Pub Date : 2025-03-03DOI: 10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100259
Viswanathan S. Saji
Plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) is a remarkable electrochemical approach that has been extensively researched to develop adherent conversion oxide layers on metals and alloys. These oxide layers, developed on firm conducting support, have been notably investigated for their photocatalytic applications. The TiO2 layers developed on titanium and its alloys have been extensively studied. The PEO of aluminum, magnesium, zinc, niobium, zirconium, tantalum, and steel have also been explored. The catalytic activity of the developed oxide layer can be boosted by various approaches, such as doping and heterojunction formation via in-situ integration or post-impregnation of the active components. The present review comprehensively accounts for PEO-derived photocatalysts in different applications, providing a reliable source of information for researchers in the field. The sections are classified based on the base substrate metal used for PEO. The role of PEO parameters in deciding the developed layers' photocatalytic activity is discussed. Doping/heterojunctions with nonmetals, transition/post-transition metals, precious metals, rare earths, nanocarbons, and others are detailed.
{"title":"Plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) layers grown on metals and alloys as supported photocatalysts","authors":"Viswanathan S. Saji","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100259","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100259","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) is a remarkable electrochemical approach that has been extensively researched to develop adherent conversion oxide layers on metals and alloys. These oxide layers, developed on firm conducting support, have been notably investigated for their photocatalytic applications. The TiO<sub>2</sub> layers developed on titanium and its alloys have been extensively studied. The PEO of aluminum, magnesium, zinc, niobium, zirconium, tantalum, and steel have also been explored. The catalytic activity of the developed oxide layer can be boosted by various approaches, such as doping and heterojunction formation via in-situ integration or post-impregnation of the active components. The present review comprehensively accounts for PEO-derived photocatalysts in different applications, providing a reliable source of information for researchers in the field. The sections are classified based on the base substrate metal used for PEO. The role of PEO parameters in deciding the developed layers' photocatalytic activity is discussed. Doping/heterojunctions with nonmetals, transition/post-transition metals, precious metals, rare earths, nanocarbons, and others are detailed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100259"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143548422","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-28DOI: 10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100254
Hafeez Yusuf Hafeez , Khalifa Bala , Umar Muhammad Dankawu , Jibrin Mohammed , Abdussalam Balarabe Suleiman , Chifu Ebenezer Ndikilar , Rabia Salihu Sa’id , Ibrahim Muhammad
In response to the worldwide energy problem and environmental contamination that hinders any society's ability to develop. Herein, a 1-pot solvothermal approach was used to fabricate a ZnFe2O4 integrated biphase TiO2 photocatalyst for use in solar fuel (hydrogen) generation. Using glycerol as a hole-scavenger, the synthesized material is exposed to solar light and tested for hydrogen generation. Following the addition of ZnFe2O4 to the TiO2, a significant photoluminescence (PL) quenching and band gap reduction from 3.20 to 2.51 eV were noted. In total, 30 wt% ZnFe2O4 produces a peak solar fuel (hydrogen) generation rate of 879.8 μmol g−1 h−1, which is 7.3 and 9.5 times higher than TiO2 and ZnFe2O4, respectively. It is worthy to mention that the optimized photocatalyst yielded a solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of 1.01%. This notable enhancement is associated with band gap reduction, PL quenching, and heterostructured creation between ZnFe2O4 and TiO2. It is worthwhile to bring up here. It is important to note that, while utilizing the same photocatalyst, our findings are noticeably better than those that have been previously reported. Using solar light, this work has shown a potential method for synthesizing a ZnFe2O4-TiO2-based photocatalyst for use in energy and environmental remediation.
