Jane Hordern, Deputy Editor – Page 2

Author Archive

Sorption enhanced steam reforming of ethanol on multifunctional catalysts

09 Jul 2012

Scientists in China describe the synthesis of Ni–CaO–Al₂O₃ multifunctional catalysts from hydrotalcite-like precursors for sorption enhanced steam reforming of ethanol to produce hydrogen.

Read the EES ‘HOT’ paper hot off the press:

Sorption enhanced steam reforming of ethanol on Ni–CaO–Al₂O₃ multifunctional catalysts derived from hydrotalcite-like compounds
Gaowei Wu, Chengxi Zhang, Shuirong Li, Zhiqi Huang, Suli Yan, Shengping Wang, Xinbin Ma and Jinlong Gong
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21995F

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Conjugated polyelectrolyte solar cell: efficiency 8.4%

02 Jul 2012

Inverted polymer solar cells with 8.4% efficiency was demonstrated by using conjugated polyelectrolyte to re-engineer the electron extraction layer.

Read the full Communication in EES:

Inverted polymer solar cells with 8.4% efficiency by conjugated polyelectrolyte
Tingbin Yang, Ming Wang, Chunhui Duan, Xiaowen Hu, Lin Huang, Junbiao Peng, Fei Huang and Xiong Gong
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22296E

solar cell

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EES remains #1 with new Impact Factor of 9.6

29 Jun 2012

New citation data released by Thomson ISI shows the latest (2011) Impact Factor of Energy & Environmental Science to be 9.610.

This increase means Energy & Environmental Science remains the #1 ranking journal (of all 205 journals) in its ISI subject category.

This great news demonstrates that the journal continues to attract and publish outstanding research, which appeals to its community-spanning international readership.

We wish to thank all our Board members, authors and referees for their continuing support – Energy & Environmental Science is your journal.

Please do continue to submit your best work to Energy & Environmental Science. We look forward to further success in the months and years ahead.

With our best wishes,

Energy & Environmental Science Editorial Office

Find out how RSC journals are ranked in the latest Impact Factor release.

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Using beer to get high value fuel precursors from ethanol

20 Jun 2012

US scientists have used beer fermentation broth to upgrade ethanol to higher value products for the fuel industry, rather than distilling the ethanol itself.

Distilling ethanol in the biofuel industry is energetically expensive because ethanol is completely miscible in water. So, the team decided to upgrade it into a hydrophobic chemical that’s easier to separate, and of higher value.

They did it by shaping a reactor microbiome to sequentially elongate carboxylic acids with 2-carbon units from dilute ethanol in yeast fermentation beer. The continuous bioprocess produced n-caproic acid, a 6-carbon chain carboxylic acid that’s more valuable than ethanol.

In-line product extraction achieved an n-caproic acid production rate exceeding two grams per litre of reactor volume per day, which is comparable to established bioenergy systems with microbiomes, they say. Incorporation of other organics found in beer increased the mass of carbon in n-caproic acid by 10% compared to ethanol, they add.

Read this ‘HOT’ EES Communication:

Chain elongation with reactor microbiomes: upgrading dilute ethanol to medium-chain carboxylates
Matthew T Agler, Catherine M Spirito, Joseph G Usack, Jeffrey J Werner and Lars Angenent
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22101B

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Optimised electrolyte for Na-ion batteries

20 Jun 2012

Scientists in Spain have carried out a comparative survey of different electrolytes prepared using several different solvents and in combination with different Na salts, namely NaClO₄, NaPF₆ and NaTFSI.

They found that NaPF₆in ethylene carbonate:propylene carbonate is the best electrolyte for performance and it fulfils all present safety considerations.

With this electrolyte, the team achieved capacities of ca. 200mAh/g and over 180 cycles.

Read the EES ‘HOT’ article today:

In search of an optimized electrolyte for Na-ion batteries
Alexandre Ponrouch, Elena Marchante, Matthieu Courty, Jean-Marie Tarascon and M. Rosa Palacín
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22258B,

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How to improve CO2 removal via biomass energy

20 Jun 2012

Researchers at University of Exeter assess the viability of CO2 removal via biomass energy in an EES Perspective article which has just been published online.

