Advanced nanomaterials for energy conversion and storage: current status and future opportunities.

Abstract

Energy science has witnessed a surge of interest over the past 10 years, mostly motivated by progress in nanoscience and nanotechnology. For the sustainable development of human beings, extensive research has been dedicated to renewable energy, and its conversion and storage, owing to the increasing concerns about global climate change and the growing demand for energy. In April 2021, the CO2 concentration was measured at 418.46 ppm, and compared to April 2020 (415.59 ppm) even through coronavirus times the increase is massive. As a result, searching for promising new options is crucial to align human development with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. In particular, downsizing functional materials to the nanoscale can manifest intriguing properties and performances compared to their bulk structures. Fabricating nanostructured materials with tailored properties is at the forefront of technological exploration. At present, novel strategies such as size/ facet control, structural engineering, vacancy engineering, atomic regulation, and construction of nanocomposites alter the physicochemical properties (e.g. electronic, optical, band and textural) of the active sites. Hence, this gives rise to a momentous improvement in the performance of nanomaterials toward energy conversion and storage. Research in this energy realm necessitates an interdisciplinary approach with synergistic collaboration from all disciplines such as chemistry, engineering, nanotechnology, computation, as well as industrial thinking to accomplish highperformance energy systems. The themed collection of Nanoscale entitled “advanced nanomaterials for energy conversion and storage” aims to showcase the state-of-the-art knowledge on the development of nanomaterials with tunable properties for diverse energy applications. This themed collection consists of 23 Full Papers, 4 Communications and 5 Reviews, focusing on designing advanced materials and building a structure–activity–stability relationship in electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, photoelectrocatalysis, batteries, fuel cells and so forth. Xiong et al. (DOI: 10.1039/ D0NR02596H) highlight the development of engineering active sites on surfaces and in open frameworks with respect to surface vacancies, doped heteroatoms, loaded metal nanoparticles, crystal facets and metal nodes/ organic linkers in metal–organic frameworks for application in photocatalytic CO2 reduction. In addition to the advances in CO2 photoreduction, Zhang et al. (DOI: 10.1039/D0NR03178J) have reviewed the use of carbon-based nanomaterials and their hybrids for photoand electrocatalytic hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production via both reductive and oxidative reaction pathways. Apart from photochemistry, inspired by the merits of 2D nanostructures, Tsang’s group (DOI: 10.1039/D0NR01295E) present a minireview on the recent discoveries in hetero-single atom-doped MoS2 nanosheets for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) from water by reviewing the nature of the dopants, doping positions and the polytypes of MoS2. In view of the importance of morphological engineering in energy applications, Wang et al. (DOI: 10.1039/ D0NR03425H) focus on the primary issues facing one-dimensional (1D) electrospun carbon nanofibers in supercapacitors with the aim of ameliorating the conductivity, modulating pore configuration, doping with heteroatoms and increasing mechanical strength. Sun et al. (DOI: 10.1039/D0NR05475E) summarize the most recent updates on the structure–activity relationship of random alloy and intermetallic (ordered structure) nanocrystals for electrochemical fuel cells with robust activity and superb stability. By mimicking natural photosynthesis, artificial photosynthesis using nanocatalysts is described by several research groups. For enhancing the light absorpSchool of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia, Selangor Darul Ehsan 43900, Malaysia. E-mail: [email protected] Center of Excellence for NaNo Energy & Catalysis Technology (CONNECT), Xiamen University Malaysia, Selangor Darul Ehsan 43900, Malaysia College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, and National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Preparation Technology of Nanomaterials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. E-mail: [email protected] Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Department of Colloid Chemistry, Research Campus Golm, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]