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Xiaoyuan Ye, Yuchen Dong, Ziying Zhang, et al. Syngas production by photoreforming of formic acid with 2D VxW1–xN1.5 solid solution as an effcient cocatalyst. p640-649
In the pursuit of eco-friendly energy solutions, leveraging green technologies to synthesize pivotal industrial raw materials such as carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H₂) is imperative for future progress. Formic acid (HCOOH, FA) emerges as a significant energy carrier, rich in CO (60 wt.%) and H₂ (4.4
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Bio-oil from biomass pyrolysis cannot directly substitute traditional fuel due to compositional deficiencies. Catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) is the critical and efficient step to upgrade crude bio-oil to high-quality bio-jet fuel by lowering the oxygen content and increasing the heating value. However, the hydrocracking reaction tends to reduce the liquid yield and increase the gas yield, causing carbon loss and producing hydrocarbons with a short carbon-chain. To obtain high-yield bio-jet fuel, the elucidation of the conversion process of biomass catalytic HDO is important in providing guidance for metal catalyst design and optimization of reaction conditions. Considering the complexity of crude bio-oil, this review aimed to investigate the catalytic HDO pathways with model compounds that present typical bio-oil components. First, it provided a comprehensive summary of the impact of physical and electronic structures of both noble and non-noble metals that include monometallic and bimetallic supported catalysts on regulating the conversion pathways and resulting product selectivity. The subsequent first principle calculations further corroborated reaction pathways of model compounds in atom-level on different catalyst surfaces with the experiments above and illustrated the favored C–O/C=O scission orders thermodynamically and kinetically. Then, it discussed hydrogenation effects of different H-donors (such as hydrogen and methane) and catalysts deactivation for economical and industrial consideration. Based on the descriptions above and recent researches, it also elaborated on catalytic HDO of biomass and bio-oil with multi-functional catalysts. Finally, it presented the challenges and future prospective of biomass catalytic HDO.
Solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) is a promising water electrolysis technology that produces hydrogen or syngas through water electrolysis or water and carbon dioxide co-electrolysis. Green hydrogen or syngas can be produced by SOEC with renewable energy. Thus, SOEC has attracted continuous attention in recent years for the urgency of developing environmentally friendly energy sources and achieving carbon neutrality. Focusing on 1276 related articles retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database, the historical development of SOECs are depicted from 1983 to 2023 in this paper. The co-occurrence networks of the countries, source journals, and author keywords are generated. Moreover, three main clusters showing different content of the SOEC research are identified and analyzed. Furthermore, the scientometric analysis and the content of the high-cited articles of the research of different topics of SOECs: fuel electrode, air electrode, electrolyte, co-electrolysis, proton-conducting SOECs, and the modeling of SOECs are also presented. The results show that co-electrolysis and proton-conducting SOECs are two popular directions in the study of SOECs. This paper provides a straightforward reference for researchers interested in the field of SOEC research, helping them navigate the landscape of this area of study, locate potential partners, secure funding, discover influential scholars, identify leading countries, and access key research publications.
In recent years, the rapid development of portable/wearable electronics has created an urgent need for the development of flexible energy storage devices. Flexible lithium-ion batteries (FLIBs) have emerged as the most attractive and versatile flexible electronic storage devices available. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are hollow-structured tubular nanomaterials with high electrical conductivity, large specific surface area, and excellent mechanical properties. Graphene (G) is to some extent comparable to CNTs, because both have unlimited value in flexible electrodes. Herein, a systematic summary of the application of CNT and G in FLIBs electrodes is presented, including different functional applications and services at different temperatures. Furthermore, the effects of electrode structures, including powder, wire-shaped, and film-shaped structures, on electrochemical properties is highlighted. The assembly structures of the FLIBs consisting of CNT and G-based flexible electrodes to realize different functions, including bendability, stretchability, foldability, self-healing, and self-detecting, are systematically reviewed. The current challenges and development prospects of flexible CNT and G-based flexible electrodes and corresponding FLIBs are discussed.
Formic acid (FA) is a potential biomass resource of syngas with contents of carbon monoxide (CO, 60 wt.%) and hydrogen (H2, 4.4 wt.%). Among the technologies for FA conversion, the photoreforming of FA has received widespread attention due to its use of green solar energy conversion technology and mild reaction conditions. Herein, a V–W bimetallic solid solution, VxW1−xN1.5 with efficient co-catalytic properties was first and facilely synthesized. When CdS was used as a photocatalyst, the activity performance of the V0.1W0.9N1.5 system was over 60% higher than that of the W2N3 system. The computational simulations and experiments showed the V0.1W0.9N1.5 had great metallic features and large work functions, contributing a faster photo-generated carrier transfer and less recombination, finally facilitating a great performance in cocatalyst for syngas production in photoreforming FA. This work provides an approach to synthesizing novel transition metal nitrides for photocatalysis.
