D. Cazorla-Amorós

D. Cazorla-Amorós
University of Alicante | UA · University institute of Material

PhD, Full Professor

About

426
Publications
75,104
Reads
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Introduction
I develop my research in the following areas: i) preparation and characterization of carbon materials, zeolites and composites, ii) heterogeneous catalysis, photocatalysis and electrocatalysis; iii) fundamentals of gas adsorption at low and high pressures; iv) energy storage (supercapacitors). From this research, I have published more than 300 papers, 16 patents and more than 400 communications in congresses.
Additional affiliations
July 1988 - June 2015
University of Alicante
Position
  • Professor (Full)

Publications

Publications (426)
Article
Full-text available
This work focuses on the production of methane through the photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide using Pt-doped CdS/TiO2 heterostructures. The photocatalysts were prepared using P25 commercial titania and CdS synthesized through a solvothermal methodology, followed by the impregnation of Pt onto the surface to enhance the physicochemical prope...
Article
Full-text available
Materials prepared from biomass residues are potential candidates to substitute the Pt‐based commercial electrocatalysts in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Although some investigations have reported activity and durability comparable to Pt/C using biomass‐derived catalysts based on Fe─N─C sites, it remains a challenge to decrease the environmental...
Article
Full-text available
Green hydrogen production from water is one attractive route to non-fossil fuel and a potential source of clean energy. Hydrogen is not only a zero-carbon energy source but can also be utilized as an efficient storage of electrical energy generated through various other sources, such as wind and solar. Cost-effective and environmentally benign dire...
Article
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Defect-containing carbon nanotube materials were prepared by subjecting two commercial multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) of different purities to purification (HCl) and oxidative conditions (HNO3) and further heat treatment to remove surface oxygen groups. The as-prepared carbon materials were physicochemically characterized to observe changes...
Article
Full-text available
The development of green and environmentally friendly synthesis methods of electrocatalysts is a crucial aspect in decarbonizing energy generation. In this study, eco‐friendly mechanochemical synthesis of perovskite metal oxide‐carbon black composites is proposed using different conditions and additives such as KOH. Furthermore, the optimization of...
Article
Full-text available
Due to the need for decarbonization in energy generation, it is necessary to develop electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), a key process in energy generation systems such as fuel cells and metal–air batteries. Perovskite–carbon material composites have emerged as active and stable electrocatalysts for the ORR, and the interactio...
Article
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In this work, highly efficient carbon‐supported Pd‐based catalysts for formic acid dehydrogenation were synthesized by a straightforward wet impregnation‐reduction method. The carbon support was obtained from a biomass residue (almond shell) prepared via H3PO4‐assisted hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and thermal activation. This carbon support was...
Article
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Multilayer graphene (MLG), obtained by mild sonication of graphite in NMP, was functionalised via 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with azomethine ylides generated by thermal 1,2-prototropy from various imino esters. The microwave-assisted functionalisation took place in five hours at 100 °C. The resulting MLG, containing substituted proline-based amine f...
Article
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Hydrogen storage by cryoadsorption on porous materials has the advantages of low material cost, safety, fast kinetics, and high cyclic stability. The further development of this technology requires reliable data on the H2 uptake of the adsorbents, however, even for activated carbons the values between different laboratories show sometimes large dis...
Article
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The present review revisits representative studies addressing the development of efficient Pd-based carbon-supported heterogeneous catalysts for two important reactions, namely, the production of hydrogen from formic acid and the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide into formic acid. The HCOOH-CO2 system is considered a promising couple for a hydrogen s...
Preprint
Full-text available
The present review revisits representative studies addressed to develop efficient carbon-based heterogeneous catalysts for two important reactions, namely, the production of hydrogen from formic acid and the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to formic acid. The HCOOH-CO2 system is considered a promising couple for a hydrogen storage system that would...
