Materials for Renewable and Sustainable Energy

MATERIALS FOR RENEWABLE AND SUSTAINABLE ENERGY is a single-blind peer-reviewed open access journal published under the SpringerOpen brand.Energy is the single ...

List of Papers (Total 300)

Development of thin film coatings with polypyrrole (ppy) by physical plasma deposition technique (PAPVD) for electrochemical capacitor

In this study, new polypyrrole films (ppy) were synthesized using a physical plasma deposition (PAPVD) system; where the equipment design and methodology for plasma-assisted pyrrole polymerization were improvement. The morphology, functional groups, and thermal stability of the polymer network films were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric...

First principles study of optical properties of Ni- and Pd-doped TiO2 as visible light catalyst

Doping TiO2 with noble metals, transition metals, cations, anions have yielded very promising results in enhancing photocatalytic activity of TiO2 in the visible region and its role in generating alternate forms of energy. Noble metals in general can effectively slow down carrier recombination. However, the study of Pd and Ni as dopant can lead to a reliable and versatile TiO2...

Electrodeposited Cobalt–Copper mixed oxides for supercapacitor electrodes and investigation of the Co/Cu ratio on the electrochemical performance

In this study, different Cobalt–Copper mixed oxides compositions for supercapacitor electrodes have been prepared, by means of electrodeposition and thermal annealing. The chemical–physical and electrochemical characterization of electrodes, as well as the effect of different Co/Cu in the ratios on the crystal lattice, electrode morphologies, and electrochemical performance of...

Biomass stemmed activated carbon electrodes toward a significant electric double-layer capacitor

The primary goal of the current study is to improve the specific capacitance of electric double-layer (EDLC) device using biomass (Tribulus Terrestris) derived activated carbon electrodes synthesized by chemical activation method. Furthermore, high surface area carbon electrodes are characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), RAMAN spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy...

Comparative analysis between traditional and emerging technologies: economic and viability evaluation in a real case scenario

This research work aims to study photovoltaic systems that generate energy for self-consumption using different traditional technologies, such as silicon, and emerging technologies, like nanowires and quantum. The photovoltaic system without batteries was implemented in a residential property in three different places, in Portugal. According to Portuguese Law, the sale of surplus...

Effect of concentration on the properties of nitrogen-doped zinc oxide thin films grown by electrodeposition

Zinc oxide is one of the most researched semiconductors owing to the outstanding properties that make it useful in various industrial applications, such as solar cells and other optoelectronics. In this work, ZnO thin films were prepared in five different concentrations and doped with four nitrogen atoms from triethylene tetramine (TETA) to fabricate a ZnO for optoelectronic...

Investigating the properties of tin-oxide thin film developed by sputtering process for perovskite solar cells

Tin oxide (SnO2) nano-crystalline thin films were deposited on silicon and glass substrates at room temperature by sputtering at a constant power of 30 W and different working pressure of 10, 7, and 5 mTorr. Surface morphology, electrical and optical properties of the films were investigated to optimise the deposition condition of the films as electron transport layer (ETL) for...

Biomethane production kinetics during the anaerobic co-digestion of Sargassum spp. and food waste using batch and fed-batch systems in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Collecting Sargassum spp. biomass and using it for the generation of renewable energy is a sustainable approach to mitigate the costs associated to this weed management. The biomethanation of this algal biomass with other organic waste to produce biogas promotes the integrated sustainable management of these materials while generating gaseous fuel for the tourism industry. The...

Facile fabrication, structural and electrical investigations of cadmium sulfide nanoparticles for fuel cell performance

In the present work, CdS nanoparticles were synthesized and analyzed for use in fuel cell applications. The X-ray diffraction investigation showed that CdS possesses a cubic polycrystalline structure. For the (111) plane, the average values of mean crystallite size, microstrain, and dislocation density were calculated and found to be 1.935 nm, 0.0758, and 0.267 nm−2. The average...

Modification of waste sugarcane bagasse fly ash for CO2 capture application

CO2 capture is a promising approach to aid in the mitigation of the global environmental crisis caused by greenhouse gas emissions. The efficiency of adsorbents is critical to the success of this approach. Sugarcane bagasse fly ash (SBA) was used in this study as a support to increase the CO2 adsorption capacity of CaO. The physical and chemical characteristics of SBA treated...

A comparison between growth of direct and pulse current electrodeposited crystalline SnO2 films; electrochemical properties for application in lithium-ion batteries

Tin oxide (SnO2) films were electrodeposited on graphite substrates using direct and pulse current electrodeposition techniques. The influence of applied current density on the morphological properties, crystal structure, and electrochemical behavior of the resulting films were studied by scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, Mott–Schottky analysis, cyclic...

