Hierarchical electrospun nanofibers for energy harvesting, production and environmental remediation

Abstract

As the demand for energy is rapidly growing worldwide ahead of energy supply, there is an impulse need to develop alternative energy-harvesting technologies to sustain economic growth. Due to their unique optical and electrical properties, one-dimensional (1D) electrospun nanostructured materials are attractive for the construction of active energy harvesting devices such as photovoltaics, photocatalysts, hydrogen energy generators, and fuel cells. 1D nanostructures produced from electrospinning possess high chemical reactivity, high surface area, low density, as well as improved light absorption and dye adsorption compared to their bulk counterparts. So, research has been focused on the synthesis of 1D nanostructured fibers made from metal oxides, composites, dopants and surface modification.Furthermore, fine tuning these NFs has facilitated fast charge transfer and efficient charge separation for improved light absorption in photocatalytic and photovoltaic properties. The recent trend in exploring these electrospun nanostructures has been promising in-terms of reducing costs and enhancing the efficiency compared to conventional materials. This review article presents the synthesis of 1D nanostructured fibers made via electrospinning and their applications in photovoltaics, photocatalysis, hydrogen energy harvesting and fuel cells. The current challenges and future perspectives for electrospun nanomaterials are also reviewed. Broader contextIn recent years, the world has been facing enormous challenges such as increasing energy demands, depleting power sources, and environmental pollution. In order to overcome these challenges, much attention has been focused on creating new hierarchical nanostructured materials and technologies for the adoption of cleaner solutions and renewable sources of energy. Although, various methods such as precipitation, hydrothermal and sol-gel have been adapted to synthesis novel nanostructures, electrospinning is one of the simplest and most effective technologies with scale-up potential for a wide range of nanomaterials aimed at industrial production. This review highlights recent developments in the fabrication of one dimensional nanostructured bers from metals, metal oxides, carbon nanobers, nanocomposite materials and so on, using electrospinning techniques. These electrospun nanomaterials exhibited enhancement in performance compared to conventional materials. In this review, we attempt to provide a detailed overview of such nanostructured materials in specic applications such as photovoltaics, photocatalysis, hydrogen generation and fuel cells. We believe that this review will provide sufficient background information and knowledge about electrospinning and pave the way for new innovations in electrospun nanomaterials for energy and environmental applications.

Silver nanoparticles-sensitized cobalt complex for highly-efficient photocatalytic activity

“…The AQY decreases with increasing wavelength, and the longest wavelength is suited to overall water splitting, in accordance with the DRS spectra of photocatalyst 3 [17]. It is noted that the photocatalytic reaction proceeds through light absorption [63].…”

“…Afterwards, the H 2 generation rate reversely reduced with the amount of Ag NPs up to 15 wt%. This can be owing to more hole-electron recombination in the composite 4 and 5 [63].…”

Magnetism and white-light-emission bifunctionality simultaneously assembled into flexible Janus nanofiber via electrospinning

“…Electrospinning is an effective and simple method for preparing nanofibers with 1D nanostructure [27][28][29][30]. This method is applied in many areas such as filtration, optical and chemical sensors, biological scaffolds, electrode materials, drug delivery materials, photocatalysts, and nanocables [31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. Accordingly, here we employed electrospinning method to prepare magnetic and color- 3 phen)]/PVP nanofiber).…”

Research progress on design strategies, synthesis and performance of LiMn2O4-based cathodes

“…and Kumar et al 39 reported that electrospun nanobers of LiMn 2 O 4 had outstanding properties for lithium batteries. Recently, Zhou and co-workers 41 prepared an ultra-long spinel lithium manganese oxide nanober cathode via an electrospinning method, and the cathode materials showed a porous "network-like" morphology with nanosize diameters ($170 nm), microsize lengths, ($20 mm) and a pure spinel structure.…”

“…Hierarchical porosity and structures are involved in newly developed materials for energy storage, which include the advantages of nanoparticles and eliminate their drawbacks to some degree. 57 Hierarchical LiMn 2 O 4 microspheres, 58-60 nanobers, 39 and doughnut-shaped 61 structures are common. A hierarchical LiMn 2 O 4 phase with a layered nanostructure was also studied by Lee et al, and it exhibited a high discharge capacity and excellent cycling stability at elevated temperature (60 C).…”