Article
Full-text available
Among various electrochemical reactions to produce fuels and chemicals, glycerol electrolysis to co-produce hydrogen and lactic acid has received great attention. However, studies have shown the benchmark Pt based catalysts are insufficient in selectively catalysing the glycerol to lactic acid transformation, resulting in a low yield of lactic acid...
Article
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The aim of this work is to establish the Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) activity of self-standing electrospun carbon fiber catalysts obtained from different metallic salt/lignin solutions. Through a single-step electrospinning technique, freestanding carbon fiber (CF) electrodes embedded with various metal nanoparticles (Co, Fe, Pt, and Pd), with...
Cover Page
Full-text available
Dear colleagues, I kindly invite you to submit original research and review articles to the special issue on Nanomaterials MDPI journal entitled "Carbon Nanomaterials for Electrocatalytic Application". Deadline: 31 May 2024 More information: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nanomaterials/special_issues/6324O869YJ
Article
The single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) are allowed to react with imino esters via 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition activated by thermal 1,2-prototropy. The reaction is optimized and analyzed using different heating methods. The functionalization affords pyrrolidino-nanotubes, which were characterized using several techniques. The ester group is next t...
Article
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This work focuses on the development of a new method to utilize deposited coke on zeolite catalysts, formed during the plastic waste cracking. Nitrogen‐doped carbon catalysts are prepared using nylon‐66 and Zn²⁺ ion‐exchanged ZSM‐5 zeolites. After the cracking reaction, nitrogen‐doped carbon materials are obtained by removing zeolites from zeolite/...
Article
Nitrogen-doped carbon-based electrodes are among the most promising alternatives to platinum-based electrodes in the cathode of fuel cells and metal-air batteries, where the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) takes place. Among the approaches for improving ORR activity, nitrogen functionalities and well-developed textural properties have proved very e...
Chapter
The use of biomass in the energy scenario has generated great interest due to the variety of high value-added products that can be obtained from it. Among these products, carbon materials stand out since they have very interesting properties, highlighting the versatility that they offer by virtue of the modification of their surface chemistry throu...
Article
Engineering the surface chemistry of carbon-based materials is of crucial importance in tuning their intrinsic properties, including electrical conductivity, wettability, electroactivity, adsorption potential, reactivity, physical and chemical stability. Intense research has recently focused on understanding the role of surface oxygen functional gr...
Article
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The Stipa tenacissima S. is an endemic species of the Western Mediterranean countries, which grows on the semi-arid grounds of North Africa and South Spain. This biomass offers an abundant, renewable, and low-cost precursor for the production of activated carbon (AC). In that context, ACs were prepared by chemical activation of Stipa tenacissima le...
Article
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is applied to eco-design the H3PO4-assisted hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process converting biomass residue into high-value products. The main innovation of the process relies on the combination of the H3PO4-assisted HTC with the activation treatment of the obtained hydrochar, resulting in activated carbon that is th...
Article
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Zn-air batteries (ZABs) are promising electrochemical devices to store energy. Metal oxide perovskites mixed with carbon materials are highlighted as interesting materials for this application because of their appropriate bifunctional performance in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The interaction between both co...
Article
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Photocatalysis represents a promising technology that might alleviate the current environmental crisis. One of the most representative photocatalysts is graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) due to its stability, cost-effectiveness, facile synthesis procedure, and absorption properties in visible light. Nevertheless, pristine g-C3N4 still exhibits low...
Article
One of the biggest challenges in producing fuel cells at affordable prices is to synthesize carbon materials selectively doped with graphitic nitrogen, as it is considered the most active nitrogen species for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). So far, all strategies focus on the use of nitrogen-containing carbon precursors, which limits the funct...
Article
Formic acid has been postulated as one of the most promising liquid organic hydrogen carriers. Numerous studies dealing with the development of efficient catalysts able to boost the dehydrogenation of formic acid can be found in recent literature. However, most of them lack in stability, so that finding stable catalysts is highly desirable yet chal...