Photoelectrochemical energy conversion using hybrid photoelectrodes

We demonstrated the basil sensitized hybrid photoelectrodes for photocurrents and fuel generation. Hybrid photoelectrochemical cells (PECs) were proposed for direct solar energy conversion. The biohybrid device allows tunable control of energy conversion through the chemically stable photoelectrode. Biohybrid PEC was prepared by integrating organic and inorganic layers on...

Biodegradable methylcellulose biopolymer-derived activated porous carbon for dual energy application

Activated porous carbon was synthesized from methylcellulose biopolymer through a two-step mechanism involving H3PO4 as an activating agent and then thermally carbonized in a tubular furnace under an inert atmosphere at 850 °C. The product was next rinsed with strong HCl, neutralized with deionized water, and dried in an oven at 80 °C. Then, to fully understand the behavior of...

Design of an isolated renewable hybrid energy system: a case study

In addition to the fact that most renewable energies such as solar and wind energy have become more competitive in the global energy market, thanks to the great development in conversion technologies, it believes that renewable energy can play a crucial role in global environmental issues. However, in Palestine, the situation is different from anywhere else; renewable energy is...

Modulation to favorable surface adsorption energy for oxygen evolution reaction intermediates over carbon-tunable alloys towards sustainable hydrogen production

Because of the value of hydrogen as the future energy in no distant time, demand for efficient and scalable hydrogen production via electrochemical water splitting process has recently attracted considerable attention from industrial and scientific communities. Yet, several challenges associated with production remain to be addressed. One of the overriding challenges is the...

Analysis of power conversion limitation factors of Cu (InxGa1−x) (Se)2 thin-film solar cells using SCAPS

While the first generation of silicon solar cells offers a clean and unlimited energy source, the technology has matured where costs dominate, and the theoretical power conversion efficiency is reaching its limits. The new generation of thin-film solar cells is emerging as an affordable alternative to their bulky counterparts. The technology offers a much cheaper method to...

Performance and emission analysis of a CI engine fueled with parsley biodiesel–diesel blend

Pollution-induced environmental deterioration is one of the serious aspects that must be solved. As a result, biodiesel was made from a novel material (Parsley seed oil) through an alkali-induced transesterification reaction. The efficiency, as well as exhaust emission tests, were performed by running the prepared parsley biodiesel blends (mixture of biodiesel and diesel fuel in...

Valorization of the inedible pistachio shells into nanoscale transition metal and nitrogen codoped carbon-based electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen reduction reaction

Making a consistency with the objectives of circular economy, herein, waste pistachios shells were utilized for the development of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts which are the key bottleneck in the technological evolution of electrolyzers and fuel cells, respectively. As an alternative to scarce and expensive platinum-group...

Cobalt telluride electrocatalyst for selective electroreduction of CO2 to value-added chemicals

Recent emphasis on carbon dioxide utilization has necessitated the exploration of different catalyst compositions other than copper-based systems that can significantly improve the activity and selectivity towards specific CO2 reduction products at low applied potential. In this study, a binary CoTe has been reported as an efficient electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction in aqueous...

Copper nanoparticles suitable for bifunctional cholesterol oxidation reaction: harvesting energy and sensor

This study reports the performance of simple low-cost synthesized bifunctional Cu/Cu2O nanoparticles (NPs) used as a catalyst for energy-harvesting applications through of a microfluidic fuel cell (µFC), and further, as cholesterol (Chol) sensor. TEM characterization of the NPs showed spheres between 4 and 10 nm, while XRD and XPS analysis confirmed the composition and...

A review on enhanced biofuel production from coffee by-products using different enhancement techniques

Coffee by-products are a renewable, plentiful, cost-effective, and mostly untapped resource that could be used as a biofuel feedstock. However, the energy efficiency and biofuel yields are mostly determined by the biofuel production technologies. Pretreatment procedure, hydrolysis methods, fermentation methods, oil to biodiesel conversion techniques, binders employed, applying...

Sodium-ion battery from sea salt: a review

The electrical energy storage is important right now, because it is influenced by increasing human energy needs, and the battery is a storage energy that is being developed simultaneously. Furthermore, it is planned to switch the lithium-ion batteries with the sodium-ion batteries and the abundance of the sodium element and its economical price compared to lithium is the main...

Development of bioanode for versatile applications: microfuel cell system in the presence of alcohol and glucose

The purpose of this work is to develop a bioanode using the enzymes of glucose oxidase (GOx) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) as catalysts to oxidised glucose and alcohol present in different beverages. The study was carried out using the covalent bonding method for both enzymes via the functionalization of carbon nanofibers for the formation of carboxyl groups that can form bonds...

Aprotic lithium air batteries with oxygen-selective membranes

Rechargeable batteries have gained a lot of interests due to rising trend of electric vehicles to control greenhouse gases emissions. Among all type of rechargeable batteries, lithium air battery (LAB) provides an optimal solution, owing to its high specific energy of 11,140 Wh/kg comparable to that of gasoline 12,700 Wh/kg. However, LABs are not widely commercialized yet due to...