The recent studies focused on development of advanced carbon nanostructured materials, functionalized carbons, nanostructured oxides, electrocatalysts, and catalytic composite materials are collected in this reprint. The advantage of using novel catalytic materials and adsorbents in various applications is demonstrated.

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This book focuses on advanced nanomaterials for energy conversion and storage, covering their design, synthesis, properties and applications in various fields. Developing advanced nanomaterials for high-performance and low-cost energy conversion and storage devices and technologies is of great significance in order to solve the issues of energy crisis and environmental pollution. In this book, various advanced nanomaterials for batteries, capacitors, electrocatalysis, nanogenerators, and magnetic nanomaterials are presented

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Electrochemical devices have drawn remarkable attention and elicited spectacular growth in recent decades for a broad range of applications, including energy storage, sensing, electrochemical processing, etc. Recent advances in nanomaterials and nanotechnology have boosted great promise for electrochemistry to offer reliable and high-performance devices. This Special Issue, entitled “Advances in Nano-Electrochemical Materials and Devices”, aimed to focus on recent advances in the design, manufacture, and application of nanoelectrochemical materials and devices. This Special Issue included twelve papers, where nine original research papers highlighted novel research progress on advanced nanomaterials and nano-systems for oxygen reduction reactions, batteries, supercapacitors, and sensors. In addition, recent achievements in photocatalysis and electrocatalysis, biosensors, and Li-CO2 batteries were comprehensively summarized in three review papers.

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This book delves into the latest developments in the synthesis, characteristics, and diverse applications of nanosheets. Within its chapters, readers will find comprehensive insights into innovative fabrication techniques for cutting-edge nanosheets and their hybrid heterostructures. Furthermore, the book thoroughly explores the emerging properties and applications of nanosheets across various domains, including supercapacitors for electric vehicles, fuel cells, electric discharge machining, heavy metal adsorption, and biomedical applications.

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Advances in synthesis of metallic, oxidic and composite powders were presented via the following methods: ultrasound-assisted leaching¸ ultrasonic spray pyrolysis, hydrogenation, dehydrogenation, ball milling, molten salt electrolysis, galvanostatic electrolysis, hydrogen reduction, thermochemical decomposition, inductively coupled thermal plasma, precipitation and high pressure carbonation in an autoclave. This Special Issue contains 17 papers from Europe, Asia, Australia, South Africa and the Balkans. The synthesis was focused on metals: Co, Cu; Re; oxides: ZnO, MgO, SiO2; V2O5; sulfides: MoS2, core shell material: Cu-Al2O3, Pt/TiO2; compounds: Ca0.75Ce0.25ZrTi2O7, Mo5Si3, Ti6Al4V. The environmentally friendly strategies were presented at the carbonation of olivine, treatment of acid mine drainage water and production of vanadium oxide.

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Catalysts are made of nanoparticles of metals, metal oxides, and other compounds that may act as active phases, support the latter, or a combination of both. The initial incentive to reduce as much as possible, up to the nano-scale, the size of the particles of active catalyst components is to maximize the surface area exposed to reactants, thus minimizing the specific cost per function and increasing the rate of conversion of feedstocks to products in relatively simple reactions. Nowadays, the interest in nanocatalyst developments has shifted to an emphasis on improving the selectivity of catalysts, allowing one to obtain desirable reactions in more complex synthetic processes. Thus, new generations of nanocatalysts should be designed at the molecular level to display well-defined structural characteristics, in terms of size, shapes, hierarchical porosity, and morphologies, as well as with controlled chemical composition. The development of efficient nanocatalysts supposes the characterization of their various surface active sites at the nanometer scale, which is focused on establishing synthesis–structure–performance relationships.

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Density Functional Theory (or DFT for short) is a potent methodology useful for calculating and understanding the molecular and electronic structure of atoms, molecules, clusters, and solids. Its use relies not only in the ability to calculate the molecular properties of the species of interest but also provides interesting concepts that allow a better comprehension of the chemical reactivity of the studied systems. This book represents an attempt to present examples on the utility of DFT for the understanding of the chemical reactivity through descriptors that constitute the basis of the so called Conceptual DFT (sometimes also named as Chemical Reactivity Theory) as well as the application of the theory and its related computational procedures in the determination of the molecular properties of different systems of academic and industrial interest.

