editorial materials chemistry for sustainability and...

EditorialMaterials Chemistry for Sustainability and Energy

Fan Dong,1 Sirilak Sattayasamitsathit,2 Yu Xin Zhang,3 and Ying Zhou4

1Chongqing Key Laboratory of Catalysis and Functional Organic Molecules, College of Environmental and Biological Engineering,Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China2Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego (UCSD), La Jolla, CA 92093, USA3Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China4School of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation,Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China

Correspondence should be addressed to Fan Dong; [email protected]

Received 22 September 2014; Accepted 22 September 2014; Published 22 December 2014

Copyright © 2014 Fan Dong et al.This is an open access article distributed under theCreativeCommonsAttribution License, whichpermits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Environmental pollution and energy storage are two globalmenaces and the magnitude of them is ever-increasing dueto rapid pace of urbanization and industrialization. Thus,providing clean environment and renewable energy for peo-ple is a great challenge. The nano/microstructured materialswith intriguing physical and chemical properties have givenimmense scope and opportunities to address the key issues ofenvironmental sustainability and clean energy development.In the past two decades, great progress has been madeon design, synthesis, and utilization of artificial materialsfor sustainability and energy. These nano/microstructuredmaterials in various fashions are stimulating various practicalapplications in environmental and energy sector. The rapiddevelopment in materials chemistry has led to significantadvances in understanding the controlled synthesis, chemicalproperties, and structure-activity relationship of materials.

This special issue contains 13 papers, which are mainlyrelated to energy development and pollutant removal uti-lizing newly artificial materials. Among them, 5 papers arerelated to pollutants removal, 3 papers are about batteriesdevelopment, and 2 papers are for solar cell. In addition, 1paper is related to investigations of the montmorillonite andaluminium trihydrate addition effects on the ignitability andthermal stability of asphalt and 1 paper is exploring the effectsof concentration, temperature, torque value, roughness, andwasher shape on crevice corrosion for 254 SMO alloys. Fur-thermore, 1 paper is about newly polymeric anion-exchangemembranes (AEMs) fabrication. Additionally, there is 1

review that systematically introduces the synthesis andapplication of one-dimensional La(OH)

3nanostructures.We

would like to express our sincere thanks to all the authorsfor submitting their interesting and meaningful works to thisspecial issue. A brief summary of all 13 papers is providedbelow.

The paper entitled “A quaternized polysulfone mem-brane for zinc-bromine redox flow battery” reported thata quaternized polysulfone (QNPSU) composite membranewas synthesized for zinc-bromine redox flow battery. Theconductivity of the membrane was tested by electrochemicalanalyzer. It was found that the conductivity of the membranewas about 0.01 S/cm in 25∘Cwith 100 RH%. Furthermore, thedischarge voltage was 0.9672V and the power density was6mW/cm2 at a current of 0.1 A, which demonstrated that thenovel composite membrane was a promising material for theflow battery.

In “A study on the morphology of a dispersed particle gelused as a profile control agent for improved oil recovery,” a newprofile control agent termed dispersed particle gel (DPG) hasbeen fabricated and reported, which was used to control theinjection water and improve oil recovery. The AFM studiesshowed that DPG was composed of small pseudosphericalparticles and that their sizes can be controlled by adjusting theinitial polymermass concentration, the shearing rate, and thesalinity. Furthermore, the effects of the initial polymer massconcentration, the shearing rate, the salinity, and the high-temperature aging on the particle size of DPG were studied

Hindawi Publishing CorporationJournal of ChemistryVolume 2014, Article ID 152384, 3 pageshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/152384

2 Journal of Chemistry

by dynamic light scattering (DLS). This work paves the wayfor the formula design of DPG and its application in the oiland gas field.

The paper “Catalytic combustion of low concentrationmethane over catalysts prepared from Co/Mg-Mn layered dou-ble hydroxides” described that a series of Co/Mg-Mn mixedoxides were synthesized through thermal decomposition oflayered double hydroxides (LDHs) precursors. The resultedcatalysts were then subjected for catalytic combustion ofmethane and it was revealed that the Co

4.5Mg1.5Mn2LDO

catalyst possessed the best performance with the T90=

485

∘C. The redox ability of the catalysts can be significantlyimproved by the addition of cobalt. Besides, certain amountofmagnesiumwas essential to guarantee the catalytic activity,which was helpful to enhance the oxygen mobility andimprove the dispersion of Co and Mn oxides, preventing thesurface area loss after calcination.

