Electrospun CNF Supported Ceramics as Electrochemical Catalysts for Water Splitting and Fuel Cell: A Review

Abstract

With the per capita growth of energy demand, there is a significant need for alternative and sustainable energy resources. Efficient electrochemical catalysis will play an important role in sustaining that need, and nanomaterials will play a crucial role, owing to their high surface area to volume ratio. Electrospun nanofiber is one of the most promising alternatives for producing such nanostructures. A section of key nano-electrocatalysts comprise of transition metals (TMs) and their derivatives, like oxides, sulfides, phosphides and carbides, etc., as well as their 1D composites with carbonaceous elements, like carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanofiber (CNF), to utilize the fruits of TMs’ electronic structure, their inherent catalytic capability and the carbon counterparts’ stability, and electrical conductivity. In this work, we will discuss about such TM derivatives, mostly TM-based ceramics, grown on the CNF substrates via electrospinning. We will discuss about manufacturing methods, and their electrochemical catalysis performances in regards to energy conversion processes, dealing mostly with water splitting, the metal–air battery fuel cell, etc. This review will help to understand the recent evolution, challenges and future scopes related to electrospun transition metal derivative-based CNFs as electrocatalysts.

Self‐Supported Electrocatalysts for Practical Water Electrolysis

“…Accordingly, timely and comprehensive reviews about meaningful works in this area is of significant necessity, providing a useful guide to the following research. Although a limited number of reviews are accessible on the recent development of self-supported electrocatalysts for water electrolysis, [44,[50][51][52][53][54] most of them overviewed from the perspectives of various TM-based compounds, [50,51] or geometric constructions, [44] or synthetic methods, [52,53] or selection of supported substrates. [54] Most importantly, an overall systematic and comprehensive review that is dedicated to reveal promising self-supported electrocatalysts for practical water electrolysis is still lacking.…”

MXene Based Sensing Materials: Current Status and Future Perspectives

“…Electrospinning is one of the widely accepted fabrication methodof developing nanofibers with good performance for various applications like catalysis, [65] drug delivery, [66] energy storage, [67] etc. Yang et al developed MXene/polyurethane mat through electrospinning.…”

Sustainable Materials from Fish Industry Waste for Electrochemical Energy Systems

“…These can prepare rapid ion diffusion channels, which is advantageous when attempting to obtain high Li + storage capacity [35]. A variety of NPCs have been investigated, such as carbon nanofibers [80,81] carbon nanocages [82,83], nitrogen- Although the production and application of carbon materials from overall biomass were extensively reviewed [3,73,74], very little attention has been paid to value-added carbons derived from fish industry waste, which are only briefly described. In the authors' opinion, the very significant and recent advances in fish waste-derived materials deserve to be reviewed, owing to their strategic importance for the sustainability of energy storage devices.…”

“…These can prepare rapid ion diffusion channels, which is advantageous when attempting to obtain high Li + storage capacity [35]. A variety of NPCs have been investigated, such as carbon nanofibers [80,81] carbon nanocages [82,83], nitrogen-enriched nanocarbons [84,85], etc. Their porous structures can reduce the diffusion length of Li-ions, while their high specific surface area offers abundant active sites for Li + storage reactions [86].…”