{"title":"A one-pot solvothermal method for the synthesis of a magnetically retrievable ZnFe2O4 incorporated biphase TiO2 photocatalyst for robust efficient solar fuel (hydrogen) production","authors":"Hafeez Yusuf Hafeez , Khalifa Bala , Umar Muhammad Dankawu , Jibrin Mohammed , Abdussalam Balarabe Suleiman , Chifu Ebenezer Ndikilar , Rabia Salihu Sa’id , Ibrahim Muhammad","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100254","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100254","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In response to the worldwide energy problem and environmental contamination that hinders any society's ability to develop. Herein, a 1-pot solvothermal approach was used to fabricate a ZnFe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> integrated biphase TiO<sub>2</sub> photocatalyst for use in solar fuel (hydrogen) generation. Using glycerol as a hole-scavenger, the synthesized material is exposed to solar light and tested for hydrogen generation. Following the addition of ZnFe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> to the TiO<sub>2</sub>, a significant photoluminescence (PL) quenching and band gap reduction from 3.20 to 2.51 eV were noted. In total, 30 wt% ZnFe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> produces a peak solar fuel (hydrogen) generation rate of 879.8 μmol g<sup>−1</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>, which is 7.3 and 9.5 times higher than TiO<sub>2</sub> and ZnFe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub>, respectively. It is worthy to mention that the optimized photocatalyst yielded a solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of 1.01%. This notable enhancement is associated with band gap reduction, PL quenching, and heterostructured creation between ZnFe<sub>2</sub>O4 and TiO<sub>2</sub>. It is worthwhile to bring up here. It is important to note that, while utilizing the same photocatalyst, our findings are noticeably better than those that have been previously reported. Using solar light, this work has shown a potential method for synthesizing a ZnFe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub>-TiO<sub>2</sub>-based photocatalyst for use in energy and environmental remediation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100254"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143512481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-27DOI: 10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100257
Shahbaz Hussain , Sibel Irmak , Muhammad Usman Farid
Hydrogen is a promising clean fuel with 0 carbon emission; only byproduct released from its use is water. The current large-scale hydrogen production methods are expensive and do not meet sustainability criteria. Finding alternative but cheaper sustainable ways for hydrogen production is important, and the catalyst plays a key role in this process. This study was designed to develop hierarchical porous carbons (HPCs)-based catalysts to enhance hydrogen production yield from lignocellulosic biomass by hydrothermal gasification. HPCs were synthesized from widely available waste materials, forest-based woody biomass, and poultry feathers with a promising approach (use of solubilized fractions of the precursors rather than direct carbonization of their solid forms, performing in-situ heteroatom doping and enhancing the porosity of the carbon by using a gas-forming salt, etc.). The HPC prepared from biomass/chicken feather mixture in the presence of a gas-forming salt, NaHCO3, was the most promising carbon because of its high porosity structure with pore size ranging from ∼65 nm to ∼1.8 µm, and the 80% of the pores was around 200–450 nm. The specific surface area of the catalyst prepared by deposition of Pt particles on this carbon was found to be 3200 m2/g with an average pore size of 2.3 nm. On the other hand, the HPC prepared in the absence of NaHCO3 had 2900 m2/g surface area and 1.8 nm average pore size. The hydrogen production activity of HPC-with NaHCO3/Pt catalyst was found to be 23.81 ml H2/mg Pt, which was the highest activity among the catalysts tested. This was attributed to the highly porous structure and the presence of sodium or sodium-containing species (e.g., Na2O) in the carbon network. The findings of this study have the potential to open new catalytic opportunities for different reactions using HPCs-based multifunctional catalysts.
