Advances in Energy Materials: New Composites and Techniques For Future Energy Applications 1st Edition Iuliana Stoica (Editor)

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ADVANCES IN ENERGY MATERIALS
New Composites and Techniques for
Future Energy Applications
ADVANCES IN ENERGY MATERIALS
New Composites and Techniques for
Future Energy Applications
Edited by
Iuliana Stoica, PhD
Ann Rose Abraham, PhD
A. K. Haghi, PhD
First edition published 2024
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Advances in energy materials : new composites and techniques for future energy applications / edited by Iuliana Stoica,
PhD, Ann Rose Abraham, PhD, A.K. Haghi, PhD.
Names: Stoica, Iuliana, editor. | Abraham, Ann Rose, editor. | Haghi, A. K., editor.
Description: First edition. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20230445624 | Canadiana (ebook) 20230445659 | ISBN 9781774912560 (hardcover) |
ISBN 9781774912577 (softcover) | ISBN 9781003346074 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Renewable energy sources—Research. | LCSH: Power resources—Research. | LCSH: Energy storage—
Materials. | LCSH: Nanostructured materials.
Classification: LCC TJ808.6 .A38 2024 | DDC 621.042028/4—dc23
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
CIP data on file with US Library of Congress
ISBN: 978-1-77491-256-0 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-77491-257-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-00334-607-4 (ebk)
About the Editors
Iuliana Stoica, PhD

Department of Polymer Materials Physics, “Petru Poni”
Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Romania
Iuliana Stoica, PhD, is a Scientific Researcher in Physics at the Romanian
Academy, “Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Department
of Polymer Materials Physics. She received her PhD from the Department
of Polymer Physics and Structure of the Romanian Academy at the same
institute. She joined a postdoctoral fellowship program at Politehnica
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials
Science, Department of Bioresources and Polymer Science. Her area of
scientific activity is focused on characterization of a wide range of polymers,
copolymers, polymeric composites, and polymeric mixtures. She has been
an author or coauthor for over 95 papers in peer-reviewed ISI journals, and
has contributed several book chapters on polymer and materials science. She
has also been a member of the organizing and program committees of several
scientific conferences. She has reviewed a number of prestigious journals in
the field of polymer science.
Ann Rose Abraham, PhD

Sacred Heart College (Autonomous), Thevara, Kochi, Kerala, India
Ann Rose Abraham, PhD, is currently an Assistant Professor at the
Department of Physics, Sacred Heart College (Autonomous), Thevara,
Kochi, Kerala, India. Dr. Ann received her MSc, MPhil, and PhD degrees
in Physics from School of Pure and Applied Physics, Mahatma Gandhi
University, Kerala, India. Her PhD thesis titled “Development of Hybrid
Mutliferroic Materials for Tailored Applications.” She has expertise in
the field of condensed matter physics, nanomagnetism, multiferroics, and
polymeric nanocomposites, etc. She has research experience at various
reputed national institutes like Bose Institute, Kolkata, India, SAHA
Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata, India, UGC-DAE CSR Centre,
Kolkata, India and collaborations with various international laboratories.
She is a recipient of a Young Researcher Award in the area of physics
and Best Paper Awards–2020, 2021, a prestigious forum for showcasing
vi About the Editors
intellectual capability. She served as assistant professor and examiner, at

the Department of Basic Sciences, Amal Jyothi College of Engineering,
under APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Kerala, India. Dr.
Ann is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences. She
has a good number of publications to her credit in many peer-reviewed
high impact journals of international repute. She has authored many book
chapters and edited more than 10 books with Taylor and Francis, Elsevier,
etc.
A. K. Haghi, PhD
Coimbra University, Portugal
A. K. Haghi, PhD, has published over 250 academic research-oriented
books as well as over 1000 research papers published in various journals
and conference proceedings. He has received several grants, consulted
for several major corporations, and is a frequent speaker to national and
international audiences. He is founder and former editor-in-chief of the
International Journal of Chemoinformatics and Chemical Engineering,
published by IGI Global (USA) as well as the Polymers Research Journal,
published by Nova Science Publishers (USA). Professor Haghi has acted as
an editorial board member of many international journals. He has served as a
member of the Canadian Research and Development Center of Sciences and
Cultures (CRDCSC) and the Research Chemistry Centre, Coimbra, Portugal.
Dr. Haghi holds a BSc in urban and environmental engineering from the
University of North Carolina (USA), an MSc in mechanical engineering
from North Carolina A&T State University (USA) and an MSc in applied
mechanics, acoustics, and materials from the Université de Technologie de
Compiègne (France), and a PhD in engineering sciences from Université de
Franche-Comté (France).
Contents
Contributors.............................................................................................................ix
Abbreviations .........................................................................................................xiii
Preface ................................................................................................................... xix
1. Polymer Nanocomposites with Smart Behavior and

Their Applicability in Energy Applications..................................................1
Andreea Irina Barzic and Raluca Marinica Albu
2. Magnetorheological and Electrorheological Properties of

Smart Polymer Systems and Their Energy-Related Applications............25
Raluca Marinica Albu and Luminita Ioana Buruiana
3. Metal-Organic Frameworks: Emerging Porous Materials for

Energy Applications......................................................................................47
Mirela-Fernanda Zaltariov
4. Carbon Nanomaterials for Energy Applications........................................77

M. V. Santhosh, R. Geethu, R. Divya, N. Ragesh, and Sam John
5. Carbon Nanotubes: Application in Energy Harvesting and Storage..... 115

Sneha Mathew, Binila K. Korah, Anu Rose Chacko, and Beena Mathew
6. Piezoelectric Materials and Their Configurations for

Energy-Harvesting Applications................................................................139
Kavya Ravindran, V. T. Johnson, C. J. Rosemary, B. Jayasree, and Pius Augustine
7. Light-Energy Harvesting Using Two-Dimensional Transition

Metal Dichalcogenide MoS2 .......................................................................163
Vidhya Sivan, E. P. Jijo, Taniya Tomy, and Pius Augustine
8. The Smart Chromogenic Hydrated WO3 for

Energy-Storage Applications .....................................................................185
M. Manuja, Pius Augustine, and Gijo Jose
9. Carbon Quantum Dots for Electronics Energy Applications .................209

Richa Roy, Anu Rose Chacko, Thomas Abraham, K. G. Ambady, and Beena Mathew
viii Contents
10. Nano- and Smart Materials in Solar Energy,

Conversion, and Storage ............................................................................239
Athira Maria Johnson, Arjun Suresh P., Greeshma Sara John, K. A. Naseer,
N. V. Unnikrishnan, and Arun Kumar K.V.
11. Application of Cement and Gypsum-Based Composite

Materials in Modern Constructions for Energy Saving ..........................267
Dmitro Starokadomsky and Maria Reshetnyk
12. Hydrodynamic Efficiency of a Wave Energy Converter in

Intermediate Water by Changing the Geometrical Shape of a
Submerged Object: A Numerical Approach.............................................289
Deepak Kumar Singh and Pradip Deb Roy
13. Carbon Nanomaterials for Energy Applications:

Energy Storage and Conversion ................................................................305
Arya Vijayan and Rony Rajan Paul
Index .....................................................................................................................341
Contributors
Thomas Abraham
Catholicate College, Pathanamthitta, Kerala, India
Raluca Marinica Albu

“Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Polymers,
Iasi, Romania
K. G. Ambady
Department of Special Education, National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual
Disabilities, Secunderabad, Telengana, India
Pius Augustine
Material Research Laboratory, Sacred Heart College (Autonomous), Thevara, Kochi, India
Department of Physics, Sacred Heart College (Autonomous), Thevara, Kochi, India
Material Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Andreea Irina Barzic

Iasi, Romania
Luminita Ioana Buruiana

Iasi, Romania
Anu Rose Chacko

School of Chemical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India
R. Divya
R. Geethu
Department of Basic Science and Humanities, School of Engineering and Technology, Karukutty,
Ernakulam, Kerala, India
B. Jayasree
Department of Physics, Sacred Heart College (Autonomous), Thevara, Kochi, Kerala, India
E. P. Jijo
Department of Physics, St. Berchmans College, Changanassery, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Greeshma Sara John

Department of Physics, CMS College (Autonomous), Kottayam, Kerala, India
Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Research Centre, CMS College (Autonomous), Kottayam,
Kerala, India
Sam John
Department of Chemistry, St. Berchmans College (Autonomous) Campus, Mahatma Gandhi University,
Kottayam, Kerala, India
x Contributors
Athira Maria Johnson

Kerala, India
V. T. Johnson
Gijo Jose
Research and Postgraduate Department of Physics, St. Berchmans College (Autonomous),
Changanasserry, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Binila K. Korah
Arun Kumar K. V.
Kerala, India
M. Manuja
Research and Postgraduate Department of Physics, St. Berchmans College (Autonomous),
Changanasserry, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Beena Mathew
Sneha Mathew
K. A. Naseer
Department of Physics, Farook College (Autonomous), Kozhikode, Kerala, India
Arjun Suresh P.
Kerala, India
N. Ragesh
Rony Rajan Paul

Department of Chemistry, CMS College, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Kavya Ravindran
Material Research Laboratory, Sacred Heart College (Autonomous), Thevara, Kochi, Kerala, India
Maria Reshetnyk
National Natural History Museum, NAS, Ukraine
C. J. Rosemary
Department of Physics, Sacred Heart College (Autonomous), Thevara, Kochi, India
Pradip Deb Roy

Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT, Silchar, Assam, India
Richa Roy
Contributors xi
M. V. Santhosh
Vidhya Sivan
Material Research Laboratory, Sacred Heart College (Autonomous), Thevara, Kochi, India
Deepak Kumar Singh

Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT, Silchar, Assam, India
Dmitro Starokadomsky
Chuyko Institute of Surface Chemistry, National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of Ukraine, Ukraine
Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy & Ore Formation NAS, Ukraine
Taniya Tomy
N. V. Unnikrishnan
School of Pure and Applied Physics, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Arya Vijayan
Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology, (CIPET)- IPT, Kochi, Ernakulam,
Kerala, India
Mirela-Fernanda Zaltariov
Department of Inorganic Polymers, “Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Iasi, Romania
Abbreviations
ACNFs activated carbon nanofibers

