with metal oxides have attracted significant attention in electrochemistry owing to their synergistic effects. In this work, LaMnO<small>₃</small> (LMO)/CuO composites with varying ratios of (100–<em>x</em>)% LMO : <em>x</em>% CuO (where wt% <em>x</em> = 0, 10, 30, 50, and 100) were successfully synthesized <em>via</em> autocombustion technique followed by annealing at 1000 °C. The morphology and phase purity of the composites were confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), respectively. Among all compositions, LMO/CuO(9 : 1) exhibited the highest BET specific surface area of 14 m<small>²</small> g<small>⁻¹</small> with an average pore size of 2.11 nm. Compared to single-phase LaMnO<small>₃</small> or CuO, the composites demonstrated increased oxygen vacancies, as confirmed by XPS O 1s spectra. These structural features directly contributed to superior electrochemical performance, with LMO/CuO(9 : 1) achieving a specific capacitance (<em>C</em><small>_SP</small>) of 646.8 F g<small>⁻¹</small> at 1 mV s<small>⁻¹</small> and 517.1 F g<small>⁻¹</small> at 1 A g<small>⁻¹</small>. Furthermore, it delivered an energy density (<em>E</em><small>_d</small>) of 25.8 Wh kg<small>⁻¹</small> at a power density (<em>P</em><small>_d</small>) of 397.6 W kg<small>⁻¹</small>, along with excellent cyclic stability, retaining 99.8% capacitance after 5000 charge/discharge cycles. These findings underscore the crucial role of synergistic interactions between LaMnO<small>₃</small> and CuO in enhancing electrochemical performance, thereby positioning LMO/CuO composites as promising candidates for next-generation energy storage materials.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":" 3","pages":" 315-325"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2026/ya/d5ya00339c?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147558211","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":"Enhanced electrocatalytic performance of phosphorus and metal oxide-modified graphite electrodes for all-vanadium redox flow batteries","authors":"Yassine Seffar, Elhoucine Elmaataouy, Yuri Mikhlin, Melina Zysler, David Zitoun, Jones Alami and Mouad Dahbi","doi":"10.1039/D5YA00381D","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/D5YA00381D","url":null,"abstract":"<p >This study evaluates the electrocatalytic performance of graphite powder (GP) electrodes modified with CoO, NiO, and oxygen-rich phosphorus functional groups (P-GP) to improve the sluggish VO<small>₂</small><small>⁺</small>/VO<small>²⁺</small> redox kinetics in vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). Although these electrocatalysts have been extensively applied to graphite felt, their comparative activity on graphite powder, a lower-cost, structurally distinct material, has not been systematically examined. Their intrinsic catalytic behavior was assessed through cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, charge–discharge cycling, and polarization tests. Pristine GP delivered a coulombic efficiency (CE) of 89.11%, voltage efficiency (VE) of 88.01%, energy efficiency (EE) of 78.43%, and power density of 49 mW cm<small>⁻²</small>. CoO- and NiO-modified GP improved performance with CE values of 92.5% and 90.79%, and power densities of 154 and 149 mW cm<small>⁻²</small>, respectively. The P-GP electrode showed the best results, with CE of 94.41%, VE of 93.97%, EE of 88.72%, and power density of 167 mW cm<small>⁻²</small>, while retaining ∼96% CE over 90 cycles. This study highlights phosphorus-functionalized and metal oxide modification (CoO, NiO) in enhancing the electrocatalytic performance of graphite powder electrodes, while providing a clear comparative assessment of their intrinsic electrocatalytic activity on graphite powder electrodes.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":" 3","pages":" 341-353"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2026/ya/d5ya00381d?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147558253","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":"Boosting hydrogen production with raspberry-derived carbon aerogels with in situ grown carbon nanotubes","authors":"Analuisa Rubalcaba-Medina, Fernando J. Rodríguez-Macias, Yunuhem Ameyalli Sanchez-Mendoza, Sebastián Jiménez-Salinas, Mouna Rafei, Eduardo Gracia-Espino and Yadira I. Vega-Cantu","doi":"10.1039/D5YA00133A","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/D5YA00133A","url":null,"abstract":"<p >This study explores the use of biomass-based carbon aerogels from raspberry pulp as electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Producing hydrogen <em>via</em> alkaline water electrolysis, from renewable energy sources, is an attractive way to mitigate climate change; however, there still exists challenges in