{"title":"Developing N, S-doped hierarchical porous carbon-supported Pt catalysts for hydrothermal gasification of woody biomass to hydrogen","authors":"Shahbaz Hussain , Sibel Irmak , Muhammad Usman Farid","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100257","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100257","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hydrogen is a promising clean fuel with 0 carbon emission; only byproduct released from its use is water. The current large-scale hydrogen production methods are expensive and do not meet sustainability criteria. Finding alternative but cheaper sustainable ways for hydrogen production is important, and the catalyst plays a key role in this process. This study was designed to develop hierarchical porous carbons (HPCs)-based catalysts to enhance hydrogen production yield from lignocellulosic biomass by hydrothermal gasification. HPCs were synthesized from widely available waste materials, forest-based woody biomass, and poultry feathers with a promising approach (use of solubilized fractions of the precursors rather than direct carbonization of their solid forms, performing in-situ heteroatom doping and enhancing the porosity of the carbon by using a gas-forming salt, etc.). The HPC prepared from biomass/chicken feather mixture in the presence of a gas-forming salt, NaHCO<sub>3</sub>, was the most promising carbon because of its high porosity structure with pore size ranging from ∼65 nm to ∼1.8 µm, and the 80% of the pores was around 200–450 nm. The specific surface area of the catalyst prepared by deposition of Pt particles on this carbon was found to be 3200 m<sup>2</sup>/g with an average pore size of 2.3 nm. On the other hand, the HPC prepared in the absence of NaHCO<sub>3</sub> had 2900 m<sup>2</sup>/g surface area and 1.8 nm average pore size. The hydrogen production activity of HPC-with NaHCO<sub>3</sub>/Pt catalyst was found to be 23.81 ml H<sub>2</sub>/mg Pt, which was the highest activity among the catalysts tested. This was attributed to the highly porous structure and the presence of sodium or sodium-containing species (e.g., Na<sub>2</sub>O) in the carbon network. The findings of this study have the potential to open new catalytic opportunities for different reactions using HPCs-based multifunctional catalysts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100257"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143510167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-27DOI: 10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100255
Yanxia Wang , Miao Yu , Yuhang Wang , Zhuo Ma , Yunfeng Qiu , Changzhu Lv , Shengze Yu , Shaoqin Liu
Carbon nanotube (CNT) modified anodes in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) face limitations in startup time and power output due to slow microorganism colonization and poor extracellular electron transfer (EET). This is often caused by the hydrophobic nature and low specific capacitance of high-temperature synthesized CNTs. This study presents a novel approach to overcome these limitations by developing a hydrophilic and high-capacitance anode using electrochemically activated iron and nitrogen-doped CNTs (A-FeNCNTs) on carbon cloth (CC). A-FeNCNTs@CC demonstrates significantly improved biocompatibility and charge storage capacity compared to pristine CC. In MFC tests using mixed cultures, A-FeNCNTs@CC achieved a faster startup time of 1.8 days (1.5 days shorter than CC) and a higher power density of 3.07 W/m2 (about 1.58 times that of the CC anode). Additionally, chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency reached 91.82%, surpassing CC (74.93%). The enhanced performance is attributed to the synergistic effects of increased hydrophilicity and capacitance, promoting robust biofilm formation and efficient EET. This work establishes a promising strategy for tailoring the physicochemical properties of carbon-based anodes, leading to significant advancements in MFC performance and demonstrating the potential of A-FeNCNTs@CC for enhanced bioelectricity generation and wastewater treatment.