ACNTAs aligned carbon nanotube arrays
Ag silver
AIN aluminum nitride
Al aluminum
ALD atomic layer deposition
asMEG-O activated spherical microwave-expanded GO
ASCQDs anti-solvent carbon quantum dots
Au gold
BCP bathocuproine
BE binding energy
BT barium titanate
CB conduction band
CC carbon cloth
CCG chemically converted graphene
CCT correlated color temperature
Cd cadmium
CFE carbon fiber electrode
CNDs carbon nanodots
CNF/G carbon nanofiber/graphene
CNTs carbon nanotubes
CQD carbon quantum dots
CPs coordination polymers
cPU carboxylated polyurethane
CRI color rendering index
CS chitosan
CSLs catalyst support layers
CTML charge transfer material layer
Cu copper
CV cyclic voltammetry
CVD chemical vapor deposition
DBS dodecylbenzenesulfonate
DMFCs direct methanol fuel cells
DMSO dimethyl sulfoxide
xiv Abbreviations
DP dicumyl peroxide
DSSCs dye-sensitized solar cells
DWCNTs double-walled CNTs
ECL electrochemical luminescence
EDLCs electric double-layer capacitors
EDLCs electrochemical double-layer condensers
EGaInPs eutectic gallium indium
EH energy harvesters
EQE external quantum efficiency
ER electrorheological
ETL electron transport layer
ETL efficient electron transport layer
EVs electric vehicles
FAPbI3 formamidinium lead iodide
FCCVD floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition
FDSSC flexible DSSC
FRF frequency response function
FRFP frequency response function for power variables
FTO fluorine-doped tin oxide
GCE glassy carbon electrode
g-CQDs green carbon quantum dots
GNS graphene nanosheets
GO graphene oxide
GQDs graphene quantum dots
HAMA methacrylated hyaluronic acid
HER hydrogen evolution reaction
Hg mercury
HGF holey graphene framework
HKUST Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
HOMO highest occupied molecular orbitals
HPAs heteropolyacids
HTL hole transport layer
IVCT inter valence charge transfer mechanisms
ITO indium tin oxide
ITQMOF Institute of Chemical Technology of Metal-Organic
Networks
LC liquid crystal
LCST lower critical solution temperature
LED light-emitting diodes
Abbreviations xv
LIB lithium ion batteries

LSBs lithium-sulphur batteries
LSCs luminescent solar concentrators
LSPR localized surface plasmon resonance
LUMO lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals
MAF metal-networks azolate
MAI methyl ammonium halide
MAPbI3 methylammonium lead iodide
MBE Molecular Beam Epitaxy
MCBF multicolor bandgap fluorescent
MCs microcapsules
MCP microporous coordination polymer
m-CQDs multimode-emissive CQDs
MEA membrane electrode assembly
MEMS microelectromechanical
MEP multifunctional efficiency parameter
mesoMOF mesoporous metal-organic networks
MFCs microbial fuel cells
MFP metalloprotein-type networks
MHP metal halide perovskite
MILs Materials of the Lavoisier Institute
MMS methyltrimethoxysilane
MNP metallic nanoparticles
MOFs metal-organic frameworks
MoS2 molybdenum disulfide
MR magnetorheological
multi-DOF multi degree-of-freedom
MW molecular weight
MWCNTs multiwalled CNTs
NBT sodium bismuth titanate
NCNTs nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes
NFC porous CNF composites
NP nanoparticles
NS nanosheets
NTSC National Television System Committee
OER oxygen evolution reaction
OPV organic photovoltaics
ORR oxygen reduction reaction
OSC organic solar cells
xvi Abbreviations
PAA polyacrylic acid

PANI polyaniline
Pb lead
PCE power conversion efficiency
PCN porous coordination network
PCNs porous carbon nanosheets
PDs polymer dots
PDMS polydimethylsiloxane
PEG polyethylene glycol
PEH piezoelectric energy harvesters
PEMFCs polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells
PEMFC proton exchange membrane fuel cell
PEN polyethylene naphthalate
PEO polyethylene oxide
PGM Pt group metals
PIBs potassium-ion batteries
PLA polylactic acid
PLD pulsed laser deposition
PMMA poly(methyl methacrylate)
PMII propylimidazolium iodide
PNIPAM poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)
POMLs polyoxometalates
PPy polypyrrole
PR-NBE-T-CQDs pure red narrow bandwidth emission triangular CQDs
PS polystyrene
PSCs perovskite solar cells
Pt platinum
PU polyurethane
PVA poly(vinyl alcohol)
PVD physical vapor deposition
PVDF polyvinylidene fluoride
PVP pyrrolidone
PX poloxamer 407
PZT lead-zirconium-titanate
QDs quantum dots
RFL reflective
RGO reduced graphene oxide
SATS-GO sulfonated poly(arylene thioether sulfone)-grafted
graphene oxide
Abbreviations xvii
SBUs secondary building units

SCC superconducting coil
SCPs supercapacitors
Se selenium
S-CQD/PANI sucrose-derived carbon quantum dots/polyaniline
SCs supercapacitors
SERB Science and Engineering Research Board
SHFB super-hydrophobicity
SHFL super-hydrophilicity
SIB sodium ion batteries
SMES superconducting magnetic energy storage
SPCs smart polymer composites
SPNs smart polymer nanocomposites
SPR surface plasmon resonance
SWNTs single-walled carbon nanotubes
Ta tantalum
TCO transparent conductive oxide
TMDs transition metal dichalcogenides
TMO transition metal oxides
TPEF two-photon excited photoluminescence
UV-IL UV-imprint lithography
VACNTs vertically aligned carbon nanotubes
VA-SWNTs vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays
W-CQDs white-emitting CQDs
WLEDs white light-emitting diodes
WPU waterborne polyurethane
ZIB zn-ion batteries
ZIFs zeolitic networks
ZIF zeolite-type imidazolate network
ZMOF zeolite-type metal-organic networks
0D zero-dimensional
Preface
This new title illustrates one of the most integrated research-oriented books
on the topics of materials for energy with a wide spectrum of applications to
solve alternative energy issues. Contents of this new book helps integrate the
diverse disciplines in order to suggest key solution to resolve complicated
challenges and reviews the state-of-the-art for postgraduate students and
scientists interested to solve complex issues in global energy problems. This
book reports advanced methods in preparation of nanoscale energy materials
with explanations of the structure and properties. It highlights current
developments in energy sector from materials angle and new techniques.
This research-oriented book will find a great interest to a wide readership in
several energy-related fields of materials science and engineering.
The first chapter is devoted to polymer nanocomposites with smart
behavior and their applicability of in energy applications.
Magnetorheological and electrorheological properties of smart polymer
systems and their energy-related applications are represented in the 2nd
chapter.
Chapter 3 of this new book highlights metal–organic frameworks emerging
porous materials for energy applications.
In Chapter 4, the authors studied the energy applications carbon nano-
materials.
Chapter 5 evaluates the applications of carbon nanotubes in energy
harvesting and storage.
Recent trends and developments in piezoelectric materials and its
configurations for energy harvesting applications are reviewed in Chapter 6.
Chapter 7 of this book is dedicated to light energy harvesting using two-
dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide MoS2.
The smart chromogenic hydrated WO3 for energy storage applications is
evaluated in Chapter 8.
Carbon quantum dots for electronics energy applications are studied in
Chapter 9.
A comprehensive overview on the role of nano and smart materials in
solar energy, conversion, and storage is represented in Chapter 10.
Application of cement and gypsum-based composite materials in modern
constructions for energy saving is described in Chapter 11.
xx Preface
In Chapter 12, we have represented the hydrodynamic efficiency of wave

energy converter in intermediate water by changing the geometrical shape of
a submerged object.
In the last chapter of this book, carbon nanomaterials for the energy
applications, energy storage, and conversion is studied in detail.
This new title is an excellent reference source, which can be considered
as an updated research-oriented book dedicated to materials for energy. It
illustrates latest developments in advanced materials for efficient energy
applications, including smart materials, nanomaterials, porous materials,
piezoelectric materials, membrane materials, and composite materials. It
represents the most comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art for post-
graduate students and researchers.
CHAPTER 1
Polymer Nanocomposites with Smart

Behavior and Their Applicability in
Energy Applications
ANDREEA IRINA BARZIC and RALUCA MARINICA ALBU
“Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry,
Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Polymers, Iasi, Romania
ABSTRACT
The need of diversifying the material’s functionality is filled by intelligent

behavior, which arises from the peculiarities of the macromolecular
structure. This chapter aims to present the state of art in the area of polymers-
based nanomaterials of practical importance in energy applications.
Reinforcement of polymers with particles of variable dimensions can be
regarded as a promising alternative for attaining of materials with upgraded
properties. In the first part, molecular modeling is used to project the
conformational properties of certain smart polymers under the influence
of different temperatures. Then, some smart properties, like self-cleaning,
self-healing, and actuation of polymer composites are discussed, in regard
to their involvement in devices aiming toward energy-harvesting and
energy storage. These aspects are reviewed in this chapter, emphasizing the
importance of the material structure, composition, and properties explored
for the practical use.
Advances in Energy Materials: New Composites and Techniques for Future Energy Applications.
Iuliana Stoica, Ann Rose Abraham, & A. K. Haghi (Eds.)
© 2024 Apple Academic Press, Inc. Co-published with CRC Press (Taylor & Francis)
2 Advances in Energy Materials
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The domain of material science has been devoted to expand and/or upgrade
the performance of the functional and engineering products of interest in
actual and future technologies. To accomplish such goals, scientists have
analyzed the intelligence of nature and made considerable efforts to include
some of its principles in the material’s design.1 So, after a long investigation
of components from the living systems, they noticed specific reactions which
are fast or reversible when triggered by environmental factors. The developed
approaches in this direction have conducted to a new class of compounds
with smart behavior, which is reflected in peculiar functions that derive from
actuation, sensing, or control.2 Such extraordinary properties are encountered
in carbohydrates, proteins, or nucleic acids, which are principally natural
polymers.3 The synthesis routes were adapted to imitate such biomacro-
molecules into a diversity of structures that are trying to correspond to the
standards enforced by industrial and scientific applications.4–8
The continuous search to increase the product’s functionality has been
aided by introducing the concepts of the nanotechnology to produce smart
polymer nanocomposites (SPNs).9 This can be performed by embedding
particular fillers or additives into a matrix that contains stimuli-sensitive
components. Regarding reinforced polymers, the literature presents three
prime forms of them, namely intercalated, flocculated, and exfoliated
composites.10 The research conducted in the past decades is focused on joining
these trends in order to obtain products with increased smartness, which can
be able to respond to more complex demands from several industrial sectors.
Therefore, reinforced polymers with intelligent features have an enormous
practical importance in applications, such as sensors, stretchable electronics,
actuators, self-healing surfaces, aircraft, and other systems.4,9 All of these
applications are imposing careful attention on a set of properties that can be
controlled via means of the material’s structure and sometimes through the
processing parameters.
The intelligent behavior of an SPN is reflected in the manner in which
the chemical or physical characteristics of the material can be adjusted,
at the desired level, with the help of an internal or external factor (called
stimulus). The nature of the latter is another relevant aspect that dictates
the practical solutions for electro-technological issues, which could facilitate
the advances in medical diagnosis, 3D printing, or sophisticated sensors.11
Moreover, a relatively recent tendency was to develop multistimuli-sensitive
devices based on SPNs, where the multicomponent material reacts under the
Polymer Nanocomposites with Smart Behavior 3
influence of several stimuli. In this case, the resulted properties are affected by
the features of the polymer matrix and the kind of the embedded nanofillers.12
As a consequence of these research directions, there has been a tremendous
interest in utilizing the SPNs with multistimuli-sensitive properties for many
of the actual products used in our daily life. Scientific concerns on the topic
of smart polymers and their composites are still growing as indicated in the
augmentation of the number of articles and book manuscripts which were
published in the last 10 years.13–22
On the other hand, particle-loaded polymers are extremely important for
energy production or storage. Thus, they are analyzed and implemented in
devices that work using solar radiations, thermoelectric effects, or energy
produced based on vibration.23–26 Introduction of polymer composites as
covers23 or semiconducting layers24 in photovoltaic cells has been a great
success. Concerning the thermoelectric power generation, these materials
are introducing some benefits, like the lack of toxicity, ease of processing,
and suitability for wide-area devices. The incorporation of magnetic fillers
in polymers is ideal for making magnets within the harvesters, which are
operating based on vibration-based energy. Particularly, inserting ceramic
particles in polymers has been demonstrated to be a feasible route to fabri-
cate electrostatic energy storage devices.25,26
This chapter is collecting from literature, the most significant case studies
concerning polymer composites with intelligent behavior with potential use
in the energy sector. Molecular modeling is performed to understand some
of these systems in terms of molecular mechanics energies. Based on the
latest advances, the state of art concerning the preparation, properties, and
particular applications of SPNs in energy production or storage, is reviewed.
1.2 MOLECULAR MODELING OF SOME SMART POLYMERS
In regard to the smart polymers, a particular importance is attributed to the