achieving high efficiency without resorting to expensive noble metal catalysts. HER electrocatalysts from transition metal-doped biomass are promising, cost efficient, durable and renewable alternative materials. Freeze dried raspberry pulp with added iron salts was pyrolyzed, resulting in carbon aerogels containing iron oxide nanoparticles. These nanoparticles were later used to grow carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by chemical vapor deposition which enhanced HER activity with overpotential reaching only 408 mV at a current density of −10 mA cm<small>⁻²</small>, an increase in performance by 30% when compared to that of aerogels without CNTs. This shows that our synthetic approach is effective for catalysis applications, and its versatility means that efficiency could be improved further by tuning the properties of iron oxide nanoparticles and the three-dimensional interconnected porous network of the carbon aerogel.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":" 4","pages":" 467-476"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2026/ya/d5ya00133a?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147734765","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":"Non-thermal plasma upgrading of humidified CO2 into syngas in a dielectric barrier discharge reactor: tuning H2/CO ratios via specific energy input and gas flow rate","authors":"Maxwell Klein and Joshua Jack","doi":"10.1039/D5YA00293A","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/D5YA00293A","url":null,"abstract":"<p >This study investigates the non-thermal plasma (NTP)-driven conversion of humidified CO<small>₂</small> into syngas (H<small>₂</small>:CO:CO<small>₂</small>) using a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. NTP enables CO<small>₂</small> and H<small>₂</small>O dissociation at near-ambient conditions through high-energy electron collisions, eliminating the need for thermal input or expensive catalysts. While prior studies have examined gas composition and humidity effects, the influence of specific energy input (SEI) and gas flow rate on syngas yield and energy efficiency remains underexplored. Here, we systematically evaluate the relationship between SEI, flow rate, energy efficiency, and H<small>₂</small>/CO composition. Experiments conducted in a coaxial DBD reactor demonstrate syngas generation with tunable H<small>₂</small>/CO ratios ranging from 0.1 to 0.2 with energy efficiencies ranging from 4.5 to 23.3%. Results indicate that higher flow rates enhance energy efficiency, while increasing SEI leads to a plateau in CO and H<small>₂</small> production, suggesting limits in energy transfer efficiency. Overall, these findings can inform the design of next-generation NTP systems towards a circular carbon economy.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":" 3","pages":" 354-364"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2026/ya/d5ya00293a?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147558254","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":"Dynamic eco-techno-economic analysis of low-carbon hydrogen production from methane","authors":"Giulio Martinoli and Emanuele Moioli","doi":"10.1039/D5YA00346F","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5YA00346F","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Hydrogen is currently produced predominantly through fossil fuel reforming, which accounts for approximately 3% of annual global CO<small>₂</small> emissions. To reduce the carbon intensity of hydrogen production, several low-carbon alternatives have been proposed, including biogas reforming and electrified steam methane reforming (e-SMR). Biogas benefits from its biogenic origin, leading to near net-zero carbon emissions, while e-SMR replaces the natural gas combustion used for reactor heating in conventional SMR with electrical heating. This modeling study performs a dynamic techno-economic assessment of these processes in comparison with state-of-the-art steam methane reforming (SMR) and auto-thermal reforming (ATR), evaluating the impact of implementing carbon capture and permanent storage (CCS). The analysis incorporates time-resolved and seasonal variations of real electricity prices in French, Swiss and German scenarios, employed as reference cases for low and high electricity grid footprints. Large-scale SMR and ATR plants exhibit the highest process efficiency (79–81%), which remains stable when CCS is implemented (77–81%). Lower efficiencies are observed for biogas reforming (56–67% with base case and 65–69% with CCS) and e-SMR (59% with base case and 71% with CCS) due to their smaller scale and the presence of CO<small>₂</small> in the feed. CCS significantly reduces carbon footprints: from 8.6–8.7 to 1.2–3.4 