Article
Transition metal oxide-based materials are an interesting alternative to substitute noble-metal based catalyst in energy conversion devices designed for oxygen reduction (ORR), oxygen evolution (OER) and hydrogen evolution reactions (HER). Perovskite (ABO3) and spinel (AB2O4) oxides stand out against other structures due to the possibility of tailo...
Article
Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is one of the most important electrochemical reactions for fuel cells. However, commercial Pt-based catalysts used have important limitations such as their deactivation by carbon monoxide and Pt scarcity. In the present work, small and highly-dispersed copper and iron clusters were anchored onto composite supports ba...
Article
Iron(II) phthalocyanines (FePc) supported on functionalized nanostructured carbon materials have been studied as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in an alkaline medium. Herein, two types of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been explored as support, Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Herringbone Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNTs and hCNTs...
Article
Covalent functionalization of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and oxidized MWCNTs (o-MWCNTs) with chlorodiphenylphosphine (Ph2PCl) has been studied by cyclic voltammetry in organic medium. Depending the upper potential limit used in the electrochemical functionalization, different amount of phosphorus incorporation n is obtained, as result o...
Article
In this study, we synthesized MnFe2O4 solid nanospheres (MSN) calcined at different temperatures (200-500 °C) and MSN-based materials mixed with carbon black, for their use as electrocatalysts in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline medium (0.1 M KOH). It was demonstrated that the calcination temperature of MSN material determined its ch...
Article
Electrochemical functionalization of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Herringbone Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNTs and hCNTs, respectively) has been successfully performed with aminophenylphosphonic acid isomers by potentiodynamic treatment in oxidative conditions. Exceptional selectivity...
Article
Manganese-based materials can catalyze the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), although their activity is known to depend on the crystalline phases and on the concentration of surface-active species. In the present study, we have optimized these two parameters to obtain improved catalysts for ORR. A sol-gel method was used to synthesize LaMnO3-mangane...
Chapter
This chapter reviews different procedures of electrochemical functionalization of nanostructured carbon materials and their relevance for the immobilization of bioelements. Special attention is paid to discuss about the methodologies that permits achieving desired changes in surface chemistry of carbon material and how this property has a high infl...
Chapter
Metal-free carbon-based electrocatalysts have arisen as groundbreaking alternatives to state-of-the-art electrocatalysts based on precious metals, leading to the industrial development and commercialization of environmentally friendly energy conversion and storage technologies. These novel materials have proved to be highly efficient and selective...
Chapter
Hydrogen is a crucial actor in the future sustainable energy scenario. However, its implementation is held back by several considerations, mainly related to its production and storage. Chemical hydrogen storage in liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) stands up as a great alternative to those conventional systems used for physical hydrogen stora...
Article
N-doped carbon materials have been considered one of the most promising options for the replacement of platinum-based electrocatalysts towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). This work provides insights into the deactivation routes of N-doped carbon materials. The changes occurring in the active sites of N-doped carbon catalysts have been anal...
Article
Different photocatalysts based on the combination of TiO2 and CuxO have been prepared by simple and reproducible procedures. The synthesized systems have been applied in the photoreduction of CO2 to yield CH4 inside a 2-dimensional flow reactor in which the gas stream was passed over a thin layer of the catalyst under UV irradiation. Analysis of th...
Article
Full-text available
The production of hydrogen from liquid organic hydrogen carrier molecules stands up as a promising option over the conventional hydrogen storage methods. In this study, we explore the potential of formic acid as a convenient hydrogen carrier. For that, soft-biomass-derived carbon-supported Pd catalysts were synthesized by a H3PO4-assisted hydrother...
Article
Poisoning tolerance of Pt-based catalyst is an important parameter for the designing of direct electrochemical fuel cells (EFCs) based on electrooxidation of alcohols (i.e. methanol, ethanol). Applicability of direct ethanol EFCs is still challenging taking into account the lack of effective electrocatalysts which are able to produce high faradic c...