thermo-sensitive ones since temperature is an easily controlled factor. Among
the studied structures, polyacrylic acid (PAA) and poly(methyl methacry-
late) (PMMA) are the of outmost interest and for this reason in this chapter,
molecular modeling analyses are focused on these two materials. Before
starting the design of any smart polymer composite, it is essential to know
first the matrix behavior in various conditions. For instance, it is desirable to
elucidate how temperature influences the conformational features, which can
be quantified through typical energy parameters. In this context, using the
molecular modeling software, it is possible to project the geometric shape of

the smart macromolecule having pre-established structural units at the lowest
energy. The minimized conformation in vacuum by molecular mechanics is
further subjected to molecular dynamic routine. This is performed to estimate
molecular mechanics energies, namely: Kinetic (EKIN), potential (EPOT), and
total (ETOT).27,28 The procedure of molecular mechanics for thermo-sensitive
structures is accomplished at various temperatures, ranging between 300 and
400 K, to examine the influence of the chemical structure changes on the
pursued energy parameters. EKIN energy of a polymer structure denotes the
kinetic influence of the atoms along the main and side chains. Hence, this
parameter is linked to the macromolecular degree of rigidity, which along
with steric effects is generating on the overall form of the polymer chain at
the lowest energy. On the other hand, the EPOT parameter contains information
on the interactions among the chain atoms and the external potential. These
energy parameters are computed for the selected smart polymer structures
and the attained simulation data are depicted in Figures 1.1–1.3.
FIGURE 1.1 The molecular geometry of a chain (18 structural units) of polyacrylic acid
(PAA) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA).
Polymer Nanocomposites with Smart Behavior
FIGURE 1.2 The profile and time-dependence graphs concerning the values of kinetic, potential and total energies (kcal/mol) of a single chain
5
(18 structural units) of the polyacrylic acid (PAA) at three temperatures.

6
FIGURE 1.3 The profile and time-dependence graphs concerning the values of kinetic, potential and total energies (kcal/mol) of a single chain
Advances in Energy Materials
(18 structural units) of the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) at three temperatures.

According to the images comprised in Figure 1.1, the selected macro-

molecular structures display different shapes of their optimized geometrical
conformations. This is caused by the chemical peculiarities that render varia-
tions in the chain flexibility. The PAA has smaller side groups comparatively
to the bulky ones that form the pendant hanging to the backbone of PMMA.
This aspect enables a bit higher chain packing for PAA owing to lower steric
hindrances. However, PMMA contains a supplementary bending point in
its structure, which additionally affects the torsion angles along the bonds.
So, it can be presumed that PMMA has a larger degree of freedom for
rotation around single and double bonds. To check this, the energy profiles
are computed, where it can be noticed that the values of both EKIN and EPOT
energies are fluctuating until they reach equilibrium values. Based on these
profiles, the kinetic and potential contributions to the total energy of PMMA
and PAA are extracted, as illustrated in tridimensional plots from Figures
1.2 and 1.3. The simulation data show a higher kinetic energy values for
PMMA than those of PAA, proving the larger degree of freedom for the first
compound.
When performing the simulation at distinct temperatures, the confor-
mational aspects and ascribed energy parameters are slightly changed. The
imposed simulation temperatures (300, 350, and 400 K) determine a more
pronounced movement of the constituting atoms for both PMMA and PAA.
Regardless of the distinct flexibility of these smart polymers, the values
of EKIN are increasing more with temperature for PMMA than in the case
of PAA, as seen in the energy profiles from Figures 1.2 and 1.3. Also, the
total energy is ranging in the same manner as the kinetic energy for both
polymers.29
1.3 SMART POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITES AND THEIR USE IN

ENERGY APPLICATIONS
The outstanding properties of smart polymers can be utilized to advance the

performance of the current composites by rendering additional functionality
that can be tuned through external or internal factors. Such multicomponent
materials are gaining interest in energy applications. In the following chapter
sections, certain intelligent features are reviewed in relation to their role in
energy-based devices. The principal uses in the energy-working systems
of the reinforced polymers with self-cleaning, self-healing, sensing, and
actuation properties, are illustrated in Figure 1.4. The most significant case
studies are described below with emphasis on the most recent solutions for
upgrading the materials properties and how these aspects are impacting the
actual operability of the devices used in the energy industry for harvesting
or storage purposes.
FIGURE 1.4 The main uses in energy industry of the smart polymer composites (SPCs)
having either self-cleaning, self-healing, sensing, or actuation features.
1.3.1 FILLED POLYMERS WITH SELF-CLEANING PROPERTIES
The property of surface self-cleaning represents the capacity of a material to

clean itself in the absence of sensing or even an actuation factor. This special
property is generally accomplished by means of super-hydrophobicity
(SHFB) or super-hydrophilicity (SHFL). Polymer materials having the
aforementioned feature are of great use in solar cells, especially for shielding
purposes since soiling of the cover layer might produce enormous losses
because solar radiation cannot travel in totality of the active zone.
Syafiq and co-workers30 reviewed the methodologies used to produce self-
cleaning materials of photovoltaic cells. They mention that there are chemical
approaches that rely on SHFB, mechanical procedures that by brushing,
blowing, and ultrasonic vibration are enabling dirt removal or electrostatic
methods that clean the solar panel. In the next paragraphs, some relevant
reports on this topic are briefly reviewed.
In their work, Nayshevsky et al.31 described the anti-soiling mechanisms
generated by the accumulation of dew on solar cells. For this, they are
synthesizing fluoropolymer coatings having high surface hydrophobicity.
However, this might cause optical losses at the cover/transparent conductive

oxide (TCO) interface. To overcome such issues, Barzic et al.23 have rein-
forced a fluoropolyimide with ferrous sulfide so that the mismatch between
refractive properties at each layer interface would be considerably reduced.
The polymer composites display high water contact angles and to increase
their adhesion to the TCO material, plasma exposure has been applied on
one side of the shielding composite. In this way, the cover of the solar cell
displays high hydrophobicity on one side and good compatibility with TCO
on the other.
Other recent studies were focused on attaining polymer composites with
SHFB by more complex procedures.32–50 Gong and He32 made such materials
by embedding silica with distinct hydrophylicity in polydimethylsiloxane
(PDMS), which are processed by the spray-coating method. The interaction
between this inorganic polymer and silica nanoparticles leads to a rough
structure that is characterized by strong hydrophobicity (water contact
angle exceeds 150°). These composites display outstanding stability and are
keeping their surface features even after UV exposure, mechanical abrasion,
alkali/acid immersion, or water contact. Moreover, the prepared surfaces are
proving to be adequate for antifouling and self-cleaning purposes. Ibrahim et
al.33 included silica in polystyrene (PS) to increase its SHFB. The wettability
tests prove that the composites become non-wettable after reinforcement and
the surface properties are constant in time. Chen et al.34 used natural polymers
to obtain SHFB surfaces, which also display increased transparency (slightly
above 90%). For this goal, they employ oxidized cellulose nanofibrils and
polysiloxanes and noted the appearance of a “pearl-necklace-like” structure
of inorganic macromolecule fibers deposited on the cellulosic sheet.
Additional silanization applied to these materials determine a pronounced
water-repellency (~71%) and great toughness (~119%). It is shown that the
preparation methodology leads to materials with self-cleaning, but also light-
management. These characteristics are generating an increase of about 11% in
the global conversion efficiency of the energy made the photovoltaic system.
Such results confirm that the losses caused by dirt accumulation are avoided
by the special surface properties of the hybrid materials. It can be stated
that the approach proposed by Chen et al.34 brings insightful ideas on future
design of sustainable functional energy panels. Sutar and collaborators35
constructed SHFB coatings based on hybrid polymer composites. They use
PS as a matrix, which was combined with polymethylhydrosiloxane solutions
in chloroform. The approach regarding the coating samples involves some
precise steps, namely homogenization of the inorganic polymer solution, the
addition of aluminum oxide dispersion under stirring and finally pouring

the PS solution. Afterward, multiple dipping is performed to check the
influence of the number of deposition sheets on the surface properties. The
metallic particles from the composite display flake-type morphology, which
in the presence of these two polymer structures leads to the occurrence of
aggregated random particles (when the solutions are in the casting stage).
This aspect favors the formation of hierarchical rough architectures on the
surface of the samples. The Si–H and CH3 groups from the silane-based
polymer are employed for the surface adaptation of hydrophilic alumina
filler. In a similar report,36 it was demonstrated that combining PS with
Al2O3 rendered upon electrospinning fibrous coatings with SHFB features.
The methodology used by Sutar et al.35 produces multi-scale hierarchical
roughness since the association of these materials determines the aggregation
and appearance of closely packed particles at the surface of the support. The
durability experiments, including the liquid jet impact, adhesive tape, and
abrasion, prove a remarkable stability of the composite layer. The best SHFB
(contact angle above 170°) is attained after the four-time dip coating of the
composite on the support, showing outstanding self-cleaning performance.
Cully et al.37 have tried to make materials that are imitating the hierarchical
structure of the lotus. For this goal, fast self-assembly is mixed with UV-imprint
lithography (UV-IL) at the nanometer scale. Distinct acrylate compositions
comprising acrylated silica filler, but also an acrylated silicone surfactant,
are utilized. During the coating preparation, the selected surfactant is moving
toward the polymer surface and hence is lowering its surface hydrophilicity.
This effect is further enhanced by the incorporation of the acrylated silica
filler, which tunes the surface roughness. The most significant improvement
in hydrophobicity is attained for the UV-IL printed lotus coatings employing
the acrylate composition with the smallest viscosity. The insertion of silica
in the largest amount converts the surfaces into SHFB ones. The mechanical
experiments indicate that the prepared materials display hardness at micron
level above 400 MPa and are also wear-resistant. These features are ideal for
making covers for solar cells.
Subramaniam and Shanthi38 achieved composites with elevated hydro-
phobicity by the addition of methyltrimethoxy silane (MMS) in PMMA or
PS. The composite solutions are deposited on supports via a spin-coating
route. The wettability test reveals a contact angle larger than 110° for all the
resulted coatings. Surface energy is estimated with the help of the Hamaker
constant, rendering a lower value for the systems containing PS. The dust
residues that reach the sample surface are removed after contact with the
water droplet, which supports the expected self-cleaning characteristic.
In a recent review, Sarkın et al.39 have analyzed the possible approaches

