Emerging Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage

Emerging technologies for renewable energy conversion and storage have been the focus of intensive research due to need to enhance the efficiency and lifetime of energy devices by reducing material usage, cost and environmental impact. Because of the dependence of device performance on properties of the materials being employed, the exploration of emerging materials with attractive properties for advanced energy-related applications is a promising way to move forward. The main goal is to have a new generation of enabling devices, able to compete with the conventional technologies. Emerging Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage presents the state-of-art of emerging materials for energy conversion technologies (solar cells and fuel cells) and energy storage technologies (batteries, supercapacitors and hydrogen storage). The book is organized into five primary sections, each one with three chapters authored by worldwide experts in the fields of materials science, physics, chemistry and engineering. It covers fundamentals, functionalities, challenges and prospects of different classes of emerging materials, such as wide bandgap semiconductors, oxides, carbon-based nanostructures, advanced ceramics, chalcogenide nanostructures, and flexible organic electronics nanomaterials, for energy device applications. The book is an important reference for students and researchers (from academics but also from industry) interested in understanding the properties of emerging materials, which make them potential candidates for energy conversion and storage systems.

Exploration of fundamentals, challenges and prospects for application of emerging materials in the development of energy conversion and storage devicesIncludes a discussion of solar cell and photovoltaic, fuel cell, battery electrode, supercapacitor and hydrogen storage applicationsNotable examples of energy devices based on emerging materials to illustrate recent advances in this field

Part 1: Emerging materials for dye-sensitized solar cells and thermoelectrics 1. SnTe: Structure, Synthesis and Thermoelectric properties 2. Metal Oxide Nanoparticles as Electron Transport Layer in Third Generation Solar Cells

Part 2: Emerging materials for electrochemical applications 3. Exploring the properties and fuel cell applications of atomic layer deposited metal oxide ultrathin films 4. Development, Challenges and Prospects of Carbon-Based Electrode for Lithium Air Batteries

Part 3: Emerging materials for supercapacitors 5. Emerging 2D nanomaterials for supercapacitor applications 6. Prospective Synthesis Approaches to Emerging Materials for Supercapacitors 7. Advances in Flexible supercapacitors for portable and wearable smart gadgets 8. Simple Parallel-Plate Capacitors to High–Energy Density Future Supercapacitors: A Materials Review

Part 4: Emerging materials for multifunctional applications in energy conversion and storage 9. Advanced nanocarbon materials for future energy application

Part 5: Emerging materials for hydrogen storage 10. All-metal and Non-metal Aromatic Clusters as Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide Storage Materials 11. Liquid Phase Chemical Hydrogen Storage: From Recent Developments to Future Objectives 12. Recent progresses on the Mg-Co-H and Mg-Fe-H systems for hydrogen storage applications 13. A systematic approach to the synthesis, thermal stability and hydrogen storage properties of rare earth borohydrides