Nanotubes from Two-Dimensional Materials in Contemporary Energy Research: Historical and Perspective Outlook

The global impact of carbonaceous emissions from the internal combustion engine has stimulated efforts to mitigate global warming and deterioration of the environment. Inorganic layered compounds (two-dimensional (2D) materials), like MoS2, TiS2, and CoO2, played a major role in the development of new energy technologies, which can one day replace fossil fuel in the transport industry as well as in other energy-consuming sectors. In this Focus Review, first, the history of various concepts explored in energy-related research using bulk layered compounds (2D materials) is briefly reviewed. The recent addition of 2D nanostructures in energy conversion and storage has added significant momentum to this research field. In particular, this Focus Review places a great emphasis on the study of inorganic nanotubes from 2D materials and to some extent also on the atomically thin single-layer solids, which apparently surpass the performance of other respective allotropes in the pursuit of their use in energy storage and conversion.