to improve the efficiency of solar cells by using anti-reflection and self-
cleaning layers. They discussed the problems arising from sunlight reflection
even when the cover surface is clean and mentioned that compounds like
silica, metal oxides (of Ti or Zr), MgF2, and Si3N4 are highly adequate for the
preparation of anti-reflection layers. Concerning the self-cleaning property,
fabricating of SHFB surfaces remains the most applicable approach. For
this aim, materials like Si3N4, Al2O3, and TiO2 are highly effective. Coat-
ings made by multi-layering are efficacious when the scope is to accomplish
proper surface adhesion and durability.
The work of Cherupurakal et al.40 represents one of the most recent inves-
tigations on SHFB polymer coatings with anti-reflective and self-cleaning
capacities for solar cells. They tried to address one of the most challenging
aspects, namely the durability of SHFB and reflective (RFL) features. For
this, they have selected several factors (SHFB, RFL, transparency, and
durability) to describe the performance of the coatings on the solar cell
efficiency. So, based on these aspects, they compare several polymers and
related composites with special attention on the structural, chemical, and
mechanical characteristics. Among the polymers that render materials with
high SHFB, they are mentioning:
• PS reinforced with ZnO,41 modified nanosilica,42 manganese doped
zinc oxide43;
• PDMS loaded with silica nanoparticles32,44,45 or nanotubes46
• Polyurethane (PU) acrylic colloidal suspension filled with fluoro-
functionalized SiO2,47 graphene48;
• Fluorinated polymers31 filled with ferrous sulfide,23 SiO249 and Nb2O5.49
In the case of PS-based coatings, the biggest SHFB is recorded for
silane-functionalized nano-SiO2 inserted in PS (contact angle exceeding
160°) and transparency larger than 92%.42 Regarding the PDMS systems,
it is reported that silica nanotubes led to the highest SHFB (contact angle
of 165°), while the transparency is similar to that of glass.46 Materials
based on fluorinated polymers lead to even better results. Fluorinated
ethylene propylene50 coatings display a contact angle of 166°, combined
with elevated transparency of 96%. All these properties are essential for
maximizing the solar energy contribution of solar cell panels when the goal
is to avoid soiling and blistering issues. The future research in this area
should explore ways to prepare coatings based on double-side polymers
with anti-RFL properties.
1.3.2 FILLED POLYMERS WITH SELF-HEALING PROPERTIES
The property of self-healing of a material arises from its ability to repair

itself after suffering any damage. Energy storage devices (i.e., batteries
or capacitors) are gaining increasing interest in manufacturing flexible or
stretchable products. The main problem here resides in the fact that periodic
deformation, together with electrochemical depletion, generates irreversible
mechanical failure. This is seen in the formation of cracks, perforation, and
delamination that are inducing undesired degradation or sometimes safety
concerns. Analogous problems are noticed in energy production systems,
like solar cells, where such defects might lead to light scattering and thus
the conversion efficiency is lowered. In the next paragraphs, some impor-
tant breakthroughs in the area of polymer-based materials with this sort
of intelligent behavior are depicted with emphasis on their use in energy
applications.
In view of making smart composites for energy applications, it is impor-
tant to mention the report of Yang et al.,51 which addresses the problem of
electrical damage (i.e., aging and breakdown) in polymers and explains how
self-healing can solve such issues. In high-power electronics, macromo-
lecular compounds are used as dielectric components and insulators. The
destruction of insulation property is caused by the appearance of defects,
which are spreading as dendric hollow cracks (at micro-scale) up to the point
where the breakdown and collapse of the entire dielectric are noted. To avoid
the electrical treeing, the self-healing insulation material must fulfill certain
demands:
• the polymer must display dielectric features similar to those of common
polymer insulators, in terms of breakdown strength, dielectric loss, and
resistivity;
• the material needs to be responsive to a wide length scale of defects;
• the healing process should be considerably faster than the damaging
one.
The challenges on making dielectric polymers with self-repairing ability
are involving conventional approaches, such as:
• extrinsic self-healing: Fluid healing substances introduced within the
matrix are delivered to the destroyed zones by capillary effect;
• intrinsic self-healing: Several healing cycles of molecular scale and
resolves the damage in the presence or absence of external energy
input. This is often encountered in non-covalent systems.
There are several procedures of self-repairing for electrical damage,

namely51:
• re-making of multiscale destruction through the defect-aimed super-
paramagnetic heating;
• in situ electroluminescence;
• anionic polymerization;
• repairing electrical breakdown in polymer thin layers.
Mai et al.52 examined the suitability of self-repairing materials for energy
storage in agreement with chemical features, namely hydrogen linkages,
electrostatic forces, and borate ester bonds. The re-construction process
can be made via capsules or by capillaries or hollow channels to keep the
repairing agents. A solution could be to insert methyl methacrylate inside
porous polypropylene fibers having hollow features. An alternative method
is to include epoxy or cyanoacrylate adhesive into glass. In contrast to these
extrinsic self-healing strategies, the intrinsic ones presented by Mai et al.52
are focused on reversible dynamic linkages that may be imparted in covalent
and noncovalent dynamic interactions. Moreover, the sensitivity of hydrogen
linkages can be exploited in the preparation of self-healing coatings, and
for this, the following polymers can be used: Carboxylated polyurethane
(cPU), PAA, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), and ureido pyrimidinone-derived
polymers. Lin et al.53 prepared a physical hydrogel by using poly(acrylic
acid-co-stearyl methacrylate) loaded with Fe3+ for polyaniline (PANI) super-
capacitors (SCPs). By means of the hydrogen bonding and ionic interactions,
the resulted material presents adequate mechanical features (extensibility
beyond > 2400%), high ionic conduction (>30 S/m). The composite displays
an outstanding energy density of about 19 Wh/kg at power density around
0.7 kW/kg, combined with the self-healable ability (~86% ability of retention
after repairing), aging persistence, and cycling stability. Dai et al.54 prepared
a hydrogel electrolyte for SCPs from poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide) and
CoCl2 particles. The forces related to hydrogen bonding acting intra- and
inter-molecularly are acting along with the metal-coordination among the
metal ions and carboxyl groups to produce the network that withstands
variable deformations. Their device keeps its capacitance at the remarkable
performance (~90%) after several cycles of deformation (folding, twisting,
and pressing) owing to self-repairing properties. The electrolytes containing
Fe3+ and Co2+ can be mostly implemented in low-voltage storage systems
since the electrochemically less stable metal ions could be reduced. For high-
voltage devices (batteries), ions with appropriate electrochemical stability
such as Ca2+ are preferable.55 Zhao et al.56 reported that PVA/chitosan (CS)
composites with numerous hydrogen bonds can be a good candidate as smart

solid electrolyte for electrochemical capacitors. The composite gel exhibits
high mechanical strength and is capable of fast healing upon completely
broken. The storage device presents a high capacitance above 389 mF/
cm2, which is maintained after repeatable bending. Furthermore, PVA/CS
composite could reconnect the damaged capacitor with almost complete
capacitance retention.
Park et al.57 have obtained flexible and self-healing from cPU filled with
nickel flakes, and eutectic gallium indium (EGaInPs). Such conducting
materials can be employed as electrodes and joined with graphene platelets
and ionic-liquid electrolytes. The composite presents 94% capacity retention
after successive stretching. The electrochemical self-healing is revealed,
arising from complexation-modulated redox property of EGaIn under the
action of a ligand, which increases the reversion of the Faradaic reaction of
Ga. Self-repairing is accomplished in the affected zones that are electrically
recovered by the flow of liquid inorganic phase and mechanically restored
through by the interfacial hydrogen bonding of the polymer. The composite
conductor presents conductivity of almost 2480 S cm−1 that has the wide
stretching ability at 700% strain. It also recovers after mechanical damage,
having an electrical healing efficacy of 75%.
Yang et al.58 have used furan-modified polydopamine to reinforce a
polyurethane structure. In this way, they obtain phase-change composites
characterized by recyclable and self-repairing features. The results indicate
an excellent self-healing property (93.1%) and elevated photo-thermal
conversion efficiency (~88%). The used particles, which act as cross-linkers
and photo-thermal counterparts, are embedded in the maleimide-ended poly-
urethane via a Diels–Alder (DA) procedure. Sunlight exposure experiments
show that the filler insertion considerably increases the storage efficiency
and photo-thermal conversion. This is facilitated by the sample’s elevated
solar-to-thermal energy conversion ability induced by the filler. Given the
reinforced materials’ structural peculiarities, the self-repairing under near-
infrared radiation influence is possible. Moreover, the restored samples are
capable to maintain the initial mechanical characteristics and thermal energy
storage property. Such composites present a remarkable potential for use in
the areas of solar-to-thermal energy conversion and storage.
In regard to borate ester bonds, the idea starts from the fact that boronic
acid leads to dynamic borate ester bonds by means of the tetrahedral shape
having the electron-rich diols.59 The stability of these linkages is affected by
the pH value. Pan and colleagues60 have grafted PAA with PVA and mixed
it with borax and KCl to produce hydrogel electrolytes for intelligent elec-
trochemical capacitors. The borax and diols from the PVA are able to create
to borate ester linkages when the level of the pH is basic. This determines
the desired self-healable characteristic. The capacitor enables a capacitance
of ~85 F/g, while keeping almost intact its primer capacity upon several
cutting–healing stages.
1.3.3 FILLED POLYMERS WITH OTHER SMART PROPERTIES
There are other smart properties of loaded polymers which could be

utilized in energy applications. Cazacu and collaborators61 have synthesized
composites based on a siloxane-derived polymer and titania/hydrophobized
silica particles and studied the actuation with the purpose of energy
harvesting. The permittivity of the samples is ranging between 3 and 5
from 1 to 106 Hz. The actuation is reflected in the conversion of electrical
energy in mechanical work generating huge strains. Under electrical voltage,
these composites are driven by compressive forces that enlarge the sample
along the in-plane direction. A non-contact measurement is done to evaluate
the linear displacement at micro/nano-scale along the cross-section. The
displacement is augmented by the voltage in a non-linear manner. The
actuation is upgraded when the titania amount in the composite increases.
The energy harvesting data indicate an impulse electrical voltage in the
range of 6–20 V for a dynamic force comprised between 10–1 and 100 Kgf,
being beneficial for energy harvesting uses.
Khuyen and co-workers62 explored the multifunctional features of poly-
pyrrole (PPy) mixtures with dodecylbenzenesulfonate (DBS) in the presence
or absence of polyethyleneoxide (PEO). They analyzed the actuation-sensing-
energy storage triple functionality of these composites. The examination of
the response of these samples in a solution of several salts shows that all
of the actuating, sensing, and charge storage properties are, insensitive of
the electrolyte, but more powerful for the PPy-PEO/DBS. For the obtained
composites, the reaction energy and the strain changes adjust and sense the
electrical and chemical regimes. By utilizing connecting wires, it is possible
to control the actuation, capacitance, and sensing properties. In other words,
when placing the composites in electrolyte solutions they react at the same
time as an actuator (strain variation), an electrical sensor (flowing current),
a supercapacitor (specific capacitance modification), and a chemical sensor
(specific cation).
Fredi et al.63 have elaborated a strategy to optimize the balance between