{"title":"Electrochemically activated carbon nanotube anodes for enhanced microbial fuel cell performance","authors":"Yanxia Wang , Miao Yu , Yuhang Wang , Zhuo Ma , Yunfeng Qiu , Changzhu Lv , Shengze Yu , Shaoqin Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100255","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100255","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Carbon nanotube (CNT) modified anodes in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) face limitations in startup time and power output due to slow microorganism colonization and poor extracellular electron transfer (EET). This is often caused by the hydrophobic nature and low specific capacitance of high-temperature synthesized CNTs. This study presents a novel approach to overcome these limitations by developing a hydrophilic and high-capacitance anode using electrochemically activated iron and nitrogen-doped CNTs (A-FeNCNTs) on carbon cloth (CC). A-FeNCNTs@CC demonstrates significantly improved biocompatibility and charge storage capacity compared to pristine CC. In MFC tests using mixed cultures, A-FeNCNTs@CC achieved a faster startup time of 1.8 days (1.5 days shorter than CC) and a higher power density of 3.07 W/m<sup>2</sup> (about 1.58 times that of the CC anode). Additionally, chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency reached 91.82%, surpassing CC (74.93%). The enhanced performance is attributed to the synergistic effects of increased hydrophilicity and capacitance, promoting robust biofilm formation and efficient EET. This work establishes a promising strategy for tailoring the physicochemical properties of carbon-based anodes, leading to significant advancements in MFC performance and demonstrating the potential of A-FeNCNTs@CC for enhanced bioelectricity generation and wastewater treatment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100255"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143510168","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-26DOI: 10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100256
Hussein Mohammed Ridha , Hashim Hizam , Seyedali Mirjalili , Mohammad Lutfi Othman , Mohammad Effendy Ya’acob , Noor Izzri Bin Abdul Wahab , Masoud Ahmadipour
The renewable energy system has yielded substantial enhancements to worldwide power generation. Therefore, precise prediction of long-term renewable energy conductivity is vital for grid system. This study introduces a new predictive output current for the photovoltaic (PV) system using actual experimental data. This research proposes three key contributions: The IMGO method is enhanced using several hybrid tactics to improve local search capabilities and increase exploration of significant regions within the feature space. Subsequently, the architecture of the multilayer feedforward artificial neural network is developed. The IMGO is employed to determine the appropriate hyperparameters of the model, ranging from the number of neurons in the hidden layers and learning rate. The Bayesian regularization backpropagation procedure is applied to update the weights and bias of the network. The proposed IMGOMFFNN model is ultimately combined with Polynomial regression model to improve the predictability of the PV system. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed IMGO algorithm is very effective in addressing complex problems with high accuracy, capability, and speedy convergence. The proposed hybrid IMGOPMFFNN model proved its superior correlation evaluations, surpassing the performance of ant lion optimizer based on random forest (ALORF) model, two stages of ANN (ALO2ANN) model, long short-term memory (LSTM), gated recurrent unit (GRU), extreme learning machine (ELM), least square support vector machine (LSSVM), and convolutional neural network (CNN) models. The MATLAB code of the IMGO is free available at: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/177214-improved-mgo-method.
{"title":"A novel prediction of the PV system output current based on integration of optimized hyperparameters of multi-layer neural networks and polynomial regression models","authors":"Hussein Mohammed Ridha , Hashim Hizam , Seyedali Mirjalili , Mohammad Lutfi Othman , Mohammad Effendy Ya’acob , Noor Izzri Bin Abdul Wahab , Masoud Ahmadipour","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100256","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100256","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The renewable energy system has yielded substantial enhancements to worldwide power generation. Therefore, precise prediction of long-term renewable energy conductivity is vital for grid system. This study introduces a new predictive output current for the photovoltaic (PV) system using actual experimental data. This research proposes three key contributions: The IMGO method is enhanced using several hybrid tactics to improve local search capabilities and increase exploration of significant regions within the feature space. Subsequently, the architecture of the multilayer feedforward artificial neural network is developed. The IMGO is employed to determine the appropriate hyperparameters of the model, ranging from the number of neurons in the hidden layers and learning rate. The Bayesian regularization backpropagation procedure is applied to update the weights and bias of the network. The proposed IMGO<sub>MFFNN</sub> model is ultimately combined with Polynomial regression model to improve the predictability of the PV system. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed IMGO algorithm is very effective in addressing complex problems with high accuracy, capability, and speedy convergence. The proposed hybrid IMGO<sub>PMFFNN</sub> model proved its superior correlation evaluations, surpassing the performance of ant lion optimizer based on random forest (ALO<sub>RF</sub>) model, two stages of ANN (ALO<sub>2ANN</sub>) model, long short-term memory (LSTM), gated recurrent unit (GRU), extreme learning machine (ELM), least square support vector machine (LSSVM), and convolutional neural network (CNN) models. The MATLAB code of the IMGO is free available at: <span><span>https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/177214-improved-mgo-method</span><svg><path></path></svg></span>.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100256"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143488234","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Green hydrogen is a cleaner source to replace fossil-based fuels and is critical in the global shift toward energy production to combat climate change. This review of embedding artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in the value chain of green hydrogen outlines the significant potential for full transformation. These include optimizing the utilization of renewable sources of energy, improving electrolysis process, hydrogen storage in the salt cavern that has better condition, and smarter systems in distribution side with inexpensive logistics. In this, it nullifies leak risks and safeguards the safety operations with detection using AI. Consequently, it positions the paper emphasizing AI-ML approaches demonstrating significant advancements in efficiency and sustainability in green hydrogen technology.