The paper entitled “Development of low energy gap andfully regioregular polythienylenevinylene derivative” intro-duced that low energy gap and fully regioregular conjugatedpolymers were widely used in solar energy conversion appli-cations. This paper reported the synthesis and characteriza-tion of a new polymer, a low energy gap, fully regioregular,terminal functionalized, and processable conjugated polymerpoly-(3-dodecyloxy-2,5-thienylene vinylene) or PDDTV.TheUV-vis-NIR absorption spectrum demonstrated that thepolymer exhibited an optical energy gap of 1.46 eV. Thehighest occupiedmolecular orbital (HOMO) level is−4.79 eVbased on electrochemical measurement, while the lowestunoccupiedmolecular orbital (LUMO) level is−3.33 eVbasedon optical energy gap. The polymer is thermally stable upto about 300∘C, which demonstrated that this polymer isbeneficial for effective solar cell applications.

The paper “Inhibition effect of glycerol on the corrosion ofcopper in NaCl solutions at different pH values” investigatedthe inhibition effect of glycerol against copper corrosion inaerated NaCl (0.5M) solution at various pH values. Theinhibition efficiency was assessed by conventional electro-chemical techniques: open circuit potential, potentiodynamicpolarization, and electrochemical impedance analysis. It wasfound that glycerol is capable of reducing the corrosionrate of copper in NaCl solutions. Moreover, glycerol wasmore efficient for use in alkaline chloride media wherethe best inhibition effect was obtained (𝜂 ≈ 83%). Theinhibition efficiency in alkaline media was ascribed to anincrease in viscosity and the presence of copper-glycerolcomplexes.

The paper entitled “Investigations of the montmorilloniteand aluminium trihydrate addition effects on the ignitabilityand thermal stability of asphalt” investigated the effects ofunmodified montmorillonite (MMT), organically modifiedmontmorillonite (OMMT), and aluminium trihydrate (ATH)additions on the flame retardancy for asphalt combustionby means of limiting oxygen index (LOI), cone calorimeter,and TG-DSC tests. Experimental results revealed that addinga small amount of montmorillonite did not significantlyincrease the oxygen index of the asphalt. Besides, TGAmeasurements showed that the montmorillonite (MMT,OMMT) could suppress the release of flammable volatiles and

form more asphaltenes, which hence postponed the burnouttime of asphalt. In addition, the combining montmorillonite(MMT, OMMT) and ATH exerted a synergistic effect, whichfurther reduced the heat release rate and increased the oxygenindex of asphalt simultaneously.

In “Phthaloylchitosan-based gel polymer electrolytes forefficient dye-sensitized solar cells,” phthaloylchitosan-basedgel polymer electrolytes were fabricated with tetrapropylam-monium iodide (Pr

4NI), a material with decent conductivity.

The electrolyte with the composition rate of phthaloyl-chitosan (15.7 wt.%), ethylene carbonate (EC) (31.7 wt.%),propylene carbonate (PC) (3.17 wt.%), Pr

4NI (19.0 wt.%), and

iodine (1.9 wt.%) exhibited the highest room temperatureionic conductivity of 5.27 × 10−3 S cm−1. The dye-sensitizedsolar cell (DSSC) fabricated with this electrolyte exhibited anefficiency of 3.5% with JSC of 7.38mA cm−2, VOC of 0.72V,and fill factor of 0.66. The overall conductivity was observedto decrease as various amounts of lithium iodide (LiI) wereadded to the optimized gel electrolyte.

The paper entitled “Preparation of mesoporous SnO2 byelectrostatic self-assembly” described that mesoporous SnO

2

nanoparticles with diameters of 5-6 nm crystalline walls and3-4 nm pore diameter were successfully obtained with theassistance of templating agent, Mo

7O24

6−,, at room temper-ature. XRD, TEM, UV-DRS, XPS, and BET characterizationwere used to measure the samples. The product has amoderately high surface area of 132m2 g−1 and a narrowmesoporous structure with an average pore diameter of3.5 nm. The methyl orange (MO) aqueous solution was usedto evaluate the photocatalytic capability of the mesoporousSnO2under UV light irradiation.