mechanical performance and thermal energy storage. For this scope, they employ
multifunctional composites that are made from filler and a phase-changing
material. The latter is known to diminish the mechanical characteristics of
the host. In any case, a multifunctional material could be more advantageous
concerning the mass saving in regard to two mono-functional counterparts
performing the same functions individually. The materials are derived
from epoxy and carbon laminates, where the energy storage is facilitates
microcapsules (MCs) having paraffinic nucleus and melamine-formaldehyde
outer layer. The MCs enhance the matrix viscosity and reduce the mechanical
performance of host laminate. The multifunctional efficiency parameter (MEP)
is estimated by cumulating the structural (linked to elastic modulus) and the
thermal storage efficiency (related to specific melting enthalpy). An adequate
mass saving is obtained when MEP values are supraunitary. Such results are
also noted for other composites, like starch/wood in PEG. To enhance MEP,
it is desirable to shift it down to the single phase scale and to improve the
composite design and carefully select the raw materials.
Wen and collaborators64 have explored the possibility to improve the
energy density of PMMA-based materials for the purpose of making high-
temperature capacitors. They prepare composites by doping PMMA with a
conjugated polymer with a fluorinated structure. At 40 vol % loading, the
composite presents an upgraded energy density than the neat counterparts.
In conditions of 90°C and 350 MV/m, the energy density is almost 9 J/cm3,
while efficiency is of 77%. At his level of reinforcement, the sample has
discharge times around 15 μs, which are maintained in the studied tempera-
tures domain. These composites also have elevated breakdown strength,
excellent energy storage density, and rapid discharge speed.
Munusamy et al.65 have analyzed the practical potential of PMMA as a
thermal phase change component for solar water heater uses. The main idea
is that such smart materials are capable to soak and deliver a significant
quantity of heat while phase-changing in a restricted temperature interval.
The resulted materials are obtained by covering myristic acid with PMMA
to address the issue of leakage responsible for tank corrosion. To enhance the
PMMA ability to preserve myristic acid during phase variation, the polymer
was blended with dicumyl peroxide (DP) and thus the system cross-linking
occurs. This approach determines dense and uniform sample with no surface
splits or any other defects. At 0.1% of DP, the leakage is fully removed and
this compound does not affect the value of latent heat of melting and freezing
of samples.
Baştürk and Kahraman66 have studied phase-changing materials derived

from PAA grafted with fatty alcohol achieved by esterification of PAA using
octadecanol and docosanol. The enthalpy corresponding to heating and
freezing phase change is essential for the quantification of the heat storage
performance. It is observed that with augmentation of the n-alkyl side chains,
the melting temperature and enthalpy are larger. The same tendency was
noted for freezing phase change enthalpy. The materials display adequate
phase change characteristics and render a proper working temperature
interval. The melting and freezing temperatures of the grafted PAA polymers
are significantly lowered in regard to those of pure fatty alcohols. The latent
heat enthalpy of heating is varying between 112 and 122 J/g; meanwhile, one
of the freezing cycles is ranging from 117 to 126 J/g. Also, thermal analyses
confirm the elevated heat stability of the prepared materials, together with
the big latent heat storage capacity.
Kozhunova et al.67 fabricated aqueous microgel based on PAA and poly(N-
isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM). For rendering redox-active features, the
system was modified with an amino-containing free radical, which was
linked to the functional groups of PAA, resulting in amide groups. The
interpenetrated network microgel is analyzed by cyclic voltammetry, which
indicates that at 14% of amino-containing free radical, the material maintains
the electroactive characteristics and owns a reversible redox response. The
attained samples display the redox response at 0.56 V against Ag/AgCl with
a steady capacity of 2.5 mAh/g. Additional adjustment of the sample with
conductive species might considerably augment the capacity. This allows
the reduced-viscous catholyte to enhance its capacity level over 100 mAh/L.
Furthermore, the resulted microgel is able to render small viscosity solutions
even at temperatures between 30 and 40°C. The eco-friendly materials are
excellent candidates for flow batteries electrolytes having large volumetric
energy density. Other applications might include redox mediators or nano-
reactor systems.
Herrmann et al.68 reviewed the polyoxometalates (POMLs) connection
to conductive macromolecular systems in regard to their use in energy
conversion, storage, and nanostructured sensors. For instance, electrodes
based on protonated POMLs (named heteropolyacids, HPAs) are displaying
acidic stability, large proton mobility, and big redox chemistry—all these
recommending them as parts for supercapacitors. Yamada et al.69 linked HPAs
on a Nafion proton-exchange membrane and include it in a capacitor system.
The large reversible specific capacitance of 112 F/g and energy density of 36
J/g, were attained when the voltage was of 0.8 V. Asymmetric supercapacitors
that involve POM/conductive polymer materials were prepared by Suppes

et al.70 They reinforced PPy with phosphomolybdic acid to make electrodes
for supercapacitors that rendered energy density of 14 J/g and a capacitance
slightly higher than 30 F/g. Long-term decomposition of the composite caused
by oxidation was remarked. This was reflected in the great loss of capacitance
upon several cycles. POMs can be useful for charge separation and transport
in solar cells or photoelectrochemical devices. In a related investigation, Sun
et al.71 proved that POML anions might act as negative charge-trapping points
in the solar device. The achieved composite relied on cobalt phthalocyanine
as photosensitizer, anions as electron acceptors introduced in a conductive
copolymer. The presence of POML determines a larger photovoltaic effect
in regard to the reference lacking it. The analyses reveal that by fitting the
electronic characteristics of photosensitizer, electron traps, and conductive
matrix, it is suitable for improving the performance of photovoltaic devices at
the molecular scale. This opens fresh perspectives in producing photovoltaic
panels with more efficient electrical conversion capacities.
In the last paragraph, the smartness of the polymer composites from the
selected studies on energy applications might not be the main concern, but
future research in this domain should expand by accounting materials with
single/multi-functionality to advance the current technologies. The future
outlook should account for the development of novel SPCs by means of
approaches like blending and interpenetrating network structures.72–74
1.4 CONCLUSIONS
Smart macromolecular compounds are capable of suffering substantial modi-

fications when triggered external factors are acting on them. In particular
cases, before preparing a composite, it is imperative to evaluate the conforma-
tional and other molecular mechanics energy-related parameters. Molecular
modeling of two relevant thermo-sensitive polymer structures (PMMA and
PAA) is performed and the structural peculiarities are analyzed as a function
of temperature. The distinct chain flexibility of the selected macromolecular
compounds is reflected in the kinetic and total energy values. Representative
works described here reveal that smart polymers that possess self-leaning or
self-healing properties can be used in energy applications. Also, some case
studies on sensing and actuation of SPCs are included. Their use in the energy
sector comprises the following: Supercapacitors, covers for solar cells, high-
voltage batteries, redox mediators, nano-reactor systems, or components
for thermal energy storage. The electrical and thermal performances of the
composite are residing in both matrix and additive properties, but also the
interactions between the counterparts are able to adjust the desired charac-
teristics. Even if solid achievements have been reported, there are still lots of
aspects that can be improved in the future in terms of material properties and
processing.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by a grant of the Ministry of Research, Innovation

