Synthesis of amorphous and graphitized porous nitrogen-doped carbon spheres as oxygen reduction reaction catalysts

• Maximilian Wassner,
• Markus Eckardt,
• Andreas Reyer,
• Thomas Diemant,
• Michael S. Elsaesser,
• R. Jürgen Behm and
• Nicola Hüsing

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1–15, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.1

• microporosity of the materials is critical for an efficient ORR. Keywords: amorphous carbon; graphitized carbon; hydrothermal carbonization; nitridation; nitrogen doping; oxygen reduction reaction (ORR); porosity; Introduction Fuel cells and metal–air batteries are important renewable energy technologies

Polyvinylpyrrolidone as additive for perovskite solar cells with water and isopropanol as solvents

• Chen Du,
• Shuo Wang,
• Xu Miao,
• Wenhai Sun,
• Yu Zhu,
• Chengyan Wang and
• Ruixin Ma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2374–2382, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.228

• cells; polyvinylpyrrolidone; Introduction Due to the restrictions imposed by resources and the environment on the use of fossil fuels, in recent years, clean renewable energy technologies have received increasing attention, which has also driven the growth of the photovoltaic industry [1][2][3][4]. The

A novel all-fiber-based LiFePO₄/Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ battery with self-standing nanofiber membrane electrodes

• Li-li Chen,
• Hua Yang,
• Mao-xiang Jing,
• Chong Han,
• Fei Chen,
• Xin-yu Hu,
• Wei-yong Yuan,
• Shan-shan Yao and
• Xiang-qian Shen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2229–2237, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.215

• network; electrospinning; flexible electrodes; lithium ion battery; nanofiber; self-standing electrodes; Introduction With the rapid development of renewable energy technologies, electric vehicles and electronic devices, energy storage technology has become a focus of global research [1][2][3][4][5][6][7

Tuning the performance of vanadium redox flow batteries by modifying the structural defects of the carbon felt electrode

• Ditty Dixon,
• Deepu Joseph Babu,
• Aiswarya Bhaskar,
• Hans-Michael Bruns,
• Joerg J. Schneider,
• Frieder Scheiba and
• Helmut Ehrenberg

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1698–1706, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.165

• energy from renewable sources is intermittent by nature. The intermittent nature of such energy production can lead to the destabilization of the grid. This issue demands the development of durable and efficient electrical energy storage systems which can store the excess electrical energy from renewable

• energy sources during peak production and supply the stored energy to the grid during a depletion in the production. In this context, the all-vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) is one of the most promising and flexible stationary electrical energy storage systems. Unlike Pb acid, Li-ion batteries or even

Flexible freestanding MoS₂-based composite paper for energy conversion and storage

• Florian Zoller,
• Jan Luxa,
• Thomas Bein,
• Dina Fattakhova-Rohlfing,
• Daniel Bouša and
• Zdeněk Sofer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1488–1496, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.147

• for energy. Due to the well-known problem of global warming, there are efforts to shift energy production from burning fossil fuels towards renewable energy sources. However, most of the established renewable energy sources are not suitable to meet the energy consumption requirements today. Hence

Alloyed Pt₃M (M = Co, Ni) nanoparticles supported on S- and N-doped carbon nanotubes for the oxygen reduction reaction

• Stéphane Louisia,
• Yohann R. J. Thomas,
• Pierre Lecante,
• Marie Heitzmann,
• M. Rosa Axet,
• Pierre-André Jacques and
• Philippe Serp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1251–1269, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.125

• promising technologies in the field of renewable energy (and especially for transport applications), but the cost and lifetime are factors still to be improved in order to achieve widespread dissemination of this technology [1][2]. Due to the sluggish reaction kinetics for the ORR, the cathode active layer

Playing with covalent triazine framework tiles for improved CO₂ adsorption properties and catalytic performance

• Giulia Tuci,
• Andree Iemhoff,
• Housseinou Ba,
• Lapo Luconi,
• Andrea Rossin,
• Vasiliki Papaefthimiou,
• Regina Palkovits,
• Jens Artz,
• Cuong Pham-Huu and
• Giuliano Giambastiani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1217–1227, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.121

• -pressure CO2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, heats of adsorption (Qst), CO2 and N2 adsorption isotherms at 298 K, TPO and PXRD analyses. Supporting Information File 246: Additional experimental data. Acknowledgements G. G. and C. P.-H. thank the TRAINER project (Catalysts for Transition to Renewable

• Energy Future) of the “Make our Planet Great Again” program (Ref. ANR-17-MPGA-0017) for support. The Italian team would also like to thank the Italian MIUR through the PRIN 2015 Project SMARTNESS (2015K7FZLH) “Solar driven chemistry: new materials for photo- and electrocatalysis” for financial support to

Photoactive nanoarchitectures based on clays incorporating TiO₂ and ZnO nanoparticles

• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky,
• Pilar Aranda,
• Marwa Akkari,
• Nithima Khaorapapong and
• Makoto Ogawa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1140–1156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.114

• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky Pilar Aranda Marwa Akkari Nithima Khaorapapong Makoto Ogawa Materials Science Institute of Madrid, CSIC, C/ Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 3, Cantoblanco, 28027 Madrid, Spain Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Renewable Energy Systems. Research and Technology Center of Energy, Borj

Concurrent nanoscale surface etching and SnO₂ loading of carbon fibers for vanadium ion redox enhancement

• Jun Maruyama,
• Shohei Maruyama,
• Tomoko Fukuhara,
• Toru Nagaoka and
• Kei Hanafusa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 985–992, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.99

• XPS spectra, deconvoluted O 1s XPS spectra, and the content of surface oxygen species. Acknowledgements This study is part of the research project “Enhancement of technology dealing with surplus electricity by renewable energy” financially supported by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

Renewable energy conversion using nano- and microstructured materials

• Harry Mönig and
• Martina Schmid

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 771–773, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.76

• ; energy storage; light harvesting; renewable energy; solar cells; The imposing environmental and economic challenges due to climate change have become a major topic of discussion on the global political agenda. Effectively reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and decreasing air pollution in

• metropolitan areas requires a paradigm shift away from the conventional practise of fossil fuel combustion. Therefore, the development of new technologies based on renewable energy conversion should be one of the major goals of the global society. The Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology thematic issue “Nano

Towards rare-earth-free white light-emitting diode devices based on the combination of dicyanomethylene and pyranine as organic dyes supported on zinc single-layered hydroxide

• Jeff L. Nyalosaso,
• Rachod Boonsin,
• Pierre Vialat,
• Damien Boyer,
• Geneviève Chadeyron,
• Rachid Mahiou and
• Fabrice Leroux

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 760–770, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.75

• advances have been made for efficient blue LEDs, currently the research on white LEDs is mainly focused on the development of rare-earth-free phosphors [2][3]. The worldwide demand for rare-earth elements (REEs), especially within the sectors of renewable energy, military, and consumer electronics, is

An iridescent film of porous anodic aluminum oxide with alternatingly electrodeposited Cu and SiO₂ nanoparticles

• Menglei Chang,
• Huawen Hu,
• Haiyan Quan,
• Hongyang Wei,
• Zhangyi Xiong,
• Jiacong Lu,
• Pin Luo,
• Yaoheng Liang,
• Jianzhen Ou and
• Dongchu Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 735–745, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.73

• Department of Education of Guangdong Province (2016GCZX008), the Featured Innovation Project of the Department of Education of Guangdong Province (2017KTSCX188), and the Open Research Foundation of Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New and Renewable Energy Research and Development (Y807s31001).

Development of an anti-pollution coating process technology for the application of an on-site PV module

• Sejin Jung,
• Wonseok Choi,
• Jung Hyun Kim and
• Jang Myoun Ko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 332–336, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.32

• renewable energy sources that can replace fossil energy is required. Solar energy represents the highest proportion among the renewable energy sources, and it can produce clean electricity without noise or by-products [1][2]. Photovoltaic (PV) modules are installed outdoors and are thus exposed to various

Nanoporous water oxidation electrodes with a low loading of laser-deposited Ru/C exhibit enhanced corrosion stability

• Sandra Haschke,
• Dmitrii Pankin,
• Vladimir Mikhailovskii,
• Maïssa K. S. Barr,
• Adriana Both-Engel,
• Alina Manshina and
• Julien Bachmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 157–167, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.15

• ; Introduction The replacement of fossil fuels as the dominant global source of power by renewable energy sources has been and still is one of the major scientific and technological challenges faced by mankind. Among conceivable alternative energy sources, solar energy is the most suitable candidate due to its

• 16: Additional experimental data. Acknowledgements We thank A. Vasileva (Saint-Petersburg State University) for her support with laser deposition and Prof. K. Mayrhofer (Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy) for the use of the X-ray photoelectron spectrometer. This work was

Amorphous Ni_xCo_yP-supported TiO₂ nanotube arrays as an efficient hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalyst in acidic solution

• Yong Li,
• Peng Yang,
• Bin Wang and
• Zhongqing Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 62–70, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.6

• , which is an improvment of 79% over that of 1.07 V at 10 mA cm−2. Keywords: electrocatalysis; electrodeposition; HER; NiCoP bimetallic phosphides; Introduction Significant research efforts have been invested in the electrochemical splitting of water using renewable energy to attempt to overcome the

Localized photodeposition of catalysts using nanophotonic resonances in silicon photocathodes

• Evgenia Kontoleta,
• Sven H. C. Askes,
• Lai-Hung Lai and
• Erik C. Garnett

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2097–2105, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.198

• population remind us of the importance of finding new, clean pathways to cover our energy needs. Fuel generation from renewable energy resources could be one of the “clean” approaches for meeting our energy requirements. Although, sunlight is the most abundant source of green energy, its long-term storage is

A scanning probe microscopy study of nanostructured TiO₂/poly(3-hexylthiophene) hybrid heterojunctions for photovoltaic applications