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Due to their unique size-dependent physicochemical properties, nanostructured thin films are used in a wide range of applications from smart coating and drug delivery to electrocatalysis and highly-sensitive sensors. Depending on the targeted application and the deposition technique, these materials have been designed and developed by tuning their atomic-molecular 2D- and/or 3D-aggregation, thickness, crystallinity, and porosity, having effects on their optical, mechanical, catalytic, and conductive properties. Several open questions remain about the impact of nanomaterial production and use on environment and health. Many efforts are currently being made not only to prevent nanotechnologies and nanomaterials from contributing to environmental pollution but also to design nanomaterials to support, control, and protect the environment. This Special Issue aims to cover the recent advances in designing nanostructured films focusing on environmental issues related to their fabrication processes (e.g., low power and low cost technologies, the use of environmentally friendly solvents), their precursors (e.g., waste-recycled, bio-based, biodegradable, and natural materials), their applications (e.g., controlled release of chemicals, mimicking of natural processes, and clean energy conversion and storage), and their use in monitoring environment pollution (e.g., sensors optically- or electrically-sensitive to pollutants)

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This Special Issue contains some recently experimental and theoretical advances in hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, and oxygen reduction reaction, and the applications in water splitting, proton exchange membrane fuel cells, and lithium-ion batteries.

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Electrochemical surface science (EC-SS) is the natural advancement of traditional surface science (where gas–vacuum/solid interfaces are studied) to liquid (solution)/electrified solid interfaces. Such a merging between two different disciplines—i.e., surface science (SS) and electrochemistry—officially advanced ca. three decades ago. The main characteristic of EC-SS versus electrochemistry is the reductionist approach undertaken, inherited from SS and aiming to understand the microscopic processes occurring at electrodes on the atomic level. A few of the exemplary keystone tools of EC-SS include EC-scanning probe microscopies, operando and in situ spectroscopies and electron microscopies, and differential EC mass spectrometry (DEMS). EC-SS indirectly (and often unconsciously) receives a great boost from the requirement for rational design of energy conversion and storage devices for the next generation of energetic landscapes. As a matter of fact, the number of material science groups deeply involved in such a challenging field has tremendously expanded and, within such a panorama, EC and SS investigations are intimately combined in a huge number of papers. The aim of this Special Issue is to offer an open access forum where researchers in the field of electrochemistry, surface science, and materials science could outline the great advances that can be reached by exploiting EC-SS approaches. Papers addressing both the basic science and more applied issues in the field of EC-SS and energy conversion and storage materials have been published in this Special Issue.

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Carbon materials are one of the most fascinating materials because of their unique properties and potential use in several applications. They can be obtained from residues or by using advanced synthesis technologies like chemical vapor deposition. The carbon family is very broad, ranging from classical activated carbons to more advanced species such as carbon nanotubes and graphene. The surface chemistry is one of the most interesting aspects of this broad family of materials, which allows the incorporation of different types of chemical functionalities or heteroatoms on the carbon surface, such as O, N, B, S, or P, which can modify the acid–base character, hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity, or the electronic properties of these materials and, thus, determine the final application. This book represents a collection of original research articles and communications focused on the synthesis, properties, and applications of heteroatom-doped functional carbon materials.

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Encyclopedia of Engineering aims at providing a collection of entries concerning several fields of Engineering Sciences. The reprint provides a historical overview, starting from the investigation of Mechanics and Science in Ancient Greece and showing their evolution over time. The topical collection focuses on Civil, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering providing basic concepts as well as novel trends in modeling, design and construction of engineering systems, structures, and materials. Special attention is also given to the recent developments and achievements in the framework of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

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Environmental issues have attracted great attention with the pursuit of a high quality of life, and the effective removal of environmental pollutants is a great challenge today. This includes two topics: one is to remove the pollutants produced post-treatment, and the other is to synthesize chemicals by a green route, avoiding producing pollutants in the process.Catalytic technology is an effective way to solve environmental problems, which can facilitate the conversion of pollutants to nontoxic or even useful chemicals. Thus, this reprint focuses on resolving the environmental problems by a catalysis technology, including photocatalysis, thermocatalysis, and electrocatalysis. Research works relating to the catalytic removal of pollutants or the catalytic synthesis of chemicals by a green route are reported.

