To prevent global warming, ESS development is in progress along with the development of electric vehicles and renewable energy. However, the state-of-the-art technology, i.e., lithium-ion batteries, has reached its limitation, and thus the need for high-performance batteries with improved energy and power density is increasing. Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) are attracting enormous attention because of their high theoretical energy density. However, there are technical barriers to its commercialization such as the formation of dendrites on the anode and the shuttle effect of the cathode. To resolve these issues, a boron nitride nanotube (BNNT)-based separator is developed. The BNNT is physically purified so that the purified BNNT (p−BNNT) has a homogeneous pore structure because of random stacking and partial charge on the surface due to the difference of electronegativity between B and N. Compared to the conventional polypropylene (PP) separator, the p−BNNT loaded PP separator prevents the dendrite formation on the Li metal anode, facilitates the ion transfer through the separator, and alleviates the shuttle effect at the cathode. With these effects, the p−BNNT loaded PP separators enable the LSB cells to achieve a specific capacity of 1429 mAh/g, and long-term stability over 200 cycles.

A universal increase in energy consumption and the dependency on fossil fuels have resulted in increasing severity of global warming, thus necessitating the search of new and environment-friendly energy sources. Hydrogen is as one of the energy sources that can resolve the abovementioned problems. Water splitting promotes ecofriendly hydrogen production without the formation of any greenhouse gas. The most common process for hydrogen production is electrolysis, wherein water molecules are separated into hydrogen and oxygen through electrochemical reactions. Solar-energy-induced chemical reactions, including photocatalysis and photoelectrochemistry, have gained considerable attention because of the simplicity of their procedures and use of solar radiation as the energy source. To improve performance of water splitting reactions, the use of catalysts has been widely investigated. For example, the novel-metal catalysts possessing extremely high catalytic properties for various reactions have been considered. However, due to the rarity and high costs of the novel-metal materials, the catalysts were considered unsuitable for universal use. Although other transition-metal-based materials have also been investigated, carbon-based materials, which are obtained from one of the most common elements on Earth, have potential as low-cost, nontoxic, high-performance catalysts for both photo and electrochemical reactions. Because abundancy, simplicity of synthesis routes, and excellent performance are the important factors for catalysts, easy optimization and many variations are possible in carbon-materials, making them more attractive. In particular, low-dimensional carbon materials, such as graphene and graphitic carbon nitride, exhibit excellent performance because of their unique electrical, mechanical, and catalytic properties. In this mini-review, we will discuss the performance of low-dimensional carbon-based materials for water splitting reactions.

Rechargeable lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) are emerging as some of the most promising next-generation battery alternatives to state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to their high gravimetric energy density, being inexpensive, and having an abundance of elemental sulfur (S₈). However, one main, well-known drawback of LSBs is the so-called polysulfide shuttling, where the polysulfide dissolves into organic electrolytes from sulfur host materials. Numerous studies have shown the ability of porous carbon as a sulfur host material. Porous carbon can significantly impede polysulfide shuttling and mitigate the insulating passivation layers, such as Li₂S, owing to its intrinsic high electrical conductivity. This work suggests a scalable and straightforward one-step synthesis method to prepare a unique interconnected microporous and mesoporous carbon framework via salt templating with a eutectic mixture of LiI and KI at 800 °C in an inert atmosphere. The synthesis step used environmentally friendly water as a washing solvent to remove salt from the carbon–salt mixture. When employed as a sulfur host material, the electrode exhibited an excellent capacity of 780 mAh g⁻¹ at 500 mA g⁻¹ and a sulfur loading mass of 2 mg cm⁻² with a minor capacity loss of 0.36% per cycle for 100 cycles. This synthesis method of a unique porous carbon structure could provide a new avenue for the development of an electrode with a high retention capacity and high accommodated sulfur for electrochemical energy storage applications.

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The one-dimensional (1D) mathematical model of fixed bed reactor was developed for dimethyl ether (DME) synthesis at pilot-scale (capacity: 25–28 Nm³/h of syngas). The reaction rate, heat, and mass transfer equations were correlated with the effectiveness factor. The simulation results, including the temperature profile, CO conversion, DME selectivity, and DME yield of the outlet, were validated with experimental data. The average error ratios were below 9.3%, 8.1%, 7.8%, and 3.5% for the temperature of the reactor, CO conversion, DME selectivity, and DME yield, respectively. The sensitivity analysis of flow rate, feed pressure, H₂:CO ratio, and CO₂ mole fraction was investigated to demonstrate the applicability of this model.