Themed collection Highlighting materials research in the UK for energy and sustainability

A comprehensive and critical analysis on the use of metal–organic frameworks for the adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of organics in water, as well as H₂ production.

Advances in nanomaterials synthesis offer new routes to solar fuels and chemicals from CO₂ as a sustainable chemical feedstock.

This article reviews recent advances in templating of graphitic carbon nitride materials, with a particular focus on applications in photocatalysis.

A novel regenerative hydrogen cerium fuel cell is presented which has the potential to deliver both low cost and high performance.

Transient absorption spectroscopy is used to study the charge transfer processes in methyl ammonium lead triiodide based photoactive layers under ambient and inert conditions.

Highly surface-textured ZnO thin films are fabricated by aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition.

During 200 h of operation at 750 °C the performance of the Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.8Fe_0.2O_3-δ membrane decays by 35%, while Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.5Fe_0.125Mo_0.375O_3-δ shows steady-state permeation and Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.78Fe_0.195Mo_0.025O_3-δ slows the decay by a factor of two.

Niobium doped TiO₂ thin films were deposited on silica coated glass substrate using aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) from hexane solution, at 500 °C.

The use of N,N-dimethylformamide as a solvent for carbon nanotube reduction and dissolution allows simple and effective dissolution and purification.

Novel NiWO₄ and CoWO₄ nanostructures showed excellent electrochemical properties for supercapacitor electrodes, better than those previously reported for these materials.

Fe₃O₄ spherulites on carbon nanofibres (CNFs) to form novel necklace structures were prepared by a facile method. The Fe₃O₄/CNF necklaces show superior performance for both supercapacitor and Li-ion battery applications.

EXAFS shows that square-planar Pd²⁺ can be accommodated in CeO₂ in interstitial positions to give Ce_1−xPd_xO_2−δ (x ≤ 0.15); redox properties and stability have been explored.

Fast oxygen diffusion and improved oxygen storage capacity of crednerite CuMnO₂ have been achieved at reduced temperatures by surface modification with CeO₂.

Solvothermal synthesis yields nanocrystalline Ce³⁺–TiO₂ with high activity for photocatalytic water reduction.

A method has been demonstrated to synthesise effective zeolite membranes from existing crystals without a hydrothermal synthesis step.

Highly wrinkled graphene flakes via electrochemical method in molten salts for high performance supercapacitor.

We present solution-processed organic solar cells based on subphthalocyanine acceptors with strong light harvesting in the visible region and an efficiency up to 3.5%.

The valence and local structures of Fe during battery cycling of Li₂FeSiO₄ and Li_2.2Fe_0.9SiO₄ are studied by in situ (XAS) measurements.

This study investigated microbial revival, urine as a viable inoculant and the generation of useful power using novel paper-based MFCs.

Microwave synthesis of a new Zn-MOF gives rapid synthesis of uniform microcrystals for highly sensitive detection of explosive taggant DMNB.

The mechanism of the hydrothermal synthesis of nanostructured alumina shows that the NaOH : Al molar ratio affects not only the resulting morphology but also the yield. Successful reusability of the reaction medium opens the door to large scale manufacturing.

N-doped TiO₂ decorated with C-dots shows superior rate capability and extended battery life when utilized in Li-ion and Na-ion batteries.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) superstructures prepared at 180 °C are activated to highly porous (1479–3802 m² g⁻¹; 0.83–2.98 cm³ g⁻¹) carbons with excellent CO₂ uptake; up to 4.8 and 8.4 mmol g⁻¹ at 1 bar and 25 or 0 °C, respectively, and exceptional hydrogen storage; up to 7.5 and 14.9 wt% at −196 °C and 20 or 150 bar, respectively, and 4.4 wt% at 25 °C and 150 bar.

The attractive intermolecular interactions between PIM-1 and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were used to produce films with higher CO₂/N₂ gas sorption selectivity and reduced ageing of permeability.

A low-cost, high-performance “green carbon”, derived from London plane leaves, exhibits excellent sorption capacity for CO₂ capture and electro-catalytic capability for oxygen reduction, due to naturally doped nitrogen and metallic elements inherited from biomass.