Functional Electrochemical Catalysts in Energy Conversion and Storage Devices

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Electrocatalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 10273

Special Issue Editor

Department of Chemical Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan
Interests: polymer solar cells; pervoskite solar cells; supercapacitors; energy conversion and storage materials and devices; electrocatalystic of transion metal oxides; cellulose derivatives for EO applications; 3D printing; sensors for pressure and strain
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Electrocatalysts may participate in electrochemical reactions to increase the oxidation and the reduction reaction rate, which is a specific form of catalysts that works on the electrode surfaces or in the electrode. Electrocatalysts can accelerate the transfer of electrons between the electrode and reactants, and/or facilitate an intermediate chemical transformation. The electrocatalytic activities of electrode catalysts are generally dependent on the particle size, particle size distribution, morphology of the catalyst, and catalyst surface composition. Activity, cost, durability, and stability are important issues for the development of electrocatalysts. In addition, good catalyst support with high surface area for catalytic dispersion, good chemical stability in various electrolytes, and fine electronic conductivity also play critical roles in facilitating catalytic effects. Electrocatalysts are usually incorporated into both the anode and cathode of photoenergy conversion solar cells and energy storage devices. Therefore, this Special Issue “Functional Electrochemical Catalysts in Energy Conversion and Storage Applications” covers synthesis, characterization, nanostructure, and electrochemical catalytic activity analysis of various electrochemical catalysts for photoenergy conversion and energy storage applications. For example, the electrochemical catalytic effects of metal oxide, metal nitride, and metal sulfide on the electrode of dye sensitized solar cells, organic solar cells, perovskite solar cells, electrochemical cells, supercapacitors, fuel cells, polymer lithium batteries, photoenergy conversion devices, and energy storage devices are of interest. Both reviews and original papers are welcome.

Dr. Rong-Ho Lee
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • electrochemical catalysts
  • dye sensitized solar cell
  • organic solar cell
  • perovskite solar cell
  • electrochemical cell
  • supercapacitor
  • fuel cell
  • battery
  • photoenergy conversion
  • energy storage