and Digitization, CNCS/CCCDI–UEFISCDI, project number TE 83/1.09.2020
within PNCDI III (code PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-1878).
KEYWORDS
• polymer composites
• molecular modeling
• energy applications
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SCIENCE
THE scientific work of our countrymen has probably evoked less
scepticism on the part of foreign judges than their achievements in
other departments of cultural activity. There is one obvious reason
for this difference. When our letters, our art, our music are criticized
with disdainfully faint commendation, it is because they have failed to
attain the higher reaches of creative effort. Supreme
accomplishment in art certainly presupposes a graduated series of
lesser strivings, yet from what might be called the consumer’s angle,
mediocrity is worthless and incapable of giving inspiration to genius.
But in science it is otherwise. Here every bit of sound work—
however commonplace—counts as a contribution to the stock of
knowledge; and, what is more, on labours of this lesser order the
superior mind is frequently dependent for its own syntheses. A
combination of intelligence, technical efficiency, and application may
not by itself suffice to read the riddles of the universe; but, to change
the metaphor, it may well provide the foundation for the epoch-
makers’ structure. So while it is derogatory to American literature to
be considered a mere reflection of English letters, it is no reflection
on American scientists that they have gone to Europe to acquire that
craftsmanship which is an indispensable prerequisite to fruitful
research. And when we find Alexander von Humboldt praising in
conversation with Silliman the geographical results of Maury and
Frémont, there is no reason to suspect him of perfunctory politeness
to a transatlantic visitor; the veteran scholar might well rejoice in the
ever widening application of methods he had himself aided in
perfecting.
Thus even seventy years ago and more the United States had
by honest, painstaking labour made worthwhile additions to human
knowledge and these contributions have naturally multiplied a
hundredfold with the lapse of years. Yet it would be quite misleading
to make it appear as if the total represented merely a vast
accumulation of uninspired routine jobs. Some years ago, to be sure,
an American writer rather sensationally voiced his discontent with
the paucity of celebrated savants among our countrymen. But he
forgot that in science fame is a very inadequate index of merit. The
precise contribution made by one man’s individual ability is one of
the most tantalizingly difficult things to determine—so much so that
scholars are still debating in what measure Galileo’s predecessors
paved the way for his discoveries in dynamics. For a layman, then,
to appraise the relative significance of this or that intellectual worthy
on the basis of current gossip is rather absurd. Certainly the lack of a
popular reputation is a poor reason for denying greatness to a
contemporary or even near-contemporary scientific thinker. Two
remarkable instances at once come to mind of Americans who have
won the highest distinction abroad yet remain unknown by name to
many of their most cultivated compatriots. Who has ever heard of
Willard Gibbs? Yet he was the recipient of the Copley medal, British
learning’s highest honour, and his phase rule is said to mark an
epoch in the progress of physical chemistry. Again, prior to the Nobel
prize award, who outside academic bowers had ever heard of the
crucial experiment by which a Chicago physicist showed, to quote
Poincaré, “that the physical procedures are powerless to put in
evidence absolute motion”? Michelson’s name is linked with all the
recent speculations on relativity, and he shares with Einstein the fate
of finding himself famous one fine morning through the force of
purely external circumstances.
In even the briefest and most random enumeration of towering
native sons it is impossible to ignore the name of William James.
Here for once the suffrage of town and gown, of domestic and alien
judges, is unanimous. Naturally James can never mean quite the
same to the European world that he means to us, because in the
United States he is far more than a great psychologist, philosopher,
or literary man. Owing to our peculiar spiritual history, he occupies in
our milieu an altogether unique position. His is the solitary example
of an American pre-eminent in a branch of science who at the same
time succeeded in deeply affecting the cultural life of a whole
generation. Further, he is probably the only one of our genuinely
original men to be thoroughly saturated with the essense of old world
civilization. On the other side of the Atlantic, of course, neither of
these characteristics would confer a patent of distinction. Foreign
judgment of James’s psychological achievement was consequently
not coloured by external considerations, and it is all the more
remarkable that the “Principles of Psychology” was so widely and by
such competent critics acclaimed as a synthesis of the first order.
Without attempting to exhaust the roster of great names, I must
mention Simon Newcomb and his fellow-astronomer, George W. Hill,
both Copley medallists. Newcomb, in particular, stood out as the
foremost representative of his science in this country, honoured here
and abroad alike for his abstruse original researches into the motion
of the moon and the planetary system and for his effective
popularization. Henry Augustus Rowland, the physicist, was another
of our outstanding men—one, incidentally, whose measure was
taken in Europe long before his greatness dawned upon his
colleagues at home. He is celebrated, among other things, for
perfecting an instrument of precision and for a new and more
accurate determination of the mechanical equivalent of heat. Among
geologists Grove Karl Gilbert, famous for his exploration of Lake
Bonneville—the major forerunner of Great Salt Lake—and his
investigations of mountain structure, stands forth as one of our pre-
eminent savants. Even those who, like the present writer, enjoyed
merely casual contact with that grand old man could not fail to gain
the impression that now they knew what a great scientist looked like
in the flesh and to feel that such a one would be a fit member of any
intellectual galaxy anywhere.
If from single individuals we turn to consider currents of scientific
thought, the United States again stands the trial with flying colours. It
can hardly be denied that in a number of branches our countrymen
are marching in the vanguard. “Experimental biology,” said a
German zoologist some time before the War, “is pre-eminently an
American science.” Certainly one need merely glance at German or
British manuals to learn how deeply interpretations of basic
evolutionary phenomena have been affected by the work of
Professor T. H. Morgan and his followers. In psychology it is true that
no one wears the mantle of William James, but there is effective
advancement along a number of distinct lines. Thorndike’s tests
marked an era in the annals of animal psychology, supplanting with a
saner technique the slovenly work of earlier investigators.
Experimental investigation of mental phenomena generally, of
individual variability and behaviour in particular, flourishes in a
number of academic centres. In anthropology the writings of Lewis
H. Morgan have proved a tremendous stimulus to sociological
speculation the world over and still retain their hold on many
European thinkers. They were not, in my opinion, the product of a
great intellect and the scheme of evolution traced by Morgan is
doomed to abandonment. Yet his theories have suggested a vast
amount of thought and to his lasting credit it must be said that he
opened up an entirely new and fruitful field of recondite research
through his painstaking accumulation and discussion of primitive
kinship terminologies.
More recently the anthropological school headed by Professor
Boas has led to a transvaluation of theoretical values in the study of
cultural development, supplanting with a sounder historical insight
the cruder evolutionary speculation of the past. Above all, its founder
has succeeded in perfecting the methodology of every division of the
vast subject, and remains probably the only anthropologist in the
world who has both directly and indirectly furthered ethnological,
linguistic, somatological and archæological investigation. Finally, the
active part played by pathologists like Dr. Simon Flexner in the
experimental study of disease is too well known to require more than
brief mention.
Either in its individual or collective results, American research is
thus very far from being a negligible factor in the scientific life of the
world. Nevertheless, the medal has a reverse side, and he would be
a bold optimist who should sincerely voice complete contentment
either with the status of science in the cultural polity of the nation or
with the work achieved by the average American investigator. Let us,
then, try to face the less flattering facts in the case.
The fundamental difficulty can be briefly summarized by applying
the sociologist’s concept of maladjustment. American science,
notwithstanding its notable achievements, is not an organic product
of our soil; it is an epiphenomenon, a hothouse growth. It is still the
prerogative of a caste, not a treasure in which the nation glories. We
have at best only a nascent class of cultivated laymen who relish
scientific books requiring concentrated thought or supplying large
bodies of fact. This is shown most clearly by the rarity of articles of
this type even in our serious magazines. Our physicians, lawyers,
clergymen and journalists—in short, our educated classes—do not
encourage the publication of reading-matter which is issued in
Europe as a profitable business venture. It is hard to conceive of a
book like Mach’s “Analyse der Empfindungen” running through eight
editions in the United States. Conversely, it is not strange that hardly
any of our first-rate men find it an alluring task to seek an
understanding with a larger audience. Newcomb and James are of
course remarkable exceptions, but they are exceptions. Here again
the contrast with European conditions is glaring. Not to mention the
classic popularizers of the past, England, e.g., can boast even to-day
of such men as Pearson, Soddy, Joly, Hinks—all of them competent
or even distinguished in their professional work yet at the same time
skilful interpreters of their field to a wider public. But for a healthy
cultural life a rapport of this sort between creator and appreciator is
an indispensable prerequisite, and it is not a whit less important in
science than in music or poetry.
The estrangement of science from its social environment has
produced anomalies almost inconceivable in the riper civilizations of
the Old World. Either the scientist loses contact with his
surroundings or in the struggle for survival he adapts himself by a
surrender of his individuality, that is, by more or less disingenuously
parading as a lowbrow and representing himself as a dispenser of
worldly goods. It is quite true that, historically, empirical knowledge
linked with practical needs is earlier than rational science; it is also
true that applied and pure science can be and have been mutual
benefactors. This lesson is an important one and in a country with a
scholastic tradition like Germany it was one that men like Mach and
Ostwald did well to emphasize. But in an age and country where
philosophers pique themselves on ignoring philosophical problems
and psychologists have become experts in advertising technique, the
emphasis ought surely to be in quite the opposite direction, and that,
even if one inclines in general to a utilitarian point of view. For
nothing is more certain than that a penny-wise Gradgrind policy is a
pound-foolish one. A friend teaching in one of our engineering
colleges tells me that owing to the “practical” training received there
the graduates are indeed able to apply formulæ by rote but flounder
helplessly when confronted by a new situation, which drives them to
seek counsel with the despised and underpaid “theoretical”
professor. The plea for pure science offered by Rowland in 1883 is
not yet altogether antiquated in 1921: “To have the applications of a
science, the science itself must exist ... we have taken the science of
the Old World, and applied it to all our uses, accepting it like the rain
of heaven, without asking whence it came, or even acknowledging
the debt of gratitude we owe to the great and unselfish workers who
have given it to us.... To a civilized nation of the present day, the
applications of science are a necessity, and our country has hitherto
succeeded in this line, only for the reason that there are certain
countries in the world where pure science has been and is cultivated,
and where the study of nature is considered a noble pursuit.”
The Bœotian disdain for research as a desirable pursuit is
naturally reflected in the mediocre encouragement doled out to
investigators, who are obliged to do their work by hook or by crook
and to raise funds by the undignified cajolery of wealthy patrons and
a disingenuous argumentum ad hominem. Heaven forbid that money
be appropriated to attack a problem which, in the opinion of the best
experts, calls for solution; effort must rather be diverted to please an
ignorant benefactor bent on establishing a pet theory or fired with the
zeal to astound the world by a sensational discovery.
Another aspect of scientific life in the United States that reflects
the general cultural conditions is the stress placed on organization
and administration as opposed to individual effort. It is quite true that
for the prosecution of elaborate investigations careful allotment of
individual tasks contributory to the general end is important and
sometimes even indispensable. But some of the greatest work in the
history of science has been achieved without regard for the
principles of business efficiency; and whatever advantage may
accrue in the future from administrative devices is negligible in
comparison with the creative thought of scientific men. These, and
only these, can lend value to the machinery of organization, which
independently of them must remain a soulless instrument. The
overweighting of efficiency schemes as compared to creative
personalities is only a symptom of a general maladjustment.
Intimately related with this feature is that cynical flouting of
intellectual values that appears in the customary attitude of trustees
and university presidents towards those who shed lustre on our
academic life. The professional pre-eminence of a scientist may be
admitted by the administrative officials but it is regarded as irrelevant
since the standard of values accepted by them is only remotely, if at
all, connected with originality or learning.
There are, of course, scientists to whom deference is paid even
by trustees, nay, by the wives of trustees; but it will be usually found
that they are men of independent means or social prestige. It is, in
other words, their wealth and position, not their creative work, that
raises them above their fellows. One of the most lamentable results
of this contempt for higher values is the failure to provide for ample
leisure that might be devoted to research. The majority of our
scientists, like those abroad, gain a livelihood by teaching, but few
foreign observers fail to be shocked by the way the energies of their
American colleagues are frittered away on administrative routine and
elementary instruction till neither time nor strength remains for the
advancement of knowledge. But even this does not tell the whole
story, for we must remember that the younger scientists are as a rule
miserably underpaid and are obliged to eke out a living by popular
writing or lecturing, so that research becomes a sheer impossibility. If
Ostwald and Cattell are right in associating the highest productivity
with the earlier years of maturity, the tragic effects of such conditions
as I have just described are manifest.
In justice, however, mention must be made of a number of
institutions permitting scientific work without imposing any obligation
to teach or onerous administrative duties. The U. S. Geological
Survey, the Carnegie Institution, the Rockefeller Institute may serve
as examples. We must likewise remember that different individuals
react quite differently to the necessity for teaching. Some of the most
noted investigators—Rowland, for instance—find a moderate
amount of lecturing positively stimulating. In a utopian republic of
learning such individual variations would be carefully considered in
the allotment of tasks. The association of the Lick Observatory with
the University of California seems to approximate to ideal conditions,
inasmuch as its highly trained astronomers are relieved of all
academic duties but enjoy the privilege of lecturing to the students
when the spirit moves them.
To return to the main question, the maladjustment between the
specific scientific phase of our civilization and the general cultural life
produces certain effects even more serious than those due to
penury, administrative tyranny, and popular indifference, for they are
less potent and do not so readily evoke defence-mechanisms on the
victims’ part. There is, first of all, a curtailment of potential scientific
achievement through the general deficiencies of the cultural
environment.
Much has been said by both propagandists and detractors of
German scholarship about the effects of intensive specialization. But
an important feature commonly ignored in this connection is that in
the country of its origin specialization is a concomitant and
successor of a liberal education. Whatever strictures may be levelled
at the traditional form of this preparatory training—and I have seen it
criticized as severely by German writers as by any—the fact remains
that the German university student has a broad cultural background
such as his American counterpart too frequently lacks; and what is
true of Germany holds with minor qualifications for other European
countries.
A trivial example will serve to illustrate the possible advantages
of a cultural foundation for very specialized research. Music is
notoriously one of the salient features of German culture, not merely
because Germany has produced great composers but because of
the wide appreciation and quite general study of music. Artistically
the knowledge of the piano or violin acquired by the average child in
the typical German home may count for naught, yet in at least two
branches of inquiry it may assume importance. The psychological
aspect of acoustics is likely to attract and to be fruitfully cultivated by
those conversant with musical technique, and they alone will be
capable of grappling with the comparative problems presented by
the study of primitive music—problems that would never occur to the
average Anglo-Saxon field ethnologist, yet to which the German
would apply his knowledge as spontaneously as he applies the
multiplication table to a practical matter of everyday purchase.
As a matter of fact, all the phenomena of the universe are
interrelated and, accordingly, the most important advances may be
expected from a revelation of the less patent connections. For this
purpose a diversity of interests with corresponding variety of
information may be not only a favourable condition but a
prerequisite. Helmholtz may have made an indifferent physician; but
because he combined a medical practitioner’s knowledge with that of
a physicist he was enabled to devise the ophthalmoscope. So it may
be that not one out of ten thousand men who might apply
themselves to higher mathematics would ever be able to advance
mathematical theory, but it is certainly true that the manipulatory skill
acquired would stand them in good stead not only in the exact
sciences but in biology, psychology, and anthropometry, in all of
which the theory of probability can be effectively applied to the
phenomenon of variability.
I do not mean to assert that the average European student is an
Admirable Crichton utilizing with multidexterity the most diverse
methods of research and groups of fact. But I am convinced that
many European workers produce more valuable work than equally
able Americans for the sole reason that the European’s social
heritage provides him with agencies ready-made for detecting
correlations that must inevitably elude a vision narrower because
deprived of the same artificial aid. The remedy lies in enriching the
cultural atmosphere and in insisting on a broad educational training
over and above that devoted to the specialist’s craftsmanship.
Important, however, as variety of information and interests
doubtless are, one factor must take precedence in the scientist’s
equipment—the spirit in which he approaches his scientific work as a
whole. In this respect the point that would probably strike most
European or, at all events, Continental scientists is the rarity in
America of philosophical inquiries into the foundations of one’s
scientific position. The contrast with German culture is of course
sharp, and in many Teutonic works the national bent for
epistemological discussion is undoubtedly carried to a point where it
ceases to be palatable to those not to the manner born. Yet this
tendency has a salutary effect in stimulating that contempt for mere
authority which is indispensable for scientific progress. What our
average American student should acquire above all is a stout faith in
the virtues of reasoned nonconformism, and in this phrase adjective
and noun are equally significant. On one hand, we must condemn
the blind deference with which too many of our investigators accept
the judgments of acknowledged greatness. What can be more
ridiculous, e.g., than to make dogmas of the obiter dicta of a man like
William James, the chief lesson of whose life is a resentment of
academic traditionalism? Or, what shall we think of a celebrated
biologist who decides the problem of Lamarckianism by a careful
weighing not of arguments but of authorities? No one can approve of
the grim ferocity, reminiscent of the literary feuds of Alexander Pope,
with which German savants sometimes debate problems of theoretic
interest. Yet even such billingsgate as Dührring levelled at Helmholtz
is preferable to obsequious discipleship. It testifies, at all events, to