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Society is currently confronted with the continuing environmental problems of global warming and ocean acidification related to increasing CO2 emission from anthropogenic sources. These environmental issues are also connected to the inevitable energy supply shortage due to the eventual depletion of fossil fuel sources. As a solution, the technology of recycling CO2 into useful organic materials continues to attract attention. This methodology can be categorized into two main parts: CO2 fixation and CO2 reduction. For both reactions, molecular catalysts based on transition metal coordination complexes and organometallic compounds have been developed and examined. Molecular catalysts can be characterized and iteratively improved at the molecular level through spectroscopic experiments and the isolation of intermediate species, which is particularly advantageous in comparison to heterogeneous catalysts. The fixation of CO2 into organic compounds to form a carbon-carbon bond by using organometallic catalysts is a direct methodology for CO2 utilization and represents the potential reversible storage of electrochemical energy in chemical bonds. The resultant carboxylic acid-containing compounds formed as the initial products can be subsequently converted into other organic materials, even products with new chiral centers. The reduction of CO2 by two electrons (often with a proton donor as a co-substrate) yields carbon monoxide (CO) and formic acid (HCOOH), which can be further converted to useful chemicals. Reduction reactions involving more than two electrons and two protons can produce formaldehyde (HCHO), methanol (CH3OH), and methane (CH4), which are also desirable as chemicals and fuels. For molecular electrocatalysts, more negative potentials than the equilibrium ones for CO2 reduction are generally required; the difficulty is that the equilibrium potentials for CO2 reduction are generally negative of the equilibrium potential for proton reduction to produce H2, representing a competing thermodynamically favored process. A complementary approach to an electrochemical one is to mediate CO2 reduction with photo-induced electron transfer reactions. Photo- and electrocatalytic CO2 reduction can be used to achieve artificial photosynthesis, or the production of commodity chemicals and fuels with renewable energy inputs originating from solar sources. This Research Topic covers the molecular catalysts based on coordination and organometallic compounds for CO2 fixation/reduction. It includes chemical, electrochemical, and photochemical reactions. It also covers systematic studies of reaction mechanisms and the spectroscopic characterization of catalytic intermediates. Molecular catalysts for CO2 fixation/reduction used as co-catalysts with heterogeneous catalytic systems are also included. Non-precious and abundant transition metal catalysts for CO2 fixation/reduction are important for future industrial applications as core components of the next generation of energy technologies.

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This Special Issue reprint covers the most recent advances in nanoalloy electrocatalysts, concerning not only the synthesis, characterization, and modeling, but especially reports of their activity, functionality, durability, and low cost.

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Research on alternative energy harvesting technologies, conversion and storage systems with high efficiency, cost-effective and environmentally friendly systems, such as fuel cells, rechargeable metal-air batteries, unitized regenerative cells, and water electrolyzers has been stimulated by the global demand on energy. The conversion between oxygen and water plays a key step in the development of oxygen electrodes: oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), processes activated mostly by precious metals, like platinum. Their scarcity, their prohibitive cost, and declining activity greatly hamper large-scale applications. This issue reports on novel non-precious metal electrocatalysts based on the innovative design in chemical compositions, structure, and morphology, and supports for the oxygen reaction.

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Perovskites have attracted great attention in the fields of energy storage, pollutant degradation as well as optoelectronic devices due to their excellent properties. This kind of material can be divided into two categories; inorganic perovskite represented by perovskite oxide and organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite, which have described the recent advancement separately in terms of catalysis and photoelectron applications. This book systematically illustrates the crystal structures, physic-chemical properties, fabrication process, and perovskite-related devices. In a word, perovskite has broad application prospects. However, the current challenges cannot be ignored, such as toxicity and stability.

