EES Blog

(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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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

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

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