Water electrolysis technology for hydrogen generation

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

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

Journal cover image(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 WCx/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

Sign up to receive our free table-of-contents e-alert at www.rsc.org/alerts and be among the first to read our newest articles.

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New report on solar fuels and artificial photosynthesis

Cover image of policy documentThis week our Science Team marks the launch of its new report on “Solar Fuels and Artificial Photosynthesis” with a special international event at the Chemistry Centre in London for scientists, policymakers and business-people.

A highlight will be a lecture by Nathan S Lewis, Professor of chemistry at Caltech and Editor-in-Chief of our journal Energy and Environmental Science (Check out our previous post for more information).  He will describe and evaluate the technical, political and economic challenges involved with widespread adoption of renewable energy technologies.

For more details and to watch this streamed lecture at 17:25 BST, 12:25 EDT, 09:25 PST Thursday 17 May click here.  To read the report or download the infographics click here.

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Lecture by EES Editor-in-Chief: Watch it live

Photograph of Professor Nathan LewisEditor-in-Chief of Energy and Environmental Science Nathan Lewis is giving a lecture at the RSC’s Chemistry Centre in London on Global Energy Perspectives.

The event is being streamed live on Thursday 17 May at 17:25 BST, 1225 EDT, 0925 PST – register online today.

You can read Prof Lewis’ latest articles in Energy & Environmental Science by following the links below:

Photoanodic behavior of vapor-liquid-solid–grown, lightly doped, crystalline Si microwire arrays
Elizabeth A. Santori, James R. Maiolo III, Matthew J. Bierman, Nicholas C. Strandwitz, Michael D. Kelzenberg, Bruce S. Brunschwig, Harry A. Atwater and Nathan S. Lewis
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012,5, 6867-6871
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03468A

A quantitative assessment of the competition between water and anion oxidation at WO3 photoanodes in acidic aqueous electrolytes
Qixi Mi, Almagul Zhanaidarova, Bruce S. Brunschwig, Harry B. Gray and Nathan S. Lewis
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012,5, 5694-5700
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE02929D

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High impact biofuels research from Energy & Environmental Science

Journal cover imageWe 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

Keep up to date with our latest news: sign up for our e-alerts and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Upconversion article highlighted

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

 Table of contents image

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EES Issue 5 out now!

The latest issue of Energy & Environmental Science is now online. You can read the full issue here.

EES_05_OFCThe outside front cover features a Perspective on the modeling of biomass processing by Na Guo, Stavros Caratzoulas, Douglas J. Doren, Stanley I. Sandler and Dionisios G. Vlachos.

Issue 5 contains a mix of Analysis, reviews and original research, here are just a few to highlight:

Analysis
The carbon abatement potential of high penetration intermittent renewables
Elaine K. Hart and Mark Z. Jacobson
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 6592-6601
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03490E

Review
Carbon capture with ionic liquids: overview and progress
Xiangping Zhang, Xiaochun Zhang, Haifeng Dong, Zhijun Zhao, Suojiang Zhang and Ying Huang
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 6668-6681
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21152A

Perspective
Mechanical properties of clathrate hydrates: status and perspectives
Fulong Ning, Yibing Yu, Signe Kjelstrup, Thijs J. H. Vlugt and Kirill Glavatskiy
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 6779-6795
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03435B

Fancy submitting an article to EES? Then submit to us today!

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

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
Table of contents scheme

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Top 10 most-read EES articles in March

This month sees the following articles in EES that are in the top ten most accessed in March:

The Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy
Can Li, Tao Zhang and Xinhe Bao
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 6277-6277
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE90010F

Solar energy generation in three dimensions
Marco Bernardi, Nicola Ferralis, Jin H. Wan, Rachelle Villalon and Jeffrey C. Grossman
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 6880-6884
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21170J

Facile synthesis of Au@TiO2 core–shell hollow spheres for dye-sensitized solar cells with remarkably improved efficiency
Jiang Du, Jian Qi, Dan Wang and Zhiyong Tang
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 6914-6918 
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21264A 

Polyacrylonitrile/graphene composite as a precursor to a sulfur-based cathode material for high-rate rechargeable Li–S batteries
Lichao Yin, Jiulin Wang, Fengjiao Lin, Jun Yang and Yanna Nuli  
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 6966-6972 
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03495F 

Recent advances in hybrid photocatalysts for solar fuel production
Phong D. Tran, Lydia H. Wong, James Barber and Joachim S. C. Loo
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 5902-5918
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE02849B 

Quartz (SiO2): a new energy storage anode material for Li-ion batteries 
Won-Seok Chang, Cheol-Min Park, Jae-Hun Kim, Young-Ugk Kim, Goojin Jeong and Hun-Joon Sohn
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 6895-6899 
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE00003B 

Recent advances in solution-processed interfacial materials for efficient and stable polymer solar cells 
Hin-Lap Yip and Alex K.-Y. Jen
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 5994-6011
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE02806A 

Catalysts made of earth-abundant elements (Co, Ni, Fe) for water splitting: Recent progress and future challenges
Pingwu Du and Richard Eisenberg
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 6012-6021 
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03250C 

An aqueous rechargeable lithium battery of excellent rate capability based on a nanocomposite of MoO3 coated with PPy and LiMn2O4
Wei Tang, Lili Liu, Yusong Zhu, Hong Sun, Yuping Wu and Kai Zhu
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 6909-6913 
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE21294C

Na-ion batteries, recent advances and present challenges to become low cost energy storage systems
Verónica Palomares, Paula Serras, Irune Villaluenga, Karina B. Hueso, Javier Carretero-González and Teófilo Rojo
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 5884-5901
DOI: 10.1039/C2EE02781J 

Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below

Fancy submitting an article to EES? Then why not submit to us today!

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