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Inorganics
Special Issues
Inorganic Materials for Solar Energy Conversion
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Inorganic Materials for Solar Energy Conversion

A special issue of Inorganics (ISSN 2304-6740). This special issue belongs to the section "Inorganic Solid-State Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2019) | Viewed by 15267

Special Issue Editor

Assist. Prof. Dr. Adam Slabon

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Material and Environmental Chemistry, Stockholm University, Svante Arrhenius väg 16 C, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
2. Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Landoltweg 1, D-52056 Aachen, Germany
Interests: solar energy conversion; photoelectrochemical water-splitting; nanostructures; electrocatalysis; zintl phases; intermetallics; magnetism; photocatalysis; interfaces; environmental chemistry; metastable phases; plasma chemistry; nitrogen-based materials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The photolysis of water on a semiconductor electrode reported by Fujishima and Honda in the 1970s triggered intense research into semiconducting oxides for solar energy conversion. During the last decade, remarkable progress has been achieved in integrated photoelectrochemical devices, resulting in a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency above 19%. The rapid progress in perovskite-based solar cells and electrocatalysis has also opened new opportunities for solar-driven electrolysers. Beyond water-splitting, solar-driven CO2 reduction to chemical fuel is an environmentally-friendly solution for future energy demands. Buried junction geometry enables us to expand the scope of chemical reactions beyond water-splitting toward other chemical reactions depending on the type of catalyst. These advances have been driven by the synthesis of new materials and their integration into photochemical devices. This also includes materials for surface protection, membranes and immobilized molecular catalysts on semiconductor electrodes. This Special Issue is dedicated to emerging inorganic materials for solar energy conversion.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Adam Slabon
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Inorganics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • solar energy conversion
  • solar cells
  • water-splitting
  • semiconductor materials
  • nanostructures
  • CO2 reduction
  • artificial photosynthesis
  • electrocatalysis
  • perovskites

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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10 pages, 6012 KiB  
Article
Structural Damage of Two-Dimensional Organic–Inorganic Halide Perovskites
by Biao Yuan, Enzheng Shi, Chao Liang, Letian Dou and Yi Yu
Inorganics 2020, 8(2), 13; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/inorganics8020013 - 06 Feb 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3871
Abstract
Organic–inorganic halide perovskites are promising photovoltaic materials with excellent optoelectronic properties. However, the extreme structural instability hinders their wide application as well as the microstructure characterization using high energy beams such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Here, taking BA2FAPb2I [...] Read more.
Organic–inorganic halide perovskites are promising photovoltaic materials with excellent optoelectronic properties. However, the extreme structural instability hinders their wide application as well as the microstructure characterization using high energy beams such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Here, taking BA2FAPb2I7 and BA2MAPb2I7 as examples, we investigate their structural evolution resulting from high energy electron irradiation, moist air, and low temperature, respectively. The results show that the long organic chains are the first to be damaged under electron beam, which is mainly arising from their instability and weak bonding with the framework of [PbI6]4− octahedrons. Then the short organic cations and the framework of [PbI6]4− octahedrons collapses gradually. The final products are clusters of detached PbI2 particles, which can also be observed in the sample degraded in moist air. In addition, the structures of BA2FAPb2I7 and BA2MAPb2I7 are discovered to undergo a phase transformation at liquid nitrogen temperature, which calls attention to the community that cryo-TEM methods should be used cautiously for organic–inorganic halide perovskite materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inorganic Materials for Solar Energy Conversion)
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12 pages, 2476 KiB  
Article
Self-Assembled Monolayers of Molybdenum Sulfide Clusters on Au Electrode as Hydrogen Evolution Catalyst for Solar Water Splitting
by Stephanie Spring, Pravin S. Shinde, Patricia R. Fontenot, James P. Donahue and Shanlin Pan
Inorganics 2019, 7(6), 79; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/inorganics7060079 - 25 Jun 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4347
Abstract
Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activities of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of [Mo3S7(S2CNMe2)3] and several other MoSx molecular clusters are presented on planer Au electrode. Our study suggests that such Mo-S clusters are unstable [...] Read more.
Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activities of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of [Mo3S7(S2CNMe2)3] and several other MoSx molecular clusters are presented on planer Au electrode. Our study suggests that such Mo-S clusters are unstable under HER reaction conditions of a strongly acidic electrolyte. The [Mo3S7(S2CNEt2)3]I monolayer prepared from DMF showed greater stability among all the studied precursors. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis on a monolayer of [Mo3S7(S2CNMe2)3]I in THF assembled on Au/ITO suggested sulfur-rich composition with S:Mo ratio of 2.278. The Mo-S monolayer clusters resulting from [Mo3S7(S2CNMe2)3]I in THF showed a Tafel slope of 75.74 mV dec−1 and required a lower overpotential of 410 mV to reach a high HER catalytic current density of 100 mA cm−2 compared to the other studied precursors. Surface coverage of the Mo-S clusters on the Au surface was confirmed by cyclic voltammetry (CV) curves from K3Fe(CN)6 and anodization of Au surface. Further, the rotating ring-disk electrode (RRDE) measurements were performed for the monolayer of [Mo3S7(S2CNMe2)3]I prepared in THF to study its reaction kinetics. The HER catalytic activity of such monolayer Mo-S clusters can further be improved by controlling the sulfur vacancy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inorganic Materials for Solar Energy Conversion)
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Review

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19 pages, 3688 KiB  
Review
Iron Sulfide Materials: Catalysts for Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution
by Dominikus Heift
Inorganics 2019, 7(6), 75; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/inorganics7060075 - 19 Jun 2019
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 6577
Abstract
The chemical challenge of economically splitting water into molecular hydrogen and oxygen requires continuous development of more efficient, less-toxic, and cheaper catalyst materials. This review article highlights the potential of iron sulfide-based nanomaterials as electrocatalysts for water-splitting and predominantly as catalysts for the [...] Read more.
The chemical challenge of economically splitting water into molecular hydrogen and oxygen requires continuous development of more efficient, less-toxic, and cheaper catalyst materials. This review article highlights the potential of iron sulfide-based nanomaterials as electrocatalysts for water-splitting and predominantly as catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Besides new synthetic techniques leading to phase-pure iron sulfide nano objects and thin-films, the article reviews three new material classes: (a) FeS2-TiO2 hybrid structures; (b) iron sulfide-2D carbon support composites; and (c) metal-doped (e.g., cobalt and nickel) iron sulfide materials. In recent years, immense progress has been made in the development of these materials, which exhibit enormous potential as hydrogen evolution catalysts and may represent a genuine alternative to more traditional, noble metal-based catalysts. First developments in this comparably new research area are summarized in this article and discussed together with theoretical studies on hydrogen evolution reactions involving iron sulfide electrocatalysts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inorganic Materials for Solar Energy Conversion)
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