Preface

This book, entitled Nanostructured Materials for Sustainable Energy: Design, Evaluation, and Applications, aims to showcase the innovation in materials design and synthesis, structural characterization, and multidisciplinary applications. Although the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had negative impacts globally, scientists, engineers, and other professionals working on energy materials made breakthrough achievements. The editorial team comprises junior faculty, senior ACS leader, and mid-career faculty who can collectively contribute to the scientific society and beyond through strategic planning and long-term collaboration. The authors are world-recognized researchers and young dynamic professionals who have contributed to sustainable energy through their dedication, diligence, and innovation.

This book is composed of ten chapters summarizing the research discoveries presented by the invited authors. These topics include developing effective catalysts for sustainable energy storage and conversion, producing alternative fuels by green chemistry, electrocatalysis, harvesting solar energy, and reforming methane. The materials used for energy storage conversion include Two-Dimensional Metal Phosphorus Trichalcogenide Nanostructure for Sustainable Energy Conversion (F. Wang), Interactive Nanomaterials to be used Enhance Energy Storage and Conversion (S. Bashir), and Organic-Carbon Composites for Next Generation Capacitive Electrodes (K. Lian). These chapters provided leading-edge methods to produce interactive materials with tunable architectures to respond to the external signal changes and self-regulation of their structures. Another two chapters focused on electrocatalyst discussion with improved reactivities, for example, Atomic Layer Deposition Synthesis of Iron, Cobalt, and Nickel Chalcogenides for Electrocatalysis Applications (X. Wang) and Calixarene-based Coordination Cage and Its Application to Electrocatalysis (H. Zhang). Other topics focused on application perspectives include research on Green Electrocatalytical Synthesis of Ammonia using Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (R. Li) and WS₂-based Nanomaterials for Visible-light Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants (Y. Hu). These two chapters provide unique synthetic methods to produce value-added products and increase atom economy with the potential to move from the lab bench to the manufactory floor. The comprehensive research on solar energy application and harvesting has been addressed in this book. Examples include Solar-Driven Photothermocatalytic Dry Reforming of Methane for Syngas Production (Y. Li) and Efficient Design Paradigm for Harvesting Solar Energy: Dynamic Tunability of Heating/Cooling Mode using Advanced Nanotechnology (A. Abedin). One stand-alone chapter showcased the insights on the Effect of Alcohol Tail Length on Aggregate Behavior of Alcohol and AOT at Water-scCO₂ interface: MD Simulation Study (Z. Jin).

The guest editors are grateful to all authors and their team members who presented their research findings in this book. The reviewers are duly acknowledged for their time and effort in reviewing the manuscripts and offer constructive advice to secure the quality of these submissions. The guest editors also extend their sincere gratitude to ACS Publication for providing this precious opportunity for this team to plan, compile, and edit this book. Especially many thanks are given to Amanda Koenig, MS, Acquisitions Editor, and Arlene Furman from ACS Books. Ms. Beth Campbell (Contractor) and Tracey Glazener kindly provided great assistance and support throughout this book preparation and production. The collaboration reflects a long-lasting and constructive relationship between ACS Publications and ENFL technical division, which they hope will continue to be fruitful in the future.