Energy advances最新文献

{"title":"Dual-functionality of CZTS nanoflakes: as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries and as a counter electrode in DSSCs – a DFT and experimental investigation†","authors":"G. Rajesh, Jeyakiruba Palraj, Venkatraman M. R., Ramesh Sivasamy, Sreejith P. Madhusudanan, Helen Annal Therese and Marcos Flores","doi":"10.1039/D4YA00135D","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4YA00135D","url":null,"abstract":"<p >This research work aims to develop a new dual-functional electrode material suitable for both lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Nanostructured Cu<small>₂</small>ZnSnS<small>₄</small> (CZTS) was synthesized through the solvothermal method. Structural properties analysed through the X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD) and Raman spectra reveal the formation of the CZTS with kesterite structure . The stoichiometry and the oxidation states of CZTS have been analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The core level XPS spectra of Cu 2p, Zn 2p, Sn 3d, and S 2p confirm the presence of the constituent elements in the required oxidation states (Cu<small>⁺</small>, Zn<small>²⁺</small>, Sn<small>⁴⁺</small>, S<small>²⁻</small>). The surface morphology of the CZTS nanoparticles showed a nanoflake-like structure with a surface area of 34.20 m<small>²</small> g<small>⁻¹</small>. The geometrical optimization, electronic, and optical properties were calculated using DFT calculations. The semiconducting material CZTS is electrochemically active toward Li, which can be used as an alternative anode material for lithium-ion batteries offering potential improvements in cycling stability and specific capacity. The electrochemical studies of the CZTS nanoflakes exhibited a specific capacity of 1141.08 mA h g<small>⁻¹</small> and 350 mA h g<small>⁻¹</small> at 0.1C and 1C rates respectively. The cycling stability of CZTS at a high scan rate of 1C, and the specific capacity of 220 mA h g<small>⁻¹</small> over 70 cycles with 73% coulombic efficiency, suggest it to be a promising alternative anode material in the next-generation lithium-ion batteries. The performance of CZTS as a counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells was also explored. The DSSC constructed with CZTS as the counter electrode showed an efficiency of 5.9%.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/ya/d4ya00135d?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141507493","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":"In situ investigation of moisture sorption mechanism in fuel cell catalyst layers†","authors":"Emilie Planes, Joseph Peet, Jean-Blaise Brubach, Lionel Porcar, Gilles De Moor, Cristina Iojoiu and Sandrine Lyonnard","doi":"10.1039/D4YA00164H","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4YA00164H","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Research focusing on catalyst layers is critical for enhancing the performance and durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. In particular, the role of the ionomer is pivotal but remains poorly explored due to the difficulty to access complex electrode structures. Moreover, perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) polymers are usually employed in catalyst layers but their drawbacks have spurred interest in aromatic compounds, which promise improved conductivity and performance. Here we investigated the structure-to-function relationship and interactions in novel catalyst layers using non-perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomers, <em>e.g.</em> multiblock poly(arylene ether sulfones) bearing perfluorosulfonic acid side chains. By combining dynamic vapor sorption, small-angle neutron scattering and synchrotron humidity-controlled infrared spectroscopy, we accessed the water uptake, nanostructures, and molecular structures in a series of catalyst layers prepared with different loadings of aromatic polymer, as well as reference compounds, <em>e.g.</em> pure membrane and polymer–carbon systems. Our measurements show that the water sorption mechanism in catalyst layers differs from pure ionomers due to catalyst-induced structural changes. We observed that most of the formed ionic species interact primarily with the platinum catalyst and probably locate at the particle–ionomer interface. These results emphasize the need for continued research to advance aromatic-type ionomers in fuel cell technology under realistic conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/ya/d4ya00164h?