the glorious belief that in the republic of learning fame and position
count for naught, that the most illustrious scientist shall not be free
from the criticism of the meanest Privatdozent, But the
nonconformism should be rational. It is infantile to cling to leading-
strings but it is no less childish to thrust out one’s tongue at doctrines
that happen to disagree with those of one’s own clique. Indeed,
frequently both forms of puerility are combined: it is easy to sneer
with James at Wundt or to assault the selectionists under cover of
De Vries’s mutationism. A mature thinker will forego the short and
easy but misleading road. Following Fechner, he will be cautious in
his belief but equally cautious in his disbelief.
It is only such spiritual freedom that makes the insistence on
academic freedom a matter worth fighting for. After all, what is the
use of a man’s teaching what he pleases, if he quite sincerely retails
the current folk-lore? In one of the most remarkable chapters of the
“Mechanik” Ernst Mach points out that the detriment to natural
philosophy due to the political power of the Church is easily
exaggerated. Science was retarded primarily not because scientists
were driven by outward compulsion to spread such and such views
but because they uncritically swallowed the cud of folk-belief. Voilà
l’ennemi! In the insidious influence of group opinions, whether
countenanced by Church, State or a scientific hierarchy, lies the
basic peril. The philosophic habit of unremitting criticism of one’s
basic assumptions is naturally repugnant to a young and naïve
culture, and it cannot be expected to spring up spontaneously and
flower luxuriantly in science while other departments of life fail to
yield it nurture. Every phase of our civilization must be saturated with
that spirit of positive scepticism which Goethe and Huxley taught
before science can reap a full harvest in her own field. But her
votaries, looking back upon the history of science, may well be
emboldened to lead in the battle, and if the pioneers in the
movement should fail they may well console themselves with
Milton’s hero: “... and that strife was not inglorious, though the event
was dire!”
Robert H. Lowie
PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY is at once a product of civilization and a stimulus
to its development. It is the solvent in which the inarticulate and
conflicting aspirations of a people become clarified and from which
they derive directing force. Since, however, philosophers are likely to
clothe their thoughts in highly technical language, there is need of a
class of middle-men-interpreters through whom philosophy
penetrates the masses. By American tradition, the philosophers have
been professors; the interpreters, clergymen. Professors are likely to
be deflected by the ideas embodied in the institutions with which
they associate themselves. The American college, in its foundations,
was designated a protector of orthodoxy and still echoes what
Santayana has so aptly called the “genteel tradition,” the tradition
that the teacher must defend the faith. Some of the most liberal New
England colleges even now demand attendance at daily chapel and
Sunday church. Less than a quarter of a century ago, one could still
find, among major non-sectarian institutions, the clergyman-
president, himself a teacher, crowning the curriculum with a senior
requirement, Christian Evidences, in support of the Faith.
The nineteenth century organized a vigorous war against this
genteel tradition. Not only were the attacks of rationalism on dogma
reinforced by the ever-mounting tide of scientific discovery within our
institutions of learning, but also the news of these scientific
discoveries began to stir the imagination of the public, and to carry
the conflict of science and theology beyond the control of the church-
college. The greatest leaven was Darwin’s “Origin of Species,” of
which two American editions were announced as early as 1860, one
year after its publication in England. The dogma of science came
publicly to confront the dogma of theology. Howsoever conservative
the college, it had to yield to the new intellectual temper and the
capitulation was facilitated by the army of young professors whom
cheapened transportation and the rumour of great achievements led
to the universities of Germany.
From the point of view of popular interest, the immediate effects
of these pilgrimages were not wholly advantageous to philosophy. In
losing something of their American provincialism, these pilgrims also
lost their hold on American interests. The problems that they brought
back were rooted in a foreign soil and tradition. To students they
appeared artificial and barren displays of technical skill. Thus an
academic philosophy of professordom arose, the more lonely
through the loss of the ecclesiastical mediators of the earlier
tradition. But here and there American vitality showed through its
foreign clothes and gradually an assimilation took place, the more
easily, perhaps, since German idealism naturally sustains the
genteel tradition and thrives amid the modes of thought that
Emerson had developed independently and for which his literary gifts
had obtained a following.
Wherever New England has constituted the skeletal muscles of
philosophic culture, its temper has remained unchanged. Calvinism
was brought to America because it suited this temper, and the
history of idealism in America is the history of its preservation by
adaptation to a changing environment of ideas. Its marks are a
sense of the presence of the Divine in experience and a no less
strong sense of inevitable evil. Jonathan Edwards writes, “When we
behold the light and brightness of the sun, the golden edges of an
evening cloud, or the beauteous bow, we behold the adumbrations of
His glory and goodness; and in the blue sky, of his mildness and
gentleness. There are also many things wherein we may behold His
awful majesty: in the sun in his strength, in comets, in thunder, with
the lowering thunder-clouds, in ragged rocks and the brows of
mountains.” Emerson’s version is: “Nature is always consistent,
though she feigns to contravene her own laws.... She arms and
equips an animal to find it place and living in the earth, and at the
same time she arms and equips another animal to destroy it. Space
exists to divide creatures; but by clothing the sides of a bird with a
few feathers she gives him a petty omnipresence.... Nature is the
incarnation of a thought, and turns to a thought again, as ice
becomes water and gas. Every moment instructs and every object;
for wisdom is infused into every form.” And Royce’s: “When they told
us in childhood that we could not see God just because he was
everywhere, just because his omnipresence gave us no chance to
discern him and to fix our eyes upon him, they told us a deep truth in
allegorical fashion.... The Self is so little a thing merely guessed at
as the unknown source of experience, that already, in the very least
of daily experiences, you unconsciously know him as something
present.”
In its darker aspect this temper gives us Edwards’s “Sinners in
the Hands of an Angry God,” whose choices we may not fathom. But
Emerson is not far behind: “Great men, great nations, have not been
boasters and buffoons, but perceivers of the terror of life, and have
manned themselves to face it.... At Lisbon, an earthquake killed men
like flies. At Naples, three years ago, ten thousand persons were
crushed in a few minutes. Etc.... Providence has a wild, rough,
incalculable road to its end, and it is of no use to try to whitewash its
huge, mixed instrumentalities, or to dress up that terrific benefactor
in the clean shirt and white neckcloth of a student of divinity.” For
Royce, “the worst tragedy of the world is the tragedy of the brute
chance to which everything spiritual seems to be subject amongst us
—the tragedy of the diabolical irrationality of so many among the
foes of whatever is significant.”
Emersonian philosophy fails in two respects to satisfy the
demands of the puritanical temperament upon contemporary
thought. In building altars to the “Beautiful Necessity,” it neglects to
assimilate the discoveries of science, and it detaches itself from the
Christian tradition within which alone this spirit feels at home. Both of
these defects are met by the greatest of American idealists,
Professor Royce.
In character and thought Royce is the great reconciler of
contradictions. Irrational in his affections, and at his best in the
society of children, he stands for the absolute authority of reason;
filled with indignation at wrong and injustice, he explains the
presence of evil as an essential condition for the good; keenly critical
and not optimistic as to the concrete characters of men, he presents
man as the image of God, a part of the self-representative system
through which the Divine nature unfolds itself. Never was there a
better illustration of Pascal’s dictum that we use our reasons to
support what we already believe, not to attain conclusions. And
never was there greater self-deception as to the presence of this
process.
What man not already convinced of an Absolute could find in
error the proof of a deeper self that knows in unity all truth? Who
else could accept the dilemma “either ... your real world yonder is
through and through a world of ideas, an outer mind that you are
more or less comprehending through your experience, or else, in so
far as it is real and outer, it is unknowable, an inscrutable X, an
absolute mystery”? Without the congeniality of belief, where is the
thrill in assimilating self-consciousness as infinite to a greater Infinite,
as the infinite systems of even numbers, or of odd numbers, or an
infinity of other infinite series can be assimilated to the greater infinity
of the whole number series as proper parts? Yet Royce has been
able to clothe these doctrines with vast erudition and flashes of
quaint humour, helped out by a prolix and somewhat desultory
memory, and give them life.
By virtue of the obscurantist logic inherent in this as in other
transcendental idealisms, there is a genuine attachment to a certain
aspect of Christianity. The identification of the Absolute with the
Logos of John in his “Spirit of Modern Philosophy” and the frequent
lapses into Scriptural language are not mere tricks to inspire
abstractions with the breath of life. By such logic “selves” are never
wholly distinct. If we make classifications, they are all secundum
quid. Absolute ontological sundering is as mythical as the Snark. The
individual is essentially a member of a community of selves that
establishes duties for him under the demands of Loyalty. This is the
basis of Royce’s ethics. But the fellowship in this community is also a
participation in the “beloved community” within which sin, atonement,
and the dogma of Pauline Christianity unfold themselves naturally in
the guise of social psychology. In such treatment of the “Problem of
Christianity” there is at most only a slight shifting of emphasis from
the somewhat too self-conscious individualism of his earliest
philosophy.
Royce used to tell a story on himself that illustrates a reaction of
a part of the public to idealistic philosophy. At the close of a lecture
before a certain woman’s organization, one of his auditors
approached him with the words: “Oh, my dear Professor Royce, I did
enjoy your lectures so much! Of course, I didn’t understand one word
of it, but it was so evident you understood it all, that it made it very
enjoyable!” The lady, though more frank in her confession, was
probably not intellectually inferior to a considerable portion of the
idealist’s public. James notes the fascination of hearing high things
talked about, even if one cannot understand. But time is, alas,
productive of comparative understanding, and it may be with Royce,
as with Emerson before him, that growth of understanding
contributes to narrowing the circle of his readers. The imported
mysteries of Eucken and Bergson offer newer thrills, and a fuller
sense of keeping up to date.
If Royce’s philosophy of religion has not the success that might
have been anticipated among those seeking a freer religion, it is
probably, as Professor Hocking suggests, because “idealism does
not do the work of religious truth.” Royce has no interest in churches
or sects. Christ is for him little more than a shadow. Prayer and
worship find no place in his discussion. The mantle of the genteel
tradition must then fall on other shoulders, probably those of Hocking
himself. His “Meaning of God in Human Experience” is an effort to
unite realism, mysticism, and idealism to establish Christianity as
“organically rooted in passion, fact, and institutional life.” Where
idealism has destroyed the fear of Hell, this new interpretation
“restores the sense of infinite hazard, a wrath to come, a heavenly
city to be gained or lost in the process of time and by the use of our
freedom”!
In this philosophy, we ask, what has religion done for humanity
and how has it operated? Its effects appear in “the basis of such
certainties as we have, our self-respect, our belief in human worth,
our faith in the soul’s stability through all catastrophes of physical
nature, and in the integrity of history.” But if we accept this “mass of
actual deed, once and for all accomplished under the assurance of
historic religion” and through the medium of religious dogma and
practice, does this guarantee the future importance of religion? Much
has been accomplished under the conception that the earth was flat,
but the conception is nevertheless not valid.
It is too soon to estimate the depth of impression that this
philosophy will make on American culture. Professor Hocking warns
us against hastening to judge that the world is becoming irreligious.
He believes that the current distaste for the language of orthodoxy
may spring from the opposite reason, that man is becoming
potentially more religious. If so, this fact may conspire with the
American tradition of the church-college to verify Professor Cohen’s
assertion that “the idealistic tradition still is and perhaps will long
continue to be the prevailing basis of philosophic instruction in
America.” But there are signs that point to an opposite conclusion
and the means of emancipation are at hand both in a change of
popular spirit and within philosophy itself.
The economic and social conditions that scattered the more
adventurous of the New Englanders through the developing West,
and the tides of immigration of the 19th century, have weakened the
hold of the Calvinistic spirit. These events, and scientific education,
are producing a generation that can look upon the beauties of
nature, be moved to enjoyment, admiration, and wonder by them
without, on that account, feeling themselves in the presence of a
supernatural Divine principle. Success in mastering nature has
overcome the feeling of helplessness in the presence of misfortune.
It breeds optimists of intelligence. To a cataclysm such as the San
Francisco earthquake, it replies with organized relief and
reconstruction in reinforced concrete. If pestilence appears, it seeks
the germ, an antitoxin, and sanitary measures. There are no longer
altars built to the Beautiful Necessity.
Within philosophy, the most radical expression of this attitude
appears in the New Realism, and in the instrumentalism of Dewey. In
1910, six of the younger American philosophers issued in the
Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Method “The
Programme and First Platform of Six Realists,” followed shortly by a
co-operative volume of studies to elaborate the doctrine. Their
deepest bond of union is a distaste for the romantic spirit and
obscurantist logic of Absolute Idealism. Hence their dominant idea is
to cut at the very foundations of this system, the theory of relations in
general, and the relation of idea and object in particular. Young
America is not fond of the subtleties of history, hence these realists
take their stand upon the “unimpeachable truth of the accredited
results of science” at a time when, by the irony of history, science
herself has begun to doubt.
To thwart idealism, psychology must be rewritten. While
consciousness exists there is always the chance that our world of
facts may fade into subjective presentations. Seizing a fruitful
suggestion of James’, they introduce us to a world of objects that
exists quite independently of being known. The relations of these
objects are external to them and independent of their character.
Sometimes, however, there arise relations between our organisms
and other objects that can best be described by asserting that these
objects have entered into our consciousness. How then can we fall
into error? Only as nature makes mistakes, by reacting in a way that
brings conflict with unnoted conditions. Perhaps the greatest
contribution of Realism as yet to American thought is the contribution
of some of its apostles to its implicit psychology, already
independently established as behaviourism, the most vital movement
in contemporary psychology.
The highly technical form of the Six Realists’ co-operative
volume has kept their doctrine from any great reading public. But in
its critical echoes, the busy American finds a sympathetic note in the
assertion of the independent reality of the objects with which he
works and the world in which he has to make his way. His also is
practical faith in science, and he is glad to escape an inevitable type
of religion and moral theory to be swallowed along with philosophy.
Until the New Realists, however, develop further implications of their
theory, or at least present congenial religious, moral, and social
attitudes, their philosophy has only the negative significance of
release. If it is going to take a deep hold on life, it must also be
creative, not replacing dogma by dogma, but elaborating some new
world vision. As yet it has told us little more than that truth,
goodness, and beauty are independent realities, eternal
subsistencies that await our discovery.
Professor Perry has outlined a realistic morality. For him a right
action is any that conduces to goodness and whatever fulfils an
interest is good. But a good action is not necessarily moral. Morality
requires the fulfilment of the greatest possible number of interests,
under the given circumstances; the highest good, if attainable, would
be an action fulfilling all possible interests. This doctrine, though
intelligible, is hard to apply in specific instances. In it realism
dissolves into pragmatism, and its significance can best be seen in
connection with that philosophy, where it has received fuller
development and concrete applications.
Pragmatism obtained its initial impulse through a mind in temper
between the sturdy common sense of the New Realists and the
emotionalistic romanticism of the Idealists, or rather comprehending
both within itself. This mind is that of William James, the last heir of
the line of pure New England culture, made cosmopolitan by travel
and intellectual contacts. Of Swedenborgian family, skilled alike in
science and art, James lived the mystical thrills of the unknown but
could handle them with the shrewdness of a Yankee trader. With
young America, his gaze is directed toward the future, and with it, he
is impatient of dogma and restraint. He is free from conventions of
thought and action with the freedom of those who have lived them all
in their ancestry and dare to face realities without fear of social or
intellectual faux pas. With such new-found freedom goes a vast
craving for experience. For him, the deepest realities are the
personal experiences of individual men.
James’ greatest contribution is his “Psychology.” In it he places
himself in the stream of human experience, ruthlessly cutting the
gordian knots of psychological dogma and conventions. The mind
that he reports is the mind each of us sees in himself. It is not so
much a science of psychology as the materials for such a science, a
science in its descriptive stage, constantly interrupted by shrewd
homilies wherein habit appears as the fly-wheel of society, or our
many selves enlarge the scope of sympathetic living. Nor is it
congenial to this adventurer in experience that his explorations
should constrain human nature within a scientist’s map. Not only
must the stream of consciousness flow between the boundaries of
our concepts, but also in the human will there is a point, be it ever so
small, where a “we,” too real ever to be comprehended by science or
philosophy, can dip down into the stream of consciousness and
delay some fleeting idea, be it only for the twinkling of an eye, and
thereby change the whole course and significance of our overt
action. Freedom must not unequivocally surrender to scientific
determinism, or chance to necessity.
James is a Parsifal to whom the Grail is never quite revealed.
His pragmatism and radical empiricism are but methods of
exploration and no adventure is too puny or mean for the quest. We
must make our ideas clear and test them by the revelation they
produce. Thoughts that make no difference to us in living are not real
thoughts, but imaginings. The way is always open and perhaps there
is a guiding truth, a working value, in the operations of even the
deranged mind. We must entertain the ecstatic visions of saints, the
alleged communications of spiritualists, mystical contacts with
sources of some higher power, and even the thought-systems of
cranks, that nothing be lost or untried. Not that we need share such
beliefs, but they are genuine experiences and who can foretell where
in experiences some fruitful vision may arise!
As a psychologist, James knew that the significance of a belief
lies not so much in its content as in its power to direct the energies it
releases. His catholic interests are not equivalent to uncritical
credulity. Santayana, the wisest of his critics, is right in his assertion
that James never lost his agnosticism: “He did not really believe; he
merely believed in the right of believing that you might be right if you
believed.” As for Pascal, the wager on immortality might be worth the
making for if one won there was the blessedness of Heaven, and if
one lost—at least there should have been a sustaining optimism
through the trials of this life. Communion with the infinite might open
new sources of power. If so, the power was there. If not, no harm
had been done by the trial. Yet there is no evidence in James’

