Materials for electrochemical energy conversion and storage: novel approaches and chemistry thereof

Energy has become one of the predominant scientific research areas in the 21st century. Fossil fuels can no longer represent the predominant energy supply for human being. Their use must be reduced and alternative sustainable energy resources have to be identified and rapidly exploited. Besides conversion technologies, also the energy storage must be considered. Electrochemical systems, such as batteries and supercapacitors that can efficiently store and deliver energy on demand in stand-alone power plants, as well as provide power quality and load leveling of the electrical grid in integrated systems, are playing a crucial role in this respect. Annual worldwide research efforts in the field of energy conversion and storage are immense, and more than 10,000 publications per year are indexed by ISI. At the same time, some of these technologies are implemented on a large scale, thus turning out that the materials traditionally used are often critical in terms of safety, cost and environmental impact. In this contribution, two of the most important energy technologies are thoroughly discussed: third-generation solar cells and secondary Li-/Na-ion batteries. Newly elaborated approaches on the selection, functionalization and investigation of materials are presented, also highlighting their key points with respect to those reported in the literature so far. The present communication is intended to show a brief overview of the promising prospects of abundant and readily available raw materials specifically selected and developed for energy storage and conversion devices. In particular, the use of water, (bio-)polymers and light-induced functionalization techniques are demonstrated to allow performance, stability and up-scalable feature previously unpredictable on the basis of traditional chemical and physical approaches. The research trends and future prospects are also discussed