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141512421","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":"Electrochemical characterization of γ-Fe2O3 and a reduced graphene oxide composite as a sustainable anode material for Na-ion batteries†","authors":"Antunes Staffolani, Leonardo Sbrascini, Luca Bottoni, Luca Minnetti, Hamideh Darjazi, Angela Trapananti, Francesco Paparoni, Seyed Javad Rezvani, Marco Minicucci, Messaoud Harfouche and Francesco Nobili","doi":"10.1039/D4YA00335G","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4YA00335G","url":null,"abstract":"<p >In this paper we report the synthesis and characterization of a γ-Fe<small>₂</small>O<small>₃</small>/reduced graphene oxide composite anode for Na-ion batteries. The nanocomposite anode is synthesized by a facile and green method. Structural and morphological characterization highlights a small γ-Fe<small>₂</small>O<small>₃</small> particle size and their successful embedding in the carbonaceous matrix. Electrochemical characterization reveals a high specific capacity of ≈300 mA h g<small>⁻¹</small> at 1000 mA g<small>⁻¹</small>, while at 5 A g<small>⁻¹</small> a capacity of 113 mA h g<small>⁻¹</small> is retained. Cyclic voltammetry at different scan rates, impedance spectroscopy, and <em>ex situ</em> Raman measurements evidence a redox pseudocapacitive behavior and full reversibility of the conversion reaction. The green synthesis coupled to the high specific capacity and rate capability make the proposed γ-Fe<small>₂</small>O<small>₃</small>/rGO nanocomposite a very promising candidate anode material for sustainable Na-ion batteries.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/ya/d4ya00335g?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141512420","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 optimization and engineering of InxGa1−xN quantum dot intermediate band solar cells with intrinsic GaN interlayers","authors":"Deborah Eric, Jianliang Jiang, Ali Imran and Abbas Ahmad Khan","doi":"10.1039/D4YA00103F","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4YA00103F","url":null,"abstract":"<p >It is essential to have an adequately thick active layer to achieve efficient performance in quantum dot intermediate band solar cells (QD-IBSC) utilizing In<small>_<em>x</em></small>Ga<small>_{1−<em>x</em>}</small>N with high indium concentrations. The thickness plays a crucial role in maximizing photon absorption and optimizing the overall effectiveness of the solar cell (SC). In this paper, we introduce QD-IBSC with Ga-face (0 0 0 1) applying 1 nm i-GaN interlayers, which will provide strain relaxation to the In<small>_0.5</small>Ga<small>_0.5</small>N/GaN QD layer for increasing photovoltaic performance. Normally, the coupling among QDs splits the quantized energy level and leads to the formation of minibands within the forbidden region of conventional SC. In particular, the QDs are sensitive to dot regimentation and thus affect the properties of QD-IBSC. The electronic band structure of these QDs is controlled by changing the size of the QD, interdot distances and regimentation. In this paper, optimization of the optical structure of the QD-IBSC is performed by investigating the calculation results of both the maximum number of absorbed photons and the carrier transport property through tunneling simultaneously as a function of the thickness of the i-GaN interlayers. For the calculation, the three-dimensional regimented array of In<small>_<em>x</em></small>Ga<small>_{1−<em>x</em>}</small>N QD is analyzed using an envelope function. This work demonstrates Ga-face n–i–p structure (n-GaN/i-GaN:In<small>_0.5</small>Ga<small>_0.5</small>N:i-GaN/p-GaN) utilizing the 20 periods of 3 nm thick In<small>_0.5</small>Ga<small>_0.5</small>N QD layers and a GaN layer of 1 nm thickness can achieve a maximum conversion efficiency of 48%.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/ya/d4ya00103f?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141507494","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":"Photo-thermal conversion ability of PEG and H2O-based microfluids of sodium lignosulfonate and its carbonized form†","authors":"Fatemeh Seifikar, Saeid Azizian and Babak Jaleh","doi":"10.1039/D4YA00153B","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4YA00153B","url":null,"abstract":"<p >In the present work, colloidal systems of sodium lignosulfonate (lignin) and its carbonized form (C-lignin) in H<small>₂</small>O and polyethylene glycol (PEG) were synthesized and used for solar-thermal conversion. PEG and H<small>₂</small>O play the role of a dispersant of the suspended particles as the base fluids and an environment for transferring heat. Based on the results, PEG performs better as the base fluid than water. All the synthesized microfluids (MFs) were stable at an optimum concentration of 0.2 g/60 ml. The comparative studies show that the C-lignin/PEG has the best light-to-heat conversion efficiency. The C-lignin/PEG was used at high light intensities and for several heating/cooling cycles without losing its performance in heat generation. All the calculated thermo-physical parameters indicated that C-lignin/PEG is more eligible than lignin/PEG in photo-thermal conversion. The prepared C-lignin/PEG has several advantages: green, inexpensive and simplicity of the preparation procedure, not using a dispersant, high photo-thermal durability and heat-generation efficiency, and excellent ability to generate heat from sunlight.