The Past, Present, and Future of Sustainable Chemistry
2017; Wiley; Volume: 11; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1002/cssc.201702329
ISSN1864-564X
Autores Tópico(s)Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction
ResumoA new decade: To mark 10 years since the launch of ChemSusChem and to welcome you to Volume 11, this Editorial features the thoughts of some of the journal's Editorial Board members on the current status of the field of sustainable chemistry, and looks at its future prospects. On February 22, 2008, the US government made Woodrow Keeble the first Sioux recipient of the Medal of Honor, the Swedish Academy named professor of literature Anders Olsson as its newest member, and Baywatch star Pamela Anderson filed for the annulment of her marriage to professional poker player Rick Salomon. Moreover (and with far more relevance), on this day the very first issue of ChemSusChem was published by Wiley-VCH on behalf of ChemPubSoc Europe. Since then, the journal has become established as a leading forum for sustainable chemistry and energy research and has grown in tandem with these fields. Last year was an important one for ChemSusChem; not only did 2017 mark the tenth volume of ChemSusChem, but it saw our largest volume yet, with new records for both the number submissions received and the number of papers published (more than 550 papers published in 2017 alone). Among this year's papers were the journal's 10 000th submission received and its 2500th paper published ("An Electrolyte for Reversible Cycling of Sodium Metal and Intercalation Compounds" by S. A. Freunberger and co-workers).1 As always, the primary thanks for our continued success should go to our authors, who continue to publish some attention-grabbing work with us, which has resulted in high levels of citation (Table 1) and higher numbers of downloads than ever before (Table 2). I would like to single out the groups of Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin and Xinchen Wang, who authored our most highly cited and most downloaded papers of the last year, respectively. A wide range of topics are represented among our most highly cited and downloaded papers, including water splitting, CO2 capture and conversion, batteries, fuel cells, biomass valorization, and homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. Papers like these helped us to an increased Impact Factor of 7.226. Corresponding Author(s) Title Times Cited[a] Type Reference[b] DOI[c] M. K. Nazeeruddin Perovskite Solar Cells: Influence of Hole Transporting Materials on Power Conversion Efficiency 76 Review 9(1), 10 10.1002/cssc.201501228 M.-M. Titirici Levulinic Acid Biorefineries: New Challenges for Efficient Utilization of Biomass 62 Review 9(6), 562 10.1002/cssc.201501405 F. Song, X. Hu Efficient Water Splitting Catalyzed by Cobalt Phosphide-Based Nanoneedle Arrays Supported on Carbon Cloth 49 Full Paper 9(5), 472 10.1002/cssc.201501599 Q. Xiang Hierarchical Layered WS2/Graphene-Modified CdS Nanorods for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution 46 Full Paper 9(9), 996 10.1002/cssc.201501702 S.-F. Yin CdS Nanowires Decorated with Ultrathin MoS2 Nanosheets as an Efficient Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution 41 Full Paper 9(6), 624 10.1002/cssc.201501544 J. S. M. Samec Lignin Valorization through Catalytic Lignocellulose Fractionation: A Fundamental Platform for the Future Biorefinery 31 Minireview 9(13), 1544 10.1002/cssc.201600237 R. Palkovits Catalytic Isomerization of Biomass-Derived Aldoses: A Review 30 Review 9(6), 547 10.1002/cssc.201501577 J. Luterbacher Alkaline Stability of Quaternary Ammonium Cations for Alkaline Fuel Cell Membranes and Ionic Liquids 30 Review 9(2), 133 10.1002/cssc.201501148 M. Skyllas- Kazacos Vanadium Electrolyte Studies for the Vanadium Redox Battery—A Review 28 Review 9(6), 547 10.1002/cssc.201500231 B. M. Bhanage N-Heterocyclic Olefins as Robust Organocatalyst for the Chemical Conversion of Carbon Dioxide to Value-Added Chemicals 25 Full Paper 9(15), 1980 10.1002/cssc.201403146 Corresponding Author(s) Title Type Reference[a] DOI[b] X. C. Wang Decorating CoP and Pt Nanoparticles on Graphitic Carbon Nitride Nanosheets to Promote Overall Water Splitting by Conjugated Polymers Communication 10(1), 87 10.1002/cssc.201600850 K. Sivula Solar Water Splitting: Progress Using Hematite (α-Fe2O3) Photoelectrodes Review 4(4), 432 10.1002/cssc.201000416 C. W. Jones Adsorbent Materials for Carbon Dioxide Capture from Large Anthropogenic Point Sources Review 2(9), 796 10.1002/cssc.200900036 J. W. Tang Cu2O/Reduced Graphene Oxide Composites for the Photocatalytic Conversion of CO2 Full Paper 7(4), 1086 10.1002/cssc.201301194 M. Beller, G. Centi, L. Sun Chemistry Future: Priorities and Opportunities from the Sustainability Perspective Essay 10(1), 6 10.1002/cssc.201601739 H. P. Yu Efficient Cleavage of Lignin–Carbohydrate Complexes and Ultrafast Extraction of Lignin Oligomers from Wood Biomass by Microwave- Assisted Treatment with Deep Eutectic Solvent Full Paper 10(8), 1692 10.1002/cssc.201601795 M. Muhler Synergistic Effect of Cobalt and Iron in Layered Double Hydroxide Catalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction Full Paper 10(1), 156 10.1002/cssc.201601272 M. Beller Selective Hydrogenation of Nitriles to Primary Amines by using a Cobalt Phosphine Catalyst Communication 10(5), 842 10.1002/cssc.201601843 S. C. E. Tsang Recent Advances in CO2 Capture and Utilization Minireview 1(11), 893 10.1002/cssc.200800169 M.