In “Production of biologically activated carbon from orangepeel and landfill leachate subsequent treatment technology,”orange peel activated carbon with biophile characteristichas been fabricated by one-step method. The yield of theas-prepared biological activated carbon is 50.9%, accompa-nied with the BET specific surface area, and pore volumereached 1477m2/g and 2.090m3/g, respectively. The orangepeel active carbon has hydroxyl, carbonyl, methoxy, andlactones hydrophilic functional group.The orange peel activecarbon had a well adsorption capability to deal with leachatebiochemical tail water, ascribed to small crystallite size andcrystallite thickness. The removal rate of UV

254is 63.0% and

TOC is 59.7%, respectively. This research can advance theprocess of effectively controlling water pollution, improvingarea water quality, easing orange peel waste pollution, andpromoting coordinated development among society, econ-omy, and environment.

The paper “Removing and recovering phosphate frompoultry wastewater using amorphous ceramics” described thata novel strategy for phosphate from poultry wastewaterwas developed using amorphous ceramics. Widely available,inexpensive materials such as lime and silica fume were usedto synthesize amorphous ceramics, which showed high per-formance for phosphate removal and recovery from poultrywastewater. Phosphate content on the surface of amorphousceramics could reach 14.20%. This study may be interest-ing and promising which can advance the development of

Journal of Chemistry 3

the phosphate removing and recovering from poultrywastewater.

The paper entitled “Structural and electrochemical proper-ties of lithiumnickel oxide thin films” documented that LiNiO

2

thin films were fabricated by RFmagnetron sputtering. X-raydiffraction and field-emission scanning electron microscopywere used to investigate the microstructure of the films. Theelectrochemical properties were investigated with a batterycycler using coin-type half-cells. Surface carbonate existedwhen the LiNiO

2thin films were annealed below 500∘C.

The results reflected that surface carbonate interrupted theLi intercalation and deintercalation during charge/discharge.The capacity did not enhance; nevertheless the annealing pro-cess enhanced the crystallization of LiNiO

2.The ZrO

2-coated

LiNiO2thin film showed an enhanced discharge capacity

compared to prine LiNiO2thin film. Hence, the enhance-

ment in electrochemical characteristics can be attributedto the inhibition of surface carbonate by the ZrO

2coating

layer.The paper entitled “Synthesis of an anion-exchange mem-

brane based on imidazolium-type ionic liquids for a capacitiveenergy extraction Donnan potential device” described thatpolymeric anion-exchangemembranes (AEMs) were synthe-sized via the photocopolymerization of a vinyl imidazoliumionic liquid, with 1-butyl-3-(4-vinylbenzyl)imidazoliumchloride ([BVBI][Cl]) as the anion-exchange group andstyrene, acrylonitrile, and divinylbenzene as cross-linkedagents. The mechanical, physical, and electrochemicalproperties of the fabricated AEMs such as swelling degree(%), water uptake (%), ion-exchange capacity (mmol/g),thermal stability, tensile strength (Mpa), tensile modulus(Mpa), elongation (%), and ionic conductivity (S/cm) wereevaluated. The obtained AEMs were demonstrated to havegood mechanical, physical, and electrochemical propertiesfor application of a capacitive energy extraction Donnanpotential (CDP) device membrane. The CDP device wasobtained by using the synthesized AEM, and the specificcapacitance of the CDP device with AEM was determinedas 2.53 F/g and 3.44 F/g by galvanostatic charge/dischargeand cyclic voltammetry, respectively. The synthesized AEMwith imidazolium ionic liquid can be beneficial for thedevelopment of the CDP device membrane.

The review article “Synthesis and application of one-dimensional La(OH)3 nanostructures: an overview” is aimedat describing and summarizing current status on the appli-cation of 1D La(OH)

3nanostructures including nanowires,

nanoneedles, nanobelts, and nanorods. Various strategiesutilized to synthesize the 1D La(OH)

3nanostructures

are discussed, such as precipitation, composite-hydroxide-mediated, hydrothermal, and solvothermal methods, as wellas the introduction of the corresponding growth mecha-nisms.Then, the unique properties of 1DLa(OH)

3nanostruc-

tures are assigned to their unique electronic structures andnumerous transition modes involving the 4f shells of theseions are represented. Furthermore, the wide applications inphotocatalyst, capacitors, and photoluminescence based onthe unique properties are discussed. Finally, the article endswith a summary and some perspectives on the challenges andnew directions in this emerging area.

Acknowledgment

We wish to express our sincere thanks to all the authors forsubmitting interesting contributions to this special issue.

Fan DongSirilak Sattayasamitsathit

Yu Xin ZhangYing Zhou

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