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/ya/d4ya00153b?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141512422","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":"A review on the recent advances in the design and structure–activity relationship of TiO2-based photocatalysts for solar hydrogen production","authors":"Sunesh S. Mani, Sivaraj Rajendran, Thomas Mathew and Chinnakonda S. Gopinath","doi":"10.1039/D4YA00249K","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4YA00249K","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The major issues that determine the efficiency of photocatalyst composite materials for solar hydrogen production, with or without a sacrificial agent, are efficient visible light harvesting properties, efficient separation of charge carriers and their utilization of redox sites, and stability. Thus, significant efforts have been devoted in the past few decades to modify the above characteristics by integrating constituent components of composites using different approaches. In the present review, we aim to summarize the recent advances, predominantly, in the area of TiO<small>₂</small>-based photocatalyst composites for solar hydrogen production. Firstly, we present the recent progress in material integration aspects by discussing the integration of TiO<small>₂</small> with different categories of materials, including noble/3d metals, metal oxides/sulphides/selenides, other low bandgap semiconductors, C-based materials, and dye sensitizers. Furthermore, we discuss how material integration helps in tailoring the electronic and optical properties for activity tuning in solar H<small>₂</small> production. Subsequently, critical changes in the physico-chemical and electronic properties of composites with respect to their preparation methods, morphology, crystallographic facets, particle size, dopant, calcination temperature, and structure–activity relationship to solar hydrogen production are addressed in detail. Moreover, we discuss the importance of fabricating a photocatalyst in a thin film form and performing solar hydrogen production in different reactor set-ups for enhancing its photocatalytic performance, while addressing device scalability. Despite the significant advancements made in this field, solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency still needs to be improved to realise the practical application of solar hydrogen production. In this case, the direct conversion of water to hydrogen <em>via</em> overall water splitting and renewable H<small>₂</small> production from wastewater or biomass components by employing suitable photocatalysts are some possible ways to improve the energy efficiency, and continuous research in the above directions is highly desirable.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/ya/d4ya00249k?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141507495","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":"Teaching an old dog new tricks: Ti-doped ZnFe2O4 as active material in zinc ion batteries – a proof of concept†","authors":"S. Krämer, J. Hopster, A. Windmüller, R.-A. Eichel, M. Grünebaum, T. Jüstel, M. Winter and K. Neuhaus","doi":"10.1039/D4YA00134F","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4YA00134F","url":null,"abstract":"<p >In this work, the suitability of the spinel material ZnFe<small>₂</small>O<small>₄</small>, which has already been widely investigated in the context of its magnetic and photocatalytic properties, for use as active material for the cathode side in zinc ion batteries is presented. In addition to pure ZnFe<small>₂</small>O<small>₄</small>, part of the Fe<small>³⁺</small> was doped with Ti<small>⁴⁺</small> to achieve stabilization of Zn vacancies in the material and increase ionic conductivity as indicated by previous modelling results. Ceramic samples with the composition ZnFe<small>_{2−<em>x</em>}</small>Ti<small>_<em>x</em></small>O<small>₄</small> (<em>x</em> = 0 to 0.25) were prepared <em>via</em> a Pechini synthesis route and investigated regarding their optical, structural and electrochemical characteristics. It has been successfully demonstrated that both pure and Ti doped ZnFe<small>₂</small>O<small>₄</small> can be used as active material in the positive electrodes of zinc metal batteries or in an “anode-free” setup with Sn metal. Cells with calcined ZnFe<small>_2<em>x</em></small>Ti<small>_<em>x</em></small>O<small>₄</small> (<em>x</em> = 0.09)|0.5 M zinc triflate in acetonitrile|Zn showed a stable cycling behavior over 1000 cycles and an average initial specific capacity of 55 mA h g<small>⁻¹</small>.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/ya/d4ya00134f?