-M. Titirici Levulinic Acid Biorefineries: New Challenges for Efficient Utilization of Biomass Review 9(6), 562 10.1002/cssc.201501405 We celebrated our first 10 years at a reception at the EuropaCat 2017 conference in Florence (Figure 1) attended by several hundred conference delegates. Besides EuropaCat, you may also have run into our editors at conferences including the European Fuel Cell Forum in Lucerne, the International Symposium on Enhanced Electrochemical Capacitors in Jena, and the International Symposium on Green Chemistry in La Rochelle. Having kicked off the year with a Special Issue to celebrate our 10th Volume, other highlights from 2017 included Special Issues on Catalytic Carbon Dioxide Conversion, guest edited by Arjan Kleij, Mike North, and Atsushi Urakawa, on Perovskite Optoelectronics, guest edited by Henk Bolink and Subodh Mhaisalkar (a joint Special Issue with Energy Technology), and on Artificial Photosynthesis for Sustainable Fuels, guest edited by Holger Dau, Etsuko Fujita, and Licheng Sun (Figure 2). ChemSusChem marked its first 10 years with a cocktail reception at EuropaCat 2017 in Florence. ChemSusChem published four Special Issues during 2017: 10 Years of ChemSusChem, Catalysis for CO2 Conversion, Perovskite Optoelectronics, and Artificial Photosynthesis for Sustainable Fuels. Sustainability is arguably the most important issue facing research chemists today, in light of skyrocketing global demand for energy and raw materials, as well as increasingly urgent (nearly) global efforts to counteract climate change. Chemists stand at the forefront of developing ways to combat these challenges and the degree of success with which the global scientific community achieves this has the potential to profoundly impact generations to come. As such, renewable energy-related topics and green chemical syntheses are booming areas of research in chemistry departments all over the world As we approach the tenth anniversary of the launch of ChemSusChem, it seems like an opportune moment to take a look at how the journal and the field of sustainable chemistry have developed over the past decade and speculate what further developments we will see in the future. With this in mind, I contacted some members of our Editorial Board, to find out their expert opinions on various aspects of sustainable chemistry, in the form of a questionnaire Fabrizio Cavani (University of Bologna): Major changes in the field of sustainable chemistry during the past ten years have been: a) Industrial companies have become aware of the fact that the choice for using a renewable raw material instead of a fossil-based one should be driven not only by economic considerations but also by ethical issues, which may have an important impact on customers. Until a few years ago, customers were not willing to pay more for a bio-based compound than for the fossil counterpart just because the former is more sustainable. Today, this is no longer true. b) However, despite the many efforts to develop new processes for transformation of renewables, it is now evident that major technological hurdles are not so much related to the chemical (or enzymatic) reaction, but rather to upstream (prepurification, pretreatment) and downstream (separation) processes. c) The use of food crops for the production of biochemicals, which today is seen as a sort of mortal sin, should be reconsidered. Indeed, the point is the use of marginal and abandoned lands, no more profitable for the production of food and feed, for the growth of dedicated crops, of whichever type, as raw materials for high added-value chemical compounds. Gabriele Centi (University of Messina): The field of sustainable chemistry has drastically changed during the past decade. While ten years ago the focus was still on topics related to what was indicated as the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry,2 today it is becoming clear that this is a somewhat limited vision. The focus of sustainable chemistry is now on forming the (low-carbon) chemistry of the future, with the development of novel technologies that can revolutionize chemical production in terms of process and energy intensification by using renewable energy- or solar-driven chemistry.3 An example is the development of new processes for the production of base chemicals by direct use of renewable energy rather than fossil fuels. Direct ammonia synthesis from nitrogen and water can not only reduce by over 90 % the carbon footprint, but also opens up a new innovation landscape that goes beyond chemical production. This intersecting integration is a clear challenge for sustainable chemistry. Mark Mascal (UC Davis): As scientists, we tend to run from bandwagon to bandwagon, wherever the excitement and, of course, the funding is. For sustainability, this has had two effects: It has brought fresh insights to bear on the problem, and that's great, but it has also pulled in investigators with a limited