kg<small>_{CO<small>₂</small>}</small> kg<small>_{H<small>₂</small>}</small><small>⁻¹</small> for SMR and ATR and from 0.2–1.0 to −10 to −4 kg<small>_{CO<small>₂</small>}</small> kg<small>_{H<small>₂</small>}</small><small>⁻¹</small> for biogas reforming. e-SMR emissions (from 6–18 to 0.3–10 kg<small>_{CO<small>₂</small>}</small> kg<small>_{H<small>₂</small>}</small><small>⁻¹</small> with CCS) depend strongly on the electricity mix. The possible presence of carbon credits makes the application of CCS economically beneficial for SMR and ATR (H<small>₂</small> cost ranging from 1.6 to 1.3 € per kg<small>_{H<small>₂</small>}</small>) and for biogas reforming (from 3.7 to 3.5 € per kg<small>_{H<small>₂</small>}</small>). e-SMR competitiveness is highly electricity-price-dependent and benefits from CCS regardless of carbon credits, performing best in France (3.7 to 2.6 € per kg<small>_{H<small>₂</small>}</small> with CCS) and worst in Switzerland (4.2 to 3.1 € per kg<small>_{H<small>₂</small>}</small> with CCS). Intermittent operation to exploit low-cost electricity may further reduce e-SMR costs by 0.1–0.4 € per kg<small>_{H<small>₂</small>}</small>.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":" 3","pages":" 290-314"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12930395/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147313208","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":"High-power two-dimensional molybdenum boride MBene electrodes for lithium-ion batteries and capacitors","authors":"Karamullah Eisawi, Connor J. Herring, Jean G. A. Ruthes, Volker Presser, Matthew M. Montemore and Michael Naguib","doi":"10.1039/D5YA00295H","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/D5YA00295H","url":null,"abstract":"<p >There is a need for new electrochemical energy storage materials that can handle high cycling rates (high power) for rapid charging without compromising high energy density, such as high-power Li-ion batteries (LIBs) and Li-ion capacitors (LICs). Electrically conductive and redox-active two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as transition metal carbides and borides, are promising candidates for these applications. Tailoring in-plane chemically ordered MAB phases (<em>i</em>-MAB) has facilitated the synthesis of their 2D derivatives (<em>i</em>-MBenes), which possess ordered vacancies at the metal sites. The first reported <em>i</em>-MBene paper is Mo<small>_4/3</small>B<small>₂</small>T<small>_<em>x</em></small>, which is derived from the parent <em>i</em>-MAB phase (Mo<small>_2/3</small>Y<small>_1/3</small>)<small>₂</small>AlB<small>₂</small> by the selective etching of Al and Y. In this study, we report on the synthesis of 2D Mo<small>_4/3</small>B<small>₂</small>T<small>_<em>x</em></small> aerogel and its electrochemical performance as an electrode material for LIBs. Our aerogel exhibits remarkable stability during life-cycling testing at high applied specific currents, maintaining a specific capacity of 260 mAh g<small>⁻¹</small> even after completing 500 cycles under a high specific current of 2 A g<small>⁻¹</small>. At a moderate specific current of 100 mA g<small>⁻¹</small>, it delivers an energy density of 363 Wh kg<small>⁻¹</small>, while at a high specific current of 2 A g<small>⁻¹</small>, it achieves a specific power of 1300 W kg<small>⁻¹</small>. Complementary density functional theory calculations further reveal that Li preferentially occupies hexagonal Mo sites in Mo<small>_4/3</small>B<small>₂</small>T<small>_<em>x</em></small>, supporting the observed stable lithiation behavior and excellent high-rate capability. These results suggest that 2D Mo<small>_4/3</small>B<small>₂</small>T<small>_<em>x</em></small> aerogel is a promising candidate for high-power LIBs and LICs.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":" 3","pages":" 263-272"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2026/ya/d5ya00295h?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147558209","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":"Purity-constrained TVSA modeling of Lewatit VPOC 1065 for direct air capture: bridging cured thermodynamics, process design and geometrical analysis","authors":"Mattia Galanti, Kiia Kaaresvirta, Ivo Roghair and Martin van Sint Annaland","doi":"10.1039/D5YA00336A","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/D5YA00336A","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Direct air capture (DAC) is a leading carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology that extracts CO<small>₂</small> directly from ambient air, independent of emission sources. Among the various process designs, temperature–vacuum swing adsorption (TVSA) has emerged as the most mature technology and is currently deployed at commercial