At present, the world is at the peak of production of traditional fossil fuels. Much of the resources that humanity has been consuming (oil, coal, and natural gas) are coming to an end. The human being faces a future that must necessarily go through a paradigm shift, which includes a progressive movement towards increasingly less polluting and energetically viable resources. In this sense, nanotechnology has a transcendental role in this change. For decades, new materials capable of being used in energy processes have been synthesized, which undoubtedly will be the cornerstone of the future development of the planet. In this review, we report on the current progress in the synthesis and use of one-dimensional (1D) nanostructured materials (specifically nanowires, nanofibers, nanotubes, and nanorods), with compositions based on oxides, nitrides, or metals, for applications related to energy. Due to its extraordinary surface–volume relationship, tunable thermal and transport properties, and its high surface area, these 1D nanostructures have become fundamental elements for the development of energy processes. The most relevant 1D nanomaterials, their different synthesis procedures, and useful methods for assembling 1D nanostructures in functional devices will be presented. Applications in relevant topics such as optoelectronic and photochemical devices, hydrogen production, or energy storage, among others, will be discussed. The present review concludes with a forecast on the directions towards which future research could be directed on this class of nanostructured materials.

The photocatalytic degradation of two quinolone-type antibiotics (ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin) in aqueous solution was studied, using catalysts based on ZnO nanoparticles, which were synthesized by a thermal procedure. The efficiency of ZnO was subsequently optimized by incorporating different co-catalysts of gC₃N₄, reduced graphene oxide, and nanoparticles of gold. The catalysts were fully characterized by electron microscopy (TEM and SEM), XPS, XRD, Raman, and BET surface area. The most efficient catalyst was 10%Au@ZnONPs-3%rGO-3%gC₃N₄, obtaining degradations of both pollutants above 96%. This catalyst has the largest specific area, and its activity was related to a synergistic effect, involving factors such as the surface of the material and the ability to absorb radiation in the visible region, mainly produced by the incorporation of rGO and gC₃N₄ in the semiconductor. The use of different scavengers during the catalytic process, was used to establish the possible photodegradation mechanism of both antibiotics.

For some decades, the scientific community has been looking for alternatives to the use of fossil fuels that allow for the planet’s sustainable and environmentally-friendly development. To do this, attempts have been made to mimic some processes that occur in nature, among which the photosystem-II stands out, which allows water splitting operating with different steps to generate oxygen and hydrogen. This research presents promising results using synthetic catalysts, which try to simulate some natural processes, and which are based on Au@ZnO–graphene compounds. These catalysts were prepared by incorporating different amounts of gold nanoparticles (1 wt.%, 3 wt.%, 5 wt.%, 10 wt.%) and graphene (1 wt.%) on the surface of synthesized zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs), and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs), along with a commercial form (commercial ZnO) for comparison purposes. The highest amount of hydrogen (1127 μmol/hg) was reported by ZnO NWs with a gold and graphene loadings of 10 wt.% and 1 wt.%, respectively, under irradiation at 400 nm. Quantities of 759 μmol/hg and 709 μmol/hg were obtained with catalysts based on ZnO NPs and commercial ZnO, respectively. The photocatalytic activity of all composites increased with respect to the bare semiconductors, being 2.5 times higher in ZnO NWs, 8.8 times higher for ZnO NPs, and 7.5 times higher for commercial ZnO. The high photocatalytic activity of the catalysts is attributed, mainly, to the synergism between the different amount of gold and graphene incorporated, and the surface area of the composites.

Different Ag@TiO₂ and Ag@ZnO catalysts, with nanowire (NW) structure, were synthesized containing different amounts of silver loading (1, 3, 5, and 10 wt.%) and characterized by FE-SEM, HRTEM, BET, XRD, Raman, XPS, and UV–vis. The photocatalytic activity of the composites was studied by the production of hydrogen via water splitting under UV–vis light and the degradation of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. The maximum hydrogen production of all the silver-based catalysts was obtained with a silver loading of 10 wt.% under irradiation at 500 nm. Moreover, 10%Ag@TiO₂ NWs was the catalyst with the highest activity in the hydrogen production reaction (1119 µmol/hg), being 18 times greater than the amount obtained with the pristine TiO₂ NW catalyst. The most dramatic difference in hydrogen production was obtained with 10%Ag@TiO₂-P25, 635 µmol/hg, being 36 times greater than the amount reported for the unmodified TiO₂-P25 (18 µmol/hg). The enhancement of the catalytic activity is attributed to a synergism between the silver nanoparticles incorporated and the high surface area of the composites. In the case of the degradation of ciprofloxacin, all the silver-based catalysts degraded more than 70% of the antibiotic in 60 min. The catalyst that exhibited the best result was 3%Ag@ZnO commercial, with 99.72% of degradation. The control experiments and stability tests showed that photocatalysis was the route of degradation and the selected silver-based catalysts were stable after seven cycles, with less than 1% loss of efficiency per cycle. These results suggest that the catalysts could be employed in additional cycles without the need to be resynthesized, thus reducing remediation costs.

At present, the world is at the peak of production of traditional fossil fuels. Much of the resources that humanity has been consuming (oil, coal and natural gas) are coming to an end. The human being faces a future that must necessarily go through a paradigm shift, which includes a progressive movement towards increasingly less polluting and energetically viable resources. In this sense, nanotechnology has a transcendental role in this change. For decades, new materials capable of being used in energy processes have been synthesized that undoubtedly will be the cornerstone of the future development of the planet. In this review, we report on the current progress in the synthesis and use of one-dimensional (1D) nanostructured materials (specifically nanowires, nanofibers, nanotubes and nanorods), with compositions based on oxides, nitrides, or metals, for applications related to energy. Due to its extraordinary surface-volume relationship, tunable thermal and transport properties, and its high surface area, these 1D nanostructures have become fundamental elements for the development of energy processes. The most relevant 1D nanomaterials, their different synthesis procedures, and useful methods for assembling 1D nanostructures in functional devices will be presented. Applications in relevant topics such as optoelectronic and photochemical devices, hydrogen production or energy storage, among others, will be discussed. The present review concludes with a forecast on the directions towards which future research could be directed on this class of nanostructured materials.