Monash Researchers Develop Catalyst for Efficient Zinc-Air Batteries

Researchers at Victoria’s Monash University have developed a new carbon-based material they claim allows supercapacitors to store as much energy as traditional lead-acid batteries, while delivering power much faster than conventional batteries can manage. #BatteryStorage #Australia #PVProjects

🚨 Multiscale model reveals critical microenvironment effects in electrochemical CO2 reduction ⚡ Electrochemical CO2 reduction, which uses electricity to turn #carbondioxide into useful chemicals and #fuels, will be a key technology in the transition from a fossil fuel-based energy and materials economy to a sustainable one. But until now, its industrial implementation has been limited: in particular, scientists have struggled to understand and improve the electrolyte microenvironments that surround catalysts used in electrochemical CO2 reduction reactions. These microenvironments depend on transport properties of molecules and ions in liquid and solid electrolytes and affect reaction rates and product selectivity. Now, researchers led by Sophia Haussener in the Laboratory of Renewable Energy Science and Engineering, in collaboration with Nuria Lopez from ICIQ, have developed a detailed model of these microenvironments that connects atomistic and continuum scales. Now published in #NatureCatalysis, the study provides new insights into electrolyte effects at all scales. Considering a wide range of liquid electrolytes on silver electrodes, the team’s results reveal an inverse relationship between cation concentration and CO2 availability at the catalyst interface. Extending the methodology to realistic membrane/electrode configurations, the team showed that while ionomers can overcome this limitation through fixed background charge concentrations, water management becomes critical to achieve high current densities. Overall, the work could enable optimized microenvironment design for electrochemical CO2 conversion into useful fuels or chemicals – a key step toward #netzero technologies! 🔍 Read the full paper here 🔗 https://lnkd.in/e4aXr7fy EPFL | Francesca Lorenzutti | #CO2 | #sustainability | #energy | #sustainablematerials |#catalysts

Our newest paper by Francesca and co-authors on multi-scale modeling of electrochemical CO2 reduction is out in Nature Catalysis (https://lnkd.in/e4aXr7fy). Wonderful collaboration with Nuria Lopez's group at ICIQ. We show that transport and kinetics are closely interlinked.

Clean energy breakthrough: harnessing power from saltwater and freshwater When seawater and freshwater meet, a natural process releases energy. Known as osmotic energy, this renewable source has long been recognised as a clean and virtually unlimited form of power. The challenge has been finding efficient ways to capture it. A team of researchers - led by PhD candidate Yumeng Guo of Monash Chemical and Biological Engineering - has demonstrated a new approach that significantly improves energy generation from this process. Their work focuses on reverse electrodialysis, a technique that uses thin membranes to control the movement of salt ions and produce electricity. Conventional polymer-based membranes are practical to manufacture on a large scale but are less effective because of their uneven structure, which slows ion movement and reduces efficiency. To address this, the researchers developed membranes with precisely structured internal channels that allow ions to flow more easily. Tests showed the new membranes could achieve record levels of power output - both in controlled laboratory conditions and in real-world experiments using seawater and river water. Read the research article published in NANO MICRO Small Journal here https://lnkd.in/gyftvkd6 #YumengGuo #XiangSun #QianxiZhang #ZeXianLow #ProfessorLeiJiang Professor Huanting Wang, Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor and Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate Fellow, Monash Chemical and Biological Engineering Monash Engineering Monash University #ThisIsMonashEngineering #OsmoticEnergy #Electrodialysis #IonSelectiveMembranes #Innovation

🌊⚡ Harnessing power from saltwater and freshwater When seawater and freshwater meet, they naturally release energy – a renewable resource known as osmotic energy. Until now, capturing it efficiently has been the challenge. A Monash team has developed new membranes with precisely structured channels that allow salt ions to move more freely. The result? Record levels of power output, demonstrated both in the lab and in real-world tests using seawater and river water. This breakthrough brings us closer to harnessing osmotic energy as a scalable source of clean power. Read more about the research below. #CleanEnergy #ResearchImpact

