Hot Article – Page 19

Archive for the ‘Hot Article’ Category

Improved cycling stability of silicon nanowire anodes

06 Jun 2012

Energy & Environmental Science ‘HOT’ Communication

Yi Cui and co-workers have markedly improved the cycling stability of a silicon nanowire anode by coating it with a conducting polymer (PEDOT).

Charge-discharge cycling experiments showed that the polymer-coated nanowires retained 80% of their original capacity after 100 cycles, compared to only 30% capacity retention for bare nanowires.

It is thought that the improved retention is due to the polymer having a stabilising effect on the nanowires as they undergo the large volume changes that accompany the charge-discharge cycles. PEDOT may also help to maintain electrical connections between the wires that would otherwise be lost during cycling.

The authors believe that polymer coated anodes could potentially be used to improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries.

Read the Energy & Environmental Science Communication today:

Improving the cycling stability of silicon nanowire anodes with conducting polymer coatings
Yan Yao, Nian Liu, Matthew T. McDowell, Mauro Pasta and Yi Cui
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21437G

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CO2 themed collection now published in Issue 6

28 May 2012

The latest issue of Energy & Environmental Science is now online. You can read the full issue here, which includes a themed collection on CO₂:

The outside front cover features an article on The cross-scale science of CO₂ capture and storage: from pore scale to regional scale by Richard S. Middleton and colleagues.

Highlights of this issue include the Editorial by Frederik C. Krebs:

Carbon dioxide – a themed issue
Frederik C. Krebs
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 7238-7239
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE90018A

and the following ‘HOT’ articles:

CO₂ extraction from seawater using bipolar membrane electrodialysis
Matthew D. Eisaman, Keshav Parajuly, Alexander Tuganov, Craig Eldershaw, Norine Chang and Karl A. Littau
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 7346-7352
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03393C

Catalytic interconversion between hydrogen and formic acid at ambient temperature and pressure
Yuta Maenaka, Tomoyoshi Suenobu and Shunichi Fukuzumi
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012,5, 7360-7367
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03315A

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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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High impact electrocatalysis research from Energy & Environmental Science

17 May 2012

(Photo)electrocatalysis is an important and fast moving area of research, with important applications in fuel cell technology. We have selected some of the high quality reviews and exciting original research articles that have recently published across this field in Energy & Environmental Science.

On behalf of Editor-in-Chief Nate Lewis (Caltech) and Editorial Board member Ib Chorkendorff (Technical University of Denmark), we invite you to submit your best research to Energy & Environmental Science.

With an Impact Factor of 9.49 and ranked #1 in its field, Energy & Environmental Science is the ideal place to publish your research.

Read this high-impact electrocatalysis research today:

Reviews

Molybdenum sulfides—efficient and viable materials for electro- and photoelectrocatalytic hydrogen evolution
Anders B. Laursen, Søren Kegnæs, Søren Dahl and Ib Chorkendorff
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE02618J

One-dimensional noble metal electrocatalysts: a promising structural paradigm for direct methanol fuel cells
Christopher Koenigsmann and Stanislaus S. Wong
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00197J

A review on non-precious metal electrocatalysts for PEM fuel cells
Zhongwei Chen, Drew Higgins, Aiping Yu, Lei Zhang and Jiujun Zhang
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00558D

Monolayer platinum supported on tungsten carbides as low-cost electrocatalysts: opportunities and limitations
Daniel V. Esposito and Jingguang G. Chen
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01851E

Recent advances in non-precious metal catalysis for oxygen-reduction reaction in polymer electrolyte fuel cells
Frédéric Jaouen, Eric Proietti, Michel Lefèvre, Régis Chenitz, Jean-Pol Dodelet, Gang Wu, Hoon Taek Chung, Christina Marie Johnston and Piotr Zelenay
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00011F

Low-platinum and platinum-free catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction at fuel cell cathodes
Adina Morozan, Bruno Jousselme and Serge Palacin
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00601G

Electrocatalysis in microbial fuel cells—from electrode material to direct electrochemistry
Yan Qiao, Shu-Juan Bao and Chang Ming Li
DOI: 10.1039/B923503E

Photoelectrocatalysis: principles, nanoemitter applications and routes to bio-inspired systems
H. J. Lewerenz, C. Heine, K. Skorupska, N. Szabo, T. Hannappel, T. Vo-Dinh, S. A. Campbell, H. W. Klemm and A. G. Muñoz
DOI: 10.1039/B915922N

Original research

IL-TEM investigations on the degradation mechanism of Pt/C electrocatalysts with different carbon supports
Katrin Hartl, Marianne Hanzlik and Matthias Arenz
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00248H

