Advanced Nano-Structured Materials for Electrocatalytic Applications

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Since the beginning of the industrial age, fossil fuels including coal, oil are the world's foremost leading energy stockpile, and the energy supplied from fossil fuels has led to a dramatic escalation in atmospheric CO2 concentrations.1 These circumstances emerge due to the growing energy consumption with the rapid rise in population. To date, more than 80 % of the energy utilization has been derived from fossil fuels, as production of energy from this resource is fairly easy. Another critical challenge associated with the consumption of fossil fuels is intermittent oil reserves in the world, where two-thirds are located within the Middle East, creates an economic dependency on other countries. Besides this, if the emission rate remains unchanged the earth warming can increase up to 4 °C.2 This consequently depletes its surroundings for example plants, by affecting their photosynthesis process, 3, 4 and the ocean, by increasing its acidic character.5 Thus, depletion of fossil fuels and concerns for climate change has triggered the development of alternative renewable and green energy systems to fulfill growing energy demands and thereby control environmental degradation. To diminish global warming below detrimental levels, the scientific community has a considerable role to play, where different aspects impart effective solutions to reduce the rate of global CO2 emissions.6, 7 This critical issue has now become a global challenge and motivated scientists to find renewable ways to fulfill global energy needs. Therefore, the focus has been shifted to clean energy conversion and storage devices that can attain high specific energy with a satisfactory performance by maintaining the cost and quality of the technology.