compass of the field that tend to miss the big picture. I would encourage those with a bona fide interest in sustainable chemistry to take the time both to familiarize themselves with the backstory and to look to the long horizon, and then ask themselves how what they are undertaking will impact sustainability in a practical sense. Maurizio Prato (University of Trieste): I personally think that "sustainable chemistry" has overcome the borders of a mere scientific area. It is now a state of mind, a major commitment, a driver, and a goal to put into action what is our main responsibility as scientists in general and as chemists in particular. We are here to imagine and create useful science—the kind of science that changes the lives of people and makes them better. This spirit should guide every single step of our research endeavors. This is now clear to everyone in the field and to everyone watching us from outside the field. Eventually, this attitude will generate tremendous interest from a scientific point of view with an exponentially increasing number of papers and many new journals with sustainability in their titles or scope. Great attention on the concept of sustainability has also come from industrial players, as industry anticipates an opportunity of growth. Licheng Sun (Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, and Dalian University of Technology): I feel the field change of sustainable chemistry during the past ten years has occurred very quickly and has been extremely exciting, in particular that in the field of solar energy chemistry. Cavani: The next big thing will be achieved by combining innovative technological solutions with solar-driven chemical valorization of CO2, for example, by means of (photo)electrocatalysis. Moreover, sustainable chemistry will progress, especially in downstream separation and purification technologies, for the production of high-purity monomers or compounds. Centi: We are in a transitional phase for chemical production, largely driven by changes in the energy–chemistry nexus that derive from the energy transition and the progressive phasing-out of fossil fuels. The International Energy Agency just published the World Outlook 2017 report,4 which indicated—in stark contrast to the past—that in the next decade, in regions such as Europe, over 80 % of new investments on energy will be on renewable sources. All energy companies are now progressively shifting their assets to focus on renewable energy, so there is no longer a question mark about the energy transition and its influence on the chemical production, but only about whether we are creative enough to develop the new chemistry that is needed for this transition. The development of new processes and related tools, among which catalysis and process intensification are two of the key elements, is the challenge facing sustainable chemistry to enable this transition. The conservative vision that fossil fuels will remain the cheapest source of energy and chemicals (it may be relevant to mention that over 80 % of fossil-fuel usage in industrial chemistry processes is not as a source of carbon, but to provide the energy for the transformation) is no longer valid. Even the development of bio-based chemical production is a somewhat limited vision, because it is focused on substituting fossil fuels only as the carbon source, which is the less relevant question. The challenge for the next decade is thus to go beyond fossil fuel- and bio-based production to develop new direct (low energy intensity) routes. Mascal: Although I have done the majority of my work with carbohydrates, I see lignin as the final frontier. Chemistries that embrace the complexity of lignin, rather than fighting it, are most likely to win the day in my view, and those that take into account the physical realities of the biomass in which lignin occurs, i.e., that it is of variable composition, wet, and dirty, will fare better than work done in gloveboxes on model compounds. It is such a tough problem that if anybody were to develop an ultimately practical, universally applicable technology for comprehensively valorizing lignin, I think a Nobel Prize would await them. Prato: I imagine a strong interdisciplinary research effort aimed at optimizing molecules and functional materials, bearing in mind the global scenario, to meet a complex intersection of environmental, social, and economic issues. My expertise is mainly related to the synthesis of new nanoscale systems with emerging properties that will have a chance to impact healthcare, diagnosis, and energy in one world that will shape our future. This target will be achieved only with clean and safe nanochemistry protocols, with thorough lifecycle technoeconomic analyses, and with a deep assessment of the toxicology risk, together with "sustainable" scale-up methods. The next big thing will therefore be carved in the sustainable nanochemistry horizon, possibly inspired by nature's guidelines and built to adapt and be eco-friendly, respecting nature. Sun: During the next ten years, I foresee progress in sustainable chemistry becoming even faster. With regards to the next big thing in the field of sustainable chemistry, I believe that will be related to solar