scale, particularly in its steam-assisted configuration. However, the DAC-TVSA process has often been evaluated using incomplete models, where critical aspects such as the O<small>₂</small> purity constraint were ignored or the condenser energy cost was neglected, potentially leading to misleading feasibility assessments. This work develops a comprehensive TVSA modeling framework that unifies detailed adsorption thermodynamics for both dry and humid conditions, refined heat-transfer descriptions accounting for wall-driven regeneration, realistic treatment of auxiliary equipment, and explicit oxygen-purity constraints. The model was benchmarked against literature data, demonstrating that the omission of stricter process constraints can severely underestimate the actual energy–productivity trade-offs. Additionally, the study identified the pre-heating step required to meet the O<small>₂</small> specification as the critical bottleneck in both wall-heated and steam-assisted configurations. The impact of this limitation was further analyzed by systematically varying the adsorber aspect ratio. This revealed the existence of an optimal region, governed by the trade-off between enhanced heat transfer in flatter geometries and increased pressure drop associated with longer beds. In parallel, the benefits of steam injection were visualized through minimum work envelopes, which clearly highlighted the performance gains achievable by improving the desorption step. Overall, the results highlight the substantial potential that can be realized by directly addressing the critical bottlenecks of DAC.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":" 3","pages":" 273-289"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2026/ya/d5ya00336a?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147558210","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":"ZnO/Al2O3/CuO ternary nanocomposites: a bandgap-engineered solution for high-efficiency photocatalytic hydrogen generation","authors":"Krishna Daware, Mayuri Khade, Sonali Mhaske, Yogesh Sethi, Prashant Bankar, Ratna Chauhan and Suresh W. Gosavi","doi":"10.1039/D5YA00191A","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/D5YA00191A","url":null,"abstract":"<p >In photocatalytic systems, the efficient generation, separation, and transport of photoinduced charge carriers are essential to achieving high-performance hydrogen production. Semiconductor composites offer a promising route to enhance these processes by leveraging differences in energy band alignments to facilitate charge separation. In this study, ZnO/Al<small>₂</small>O<small>₃</small> and ZnO/Al<small>₂</small>O<small>₃</small>/CuO nanocomposites were synthesized <em>via</em> a facile one-step hydrothermal method. Comprehensive structural and surface analyses using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, filed emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) confirmed the successful formation and heterojunction interface of the composites. UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy revealed a significant bandgap narrowing, with values of ∼2.94 eV for ZnO/Al<small>₂</small>O<small>₃</small> and ∼2.19 eV for ZnO/Al<small>₂</small>O<small>₃</small>/CuO—both lower than that of pristine ZnO—indicating improved visible-light absorption. Theoretical band structure calculations further supported the experimental findings and confirmed the energetic favorability for interfacial charge transfer. UPS measurements were employed to determine the work function, revealing efficient band alignment among the constituent semiconductors, thereby promoting effective charge separation and transport. Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution experiments demonstrated superior activity for the ternary composite, with hydrogen generation rates of 676.85 µmol h<small>⁻¹</small> g<small>⁻¹</small> (ZnO), 1448.62 µmol h<small>⁻¹</small> g<small>⁻¹</small> (ZnO/Al<small>₂</small>O<small>₃</small>), and 1888.66 µmol h<small>⁻¹</small> g<small>⁻¹</small> (ZnO/Al<small>₂</small>O<small>₃</small>/CuO), highlighting the interfacial charge transfer enhancement driven by heterojunction formation and bandgap engineering. These results indicate that the ZnO/Al<small>₂</small>O<small>₃</small>/CuO nanocomposite is a highly promising photocatalyst for efficient solar-driven hydrogen production.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":" 3","pages":" 326-340"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2026/ya/d5ya00191a?