Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the “Catalysts 2023 Best Paper Awards” for research and review articles published in Catalysts in 2023. Two reviews and two research articles will receive an award each. The papers will be selected after thorough evaluation by the journal Award Committee led by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Keith Hohn.

Eligibility for the award:
– Papers published in Catalysts in 2023;
– Open to all career levels;
– Both regular and Special Issue submissions will be considered.

Selection Criteria:
The papers will be selected by the journal Award Committee according to the following criteria:
– Scientific merit and broad impact;
– Originality of the research objectives and/or the ideas presented;
– Creativity of the study design or uniqueness of the approaches and concepts;
– Clarity of presentation;
– Citations and downloads.

The Prizes:
– Two review awards: CHF 400 each and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Catalysts in 2025 after peer review;
– Two research article awards: CHF 400 each and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Catalysts in 2025 after peer review;
– Each winner will also receive a certificate.

The winners will be announced on the journal website in March 2025.

Kind regards,
Catalysts Editorial Office

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the “Catalysts 2022 Best Paper Award” for research and review articles published in Catalysts from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022. Two review and two research articles will receive an award each. The papers will be selected after thorough evaluation by the journal Award Committee led by the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Keith Hohn, and the winners will be announced in March 2024.

Eligibility for the award:
– Papers published in Catalysts from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022;
– Open to all career levels;
– Both regular and Special Issue submissions will be considered.

Selection Criteria:
The papers will be selected by the journal Award Committee according to the following criteria (data source: Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics)):
– Scientific merit and broad impact;
– Originality of the research objectives and/or the ideas presented;
– Creativity of the study design or uniqueness of the approaches and concepts;
– Clarity of presentation;
– Citation and download rates in 2023.

Prizes:
Two review and two research articles will be selected for this award. Each winner will receive the following prizes:
– 400 CHF;
– A chance to publish a paper free of charge in Catalysts in 2024 after peer review procedures;
– An electronic certificate.

The winners will be announced on the journal website on 31 March 2024.

Kind regards,
Catalysts Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

As Editor-in-Chief of Catalysts, I am pleased to announce the winner of the Catalysts 2023 Travel Award. The award has been granted to Dr. Barbara Procacci, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of York, York, United Kingdom.

As the awardee, she will receive an honorarium of CHF 800 and an electronic certificate.

With so many high-quality applicants, the evaluation process and final decision were challenging. We would like to thank all the applicants for submitting their diverse and fascinating range of research topics. On behalf of the assessment committee, I congratulate the winner on her accomplishment.

Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Keith Hohn,
on behalf of the Catalysts 2023 Travel Award Evaluation Committee

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Catalysts 2022 Best Paper Award for Anniversary Special Issues. All papers published before 31 December 2022 (excluding those published by Guest Editors) in Anniversary Special Issues were considered for the award. After a thorough evaluation of the originality and significance of the papers, citations, and downloads, two winners were selected.

One Review:
The Evolution of Photocatalytic Membrane Reactors over the Last 20 Years: A State of the Art Perspective
By Raffaele Molinari, Cristina Lavorato and Pietro Argurio
Catalysts 2021, 11 (7), 775; doi:10.3390/catal11070775

One Article:
Lignin Depolymerization in the Presence of Base, Hydrogenation Catalysts, and Ethanol
By luliia Romanenko, Felix Kurz, Robert Baumgarten, Ivana Jevtovikj, Jean-Pierre Lindner, Arunabha Kundu, Alois Kindler and Stephan Andreas Schunk
Catalysts 2022, 12(2), 158; doi:10.3390/catal12020158

Each winner will receive CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper in Catalysts in 2023 after peer review.

Please join us in congratulating the winners of the Catalysts 2022 Best Paper Award for Anniversary Special Issues. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our authors for your continued support of Catalysts.

Kind regards,
Catalysts Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Catalysts 2022 Outstanding Reviewer Award. The Catalysts Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy dedicated by reviewers in checking the manuscripts submitted to Catalysts. It is due to their efforts that the high quality and quick turnaround of the journal are maintained.

Dr. Aleksandr S. Kazachenko
Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science, Akademgorodok, Russia
Research interests: biomass valorisation; plant polymers; polymers modifications; sulfation; lignin depolymerization; biorefinery; biomolecules; biomass catalysis; density functional theory

Dr. Ionut Banu
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Research interests: chemical reaction engineering and kinetics; process engineering; heterogeneous catalysis; chemical engineering process optimization; modeling and simulation of chemical processes

Dr. Rahat Javaid
Renewable Energy Research Center, Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute, Fukushima, Japan
Research interests: catalysis; environmental catalysis; hydrogen; energy

Dr. Shahid Zaman
Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
Research interests: catalysis; Pt alloy; fuel cells; metal–organic frameworks; ORR; OER; water splitting; graphene; carbon nanotubes

The Prizes for Each Winner:
• CHF 500 (Swiss francs);
• An opportunity to publish a paper free of charge in Catalysts in 2023;
• A certificate.

