Many important processes and methodologies in upstream oil and gas show performance enhancements with nanomaterials. The implementation of advanced nanotechnologies in oil and gas is expected to result in higher efficiencies and lower costs leading to a reduction in the carbon footprint of hydrocarbon extraction and higher safety standards. More details can be found in article number 1901216 by Peter J. Boul and Pulickel M. Ajayan.

Research in nanomaterials has brought many performance enhancements in high-performance oil well construction, production enhancement, and reservoir management materials. Exciting developments are being witnessed in smart self-sensing cements, advanced production technologies, enhanced oil-recovery technologies, nanoparticle sensors, sensor networks, and downhole power and automation. Herein, a brief overview of the applications of nanoparticles and their potential as disruptive technologies is provided.

The physical absorption of CO₂ in choline-based ionic liquids (ILs) and the chemical absorption of CO₂ in acetate-based ILs is studied. The energy demands of CO₂ in both pressure- and temperature-swing processes are calculated. The results show that the acetate-based ILs are effective both in terms of the amount of ILs consumed and the total energy demands.

A moderate amount of Cr³⁺ in LiNi_0.6Co_0.2Mn_0.2O₂ can not only expand pathways for Li-ion insertion and extraction, but also suppress the Ni²⁺ content, thus reducing cation mixing and improving the order of the crystal structure. The electrochemical performance for the moderate amount of Cr³⁺-doped material is remarkably improved, especially under harsh conditions.

Lignin-based nanospheres modified by resinification have a linear structure that induces the graphene plane grown along the a-axis during thermal treatment. The large microcrystal size gives more sites for Na⁺ insertion in the low-potential plateau region.

An Fe₃O₄-based porous carbon material is synthesized via a molten salts method and shows Pt/C comparable activity toward oxygen electroreduction in alkaline media.

Wood-derived carbon, integrating B, N co-doping, and a trimodal-porous structure, are obtained from a green modified hypersaline route. The resulting pore and heteroatom reengineered porous carbon harvests a remarkable specific capacitance of 479 F g⁻¹ and high energy density of 18.5 Wh kg⁻¹, as well as good rate capability in aqueous supercapacitors.

A one-step Ni(NO₃)₂-assisted glucose-blowing approach is developed to prepare graphene-like foam/NiO composites (GLF/NiO) with a relatively low temperature (650 °C). The GLF/NiO shows an interconnected vesicular structure, which can promote electronic conduction, ion penetration, and utilization efficiency of the active material, therefore achieving high electrochemical performance as a positive electrode of asymmetric supercapacitors.

Herein, the first application of In₂O₃–La/Pr-doped ceria (LCP) semiconductor–ionic conductor materials (SIMs) as the electrolyte in a Schottky fuel cell is demonstrated. The superior ionic conductivity of SIMs and the built-in field of Schottky junction contribute to the superior performance of fuel cells, that is, P_max of 730 mW cm⁻² at 550 °C and 370 mW cm⁻² even at 500 °C.

Highly structured zeolite/carbon (ZSM/C) nanofiber pellets are developed by an electrospinning technique for biogas upgrading. As compared with the nonstructured ZSM nanopowder, the ZSM/C nanofiber adsorbent offers a 30.4% increase in Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, has the excellent tensile strength to withstand pressure swings, and shows a much higher mass transfer coefficient and CO₂ uptake rate in the breakthrough tests.

3D N-doped carbon nanobelt networks directly transferred from hydrothermally synthesized polyimide precursors via carbonization provide supercapacitors with well-balanced power and energy output.

A nitrogen and phosphorus dual-doped reduced graphene architecture (NP-rGA) is constructed as a pseudocapacitive electrode material for supercapacitors. The excellent capacitive behaviors of NP-rGA are determined by the unique hierarchical structure for fast ion diffusion and the formation of rich defect sites induced by heteroatom doping, while the fast faradic reaction occurs.

The synergistic effects of the electro- and photo-catalytic methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) of Pt-BiOI/MoS₂ contribute to enhanced catalytic MOR performance. The photoelectrocatalytic performance of the Pt-BiOI/MoS₂ electrode is 4.5 times higher than the same electrode in traditional electrochemical methods.

Herein, a novel ternary organic solar cell based on a PTB7-Th:Y6:ITIC blend with the power conversion efficiency (PCE) enhancement of 29% is reported. A trade-off is surprisingly found to exist between the exciton dissociation and carrier recombination process. The addition of the nonfullerene acceptor Y6 in the ternary blend is found as a more efficient exciton dissociation process, but accelerates the free carrier recombination process.

Copper sulfide (CuS) nanosheets uniformly anchored on graphene oxide, which are utilized as an anode material for potassium-ion batteries (PIBs), exhibit a preeminent specific capacity of 410 mAh g⁻¹ and outstanding rate capability. The phase evolution of CuS during the potassium-ion insertion and extraction process is further explored by in situ X-ray diffraction studies.

Bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl) electrodes can be a cheap alternative to anionic electrodes in a mixing entropy battery, and the polyelectrolyte coatings can be a cheaper alternative to ion-exchange membranes for efficient salinity gradient energy harvesting.

