The use of renewable energies driving electrochemical technologies for environmental applications

Renewable energy (RE)-driven electrochemical technologies (electrotechnologies) have been proposed as an eco-friendly alternative for wastewater/soil treatment approaches to facili-tate their implementation on a commercial scale and in remote locations. Solar photovoltaic cells and wind turbines with large electricity outputs have been used to power different bench, pilot,and, even, full-scale electrotechnologies. Microbial fuel cells, photoelectrocatalytic fuel cells and triboelectric nano generators are low-energy output renewable sources that have been recently used to power bench-scale reactors based on different electrochemical processes. A brief description of these different REs driving electrotechnologies, their different configurations, and barriers that are mitigations for the wide implementation are discussed here. Relevant examples are also reported. Remarks about the energy storage devices are given. Observations on the costs and on the social impacts of solar photovoltaic and wind turbine REs are also given.