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Advances in Energy Materials: New Composites and Techniques For Future Energy Applications 1st Edition Iuliana Stoica (Editor)

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Advances in Energy Materials: New

Composites and Techniques for Future

Advanced Materials Polymers and Composites New Research

Novel Electrochemical Energy Storage Devices:

Materials for Solar Energy Conversion Materials Methods

Subtle Energy Techniques Cyndi Dale

Electrode Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion

Advances in Artificial Intelligence for Renewable

Green Composites Waste and Nature based Materials for a

Handbook of Energy Economics and Policy: Fundamentals

© 2024 by Apple Academic Press, Inc.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

CIP data on file with US Library of Congress

ISBN: 978-1-77491-256-0 (hbk)

Iuliana Stoica, PhD

Ann Rose Abraham, PhD

intellectual capability. She served as assistant professor and examiner, at

1. Polymer Nanocomposites with Smart Behavior and

2. Magnetorheological and Electrorheological Properties of

3. Metal-Organic Frameworks: Emerging Porous Materials for

4. Carbon Nanomaterials for Energy Applications........................................77

5. Carbon Nanotubes: Application in Energy Harvesting and Storage..... 115

6. Piezoelectric Materials and Their Configurations for

7. Light-Energy Harvesting Using Two-Dimensional Transition

8. The Smart Chromogenic Hydrated WO3 for

9. Carbon Quantum Dots for Electronics Energy Applications .................209

10. Nano- and Smart Materials in Solar Energy,

11. Application of Cement and Gypsum-Based Composite

12. Hydrodynamic Efficiency of a Wave Energy Converter in

13. Carbon Nanomaterials for Energy Applications:

Raluca Marinica Albu

Andreea Irina Barzic

Luminita Ioana Buruiana

Anu Rose Chacko

Greeshma Sara John

Athira Maria Johnson

Rony Rajan Paul

Pradip Deb Roy

Deepak Kumar Singh

ACNFs activated carbon nanofibers

LIB lithium ion batteries

PAA polyacrylic acid

SBUs secondary building units

In Chapter 12, we have represented the hydrodynamic efficiency of wave

Polymer Nanocomposites with Smart

The need of diversifying the material’s functionality is filled by intelligent

1.2 MOLECULAR MODELING OF SOME SMART POLYMERS

In regard to the smart polymers, a particular importance is attributed to the

molecular modeling software, it is possible to project the geometric shape of

(18 structural units) of the polyacrylic acid (PAA) at three temperatures.

(18 structural units) of the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) at three temperatures.

According to the images comprised in Figure 1.1, the selected macro-

1.3 SMART POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITES AND THEIR USE IN

The outstanding properties of smart polymers can be utilized to advance the

1.3.1 FILLED POLYMERS WITH SELF-CLEANING PROPERTIES

The property of surface self-cleaning represents the capacity of a material to

However, this might cause optical losses at the cover/transparent conductive

addition of aluminum oxide dispersion under stirring and finally pouring

In a recent review, Sarkın et al.39 have analyzed the possible approaches

1.3.2 FILLED POLYMERS WITH SELF-HEALING PROPERTIES

The property of self-healing of a material arises from its ability to repair

There are several procedures of self-repairing for electrical damage,

composites with numerous hydrogen bonds can be a good candidate as smart