A breakthrough in scalable single-atom catalysts for clean energy Researchers from Monash Chemical and Biological Engineering and Monash Materials Science and Engineering in Clayton and Suzhou Campuses have developed a new way to make powerful catalysts that could improve clean energy technologies. These catalysts are made from single platinum atoms spread very densely across a surface, which makes them highly cost-effective and energy efficient. Creating them however, has always been very difficult. In this study, researchers used a simple method called vacuum arc discharge to quickly and reliably make platinum single-atom catalysts. They achieved a record density of platinum atoms anchored onto a special metal alloy and stabilised with carbon nanotubes, which helps keep the structure intact even at extremely high temperatures (up to 1000 °C). What makes this method exciting is that it works not just for platinum, but also for other valuable metals like iridium. The carbon can also be derived from waste!  It’s also scalable - researchers were able to produce gram-level amounts in just half an hour. Read the full research article in Advanced Portfolio Science here - https://lnkd.in/gF-V4ubK #HongzheHe #XiaoqiongRen #RuoqunZhang Sasha Yang Jinxing Gu Ke Wang #BinbinQian Professor Ning chen | Professor Lian Zhang | Adjunct Professor Jianglong Yu | Adjunct Professor #YuanCheng | Associate Professor #BaiQianDai ARC Research Hub for Value-Added Processing of Underutilised Carbon Waste #CleanSolidFuelLaboratory Monash University #ThisIsMonashEngineering #VacuumArcDischarge #Sustainability #CleanEnergyTechnologies #SingleAtomCatalysts #GlobalImpact

🌍 New Review Published! "Advancements and Challenges of Tailored Engineering of Carbon Materials for Electrolytic CO₂ Reduction to High-Value Carbon Products" The global climate crisis driven by excessive greenhouse gas emissions, especially CO₂, demands urgent and innovative solutions. One promising pathway is the electrochemical reduction of CO₂ into valuable carbon-based products — a transformative approach that not only mitigates emissions but also enables resource recovery and economic opportunities. Our latest review article provides a comprehensive overview of carbon-based catalysts — materials known for their cost-effectiveness, high conductivity, and tunable surface chemistry. We delve into: ✅ The latest advances in catalyst design ✅ Strategies like heteroatom doping and composite formation ✅ A detailed summary of performance metrics (FE, current density, stability) ✅ Key challenges and future directions in this rapidly evolving field 🔬 These tailored materials are central to enabling efficient, selective, and scalable CO₂ conversion technologies for a sustainable future. 💡 This work represents the collective effort of a dedicated research team, and I extend my special thanks to the corresponding authors Dr. SAHIL KOHLI and Dr. Indrani Jha for their leadership and guidance throughout this work. 📖DOI: https://lnkd.in/gThEXWED #CO2Reduction #Electrocatalysis #CarbonMaterials #Sustainability #ClimateAction #CarbonCapture #Research #GreenChemistry #EnergyTransition #NetZero

《Energy Lab》 Breaking New Ground: Single-Atom Catalysts for Multi-Carbon CO2 Reduction 🌱⚡ Exciting review by Fengkun Hao, Yunhao Wang, and Zhanxi Fan on rational design of single-atom catalysts (SACs) for electrochemical CO₂ reduction to high-value multi-carbon (C₂₊) products! While SACs have shown promise for C₁ products, this work dives deep into mechanisms and design principles for advancing C₂₊ generation—critical for sustainable fuel production and carbon neutrality. From copper-based to non-copper SACs, the authors explore innovative strategies to boost selectivity, efficiency, and scalability. A timely resource for researchers in catalysis, materials science, and sustainable energy! 📖 Dive into the science: [https://lnkd.in/gHabh9x8] #CO2Reduction #SingleAtomCatalysts #SustainableEnergy #CarbonNeutral #Electrochemistry #MaterialsScience #Innovation #GreenChemistry #Catalysis #ClimateAction

Brown Associate Professor Feng Lin served on the American Chemical Society's Division of Energy & Fuels Tech show panel last week, sharing his experiences with and the importance of university-industry alliances.

Superconductors – materials that conduct electricity without energy loss – can revolutionize the green transition, especially if they work at room temperature. Wallenberg Scholar Floriana Lombardi intends to reveal the mechanisms behind the mysterious superconductors that do not need extreme cooling to function. This offers potential for solutions to the world’s energy challenges and could shed new light on a 40-year-old conundrum. “Superconductivity that does not require cooling has a huge number of potential applications. Among other things, it could be used to create better screening equipment’s in the health care sector, more environmentally friendly materials or efficient transport of renewable energy over large distances,” says, Floriana Lombardi, who is Professor of quantum materials and nanodevices at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. https://lnkd.in/dp8N6YJF #research #science #materialsscience #nano #quantum #superconductors Chalmers University of Technology Floriana Lombardi Ulrika Ernstrom