Semiconductor photocatalysts have attracted a great amount of multidiscipline research due to their high potential for solar-to-chemical-energy conversion applications, ranging from water and air purification to hydrogen and chemical fuel production. This unique diversity of photoinduced applications has spurred major research efforts on the rational design and development of photocatalytic mat…
Photocatalysis is an advanced technique that transforms solar energy into sustainable fuels and oxidizes pollutants via the aid of semiconductor photocatalysts. The main scientific and technological challenges toward effective photocatalysis are the stability, robustness, and efficiency of semiconductor photocatalysts. For major practical applications in energy conversion (i.e., hydrogen evolut…
This reprint is comprised of eleven articles that are screened by our hard-working peer reviewers. It mainly focuses on the recent advances in electric motors and drives, to adapt to the ongoing trends of electrification in both transportation and industry. New structural motors, such as the axial flux machine and the multi-phase machine, are introduced because of their enhanced reliability for…
Thermal energy storage using phase change materials (PCMs) is a research topic that has attracted much attention in recent decades. This is mainly due to the potential use of PCMs as latent storage media in a large variety of applications. Although many kinds of PCMs are already commercial products, advanced materials with improved properties and new latent storage concepts are required to bett…
This work presents a universal decentralized control strategy for grid-based high-density material flow systems with automated guided vehicles and gives insights into the system behavior as well as the solution quality.
Three-dimensional (3D) printing enables the fabrication of tissue-engineered constructs and devices from a patient’s own medical data, leading to the creation of anatomically matched and patient-specific constructs. There is a growing interest in applying 3D printing technologies in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The main printing methods include extrusion-based, …
2D nanomaterials are a relatively populous and ever-expanding class of innovative materials with disruptive potential for different application contexts. Although for some of them, such as graphene, various possible implementations have already been explored in different application fields, others, (e.g., Mxenes), are still relatively at an infantile stage with regard to handling, stability, ex…
The use of data collectors in energy systems is growing more and more. For example, smart sensors are now widely used in energy production and energy consumption systems. This implies that huge amounts of data are generated and need to be analyzed in order to extract useful insights from them. Such big data give rise to a number of opportunities and challenges for informed decision making. In r…
This Special Issue reprint highlights seventy years since the discovery of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in 1952 by Russian scientists LV Radushkevich and VM Lukyanovich in what was then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the USSR. It also reflects the popularization by the well-known Japanese scientist S Iijima, since 1991, of carbon nanostructures, including CNTs, towards nanotechnology as …
Electrical machines and drives dominate our everyday lives. This is due to their numerous applications in industry, power production, home appliances, and transportation systems such as electric and hybrid electric vehicles, ships, and aircrafts. Their development follows rapid advances in science, engineering, and technology. Researchers around the world are extensively investigating electrica…