PtSe₂ thin films are synthesized by thermal evaporation of Pt onto commercial fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates and direct selenization through chemical vapor deposition. The PtSe₂/FTO film exhibits outstanding hydrogen evolution reaction activity and ultrastability. The findings pave a new route for designing and constructing high-efficiency and highly stable photocatalytic film systems with applications in converting solar energy into chemical fuels.

Self-supported Al-doped NiP₂ nanosheet arrays with a superhydrophilic and aerophobic surface are synthesized by in situ solid-phase phosphidation via vacuum encapsulation technique. They exhibit excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity at high current densities due to the rapid release of H₂ bubbles on the electrode surface.

Herein, the fabrication of mesoporous TiO₂ scaffolds using a large-area deposition technique, spray coating, is presented. The technique induces the formation of a specific reticulated structure with well-delimited cavities, resulting in an overall increase in roughness of one order of magnitude, compared with spin-coated mesoporous scaffolds. This mesoporous TiO₂ scaffold improves the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cells.

The metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) MIL-101(Cr) and NH₂-MIL-125 are evaluated as adsorbents for adsorption chillers. Despite the high capacity of MOFs, efficiency and power density are up to 66% lower compared with Siogel. Material development goes beyond increasing capacity and tunes the shape of the isotherms to the specific operating temperatures. Then, MOFs outperform Siogel by factor 2.

Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ (LTO) modified with KH560 by a simple hydrolysis method can improve its dispersion performance, thereby improving the electrochemical performance of lithium-ion batteries. Under the condition of 2 C, KH560–LTO (0.5 wt%) exhibits higher discharge capacity (152.2 mAh g⁻¹) after 100 cycles. In addition, it shows better rate capability (133.2 mAh g⁻¹ at 10 C).

A polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-wrapped carbon nanotube hybrid gel with a high evaporation rate and energy efficiency is designed by means of a freezing/thawing process with crosslinkers. Due to the bimodal porous structure containing internal capillary channels and molecular meshes in the gel, it also achieves excellent salt-resistant properties and long-term stability.

Continuous hydrothermal flow synthesis of nanosized metal germanates (M₂GeO₄; M = Co, Mn, Zn) is conducted for the first time. These materials show both alloying and conversion reactions associated with Ge and impressive specific capacities of 600 mAh g⁻¹ (Zn₂GeO₄), 510 mAh g⁻¹ (Mn₂GeO₄), and 240 mAh g⁻¹ (Co₂GeO₄).

Ni-coagulated polyferriertic sulfate sludge can be reduced by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 to form the MR-1@Fe/Ni-mineral composite, in which proteins with surface functional groups produced by MR-1 can positively interact with minerals via a chemical bond. This biogenic product is an attractive precursor to synthesize mesoporous heteroatom-doped carbon-supported NiFe phosphide (FeNi₂P@HDC) that delivers outstanding oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance.

K_0.486V₂O₅ nanobelts are synthesized by a novel hydrothermal method. The K_0.486V₂O₅ nanobelts are used as the cathode of nonaqueous high-voltage potassium-ion batteries (PIBs). The stabilization of K⁺ ions remaining between VO layers at 4.2 V is revealed by in situ Raman and ex situ X-ray powder diffraction (XRD).

An electro-base generation method is effective to coat FeCrAl fibers without pore blockage. It is a promising alternative to dip-coating for the preparation of structured catalysts based on metallic fiber supports.

A green biomass biorefinery strategy for the selective fractionation of lignocellulose is reported. The selective hydrolysis of hemicellulose is performed in a CO₂/H₂O system. Subsequently, the extraction of lignin from the pretreated samples is conducted in a γ-valerolactone (GVL)/H₂O system with solid heteropoly acids as the catalyst. This biorefinery strategy shows practical significance for the effective fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass.

Atomic layer–deposited TiO₂ electron transporting layer (ETL): morphological investigations demonstrate that imperfections in sol–gel (SG) TiO₂ ETL cause the leakiness of PbS quantum dot (QD) solar cells. Atomic layer–deposited TiO₂ is used as an ETL, resulting in a similar device performance to the previously optimized TiO₂ made by SG approach, but showing a significant improvement in reproducibility.

NH₄F is used to modify the TiO₂/perovskite interface, which mitigates and passivates the interface defects, decreases the carrier recombination, and increases the electron extraction and injection capacity. Consequently, the modified planar perovskite solar cell achieves a power conversion efficiency of 20.47%, whereas the pristine device achieves an efficiency of 18.59% under the same conditions.

Porous Zn-doped CoNiP arrays on Ni foam (P-Zn-CoNiP/NF) are prepared by the first phosphatization of Zn–Ni–Co–O precursor anchored on NF, followed by treatment in dilute HCl solution. The material can be used as a bifunctional hydrogen evolution reaction/oxygen evolution reaction catalyst for effective water splitting with a current density of 50 mA cm⁻² at a low cell voltage of 1.71 V.

A group of nickel-based catalysts with different weight percentages of Ni are synthesized using a novel surfactant-free sol–gel method, and the prepared catalysts are used in the methanation of carbon dioxide. The Ni-Al₂O₃ catalyst of 30 wt% exhibits the highest catalytic performance and high stability in the methanation of carbon dioxide.