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The broad field of hydrogen and power-to-gas promises us renewable energy storage and use in molecular forms—either gaseous or liquid—to decarbonise all energy sectors that currently depend on fossil fuels. We have recently witnessed a number of technical developments, trends and advancements that have enabled us to stand where we stand today. We find ourselves at a crossroads between theoretical groundwork and the actual, large-scale technical implementation of the energy transition.This reprint brings together current research findings from highly diverse disciplines, all of which can make a valuable contribution to the success of the energy transition. The research results yield insights into possible partial solutions that can be implemented in national, regional or even local energy systems at different implementation levels and detail, depending on boundary conditions and specific demands.The first contribution in this reprint is an editorial summarising the ten following research articles. It contains a table of the articles including research fields, titles, and methods. The reader can use it as a quick overview before turning to the detailed articles. The overarching themes covered here are: combustion research, electro catalysis, energy economy, energy storage, mobility, energy system analyses and finally, energy law and regulation.Enjoy reading “Progress in Power-to-Gas Energy Systems” to receive your personal update on this exciting research field.

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Polyoxometalates (POMs) are a large and rapidly growing class of early-transition-metal oxide clusters. POMs are formed via acid-involved condensation reactions from monomeric oxometalate units, thus holding a special position (intermediate state) between monomeric oxometalate units and infinite metal oxide frameworks. POMs continue to show remarkable advances and unexpected surprises in both their fundamentals and applications. The chemical compositions (addenda atoms) of POMs are mainly Mo, W, V, Nb, and Ta, and the heteroatoms of POMs are more variable, including P, As, B, Al, Si, Ge, S, and so on. The wide range of chemical composition variability and the large amount of unusual structural types enable POMs to exhibit a large number of different properties, such as rich solution equilibria, significant chemical and thermal stability, strong acidity, and the ability to act as proton–electron sinks due to their fast and reversible proton-coupled redox processes. Based on their intrinsic multifunctional nature, POMs have significant applications in catalysis, medicine, and materials science, etc. POMs not only can be used widely in different disciplines but can also be combined with polymers, oxides, ionic liquids, or carbonaceous supports to construct new and advanced composite (hybrid) materials, which have important, extensive applications in catalysis, electrode materials, electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, and so on.

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The scope of this Special Issue is to collect some of the contributions to the First International Electronic Conference on Biosensors, which was held to bring together well-known experts currently working in biosensor technologies from around the globe, and to provide an online forum for presenting and discussing new results. The world of biosensors is definitively a versatile and universally applicable one, as demonstrated by the wide range of topics which were addressed at the Conference, such as: bioengineered and biomimetic receptors; microfluidics for biosensing; biosensors for emergency situations; nanotechnologies and nanomaterials for biosensors; intra- and extracellular biosensing; and advanced applications in clinical, environmental, food safety, and cultural heritage fields.

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This Special Issue will provide a snapshot of the state of the art in metals, alloy coatings, and films produced through several techniques, including PVD, CVD, MOCVD, electrodeposition, electroless, ALD, welding, etc. These metal and alloy coatings and films can act as corrosion and oxidation resistance barriers and catalysts to enable water splitting, among other catalysis applications. Ten contributions (nine articles and one review) have been published in this Special Issue, covering research topics such as the fracture of metal parts, progress in coating growth and characterization techniques, processing condition–structure–property relations, the development of novel lubricants and advanced simulations relevant to tribological contacts and metal manufacturing, and the structural, morphological, corrosion, oxidizing, wear, and catalytic properties of thin films. As the Guest Editor, I hope that the research results presented in this Special Issue will contribute to the further progression of research in the field of special metal alloy coating and catalysis.

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Nano- and microdispersed systems can be defined as dispersions of the nano- and microparticles (droplets, bubbles) of one material within a continuous phase of another material (gas, liquid, solid). Such systems are very widespread in nature. The most common examples include soils, aerosols, minerals, and various natural colloids. Nano- and microdispersed systems are also the subject of active research and represent a techno-economic sector with full expansion in many application domains. Nano- and microdispersed systems have gained prominence in technological advancements due to their diverse physicochemical and mechanical properties, including wettability, dispersion stability, electrical and thermal conductivity, and catalytic activity, resulting in enhanced performance over their counterparts with a particle size above 1 µm. Such systems are of interest to various research areas, including the development of new polymers and ceramic composites, sensors, biomaterials, energy conversion devices, wastewater treatment strategies, and many other applications. The present Special Issue of Processes will include recent enhancements in the synthesis and application of various types of nano- and microdispersed systems and will help to expand scientific cooperation in this important field of research.

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