{"title":"AI-ML techniques for green hydrogen: A comprehensive review","authors":"Mamta Motiramani , Priyanshi Solanki , Vidhi Patel , Tamanna Talreja , Nainsiben Patel , Divya Chauhan , Alok Kumar Singh","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100252","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100252","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Green hydrogen is a cleaner source to replace fossil-based fuels and is critical in the global shift toward energy production to combat climate change. This review of embedding artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in the value chain of green hydrogen outlines the significant potential for full transformation. These include optimizing the utilization of renewable sources of energy, improving electrolysis process, hydrogen storage in the salt cavern that has better condition, and smarter systems in distribution side with inexpensive logistics. In this, it nullifies leak risks and safeguards the safety operations with detection using AI. Consequently, it positions the paper emphasizing AI-ML approaches demonstrating significant advancements in efficiency and sustainability in green hydrogen technology.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100252"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143488233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-22DOI: 10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100253
Wenyan Zhang , Weidong Tao , Yihan Wang , Chaoqun Jiang , Hangmin Guan , Yingfei Hu , Wenjie Tian , Linyun Hao
The increasing global dependence on fossil fuels has led to significant energy crises and environmental issues, highlighting the urgent need for renewable energy sources such as hydrogen. This study presents the development of plasma-treated carbon fiber loaded with Pt (P-CF@Pt) to improve photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. The plasma treatment creates surface functional groups that enhance the hydrophilicity of the carbon fibers (CFs), promoting better dispersion in liquid reaction systems and facilitating Pt loading. This interaction between the treated CF surface and the Pt sites significantly boosts charge separation and catalytic performance, resulting in improved photovoltage, lower onset potential for proton reduction, and enhanced electron transport. The P-CF@Pt composite demonstrates better photocatalytic efficiency compared to untreated CF, achieving a 23% increase in hydrogen production. These findings underscore the promise of utilizing plasma-treated CFs in the development of cost-effective and scalable photocatalytic systems for hydrogen generation.
{"title":"Transforming waste into resource: Enhanced hydrogen evolution with plasma-treated carbon fiber","authors":"Wenyan Zhang , Weidong Tao , Yihan Wang , Chaoqun Jiang , Hangmin Guan , Yingfei Hu , Wenjie Tian , Linyun Hao","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100253","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100253","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The increasing global dependence on fossil fuels has led to significant energy crises and environmental issues, highlighting the urgent need for renewable energy sources such as hydrogen. This study presents the development of plasma-treated carbon fiber loaded with Pt (P-CF@Pt) to improve photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. The plasma treatment creates surface functional groups that enhance the hydrophilicity of the carbon fibers (CFs), promoting better dispersion in liquid reaction systems and facilitating Pt loading. This interaction between the treated CF surface and the Pt sites significantly boosts charge separation and catalytic performance, resulting in improved photovoltage, lower onset potential for proton reduction, and enhanced electron transport. The P-CF@Pt composite demonstrates better photocatalytic efficiency compared to untreated CF, achieving a 23% increase in hydrogen production. These findings underscore the promise of utilizing plasma-treated CFs in the development of cost-effective and scalable photocatalytic systems for hydrogen generation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100253"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143471438","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Electronic structures were calculated by CRYSTAL14 code for the layered cathode materials LiMO2 (M=Al, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn). Mülliken population and Compton profile analysis showed that the redox orbitals are dominated by the O 2p states. The voltages of the redox reaction for LixMO2 were estimated from the analysis of the calculated Compton profiles. The estimated voltages agreed with the previous report. This study shows that Compton profile measurement can be a new nondestructive testing tool for the measurement of the local voltage in a lithium-ion battery.
