Current Opinion in Electrochemistry最新文献

Solid state electrolyte (SSE) is the key component in all solid-state batteries (ASSBs). However, the high entropy and high enthalpy features make SSEs only stable at relevant high temperatures. When the temperature drops, a phase transition or decomposition would happen, resulting in much lower ionic conductivity. This limits the development and diversity of SSEs. Additionally, the decrease in ionic conductivity caused by phase transition also significantly affects the electrochemical performance of all solid-state batteries at low temperatures. Therefore, the study and regulation of phase transitions in SSEs are of great significance for the development of new SSEs and the improvement of the electrochemical performance of ASSBs at low temperatures. In this review, we mainly summarize the phase transitions in superionic conductors, techniques to determine such transitions, and methods to stabilize those metastable phases at room temperature. Additionally, we will give a possible experimental approach to new superionic conductors.

Photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria and algae engage in extracellular electron transport, secreting electrons derived from photosynthesis to the cell exterior. This process can be drastically enhanced towards the development of novel biotechnologies for clean energy production, but it is still underperforming by orders of magnitude compared to theoretical limits. Research in this area is improving photocurrent outputs through genetic engineering, the addition of redox- and conductive-polymers, the use of diffusional redox mediators, electrode design, and expanding the selection of microorganisms used to generate photocurrents. This review covers the most promising research from the last two years that has sought to understand the mechanisms of photocurrent generation and increase the magnitude of photocurrent outputs. Areas of research that showed the most progress recently include those that interrogate the biotic–abiotic interface and those that take a generalised approach to testing the contributions of cells, electrodes, polymers, and mediators systematically under standardised conditions.

Conventional techniques for treating wastewater consume significant amounts of energy and depending on effectiveness, may result in secondary contamination. In this regard, the microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology has shown much promise as a revolutionary wastewater treatment + energy generation hybrid. This is due to the unique ability of electroactive organisms to generate direct electricity, recovering electrons from the breakdown and consumption of organic compounds in wastewater. This article critically assesses the current development of MFC technology, particularly in the last two years, focussing on the technology's economic and environmental feasibility. Even though there is a significant body of literature on MFCs with continuously increasing performance levels, the technology has not yet got fully commercialised to form part of urban planning or energy policy; this implies a lack of government consideration as a result of the absence of industrial scale research. The article presents the case for MFCs from a technology readiness level and life cycle assessment perspectives and explains why it is still premature to draw conclusions based on these two metrics.

Renewable methanol is deemed as efficient, low-cost, and a safe alternative to fossil fuels due to easy of handling, storage, and transportation beside versatility of production methods from earth-abundant feedstocks. Green methanol is produced form biomethanol (i.e. gasification of biomass and agricultural wastes) and e-methanol (i.e. CO₂ captured and green hydrogen from electrolysis). Owing to the ceaseless progress rational design of electrocatalysts for biomethanol and e-methanol production, it is important to provide timely update on this area. This minireview discusses the main merits and production methods of methanol, its electro-oxidation, and the recent advances in the electrocatalysis of renewable methanol synthesis. Moreover, the current challenges and future scenarios for attaining sustainable large-scale green methanol are discussed.

Long-chain hydrocarbons and oxygenates are used as fuels as well as in many daily applications. The majority of these molecules are derived from fossil fuels, which is a non-renewable commodity. The electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction (eCO₂RR) has been recently found promising in producing C₄₊ molecules. Herein, we summarize recent works on this topic. The design of C₄₊-producing catalysts is compared with those that produce C₁–C₃ products. Mechanisms for the C–C coupling step are reviewed.

Over the past decade, one of the main challenges in the industry concerns reusing/recycling wastewater, mainly due to its high treatment cost and complexity. The integration of waste-to-hydrogen strategy proposes a potential revalorization of waste into value-added products towards a circular economy model. Integrating industrial wastewater (IWW) electrolysis into the supply chain potentially represents a sustainable approach for H₂ production and wastewater treatment. This critical review analyses the current status and evaluates the main variables of a hydrogen production model using diverse IWW typologies in contrast to electrolytic water splitting and electrolysis of conventional organic compounds. Considering future prospects, further studies are highly required to assess the optimal configuration for each IWW with a well-balanced cost-sustainability-efficiency performance.

The desire for fast-charging Li-ion batteries is uncontestable and will continue to rise with the interest in electric vehicles. Specifically, the development of batteries that can be charged in minutes would greatly motivate the change from fossil energies to greener electric ones. A cornerstone to this development is an increase in the ionic and electronic conductivity of the electrodes. This review covers recent developments in this area, from microscale approaches that include coating the active particles with electron conductors or alternatively coating the electronic conductor scaffoldings with active particles to mesoscale designs, where optimizing the electrode structure enables shorter ionic and electronic pathways.

This mini-review discusses recent advancements in the single-entity electrochemistry technique for the analysis of catalytic activities of single redox protein molecules, highlighting papers of interest from the past three years. The diverse detection and experimental strategies, as well as the theoretical frameworks enabling the analysis of experimental data, are presented. Additionally, insights that can be obtained from comparing single-entity protein electrochemistry with protein film electrochemistry data are discussed.

Despite the noteworthy progress in Single Entity Electrochemistry (SEE) in the last decade, the field still must undergo further advancements to attain the requisite maturity for facilitating and propelling machine learning (ML)-based discoveries. This mini-review presents an analysis of the required developments in the domain, using the success of AlphaFold in biology as a benchmark for future progress. The first essential requirement is the creation and support of high-quality, centralized, and open-access databases on the electrochemical properties of single entities. This should be facilitated through the automation and standardization of experiments, promoting high-throughput output and facilitating comparison between datasets. Finally, the creation of a new type of interdisciplinary specialist, trained to pinpoint critical issues in SEE and implement solutions from applied informatics, is vital for ML approaches to flourish in the SEE field.

Unraveling electrocatalytic processes and mechanisms enables the rational design of high-performance electrocatalysts. Unambiguous insights demand nanometric morphological information of catalysts during electrocatalysis. Electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy (EC-STM) effectively achieves this goal by probing the atomic and molecular structure of active sites under real reaction conditions. To date, EC-STM has helped to understand the distribution of highly active sites, adsorption, and transformation of reactants, and the structural evolution of catalysts during electrocatalytic reactions such as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR), and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This review article highlights the pioneering work of EC-STM in electrocatalysis and discusses the enormous potential of EC-STM to shed light on controversial issues in the future.