In modern alkaline batteries, the zinc anode is the performance-limiting and lifetime-limiting electrode, making the choice of zinc powder critical. Due to the various material fabrication processes that are used to manufacture industrial zinc powder, there exists a wide array of possible zinc particle shapes, sizes, and crystallinities. These industrial zinc powders are typically conceived, produced, and tested through trial-and-error processes using historical “rules of thumb.” However, a data-driven approach could more effectively elucidate the optimum combination of zinc particle properties. In this paper, the effect of Zn particle size, shape, and crystallinity on the achievable capacity and corrosion current is investigated. The Zn types are tested in both powder and slurry form. Following the data collection, a factorial-based statistical analysis is performed to determine the most statistically significant variables affecting capacity and corrosion. This information is then used to down-select to a subset of particles that are tested in cylindrical cells with an AA-equivalent geometry. The reported technique can be used to develop actionable principles for battery manufacturers to create cells that are more stable, longer lasting, and have higher energy densities.
This paper proposes a new power generating system that combines wind power (WP), photovoltaic (PV), trough concentrating solar power (CSP) with a supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) Brayton power cycle, a thermal energy storage (TES), and an electric heater (EH) subsystem. The wind power/photovoltaic/concentrating solar power (WP−PV−CSP) with the S-CO2 Brayton cycle system is powered by renewable energy. Then, it constructs a bi-level capacity-operation collaborative optimization model and proposes a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II) nested linear programming (LP) algorithm to solve this optimization problem, aiming to obtain a set of optimal capacity configurations that balance carbon emissions, economics, and operation scheduling. Afterwards, using Zhangbei area, a place in China which has significant wind and solar energy resources as a practical application case, it utilizes a bi-level optimization model to improve the capacity and annual load scheduling of the system. Finally, it establishes three reference systems to compare the annual operating characteristics of the WP−PV−CSP (S-CO2) system, highlighting the benefits of adopting the S-CO2 Brayton cycle and equipping the system with EH. After capacity-operation collaborative optimization, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and carbon emissions of the WP−PV−CSP (S-CO2) system are decreased by 3.43% and 92.13%, respectively, compared to the reference system without optimization.
As a clean and efficient renewable energy source, solar energy has been rapidly applied worldwide. The growth rate of China’s installed capacity ranks first in the world. However, the life span of photovoltaic (PV) modules is 25 to 30 years, and the rapid development of installed capacity indicates that a large number of PV modules will be decommissioned in the future. Therefore, the ongoing treatment of the scrapped PV waste cells in the near future requires urgent plans and countermeasures. Proper recycling and disposal of decommissioned PV modules is a practical requirement for the sustainable development of the country and industry. Crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells currently occupy 85%–90% of the market share, and some scholars have begun to seek the utilization pathways of the waste Si in and outside the PV industry. In this paper, the research status of the separation and recycling process of crystalline Si PV modules is reviewed, and the recycling ways of crystalline silicon are particularly focused on. In addition, the current bottlenecks in the PV recycling industry in China are analyzed and some suggestions on the sustainable development of the PV industry are proposed.
Developing efficient anode catalysts for direct ammonia solid oxide fuel cells (NH3-SOFCs) under intermediate-temperatures is of great importance, in support of hydrogen economy via ammonia utilization. In the present work, the pyrochlore-type La2Zr2–xNixO7+δ (LZNx, x = 0, 0.02, 0.05, 0.08, 0.10) oxides were synthesized as potential anode catalysts of NH3-SOFCs due to the abundant Frankel defect that contributes to the good conductivity and oxygen ion mobility capacity. The effects of different content of Ni2+ doping on the crystal structure, surface morphology, thermal matching with YSZ (Yttria-stabilized zirconia), conductivity, and electrochemical performance of pyrochlore oxides were examined using different characterization techniques. The findings indicate that the LZNx oxide behaves as an n-type semiconductor and exhibits an excellent high-temperature chemical compatibility and thermal matching with the YSZ electrolyte. Furthermore, LZN0.05 exhibits the smallest conductive band potential and bandgap, making it have a higher power density as anode material for NH3-SOFCs compared to other anodes. As a result, the maximum power density of the LZN0.05-40YSZ composite anode reaches 100.86 mW/cm2 at 800 °C, which is 1.8 times greater than that of NiO-based NH3-SOFCs (56.75 mW/cm2) under identical flow rate and temperature conditions. The extended durability indicates that the NH3-SOFCs utilizing the LZN0.05-40YSZ composite anode exhibits a negligible voltage degradation following uninterrupted operation at 800 °C for 100 h.