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147558252","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":"Comparative stability of the solid electrolyte interphase in potassium and sodium batteries","authors":"Jan Felix Schuster, Le Anh Ma, Christopher A. O’Keefe, Clare P. Grey and Reza Younesi","doi":"10.1039/D5YA00173K","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/D5YA00173K","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) and potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) are potential alternatives to lithium-ion batteries. However, knowledge about the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) in SIBs and PIBs is still limited. Here, the formation and stability of SEI in SIBs and PIBs are compared to understand ageing related to SEI characteristics in electrolyte solutions based on 1 M KPF<small>₆</small> or 1 M NaPF<small>₆</small> in ethylene carbonate:diethyl carbonate (EC:DEC). Galvanostatic cycling coupled with pause testing was used to quantify the amount of charge consumed for electrolyte reduction for initial SEI formation and for SEI reformation required due to the dissolution of SEI. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (<small>¹</small>H-NMR) spectroscopy was used to reveal changes in the composition of electrolyte solutions due to SEI formation and dissolution. <small>¹</small>H-NMR findings were supported by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showing the evolution of SEI composition during a 50 h pause.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":" 2","pages":" 146-150"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2026/ya/d5ya00173k?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146216699","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":"Highly active Cu-freudenbergite/TiO2 heterojunction for solar-driven hydrogen evolution and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural oxidation","authors":"Panagiotis Tzevelekidis, Elias Sakellis, Loukas Koutsokeras, Olga Martzoukou, Nikos Boukos and Christiana A. Mitsopoulou","doi":"10.1039/D5YA00313J","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/D5YA00313J","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The pursuit of efficient photocatalytic systems for solar light-driven hydrogen evolution (HER) drives the search for novel semiconductor materials capable of forming advanced heterojunctions. Herein, we report the first synthesis of a non-stoichiometric, Cu-substituted freudenbergite (Cu-FDT) <em>via</em> a facile co-precipitation method. Comprehensive characterization (PXRD, XPS, RAMAN, HR-TEM/STEM-EDS) confirms the formation of a phase-pure freudenbergite structure with nanoplatelet morphology and mixed-valent Ti<small>⁴⁺</small>/Ti<small>³⁺</small>. Electronic characterization (UV-DRS, Mott–Schottky) reveals a bandgap (<em>E</em><small>_g</small>) value of 2.95 eV enabling extended solar light harvesting and a band alignment perfectly suited for HER, coupled with a strong oxidation potential for the valence band (VB). A modified synthetic approach, involving the addition of water during Cu-FDT peptization, enabled the <em>in situ</em> fabrication of a Cu-FDT/TiO<small>₂</small> heterojunction. The TiO<small>₂</small> phase (anatase, mixed phase, rutile) was tuned by varying the calcination temperature. Photocatalytic performance toward HER was evaluated for all composites to elucidate the effect of excess surface Na<small>⁺</small> on photocatalytic activity. The optimal catalyst, a 1 wt% Pt-loaded, desodiated Cu-FDT/anatase heterojunction (1 wt% Pt@Cu-FDT<small>_A</small> deNa), achieved a high hydrogen production rate of 7183 µmol g<small>⁻¹</small> h<small>⁻¹</small> under solar irradiation. To correlate electrochemical properties with HER performance, EIS, photocurrent density, and LSV measurements toward the HER were conducted on anatase TiO<small>₂</small>, Cu-FDT and their heterojunction, comparing Na<small>⁺</small>-rich and desodiated surfaces. Mott–Schottky analysis confirmed a direct Z-scheme charge transfer mechanism, enabling superior charge separation while preserving strong redox potentials. Furthermore, the high oxidative power of the heterojunction was further demonstrated by the near-complete mineralization of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (5-HMF), with only minimal yields of partial oxidation products 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furancarboxylic acid (HMFCA) and 2,5-diformylfuran (DFF). These findings highlight the potential of this novel photocatalyst to simultaneously drive HER and challenging oxidation reactions, thus coupling renewable H<small>₂</small> evolution with the potent oxidative power of photogenerated holes (h<small>⁺</small>) in the VB of Cu-FDT.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":" 2","pages":" 224-239"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2026/ya/d5ya00313j?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146216716","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}