energy chemistry. Cavani: The development of complex (multifunctional, hierarchical) catalytic materials for carrying out several chemical steps in a single reactor, which requires a deep understanding of the mechanism by which the catalyst operates and of the reaction mechanism as well. This implies that several competencies are needed to develop efficient catalysts for new (and sustainable) processes, from reaction kinetics, to surface science, to DFT, and so on. For these reasons, this area of sustainable chemistry is extremely interesting and challenging. Centi: Electrocatalytic processes—where I use this term not in the common sense of electrochemistry in the presence of a catalyst, but as catalysis with electrons to go beyond the limits in electrochemistry—is an exciting direction. There are various major challenges, going beyond the conventional electrochemistry: a) To overcome current limits in electron transfer, which dominates conventional electrochemistry, by enabling new multielectron transfer pathways to avoid the generation of high-energy intermediates; b) to control selectivity in electrochemical reactions (a crucial role of catalysis); c) to increase productivity per geometrical electrode surface by developing 3 D-type electrodes. However, there are many other new interesting possibilities. Non-thermal plasma has great potential, but still faces problems of selectivity and energy efficiency, which can both in principle be overcome by a new design in plasma–catalyst coupling. Photocatalysis, especially that for new applications (for example, photocatalytic reduction), is another great possibility, if it can overcome the current limits of selectivity and productivity. Together with a better understanding, it is necessary to redirect research towards more disruptive approaches, rather than the incremental advances of most current studies. Mascal: I get most excited when I see creative, novel chemistry contributing to sustainability in a practical way, and by that I mean the development of technologies and products that have real market potential and hence the capacity to displace meaningful volumes of petroleum. Prato: I am fascinated by the complexity of photosynthesis and by the immense effort that chemists are dedicating to replicating this natural wonder with artificial molecules and materials. Solving these hurdles and imitating nature would provide mankind with a sustainable energy future. Sun: The current areas of sustainable chemistry research and recent advances that have excited me the most are solar cells, solar fuels, and batteries. Cavani: The major problems are still political and economic. However, society is demanding processes and products/materials that are more sustainable and is willing to pay more for this. Moreover, the weak link in the value chain is the availability of the raw material itself. Farmers should be helped and supported to integrate the production of dedicated crops (different from those they have grown for decades) in the value chain. Therefore, the creation of alliances between farmers and chemical/fuel companies is crucial. Centi: As indicated above, this is an ongoing and irreversible direction, which is now recognized progressively, even by the energy companies. Mascal: As more and more scientists investigate the applications of biomass as a feedstock for chemical production, we should see accelerating progress towards this goal, as long as we stay focused on the realities of the task at hand. I think a useful adage here is: "if nobody can market your technology, it is not going to save any polar bears." Prato: I am convinced that solar energy conversion is the way. Artificial photosynthesis and bio-hybrid systems, merging synthetic catalysts and nanosystems with biotechnology, will soon offer a promising alternative. Sun: The effective replacement of fossil resources as a source of energy and chemicals in the foreseeable future will entail electricity and fuels based on solar energy and raw materials on our planet, such as water, nitrogen, and CO2. Cavani: I don't think there is a clear answer to this question. It depends on several factors, for example in function of how the new tools for the communication of science (through social networks for example) will become important. In my opinion, the efficient communication of science (not only in the field of sustainable chemistry) will have to be based on a combination of different tools. Especially young generations are very much used to receiving feedback and attribute importance to them in function not only of the scientific content, but also of the way concepts are expressed. Centi: I'm convinced that the next decade will see the progressive transformation of current chemistry to the new chemical production outlined above. It is thus even more relevant than in the past to have a leading role of scientific publishing in orienting research in the new directions and stimulating young researchers to progress in this direction. ChemSusChem has certainly made a significant contribution in this direction and should further play a crucial leading role on the topics, an area in which it is advanced with respect to competing journals. Mascal: As more and more authors compete for