{"title":"Voltage estimation of layered cathode materials LiMO2 (M=Al, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn) for lithium-ion batteries by using Compton profiles","authors":"Chunxia Gong , Hiroshi Sakurai , Yosuke Amada , Tomoya Ando , Manabu Takahashi","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100249","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100249","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Electronic structures were calculated by CRYSTAL14 code for the layered cathode materials LiMO<sub>2</sub> (M=Al, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn). Mülliken population and Compton profile analysis showed that the redox orbitals are dominated by the O 2<em>p</em> states. The voltages of the redox reaction for Li<sub>x</sub>MO<sub>2</sub> were estimated from the analysis of the calculated Compton profiles. The estimated voltages agreed with the previous report. This study shows that Compton profile measurement can be a new nondestructive testing tool for the measurement of the local voltage in a lithium-ion battery.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100249"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143429545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-18DOI: 10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100248
Jin Hee Lee , Merve Nur Ekmekci , Yeasin Khan , Bright Walker , Jung Hwa Seo
This study investigates the application of new hole transport layers (HTLs) integrating magnesium and palladium metals with the organic polymer poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) in organic solar cells (OSCs). When used alone, these HTLs exhibited various drawbacks; however, blending them with the benchmark material PEDOT:PSS mitigated these issues and improved efficiency. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements provided a detailed understanding of the interfacial energy level alignment, electronic band structure, and band bending at the HTL/PTB7 interface. Single Mg:PSS and Pd:PSS OSCs showed efficiencies of 6.232 and 5.836%, respectively. The relatively low open-circuit voltage (VOC) and fill factor (FF) were attributed to Auger recombination under light intensity. UPS and XPS also indicated that the hole extraction capability of PTB7 was hindered, leading to recombination at the barrier. By blending with PEDOT:PSS, the efficiencies of Mg:PSS and Pd:PSS were improved to 8.356 and 8.303%, respectively. This improvement was due to reduced current leakage, resulting from higher shunt resistance and lower series resistance, as observed in dark current measurements. Additionally, the formation of ohmic contacts at the HTL/PTB7 interface enhanced hole extraction and reduced recombination. This study underscores the potential of mixed organic-metal HTL structures in OSCs to modulate energy band structures, providing insights into the selection of metal-organic combinations for optimizing OSC efficiency and performance.
{"title":"Enhanced p-doping and efficiency in organic solar cells using Mg and Pd ions at the HTL/PTB7 interface","authors":"Jin Hee Lee , Merve Nur Ekmekci , Yeasin Khan , Bright Walker , Jung Hwa Seo","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100248","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100248","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the application of new hole transport layers (HTLs) integrating magnesium and palladium metals with the organic polymer poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) in organic solar cells (OSCs). When used alone, these HTLs exhibited various drawbacks; however, blending them with the benchmark material PEDOT:PSS mitigated these issues and improved efficiency. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements provided a detailed understanding of the interfacial energy level alignment, electronic band structure, and band bending at the HTL/PTB7 interface. Single Mg:PSS and Pd:PSS OSCs showed efficiencies of 6.232 and 5.836%, respectively. The relatively low open-circuit voltage (V<sub>OC</sub>) and fill factor (FF) were attributed to Auger recombination under light intensity. UPS and XPS also indicated that the hole extraction capability of PTB7 was hindered, leading to recombination at the barrier. By blending with PEDOT:PSS, the efficiencies of Mg:PSS and Pd:PSS were improved to 8.356 and 8.303%, respectively. This improvement was due to reduced current leakage, resulting from higher shunt resistance and lower series resistance, as observed in dark current measurements. Additionally, the formation of ohmic contacts at the HTL/PTB7 interface enhanced hole extraction and reduced recombination. This study underscores the potential of mixed organic-metal HTL structures in OSCs to modulate energy band structures, providing insights into the selection of metal-organic combinations for optimizing OSC efficiency and performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100248"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143429546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Methanotrophs with other methane-assimilating microbes, are of prime importance due to their role in methane fixation, which helps to mitigate elevated atmospheric methane concentrations. With soaring demands of energy sector, major and foremost product of methane oxidation is biomethanol used as a biofuel which is catalyzed by the methane monooxgenases. Inherent methane oxidation capacity assists to palliate environmental distress, dependency on conventional non-renewable resources for chemical production processes. Sustainable future demands the energy rich molecules to be synthesised with least carbon emission. Many technologies have been developed and explored for methane-oxidizing systems, which looks to be lucrative towards establishing as biorefinery for manufacturing various chemicals ranging from energy rich molecules, fine chemicals, novel compounds, and nutraceuticals. Methane monooxygenases, the catalytic apparatus for methane oxidation, have added insights into comprehensive understanding; underpinning methanotrophs as valuable platform for biomanufacturing via mitigating methane footprint into drop-in fuels and high value biomolecules. The availability of modern molecular technologies based on synthetic biology and modern omics studies demonstrated methanotrophs can be efficient manufacturing platforms for producing novel products and tailoring at molecular level achieved better titre. Realizing the importance of the methane-based economy, this review focusses on summarizing basics of the methanotrophic systems, their catalytic machinery for methane capture via methane monooxygenase system etc. Further, this review includes the recent advancements while emphasizing on the foremost biofuel entity, i.e. methanol, production by methanotrophs. Later part is focused on their application as biocatalysts and biorefineries to produce various valuable molecules such as drop-in-fuels and platform chemicals.
{"title":"Microbial methanotrophy: Methane capture to biomanufacturing of platform chemicals and fuels","authors":"Tanushree Baldeo Madavi , Sushma Chauhan , Vini Madathil , Mugesh Sankaranarayanan , Balakrishnan Navina , Nandha Kumar Velmurugan , Kwon-Young Choi , Harinarayana Ankamareddy , Hemasundar Alavilli , Sudheer D.V.N. Pamidimarri","doi":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100251","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nxener.2025.100251","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Methanotrophs with other methane-assimilating microbes, are of prime importance due to their role in methane fixation, which helps to mitigate elevated atmospheric methane concentrations. With soaring demands of energy sector, major and foremost product of methane oxidation is biomethanol used as a biofuel which is catalyzed by the methane monooxgenases. Inherent methane oxidation capacity assists to palliate environmental distress, dependency on conventional non-renewable resources for chemical production processes. Sustainable future demands the energy rich molecules to be synthesised with least carbon emission. Many technologies have been developed and explored for methane-oxidizing systems, which looks to be lucrative towards establishing as biorefinery for manufacturing various chemicals ranging from energy rich molecules, fine chemicals, novel compounds, and nutraceuticals. Methane monooxygenases, the catalytic apparatus for methane oxidation, have added insights into comprehensive understanding; underpinning methanotrophs as valuable platform for biomanufacturing via mitigating methane footprint into drop-in fuels and high value biomolecules. The availability of modern molecular technologies based on synthetic biology and modern omics studies demonstrated methanotrophs can be efficient manufacturing platforms for producing novel products and tailoring at molecular level achieved better titre. Realizing the importance of the methane-based economy, this review focusses on summarizing basics of the methanotrophic systems, their catalytic machinery for methane capture via methane monooxygenase system etc. Further, this review includes the recent advancements while emphasizing on the foremost biofuel entity, i.e. methanol, production by methanotrophs. Later part is focused on their application as biocatalysts and biorefineries to produce various valuable molecules such as drop-in-fuels and platform chemicals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100957,"journal":{"name":"Next Energy","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100251"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143430038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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