Kind regards,
Catalysts Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

As the Editor-in-Chief of Catalysts, I am pleased to announce the winner of the Catalysts 2022 Travel Award.

The award has been granted to Dr. Shiva Mohajernia, who is a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry and Biology at the University of Siegen, Germany.

Due to the number of high-quality applicants, the evaluation process and final decision were challenging. We would like to extend our gratitude to all the applicants for submitting a diverse and fascinating range of research topics. On behalf of the assessment committee, I congratulate the winner on her accomplishments.

Dr. Keith Hohn
Editor-in-Chief, Catalysts

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Catalysts 2021 Outstanding Reviewer Award. The Catalysts Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy dedicated by reviewers in checking the manuscripts submitted to Catalysts. It is due to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick turnaround are maintained.

Dr. Rahat Javaid
Renewable Energy Research Center, Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute, AIST, Koriyama, Fukushima, Japan
Research Interests: development of efficient and stable nanomaterials for use as catalysts in clean, sustainable energy technologies, and environmentally benign catalytic applications; CO₂-free catalytic ammonia synthesis as a hydrogen/energy carrier

Dr. Georgios Bampos
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, 1 Karatheodori str, GR-26504 Patras, Greece
Research Interest: advanced oxidation processes (AOPs); microbial fuel cells (MFCs); microbial electrolysis cells (MECs); catalysis; electrocatalysis; materials; hydrogen; fuel cell; reforming; chemical engineering

Dr. Esmail Doustkhah
International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan
Research Interest: nanoporous materials; 2D nanomaterials; biocatalysis; photocatalysis; catalysis; microporous materials

Dr. Pawan Kumar
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada
Research Interest: 2D materials; semiconductors; carbon materials; CO₂ reduction; water splitting; catalysis

Prof. Dr. Keith Hohn
Editor-in-Chief, Catalysts

Dear Colleagues,

As the Editor-in-Chief of Catalysts, it is my pleasure to announce the winner of the Catalysts 2021 Best PhD Thesis Award. This prize was aimed to be granted to a PhD student or a doctor who has produced a highly anticipated academic potential thesis.

The award has been granted to:

“Molecular Structural Dynamics of Supported Mn₂O₃-Na₂WO₄/SiO₂ Catalysts during Oxidative Coupling of Methane (OCM)” By Sagar Sourav, Lehigh University, USA

The winner will receive CHF 800, a certificate, and a chance to publish a paper after peer review in Catalysts with the article processing charge (APC) waived in 2022.

On behalf of the evaluation committee, I would like to congratulate the winner on his accomplishment. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the nominated research groups of the above exceptional thesis for their contributions to Catalysts and the Award Committee for voting and helping with this award.

Dr. Keith Hohn
Editor-in-Chief, Catalysts

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Catalysts 2021 Guest Editor Awards.

Professor Trong-On Do
Department of Chemical Engineering, Laval University, Canada

Professor Trong-On Do is very active in MDPI journals and serves as a Guest Editor for Catalysts; he is also a member of the Photochem Editorial Board. His Special Issue on “Emerging Trends in TiO₂ Photocatalysis and Applications” is one of the most successful Special Issues of Catalysts, having collected 31 papers from authors across more than 10 countries.

Dr. Sakar Mohan
Centre for Nano and Material Sciences, Jain University, India

Dr. Sakar Mohan is an outstanding young researcher, and he worked on the Special Issue “Emerging Trends in TiO₂ Photocatalysis and Applications” together with Professor Trong-On Do. His research interests are photocatalysis, biomass conversion, perovskites, multiferroics, plasmonics, and nanomaterials for energy and environmental applications.

Dr. Ewa Katarzyna Kowalska
Institute for Catalysis (ICAT), Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

Dr. Ewa Katarzyna Kowalska has led four successful Special Issues in Catalysts since 2018. She also works on the Editorial Boards of Catalysts, Photochem, and Micro. Her research interests are heterogeneous photocatalysis, environmental protection, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), plasmonic photocatalysts, etc.

Each winner will receive an honorarium of CHF 1000 and a certificate.

On behalf of the Award Committee, I would like to congratulate the winners on their accomplishments. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the Guest Editors for their contributions to Catalysts and thank the Award Committee for voting and helping with these awards.

Prof. Dr. Keith Hohn
Editor-in-Chief, Catalysts

Dear Colleagues,

The editorial team would like to congratulate the winners of the Catalysts 2021 Best Paper Award, who were chosen by a selection committee chaired by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Keith Hohn. Following a review process by the Evaluation Committee, four winners were selected. The recipients of the “Catalysts 2021 Best Paper Award” are as follows:

Article:

Hydrogen Oxidation on Ni-Based Electrocatalysts: The Effect of Metal Doping

By Elena S. Davydova, Jérémie Zaffran, Kapil Dhaka, Maytal Caspary Toroker and Dario R. Dekel

Catalysts 2018, 8(10), 454; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal8100454

Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production: Role of Sacrificial Reagents on the Activity of Oxide, Carbon, and Sulfide Catalysts