• Laurie Letertre,
• Roland Roche,
• Olivier Douhéret,
• Hailu G. Kassa,
• Denis Mariolle,
• Nicolas Chevalier,
• Łukasz Borowik,
• Philippe Dumas,
• Benjamin Grévin,
• Roberto Lazzaroni and
• Philippe Leclère

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2087–2096, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.197

• production of renewable energy [1]. Inorganic photovoltaic cells are currently the most employed PV devices with a power efficiency ranging from 20 to 40% [2] and a long-term stability up to 20 years [3]. However, a number of drawbacks affect those technologies. Indeed, in addition to high energy consumption

Direct AFM-based nanoscale mapping and tomography of open-circuit voltages for photovoltaics

• Katherine Atamanuk,
• Justin Luria and
• Bryan D. Huey

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1802–1808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.171

• acknowledges support from the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy, Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Postdoctoral Research Awards under the SunShot Solar Energy Technologies Program.

Cr(VI) remediation from aqueous environment through modified-TiO₂-mediated photocatalytic reduction

• Rashmi Acharya,
• Brundabana Naik and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1448–1470, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.137

• friendly manner [26][27][28][29]. This process involves: (i) generation of renewable energy such as H2 and O2 by photoelectrochemical water splitting [30][31][32], (ii) photocatalytic CO2 conversion [33][34][35][36][37], (iii) photocatalytic nitrogen (N2) fixation [38], (iv) selective organic

• (electrons (eCB−) and holes (hVB+)) must be effectively separated before they can carry out appropriate redox reactions at the semiconductor surface. Photoelectrochemical water splitting Hydrogen (H2) is considered as a sustainable, clean and renewable energy source to provide a solution to the global energy

Cyclodextrin inhibits zinc corrosion by destabilizing point defect formation in the oxide layer

• Abdulrahman Altin,
• Maciej Krzywiecki,
• Adnan Sarfraz,
• Cigdem Toparli,
• Claudius Laska,
• Philipp Kerger,
• Aleksandar Zeradjanin,
• Karl J. J. Mayrhofer,
• Michael Rohwerder and
• Andreas Erbe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 936–944, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.86

• University of Technology, Konarskiego 22B, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (IEK-11), Egerlandstraße 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany Department of Materials Science and Engineering, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Mechanistic insights into plasmonic photocatalysts in utilizing visible light

• Kah Hon Leong,
• Azrina Abd Aziz,
• Lan Ching Sim,
• Pichiah Saravanan,
• Min Jang and
• Detlef Bahnemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 628–648, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.59

• nanoparticles takes place on the semiconductor surface. The most common light source used is a UV lamp producing a high-energy spectrum. Since most contemporary research promotes sustainable and green synthesis routes, replacing the UV lamp as the source of photons with renewable energy could be an alternative

Three-in-one approach towards efficient organic dye-sensitized solar cells: aggregation suppression, panchromatic absorption and resonance energy transfer

• Jayita Patwari,
• Samim Sardar,
• Bo Liu,
• Peter Lemmens and
• Samir Kumar Pal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1705–1713, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.171

• research for the development of efficient conversion technologies of clean and renewable energy sources. Solar energy has been considered to be the most promising sustainable and renewable energy source because of its quasi-unlimited supply. In the last decade, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have drawn

Two-dimensional carbon-based nanocomposites for photocatalytic energy generation and environmental remediation applications

• Suneel Kumar,
• Ashish Kumar,
• Ashish Bahuguna,
• Vipul Sharma and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1571–1600, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.159

• technologically promising approaches to generate clean energy as well as to completely degrade pollutants into CO2 and H2O. Hydrogen seems to be a promising solution as a sustainable, clean and renewable energy source to overcome this energy crisis [4]. Hydrogen is mainly present in fossil fuels, such as natural

• photogenerated charge carrier recombination and facilitate their transfer. As mentioned earlier, g-C3N4 was first investigated as a photocatalyst by Wang et al. [64] in 2009 for visible-light-based water splitting reactions to generate clean, renewable energy in the form of H2. They found and explained the

Synthesis of graphene–transition metal oxide hybrid nanoparticles and their application in various fields

• Arpita Jana,
• Elke Scheer and
• Sebastian Polarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 688–714, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.74

• ) [118] and applications in energy storage [119]. ORR is the key step of renewable energy technologies including fuel cells and water splitting. For excellent electrocatalysts, one of the most important factors is long-term running stability. The long term running stability of the Cr2O3–rGO hybrid makes

Carbon nanotube-wrapped Fe₂O₃ anode with improved performance for lithium-ion batteries

• Guoliang Gao,
• Yan Jin,
• Qun Zeng,
• Deyu Wang and
• Cai Shen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 649–656, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.69

• /COOH-MWCNT composite is a potential anode material for lithium-ion batteries. Keywords: anode material; carbon nanotubes; hydrothermal synthesis method; lithium-ion batteries; Introduction The depletion of non-renewable energy resources such as coal, petrol and natural gas has led to the urgent need