space in the top sustainable chemistry journals, it is inevitable that new titles will appear in this space, and indeed it is happening. The increasing deluge of papers that land on editors' desks will have an unavoidable impact on the competency of reviewing. I am a proponent of open review, and think a more "collaborative" model, involving both authors and reviewers, is the future of scientific publishing. Prato: We will experience rapid progress towards broad research topics with a strong interdisciplinary character, where synergy will be sought at the crossroads of biology, engineering and, without doubt, fundamental chemistry. I see journals correctly dedicating more attention to these challenging strategies, while we are slowly experiencing a smooth transition to the open-access policy. Sun: Advances in scientific publishing over the next ten years, including those in sustainable chemistry publishing, will likely be largely media based, with a view to speeding up the publishing process and shortening the time from fresh lab results to papers. As our Editorial Board members suggest, the future of sustainable chemistry looks very bright indeed and, in light of this, we look forward to another big year at ChemSusChem in 2018. From 2018, our Editorial Board members will be joined by three new members. I'm very pleased to welcome Professor Marcella Bonchio (University of Padova), Professor Sheng Dai (University of Tennessee Knoxville and Oak Ridge National Laboratory), and Professor Volker Presser (Leibniz Institute for New Materials) to the Editorial Board. Prof. Bonchio brings expertise in molecular photo- and electrocatalysis for artificial photosynthesis, Prof. Dai is an expert in the design and synthesis of novel materials for catalysis, separation, and energy-related processes, and Prof. Presser adds expertise in materials for electrochemical energy storage, including batteries and supercapacitors. All new members will significantly improve the breadth of the Editorial Board, and I very much look forward to working with them. Aside from ChemSusChem, our portfolio of journals and other products will also see some developments this year. For example, from January 1st 2018, the ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) numbers for all submitting correspondence authors will be required on submission of all papers to ChemSusChem and our ChemPubSoc Europe sister journals. An ORCID number is a unique digital identifier that belongs to a particular researcher, regardless of discipline, and is intended to help solve problems with name disambiguation (for example, there are currently around 120 ORCID numbers registered to people called David Smith). It can be used to indicate your professional affiliations, and it can also be easily linked to your publications. Registration is free and easy. If you want to find out more about the concepts behind ORCID, see the latest interview with Alice Meadows (director of Communications for ORCID) on ChemistryViews ("Your Lifelong Digital Name"). Mobile demand for scientific papers is now higher than ever so our developers have not been lazy: They have developed an app that combines the existing apps for individual journals of ChemPubSoc Europe, as well as those from the GDCh and ACES, alongside some more such as ChemPhotoChem and ChemistrySelect into one to remove some clutter from your device and give you convenient access to several journals in one place. Users can select their favorite titles from the aforementioned portfolio in the app and use their or their institution's access to full text wherever they go at no extra cost. Searching was improved to cover articles on the device and online, and new publishing workflows such as Accepted Articles were added. Downloading individual articles or entire issues for offline reading is still a key feature of the app, as is a tailored browsing and reading experience for tablets and smartphones. Issue or keyword alerts remain a convenient way to stay up to date in your field. A newsfeed from ChemistryViews.org lets you explore what else is going on in chemistry. The app is available for iOS, entitled "ChemPubSoc Europe", and will be coming to Android soon. We will soon cut off content feeds to the individual journal apps, so get the new family app now and enjoy the added features. To conclude, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of our authors, reviewers, and readers for supporting ChemSusChem throughout 2017, and hope you will continue to do so in 2018. I would like to single out our Editorial Board and International Advisory Board members, for special thanks for helping us to maintain such high standards. I am especially grateful to our Editorial Board Members Fabrizio Cavani, Gabriele Centi, Mark Mascal, Maurizio Prato, and Licheng Sun for their help in preparing this Editorial. Last, but not least, I'd like to recognize the continued sterling efforts of my colleagues here in Weinheim among the editorial and production teams, without whom this journal would not exist. With that, I wish all of our readers a happy new year. We look forward to another successful year with you in 2018. David J. Smith, Editor-in-Chief
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