Lithium-free metal batteries are currently emerging as a viable substitute for the existing Li-ion battery technology, especially for large-scale energy storage, ease of problems with lithium availability, high cost, and safety concerns. However, the economic benefits of lithium-free batteries, which are often mentioned, have not been studied in detail until recently. This paper aims to bridge the gap between academics and industry by advocating the best practices for measuring performance and proposing recommendations concerning essential parameters, including capacity, cyclability, Coulombic efficiency, and electrolyte consumption in novel lithium-free batteries. Here, the monovalent, divalent, and multivalent lithium-free metal batteries are investigated. Finally, the technology roadmap of these battery technologies and their current applications, commercialization, and future technologies are discussed to open a window for promoting the commercial application of lithium-free metal batteries.
Facile synthesis and application of nano-sized semiconductor metal oxides for optoelectronic devices have always affected fabrication challenges since it involves multi-step synthesis processes. In this regard, semiconductor oxides derived directly from metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) routes have gained a great deal of scientific interest owing to their high specific surface area, regular and tunable pore structures. Exploring the application potential of these MOF-derived semiconductor oxides systems for clean energy conversion and storage devices is currently a hot topic of research. In this study, titanium-based MIL-125(Ti) MOFs were used as a precursor to synthesize cobalt-doped TiO2-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) for the first time. The thermal decomposition of the MOF precursor under an air atmosphere at 400 °C resulted in mesoporous anatase-type TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) of uniform morphology, large surface area with narrow pore distribution. The Co2+ doping in TiO2 leads to enhanced light absorption in the visible region. When used as photoanode in DSSCs, a good power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.86% with good photocurrent density (Jsc) of 13.96 mA cm−2 was obtained with the lowest recombination resistance and the longest electron lifetime, which is better than the performance of the pristine TiO2-based photoanode.
A sustainable, rapid microwave-assisted glycothermal (MW-GT) method has been adopted for the synthesis of pristine ZnO and a series of Zn 1−x Co x O (x = 0, 0.02, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07, 0.10) within 15 min at 180 °C using ethylene glycol (EG) as solvent. The XRD results reveal that the altering of lattice parameters of ZnO by introduction of Co 2+ ions and crystalline sizes of Co 2+ doped ZnO samples decreased with increasing Co 2+ ion content. A spectacular morphological change of ZnO from well-defined hexagonal prismoid to hierarchical flower-like 1-D nanorods-assembly upon increasing Co 2+ ion concentration was perceived using FE-SEM and TEM analyses. After Co 2+ ion inclusion into pristine ZnO, the width of the M−H loop significantly changes, where the diamagnetic behavior of ZnO changes from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic upon further increase in Co 2+ ion content. Particularly, 5 mol % Co 2+ ion doped ZnO sample shows enhanced photovoltaic performance in dyesensitized solar cells (DSSCs) due to nanoscale level intermingling of two different 1-D nanorod-like morphology with particlelike morphology, resulting in size-mismatched combination-induced light-scattering effect, photoinduced charge-carrier formation by charge-transfer transitions of high spin Co 2+ ions, and lower recombination resistance together with extended electron lifetime, which were deduced from UV−vis and impedance spectroscopy analysis, respectively.
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