We are pleased to present a curated collection on defect engineering in nanocatalysts. Structural imperfections, such as vacancies and atomic dopants, dictate the electronic properties and active sites of nanomaterials. This collection of 10 articles provides an examination of how these localized defects modulate catalytic performance, all of which were recently published in our journal, Nanomaterials (ISSN: 2079-4991). We believe the following papers will be of interest to you:

1. “Defects and Defect Engineering of Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenide (2D TMDC) Materials”
by Moha Feroz Hossen, Sachin Shendokar and Shyam Aravamudhan
Nanomaterials 2024, 14(5), 410; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14050410

2. “Studying the Defects in Spinel Compounds: Discovery, Formation Mechanisms, Classification, and Influence on Catalytic Properties”
by Tetiana Tatarchuk
Nanomaterials 2024, 14(20), 1640; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14201640

3. “Constructing Sulfur Vacancy-Rich NiCo₂S₄@MoS₂ Core@Shell Heterostructure via Interface Engineering for Enhanced HER Electrocatalysis”
by Ziteng Song, Yuan Liu, Peng Yin, Jie Dai, Yingying Xu, Rongming Wang and Sibin Duan
Nanomaterials 2025, 15(14), 1061; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15141061

4. “Te Vacancy Defect Engineering on Fe₃GeTe₂ (001) Basal Planes for Enhanced Oxygen Evolution Reaction: A First-Principles Study”
by Yunjie Gao, Wei Su, Yuan Qiu, Dan Shan and Jing Pan
Nanomaterials 2025, 15(16), 1272; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15161272

5. “Defect-Engineered Z-Scheme Heterojunction of Fe-MOFs/Bi₂WO₆ for Solar-Driven CO₂ Conversion: Synergistic Surface Catalysis and Interfacial Charge Dynamics”
by Ting Liu, Yun Wu, Hao Wang, Jichang Lu and Yongming Luo
Nanomaterials 2025, 15(8), 618; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15080618

6. “Unveiling the Role of Sulfur Vacancies in Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of Hybrids Photocatalysts”
by Zhenxing Ren, Yang Li, Qiuyu Ren, Xiaojie Zhang, Xiaofan Fan, Xinjuan Liu, Jinchen Fan, Shuling Shen, Zhihong Tang and Yuhua Xue
Nanomaterials 2024, 14(12), 1009; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14121009

7. “Development of Defect-Rich WO₃₋ₓ/TiO₂ Heterojunction Toward Dual-Functional Enhancement: Boosting SERS and Photocatalytic Performance”
by Xunfei He, Yinyan Gong, Lengyuan Niu and Can Li
Nanomaterials 2025, 15(7), 521; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15070521

8. “A Facile Strategy for the Preparation of N-Doped TiO₂ with Oxygen Vacancy via the Annealing Treatment with Urea”
by Zhe Zhang, Zhenpeng Cui, Yinghao Xu, Mohamed Nawfal Ghazzal, Christophe Colbeau-Justin, Duoqiang Pan and Wangsuo Wu
Nanomaterials 2024, 14(10), 818; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14100818

9. “Less Is More: Selective-Atom-Removal-Derived Defective MnOₓ Catalyst for Efficient Propane Oxidation”
by Wenfan Xu, Limei Zhou, Lining Liu, Huimei Duan, Haoxi Ben, Sheng Chen and Xingyun Li
Nanomaterials 2024, 14(11), 907; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14110907 

10.“Boosting Piezocatalytic Performance of BaTiO₃ by Tuning Defects at Room Temperature”
by Donghui An, Renhong Liang, Hua Liu, Chao Zhou, Mao Ye, Renkui Zheng, Han Li and Shanming Ke
Nanomaterials 2024, 14(3), 276; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14030276