Highly Pt-like electrocatalytic activity of transition metal nitrides for dye-sensitized solar cells
G. R. Li, J. Song, G. L. Pan and X. P. Gao
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01105G

Tungsten carbide promoted Pd–Fe as alcohol-tolerant electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reactions
Shibin Yin, Mei Cai, Chengxin Wang and Pei Kang Shen
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00445F

Evaluation of Pt, Ni, and Ni–Mo electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution on crystalline Si electrodes
James R. McKone, Emily L. Warren, Matthew J. Bierman, Shannon W. Boettcher, Bruce S. Brunschwig, Nathan S. Lewis and Harry B. Gray
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01488A

Ionic liquid modified graphene nanosheets anchoring manganese oxide nanoparticles as efficient electrocatalysts for Zn–air batteries
Jang-Soo Lee, Taemin Lee, Hyun-Kon Song, Jaephil Cho and Byeong-Su Kim
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01942B

Synthesis of solar fuels by a novel photoelectrocatalytic approach
Claudio Ampelli, Gabriele Centi, Rosalba Passalacqua and Siglinda Perathoner
DOI: 10.1039/B925470F

Nanostructured WC_x/CNTs as highly efficient support of electrocatalysts with low Pt loading for oxygen reduction reaction
Changhai Liang, Ling Ding, Chuang Li, Min Pang, Dangsheng Su, Wenzhen Li and Yuemin Wang
DOI: 10.1039/C001423K

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High impact biofuels research from Energy & Environmental Science

10 May 2012

We would like to share with you a selection of high impact articles, published in Energy & Environmental Science from across the field of biofuels and biomass conversion, with a selection of articles free to access for a limited period.

The EES Board includes several experts in this important field: George Huber (University of Massachusetts-Amherst), Oliver Inderwildi (Oxford), James Dumesic (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Jose Goldemberg (California Institute of Technology) and Chris Somerville (University of California).

With an Impact Factor of 9.49 and ranked #1 in its field, Energy & Environmental Science is the ideal place to publish your research.

Read this high-impact biofuels research today:

Reviews and Analysis

FREE: Catalytic routes for the conversion of biomass into liquid hydrocarbon transportation fuels
Juan Carlos Serrano-Ruiz and James A. Dumesic
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00436G

FREE: Biodiesel as feasible petrol fuel replacement: a multidisciplinary overview
Rafael Luque, Jon C. Lovett, Bipasa Datta, Joy Clancy, Juan M. Campelo and Antonio A. Romero
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00085J

FREE: Microalgae as biodiesel & biomass feedstocks: Review & analysis of the biochemistry, energetics & economics
Peter J. le B. Williams and Lieve M. L. Laurens
DOI: 10.1039/B924978H

FREE: A perspective on the modeling of biomass processing
Na Guo, Stavros Caratzoulas, Douglas J. Doren, Stanley I. Sandler and Dionisios G. Vlachos
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE02663E

FREE: Improving the bioconversion of plant biomass to biofuels: A multidisciplinary approach
Jonathan M. Galazka and Jamie H. D. Cate
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01569A

FREE: Toward a rational control of solid acid catalysis for green synthesis and biomass conversion
Ken-ichi Shimizu and Atsushi Satsuma
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01458G

FREE: Metabolic engineering of algae for fourth generation biofuels production
Jing Lü, Con Sheahan and Pengcheng Fu
DOI: 10.1039/C0EE00593B

FREE: Zeolite-catalyzed biomass conversion to fuels and chemicals
Esben Taarning, Christian M. Osmundsen, Xiaobo Yang, Bodil Voss, Simon I. Andersen and Claus H. Christensen
DOI: 10.1039/C004518G

FREE: Heterogeneous photocatalytic hydrogen production from water and biomass derivatives
Katsuya Shimura and Hisao Yoshida
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01120K

FREE: Application of quantitative ³¹P NMR in biomass lignin and biofuel precursors characterization
Yunqiao Pu, Shilin Cao and Arthur J. Ragauskas
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01201K

FREE: Life cycle energy and greenhouse gas analysis for algae-derived biodiesel
Tara Shirvani, Xiaoyu Yan, Oliver R. Inderwildi, Peter P. Edwards and David A. King
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01791H

Original Research

An integrated paradigm for cellulosic biorefineries: utilization of lignocellulosic biomass as self-sufficient feedstocks for fuel, food precursors and saccharolytic enzyme production
Ming W. Lau, Bryan D. Bals, Shishir P. S. Chundawat, Mingjie Jin, Christa Gunawan, Venkatesh Balan, A. Daniel Jones and Bruce E. Dale
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03596K

