Bismuth-based nanomaterials for energy applications

N.C. Cates, J.C. Ramirez de la Torre, S. Aina, M.P. Lobera, M. Bernechea. Book chapter in in M.A. Fraga, D.A. Amos, S. Sönmezoglu, V. Subramaniam (Eds.) Sustainable Material Solutions for Solar Energy Technologies, Elsevier. ISBN: 9780128215920. August 2021, 3-35

The development of energy-harvesting and energy-storage devices based on renewable sources will be fundamental for the deployment of autonomous or isolated systems like emerging internet-of-things (IoT) applications.
This chapter will focus on the use of bismuth nanomaterials in energy-related applications. These materials fulfill the requirements of being composed of abundant and non-toxic elements and therefore can be considered environmentally friendly functional materials.
The specific applications that will be covered are: energy-harvesting devices including solar cells and thermoelectrics, electrochemical energy storage devices such as batteries and supercapacitors, and photocatalysts for solar hydrogen production. For each technology, we will discuss the state of the art, challenges, and the focus areas for current research.