Article
In this study, we developed Pd nanoparticles-based catalysts supported on composites formed by multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) in various proportions, for their use in the dehydrogenation of formic acid in the liquid phase. It was observed that the composition of the support determined the average size o...
Article
Zeolite-templated carbons (ZTCs) composed of curved and single-layer graphene frameworks have uniform micropores (ca. 1.2 nm) and high surface areas (~4,000 m²/g). Owing to their outstanding properties originating from the porous structures, ZTCs have been used in many applications. In this work, we synthesized Co/N-doped ZTC (Co/N-ZTC) by complexi...
Article
Condensate porosity in porous materials has a significant influence on comfort, energy consumption, and material’s strength and durability. The variation of the moisture content of the material for a given variation of relative humidity describes the moisture storage capacity and has to be determined experimentally through the water sorption isothe...
Article
This study explores the potential application of recycled materials extracted from arboreal ABA (ABA); this waste is used as an alternative source of aluminium oxyhydroxide for the synthesis of γ-Al2O3 with high surface area-based mesoporous materials with interesting applications in environmental remediation. The aluminium present in ABA was extra...
Chapter
Core–shell nanocatalysts have sparked great attention in the last decades, which derives from their multiple possibilities of composition, morphologies, and atomic arrangements, as well as from the enhanced performance usually achieved compared with the traditional alloy catalysts. Due to the importance of Pd in catalysis, the present Chapter aims...
Article
In this study, multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were electrochemically modified with nitrogen and phosphorus species and employed as platform to immobilize pyrroloquinoline quinone-dependent glucose dehydrogenase (PQQ-GDH) for the fabrication of bioelectrodes for glucose detection. Depending on the upper potential limit used during the electroc...
Article
Full-text available
Chemical hydrogen storage stands as a promising option to conventional storage methods. There are numerous hydrogen carrier molecules that afford satisfactory hydrogen capacity. Among them, ammonia borane has attracted great interest due to its high hydrogen capacity. Great efforts have been devoted to design and develop suitable catalysts to boost...
Article
Development of effective direct electron transfer is considered an interesting platform to obtain high performance bioelectrodes. Therefore, designing of scalable and cost-effective immobilization routes that promotes correct direct electrical contacting between the electrode material and the redox enzyme is still required. As we present here, elec...
Article
Full-text available
High-quality performance of catalysts is increasingly required to meet industry exigencies. However, chemical synthesis is often insufficient to maximize the potential properties of the catalysts. On the other hand, electrochemical synthesis has arisen as a promising alternative to overcome these limitations and provide precise control in the prepa...
Article
Copper ferrite nanospheres (CFNS) were prepared by a solvothermal method and they were calcined at different temperatures ranging from 200-600 °C, resulting in CFNS-based materials with different both surface chemistry and structural features, which play a crucial role in the electrocatalytic activity of carbon black-containing CFNS catalysts towar...
Article
Full-text available
The adsorption and electroadsorption of bromide from natural water has been studied in a filter-press electrochemical cell using a commercial granular activated carbon as the adsorbent. During electroadsorption experiments, different voltages were applied (2 V, 3 V and 4 V) under anodic conditions. The presence of the electric field improves the ad...
Article
Full-text available
The electrochemical regeneration of real spent activated carbons (AC) used in drinking water treatment plants was studied at different reactor scales. The electrochemical regeneration was carried out in a 6 g filter-press cell and a 3.5 kg batch reactor, allowing the scaling-up of the process between the two electrolytic reactors. The effect of the...
Article
We have performed the synthesis of TiO2-MWCNT composites focusing on the distribution of the photoactive phase on the carbon active sites existing in the MWCNTs, and its effect on the properties of the composites for the abatement of propene. We have used different approaches for the dispersion of MWCNTs during the synthesis; 1) an ultrasound bath...