Depolymerization of lignocellulosic biomass to fuel precursors: maximizing carbon efficiency by combining hydrolysis with pyrolysis
Jungho Jae, Geoffrey A. Tompsett, Yu-Chuan Lin, Torren R. Carlson, Jiacheng Shen, Taiying Zhang, Bin Yang, Charles E. Wyman, W. Curtis Conner and George W. Huber
DOI: 10.1039/B924621P

Enzyme-based biohybrid foams designed for continuous flow heterogeneous catalysis and biodiesel production
Nicolas Brun, Annick Babeau-Garcia, Marie-France Achard, Clément Sanchez, Fabien Durand, Guillaume Laurent, Marc Birot, Hervé Deleuze and Rénal Backov
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01295A

Electrochemistry for biofuel generation: Electrochemical conversion of levulinic acid to octane
Peter Nilges, Tatiane R. dos Santos, Falk Harnisch and Uwe Schröder
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE02685B

Experimental and theoretical studies of the acid-catalyzed conversion of furfuryl alcohol to levulinic acid in aqueous solution
Gretchen M. González Maldonado, Rajeev S. Assary, James Dumesic and Larry A. Curtiss
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03465D

Revealing pyrolysis chemistry for biofuels production: Conversion of cellulose to furans and small oxygenates
Matthew S. Mettler, Samir H. Mushrif, Alex D. Paulsen, Ashay D. Javadekar, Dionisios G. Vlachos and Paul J. Dauenhauer
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE02743C

Bioethanol production from marine biomass alginate by metabolically engineered bacteria
Hiroyuki Takeda, Fuminori Yoneyama, Shigeyuki Kawai, Wataru Hashimoto and Kousaku Murata
DOI: 10.1039/C1EE01236C

Catalytic hydrothermal deoxygenation of palmitic acid
Jie Fu, Xiuyang Lu and Phillip E. Savage
DOI: 10.1039/B923198F

Biodiesel, a sustainable oil, in high temperature stable microemulsions containing a room temperature ionic liquid as polar phase
Oliver Zech, Pierre Bauduin, Peter Palatzky, Didier Touraud and Werner Kunz
DOI: 10.1039/B924215P

Better by design: nanoengineered macroporous hydrotalcites for enhanced catalytic biodiesel production
Julia J. Woodford, Jean-Philippe Dacquin, Karen Wilson and Adam F. Lee
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE02837A

Selective oxidation of complex, water-insoluble biomass to formic acid using additives as reaction accelerator
Jakob Albert, Rene Wölfel, Andreas Bösmann and Peter Wasserscheid
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21428H

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Upconversion article highlighted

08 May 2012

The Energy & Environmental Science article by Australian and German researchers which previously featured in this blog has now been highlighted by Printed Electronics World. The authors detail their work on improving the efficiency of solar cells through photochemical upconversion.

Read the full details of their exciting work today:

Improving the light-harvesting of amorphous silicon solar cells with photochemical upconversion
Yuen Yap Cheng, Burkhard Fückel, Rowan W. MacQueen, Tony Khoury, Raphaël G. C. R. Clady, Tim F. Schulze, N. J. Ekins-Daukes, Maxwell J. Crossley, Bernd Stannowski, Klaus Lips and Timothy W. Schmidt
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 6953–6959, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21136J

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Hot Perspective: Enzymes for solar-to-chemical energy conversion

03 May 2012

One of the key challenges of using energy from the sun is that it is it is not always shining when and where it is needed. In their Energy & Environmental Science Perspective, Fraser Armstrong et al. from Oxford University discuss developments in strategies to store this solar energy so it available on a much more reliable basis. In particular they focus on the use of enzymes and bio-inspired catalysts in promoting the formation of solar fuels – an approach which is cheaper and more scalable than those using heavy metal-based catalysts.

Read this fascinating EES Perspective today:

Enzymes and bio-inspired electrocatalysts in solar fuel devices
Thomas W. Woolerton, Sally Sheard, Yatendra S. Chaudhary and Fraser A. Armstrong
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21471G

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Screening for the best organic energy storage materials

16 Apr 2012

Héctor Abruña and coworkers at Cornell University report a computational method for screening potential candidate organic molecules for their energy storage properties. Organic materials are relatively cheap to produce and also lighter than the inorganic oxides most commonly used for energy storage at present.

The team discovered that certain combinations of functional groups consistently produced materials with better performance.

Read the full details of this exciting article today:

Tailored redox functionality of small organics for pseudocapacitive electrodes
Stephen E. Burkhardt, Michael A. Lowe, Sean Conte, Weidong Zhou, Hualei Qian, Gabriel G. Rodríguez-Calero, Jie Gao, Richard G. Hennig and Héctor D. Abruña
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21255B

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