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 5943 KiB  
Article
V2O5/Carbon Nanotube/Polypyrrole Based Freestanding Negative Electrodes for High-Performance Supercapacitors
by Jincy Parayangattil Jyothibasu, Ming-Zhu Chen, You-Ching Tien, Chi-Ching Kuo, Erh-Chiang Chen, Yi-Chun Lin, Tai-Chin Chiang and Rong-Ho Lee
Catalysts 2021, 11(8), 980; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal11080980 - 16 Aug 2021
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 3286
Abstract
In this study, the vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), functionalized carbon nanotubes (f-CNT), and polypyrrole (PPy) based composites films have been prepared through a facile synthesis method and their electrochemical performance were evaluated as freestanding negative electrodes of supercapacitor. [...] Read more.
In this study, the vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), functionalized carbon nanotubes (f-CNT), and polypyrrole (PPy) based composites films have been prepared through a facile synthesis method and their electrochemical performance were evaluated as freestanding negative electrodes of supercapacitor. A hydrous V2O5 gel prepared by treating V2O5 powder with H2O2 was mixed with f-CNT to obtain V2O5/f-CNT composite film. V2O5/f-CNT composite was then coated with PPy through vapor phase polymerization method. The PPy deposited on the V2O5/f-CNT prevented the dissolution of V2O5 and thus resulted in an improved the capacitance and cycle life stability for V2O5/f-CNT/PPy composite electrode. V2O5/f-CNT/PPy freestanding negative electrode exhibited a high areal capacitance value (1266 mF cm−2 at a current density of 1 mA cm−2) and good cycling stability (83.0% capacitance retention after 10,000 charge-discharge cycles). The superior performance of the V2O5/f-CNT/PPy composite electrode can be attributed to the synergy between f-CNT with high conductivity and V2O5 and PPy with high-energy densities. Thus, V2O5/f-CNT/PPy composite based electrode can effectively mitigate the drawbacks of the low specific capacitance of CNTs and the poor cycling life of V2O5. Full article
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16 pages, 6744 KiB  
Article
Polyaniline/Ag2S–CdS Nanocomposites as Efficient Electrocatalysts for Triiodide Reduction in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
by Meng Kuo, Tsung-Chia Cheng, Huai-Kai Ye, Tzong-Liu Wang, Tzu-Ho Wu, Chi-Ching Kuo and Rong-Ho Lee
Catalysts 2021, 11(4), 507; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal11040507 - 17 Apr 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2310
Abstract
In this study, an Ag2S–CdS nanocomposite (AC11) was prepared through chemical co-precipitation of silver nitrate and cadmium acetate in an aqueous solution of thiourea. We then synthesized PACI, a nanocomposite of polyaniline (PANI) and AC11, through in situ polymerization of aniline [...] Read more.
In this study, an Ag2S–CdS nanocomposite (AC11) was prepared through chemical co-precipitation of silver nitrate and cadmium acetate in an aqueous solution of thiourea. We then synthesized PACI, a nanocomposite of polyaniline (PANI) and AC11, through in situ polymerization of aniline in an AC11-containing solution, resulting in uniform embedding of the AC11 nanoparticles in the PANI fibers. Moreover, we synthesized the nanocomposite PACO through deposition of the AC11 nanoparticles on the surface of the PANI fibers. PANI, PACI, and PACO were then spin-coated onto conducting glasses to form PANI-S, PACI-S, and PACO-S counter electrodes, respectively, for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Cyclic voltammetry revealed that the electrochemical catalytic activity of the PACI-S electrode was much higher than those of the PANI-S and PACO-S electrodes. Furthermore, the photovoltaic properties of the PACI-S-based DSSC were much better than those of the PANI-S- and PACO-S-based DSSCs. Indeed, the highest short-circuit current density (12.06 mA/cm2), open-circuit voltage (0.72 V), fill factor (0.58), and photoenergy conversion efficiency (5.04%) were those of the DSSC featuring PACI-S as the counter electrode. Full article
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11 pages, 3438 KiB  
Article
Nanostructured β−NiS Catalyst for Enhanced and Stable Electro−oxidation of Urea
by Tzu-Ho Wu, Yan-Cheng Lin, Bo-Wei Hou and Wei-Yuan Liang
Catalysts 2020, 10(11), 1280; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal10111280 - 04 Nov 2020
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 3847
Abstract
Urea oxidation reaction (UOR) has received a high level of recent interest since electrochemical oxidation of urea can remediate harmful nitrogen compounds in wastewater and accomplish hydrogen fuel production simultaneously. Thus, urea is considered to be potential hydrogen energy source that is inherently [...] Read more.
Urea oxidation reaction (UOR) has received a high level of recent interest since electrochemical oxidation of urea can remediate harmful nitrogen compounds in wastewater and accomplish hydrogen fuel production simultaneously. Thus, urea is considered to be potential hydrogen energy source that is inherently safe for fuel cell applications. However, the catalytic reaction suffers from slow kinetics due to six electron transfer in UOR. In this work, β phase NiS is successfully prepared through facile hydrothermal reaction, in which diethanolamine (DEA) was added as chelating agent leading to 3D nanoflower morphology. The crystal structure, surface morphology, and chemical bonding of the β−NiS were characterized by X–ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and X−ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The UOR performance of NiS was evaluated by means of linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), Tafel analysis, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), chronoamperometry, and chronopotentiometry in 1 M KOH electrolyte containing 0.33 M urea. Compared to the Ni(OH)2 counterpart, NiS exhibits lower onset potential, increased current responses, faster kinetics of urea oxidation, lower charge transfer resistance, and higher urea diffusion coefficient, leading to the enhanced catalytic performance toward UOR. Moreover, the developed NiS catalyst exhibits superior stability and tolerance towards urea electro−oxidation in 10,000 s test. Full article
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