Advances and perspectives on solid oxide fuel cells : From nanotechnology to power electronics devices

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) hold an important place in energy conversion and storage systems due to their fuel flexibility, high efficiency, and environmental sustainability. The scorching temperature (≥800 °C) to operate SOFCs results in shorter life span due to rapid deterioration of accompanying components. Nanomaterials have attained considerable attention in recent years due to their great technological importance in fuel cell technology. Nanoengineering of the architectures of known materials and adopting composite approach can effectively enhance the active sites for electrode reactions. The use of nanotechnology will make SOFCs environment friendly and sustainable through green manufacturing processes of nanotechnology. Overviews of the contributions of nanotechnology and power electronics technologies to SOFCs, the transition of SOFCs from macro- to nanotechnology, the significance of nanomaterials in SOFCs, dynamic modeling, the function of optimization techniques, and the requirement for power electronics converters in SOFCs are all provided in this piece of work. The applications of SOFCs in different sectors, prominent institutes/labs and companies involved in SOFCs’ research, future challenges, and perspectives are also highlighted.© 2023 The Authors. Energy Technology published by Wiley-VCH GmbH. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Descriptive data on trichloroethylene and Congo red dye adsorption from wastewater using bio nanosponge phosphorylated-carbon nanotube/nanoparticles polyurethane composite

The availability and quality of water resources is currently the primary concern in Southern Africa. The challenge is to improve or develop water treatment materials or methods to solve this problem of potable water scarcity. Hence, this article presents the analyzed data, which are supplementary data information on the study of bio nanosponge phosphorylated-carbon nanotube/nanoparticles polyurethane composite (pMWCNT/β-CD/TiO2-Ag) as polymeric nanobiosorbent, for water treatment. The developed polymeric nanobiosorbent (pMWCNT/β-CD/TiO2-Ag) was synthesized using combined methods of amidation reaction, cross polymerization, and sol-gel process. The removal of water pollutants (trichloroethylene (TCE) and Congo red (CR) dye) was conducted by the batch adsorption method. The conditions used during the adsorption experiments and methods (applied to quantify the water samples after adsorption studies) are described. Additional data obtained on the effect of pH, isotherm, kinetic, and thermodynamic studies are also illustrated

Nanobiocomposite Polymer as a Filter Nanosponge for Wastewater Treatment

A multifunctional nanobiocomposite polymer was developed in this study through a cross-linking polymerization of cyclodextrin with phosphorylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes followed by sol-gel to incorporate TiO2 and Ag nanoparticles. This work’s novelty was to prove that the developed nanobiocomposite polymer is a potential filter nanosponge capable of removing organic, inorganic, and microorganisms’ pollutants from wastewater samples. The synthesized multifunctional nanobiocomposite polymer was characterized using a range of spectroscopy and electron microscopy techniques. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) confirmed the presence of oxygen-containing groups on the developed nanobiocomposite polymer and carbamate linkage (NH(CO)) distinctive peak at around 1645 cm−1, which is evidence that the polymerization reaction was successful. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image shows that the developed nanobiocomposite polymer has a rough surface. The Dubinin–Radushkevich and the pseudo-second-order kinetic models best described the adsorption mechanism of Co2+ and TCE’s onto pMWCNT/CD/TiO2-Ag. The efficacy of the developed nanobiocomposite polymer to act as disinfectant material in an environmental media (e.g., sewage wastewater sample) compared to the enriched media (e.g., nutrient Muller Hinton broth) was investigated. From the results obtained, in an environmental media, pMWCNT/CD/TiO2-Ag nanobiocomposite polymer can alter the bacteria’s metabolic process by inhibiting the growth and killing the bacteria, whereas, in enriched media, the bacteria’s growth was retarded

A Review on Conventional and Advanced Methods for Nanotoxicology Evaluation of Engineered Nanomaterials

Nanotechnology can be defined as the field of science and technology that studies material at nanoscale (1–100 nm). These nanomaterials, especially carbon nanostructure-based composites and biopolymer-based nanocomposites, exhibit excellent chemical, physical, mechanical, electrical, and many other properties beneficial for their application in many consumer products (e.g., industrial, food, pharmaceutical, and medical). The current literature reports that the increased exposure of humans to nanomaterials could toxicologically affect their environment. Hence, this paper aims to present a review on the possible nanotoxicology assays that can be used to evaluate the toxicity of engineered nanomaterials. The different ways humans are exposed to nanomaterials are discussed, and the recent toxicity evaluation approaches of these nanomaterials are critically assessed