The feature article concludes that to maximise feedstocks for biomass energy with carbon storage (BECS) requires more efficient agricultural systems and less meat intensive diets.

Read the EES article in full:

Future carbon dioxide removal via biomass energy constrained by agricultural efficiency and dietary trends
Thomas W. R. Powell and Timothy M. Lenton
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21592F

The work has also been featured in a press release by the University of Exeter, you can read their press release here.

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SuNEC 2012 special collection

07 Jun 2012

Following the successful partnership with SuNEC 2011, EES will publish manuscripts originating from the SuNEC 2012 meeting to be held on September 4-6, 2012 in Sicily, Italy.

Delegates are encouraged to submit their work to EES — whose Abstract will be submitted to SuNEC 2012 for oral or poster presentation — submission deadline is 30 September 2012.

Manuscripts can be submitted (in almost any electronic format and reasonable layout) through the EES online submission service. See Author Guidelines for more information. All articles will be subject to rigorous peer-review according to the journal’s usual standards – if accepted, they well receive great exposure, and will get significant promotion.

Registration and Key Deadlines:

SuNEC Registration deadline: 31-Jul-12 (Register now)
SuNEC Abstract submission: 27-Jun-12
Manuscripts to EES: 30-Sept-12

Submit your best work to EES today!

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Bio-oil gets an upgrade

28 May 2012

Forming bio-oil from wood is a strategy to develop fuel from biomass, however, the oxygen content of bio-oil (40%) means that the energy density is not as high as crude oil. It is also too unstable to store. So, giving bio-oil an upgrade, decreasing its oxygen content and reactivity, is necessary.

Scientists from Germany have used Raney Ni as a catalyst and propan-2-ol as a H-donor to upgrade phenolics and aromatics from biorefinery feeds. The team demonstrated that hydrogen transfer reactions could be carried out under low-severity conditions. Current methods require extreme conditions and give low yields.

Read the EES ‘HOT’ paper:

Exploiting H-transfer reactions with Raney Ni for upgrade of phenolic and aromatic biorefinery feeds under unusual, low-severity conditions
X Wang and R Rinaldi
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2ee21855k

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Water electrolysis technology for hydrogen generation

21 May 2012

A new type of water electrolysis using an alkaline polymer electrolyte and a non-precious metal catalyst, which works in just regular water, has been developed by scientists in China.

Current solid polymer electrolytes are acid-based and require noble metals catalyst (such as Pt and Ir), which are expensive and rare. This alkaline polymer electrolyte uses a non-precious metal catalyst and can work with normal pure water (instead of KOH solution).

Read the Communication featured in EES:

First Implementation of Alkaline Polymer Electrolyte Water Electrolysis Working Only with Pure Water
Li Xiao, Shuai Zhang, Jing Pan, Cuixia Yang, Minglong He, Lin Zhuang and Juntao Lu
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22146B

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Simple tool to design long-life battery electrodes

21 May 2012

Chemists have mapped electric shock on battery electrodes, providing a simple tool to design long-lived battery electrodes.

As you charge and recharge your phone and laptop batteries, slowly the electrodes degrade and eventually you have to replace the battery, but why and how does this happen?

Researchers from MIT have now gained new information about this process, which is the electrical equivalent of getting potholes in the road in the winter. This knowledge allows new design guidelines to be written and could spell the end to replacing your laptop battery when it gets old.

Read the paper from EES:

Design Criteria for Electrochemical Shock Resistant Battery Electrodes
William H Woodford, W. Craig Carter and Yet-Ming Chiang
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21874G

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EES Blog

Author Archive

Sorption enhanced steam reforming of ethanol on multifunctional catalysts

Conjugated polyelectrolyte solar cell: efficiency 8.4%

EES remains #1 with new Impact Factor of 9.6

Using beer to get high value fuel precursors from ethanol

Optimised electrolyte for Na-ion batteries

How to improve CO2 removal via biomass energy

SuNEC 2012 special collection

Bio-oil gets an upgrade

Water electrolysis technology for hydrogen generation

Simple tool to design long-life battery electrodes

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