In this paper, we review and analyze the salient features of the ongoing energy transition from a high to a low carbon economy. Our analysis shows that this transition will require decarbonizing the power, transport, and industry sectors, and the transition pathway will be country-specific. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies will play a major role in this energy transition by decarbonizing existing and new fossil fuel power plants and the production of low-carbon fossil-fuel-based blue hydrogen. Blue hydrogen can be used for hydrogen fuel cell mobility in the transport sector and heat and feedstock in the industry sector. Current estimates show that there is adequate CO2 storage capacity in the world’s saline aquifers and oil and gas reservoirs to store 2 centuries of anthropogenic CO2 emission. However, the slow pace of CCS implementation is concerning and is due, in part, to too low of an oil price to make CO2-enhanced oil recovery profitable, lack of financial incentives for CO2 geological storage, low public acceptance, lack of consistent government energy policy and CCS regulations, and high capital investment. We propose several ways to accelerate CCS implementation. Among others, they include establishing regional CCS corridors to make use of economy of scale, public CCS engagement, carbon pricing, and using public–private partnership for financing, technology transfer, and linking up different stakeholders.

Asymmetric supercapacitors (ASCs) with aqueous electrolyte medium have recently become the focus of increasing research. For high performance ASCs, selection of cathode materials play a crucial role, and core-shell nanostructures are found to be a good choice. We successfully synthesized, ZnO@MnO core-shell nanofibers (NFs) by modification of high-aspect-ratio-electrospun ZnO NFs hydrothermally with MnO nanoflakes. High conductivity of the ZnO NFs and the exceptionally high pseudocapacitive nature of MnO nanoflakes coating delivered a specific capacitance of 907 Fg at 0.6 Ag for the core-shell NFs. A simple and cost-effective ASC construction was demonstrated with ZnO@MnO NFs as a battery-type cathode material and a commercial-quality activated carbon as a capacitor-type anode material. The fabricated device functioned very well in a voltage window of 0-2.0 V, and a red-LED was illuminated using a single-celled fabricated ASC device. It was found to deliver a maximum energy density of 17 Whkg and a power density of 6.5 kWkg with capacitance retention of 94% and Coulombic efficiency of 100%. The novel architecture of the ZnO@MnO core-shell nanofibrous material implies the importance of using simple design of fiber-based electrode material by mere changes of core and shell counterparts.

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Steel is known for its low cost of fabrication, high mechanical strength and hence is extensively used for drilling equipment, pipelines, ship building and offshore structures. Corrosion of steel is a costly problem in many applications especially in oilfield and marine environments which are known for the high temperature, high pressure and corrosive conditions. In this paper, nanocomposite coating is being explored as the preferred strategy to improve corrosion resistance for steel. Here, we will give details on the various coating materials, deposition techniques and the challenges involved in realising the most suitable coating on steel based on results of recent research. In addition, we also detail the filler specifications for getting high performance nanocomposites.

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