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Browsing Staff publications (AEPe) by Subject "4004 Chemical engineering"

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    Fuelling hydrogen futures? A trust-based model of social acceptance
    (Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), 2025) Gordon, Joel A.; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; Haq, Anwar U. l.; Nabavi, Seyed Ali
    Public trust plays a fundamental role in shaping national energy policies in democratic countries, as exemplified by nuclear phase-out in Germany following the Fukushima accident. While trust dynamics have been explored in different contexts of the energy transition, few studies have attempted to quantify the influence of public trust in shaping social acceptance and adoption potential. Moreover, the interaction between public trust and perceived community benefits remains underexplored in the literature, despite the relevance of each factor to facilitating social acceptance and technology uptake. In response, this quantitative analysis closes a parallel research gap by examining the antecedents of public trust and perceived community benefits in the context of deploying hydrogen heating and cooking appliances across parts of the UK housing stock. Drawing on results from a nationally representative online survey (N = 1845), the study advances insights on the consumer perspective of transitioning to ‘hydrogen homes’, which emerged as a topical and controversial aspect of UK energy policy in recent years. Partial least squares structural equation modelling and necessary condition analysis are undertaken to assess the predictive capabilities of a trust-based model, which incorporates aspects of institutional, organisational, interpersonal, epistemic, and social trust. Regarding sufficiency-based logic, social trust is the most influential predictor of public trust, whereas trust in product and service quality corresponds to the most important necessary condition for enabling public trust. Nevertheless, trust in the government, energy sector, and entities involved in research & development are needed to facilitate and strengthen public trust. Overall, this study enriches scholarly understanding of how public trust may shape prospects for trialling novel low-carbon technologies, highlights the need for segment-specific consumer engagement, and advances scholarly understanding of the innovation-decision process in the context of net-zero pathways. As policymakers approach critical decisions on the portfolio of technologies needed to support residential decarbonisation, public trust will prove fundamental to fuelling hydrogen-based energy futures.
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    High performance rechargeable aluminium ion batteries enabled by strategy of covalent organic frame material
    (Elsevier, 2025-05-01) Wei, Guokang; Qiao, Jia; Li, Xin; Dou, Aichun; Hu, Sijiang; Xie, Wei; Luo, Zhenhua; Yang, Jianhong
    Emerging rechargeable aluminium-ion batteries (RAIBs) are a sustainable option for the next generation of low-cost, high-safety and large-scale energy storage technologies. While the unsatisfying availability of traditional inorganic materials has limited the development of RAIBs, the advance of organic materials is expected to be a breakthrough towards high-performance cathode. However, the existing extensive research often focuses on the selection of appropriate organic monomers or stay in the tentative stage of preliminary polymerization. It is difficult to break through the inherent characteristics of the instability of small organic ones and the easy aggregation and accumulation of macromolecular polymers, which is no doubt ignoring the huge potential of organic compounds for structural design at the molecular level. In this connection, our study demonstrates a material design strategy that introduces active functional groups to small molecular monomers and polymerizes them into REDOX active covalent organic framework (COF) with multiple N-containing groups. Theoretical simulations and ex-situ analysis revealed the key function of C-N and C=N as active sites for reversible storage of AlCl2 + ions. In addition, the macro-ring frame brings enhanced structural stability and environmental tolerance for COF in complex electrolyte, resulting in significantly improved electrochemical performance. At 1 A g−1, it exhibits a high specific capacity of 161.2 mAh g−1 and an excellent cycle life of approximately 100 % coulombic efficiency after more than 3,000 cycles. This work fully demonstrates the operability of the design strategy to synthesize COF from small molecular organics by introducing reactive functional groups and its great potential in the role of cathode materials in RAIBs. The success meanwhile provides an inspiration for the development of COF-based organic battery system in large-scale energy storage.
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    Hydrogen bond enhanced electrochemical hydrogenation of benzoic acid over a bimetallic catalyst
    (Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), 2025-06-07) Catizane, Cesar; Jiang, Ying; Sumner, Joy
    Electrochemical hydrogenation (ECH) is a sustainable alternative to traditional hydrogenation methods, offering selective reduction of organic compounds under mild conditions. This study investigates the co-hydrogenation of benzoic acid (BA) and phenol on a platinum-ruthenium on activated carbon cloth (PtRu/ACC) catalyst, with a focus on the synergistic effects arising from hydrogen bonding. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the formation of a hydrogen-bonded complex between BA and phenol facilitates adsorption energy and lowers activation barrier energies compared to BA alone. Experimental results demonstrate that a 20 mM BA and 5 mM phenol mixture achieves the highest conversion rate (87.33%) and faradaic efficiency (63%), significantly outperforming single-compound systems. Notably, co-hydrogenation facilitates the reduction of BA to cyclohexanemethanol, a valuable product for biofuel applications, which has reduced corrosiveness and improved energy density. These findings underscore the potential for optimising multi-compound ECH systems through targeted catalyst design and reagent concentration tuning, thus advancing the development of efficient strategies for bio-oil upgrading and sustainable chemical production.