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141512419","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":"On the effect of gas generation on heat transfer during thermal runaway of pouch cells","authors":"Niklas Weber, Sebastian Schuhmann, Robert Löwe, Jens Tübke and Hermann Nirschl","doi":"10.1039/D4YA00205A","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4YA00205A","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Lithium-ion batteries produce a vast amount of gases during decomposition reactions and thermal runaway. While the amount and composition of these gases has been investigated in the past, little is known about their impact on thermal transport inside the battery cell. Especially for pouch cells, which do not have a rigid housing, this becomes even more important in multi-cell scenarios since thermal propagation is governed by heat transfer. In this work, a simulation framework is presented that enhances the chemical single cell model by accounting for these thermal transport changes in gas producing pouch cells. It is validated by performing two battery cell propagation experiments in an autoclave. Besides the temperature measurement, the propagation time between the cells and the gas composition are analyzed and compared between simulation and experiment. Further, it is investigated how the application of an external pressing force impacts the heat transfer and thus the propagation behavior. In the given setup, the propagation time decreased from 37.2 s to 16.8 s with increasing pressing force.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/ya/d4ya00205a?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141512423","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":"Bioinspired flavin analogues as organic electrode materials for supercapacitor applications†","authors":"Dipayan Mondal, Ishita Naskar, Melepurath Deepa and Ashutosh Kumar Mishra","doi":"10.1039/D4YA00001C","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4YA00001C","url":null,"abstract":"<p >With the increasing interest in incorporating redox-active organic molecules as potential materials in energy storage systems, we envisaged a chemical design of a naturally occurring redox-active flavin moiety. Herein, we report the fabrication and characterization of asymmetric supercapacitors (ASCs) based on modified flavins as cathode materials. Notably, subtle chemical modification with the incorporation of a carboxylic functionality around the flavin core (<strong><em>c</em>Fl</strong>) was found to impart superior ion-storage properties compared to a simple flavin derivative (<strong>Fl</strong>). As determined, the specific capacitance (SC) for <strong><em>c</em>Fl</strong> and <strong>Fl</strong> as individual electrodes was found to be 170 and 62 F g<small>⁻¹</small>, respectively, whereas in a two electrode ASC with activated carbon serving as the anode, the SC was found to be 107 and 29 F g<small>⁻¹</small>, respectively, at a current density of 1.25 A g<small>⁻¹</small>. With better cycling stability (retaining 87% of its initial SC in the case of <strong><em>c</em>Fl</strong>) and significantly higher energy density (38 W h kg<small>⁻¹</small> for <strong><em>c</em>Fl</strong>) as compared to most of the known organic material-based electrodes, the modified flavin derivatives serve as better organic electrode alternatives for practical energy storage applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/ya/d4ya00001c?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141254001","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":"Alkylation of α-pinene with isobutene/isobutane over Hβ zeolite†","authors":"Zhaocai Jiao, Mingzu Liu, Ningbo Yang, Fengli Yu, Congxia Xie, Shitao Yu and Bing Yuan","doi":"10.1039/D4YA00291A","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4YA00291A","url":null,"abstract":"<p >α-Pinene and isobutene/isobutane can undergo hybrid alkylation under acid catalysis, resulting in C<small>₁₄</small> and C<small>₂₀</small> product fractions with favorable bio-based high-energy-density fuel properties after hydrogenation. In this study, the catalytic performance of zeolite molecular sieves, such as Hβ, HY, HZSM-5, HZSM-35, HSAPO-11, was investigated for the alkylation of α-pinene and Isobut-5 (a mixture of isobutene/isobutane with a mass ratio of 1 : 5) given the acidic sites and specific pore structures with shape-selective abilities of zeolite catalysts. Various characterization techniques, including temperature-programmed desorption of ammonia (NH<small>₃</small>-TPD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with pyridine adsorption (Py-IR), N<small>₂</small> adsorption/desorption, X-ray fluorescence spectrum (XRF), and particle size analysis, were conducted to analyze the acidic properties, pore characteristics, silica–aluminum ratio, and grain size of the zeolites, and their influence on the alkylation of α-pinene and Isobut-5. Moreover, the recycling performance of the favorite Hβ-25n catalyst and an effective regeneration method were investigated using temperature-programmed oxidation (TPO) analysis. This study provides essential research data for the preparation of α-pinene-based high-energy-density fuels.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/ya/d4ya00291a?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141254239","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}