By Vignesh Kumaravel, Muhammad Danyal Imam, Ahmed Badreldin, Rama Krishna Chava, Jeong Yeon Do, Misook Kang and Ahmed Abdel-Wahab

Catalysts 2019, 9(3), 276; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal9030276

Review:

A General Overview of Support Materials for Enzyme Immobilization: Characteristics, Properties, Practical Utility

By Jakub Zdarta, Anne S. Meyer, Teofil Jesionowski and Manuel Pinelo

Catalysts 2018, 8(2), 92; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal8020092

Mechanistic Insights into Photodegradation of Organic Dyes Using Heterostructure Photocatalysts

By Yi-Hsuan Chiu, Tso-Fu Mark Chang, Chun-Yi Chen, Masato Sone and Yung-Jung Hsu

Catalysts 2019, 9(5), 430; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal9050430

Please join us in congratulating the winners of Catalysts 2021 Best Paper Award. Each corresponding author will receive an award of 400 CHF, a certificate and an opportunity to publish one paper free of charge before 31 December 2021, after the normal peer review procedure in Catalysts. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our authors for your continued support of Catalysts.

Kind regards,
Catalysts Editorial Office

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the “Catalysts 2020–2021 Best Cover Award”.

The winners of the “Catalysts 2020–2021 Best Cover Award”, in no particular order, will receive CHF 100. The winners are as follows:

– Issue 3 (March, 2020)
Hydrogen Production on Cu-Ni Catalysts via the Oxy-Steam Reforming of Methanol (doi: 10.3390/catal10030273)

– Issue 6 (June, 2020)
CO₂ Methanation over Rh/CeO₂ Studied with Infrared Modulation Excitation Spectroscopy and Phase Sensitive Detection (doi: 10.3390/catal10060601)

Congratulations to the winners for their excellent research!

We selected three participants, who will each receive a CHF 50 voucher.

• Tianlin Ma
• Kridsadakorn Prakinee
• Yan Xie

Many thanks to everyone for your participation.

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2020 Catalysts Young
Investigator Award is Dr. Keary Mark Engle.

Dr. Keary Mark Engle is Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry,
The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA. His research interests lie at
the interface of organometallic chemistry, organic synthesis, and catalysis.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Keary Mark Engle on receiving this award,
and for his outstanding achievements. As the awardee, Dr. Keary Mark
Engle will receive an honorarium of 2000 CHF, an offer to publish a paper
free of charge without a fixed deadline in Catalysts after peer review, and a
certificate.

We would like to thank all the applicants for their participation.

Kind regards,
Catalysts Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the two winners of the Catalysts 2020 Travel Awards (1000 Swiss Francs each). The winners are Dr. Kai S. Exner, a postdoctoral fellow at Sofia University, Bulgaria, and Dr. Olga Sacco, a postdoctoral fellow at University of Salerno, Italy.

Dr. Exner’s research focuses on electrocatalysis and computational catalysis. He plans to attend the 11th International Frumkin Symposium in Moscow, Russia, to present his work entitled “Beyond the Conventional Volcano Picture: Toward High-Throughput Screening by a Unifying Approach”.

Dr. Sacco’s research activity is focused on photocatalysts and photocatalytic processes for the degradation of organic pollutants from water and wastewater. She plans to attend the 11th European Conference on Solar Chemistry and Photocatalysis: Environmental Applications (SPEA11), Turin, Italy, to present her work entitled “Enhanced photocatalytic removal of water pollutants by coupling luminescence materials with N-doped TiO₂”.

Congratulations to Dr. Exner and Dr. Sacco. We are grateful to all who submitted applications.

Kind regards,
Catalysts Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

For the Catalysts Outstanding Reviewer Awards 2019, together with a scientific evaluation committee of experts, we selected the following exceptional applicants as the winners of the Catalysts Outstanding Reviewer Awards 2019:

Enrico Catizzone, a post-doctoral researcher at Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Research Centre of Trisaia.

Marco Martino, a post-doctoral fellow at University of Salerno.

Piotr Kaminski, a post-doctoral researcher at Adam Mickiewicz University.

Devaiah Damma, a post-doctoral fellow at University of Cincinnati.

Each of them will be granted 500 CHF and a certificate.

Congratulations to all of them on their excellent reviews and well-earned awards! The Catalysts Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to acknowledge all reviewers who have generously dedicated their time and effort to reviewing manuscripts submitted to Catalysts. It is because of their outstanding contributions that the high scientific quality of the journal and quick turnaround are maintained.

Catalysts Editorial Office
MDPI, St. Alban-Anlage 66
CH-4052, Basel, Switzerland
[email protected]

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the winner of the inaugural Young Investigator Award from Catalysts, given to one outstanding catalyst researcher who received his or her PhD in the past 10 years. The Young Investigator Award for 2019 was granted to Shaojun Guo, an Associate Professor at Peking University.

Dr. Guo has made important contributions to the field of functional nanomaterials and fuel cell electrocatalysis. Notably, he demonstrated that PtM (M = Fe ,Co, Ni) nanowires are active and stable electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and that subnanometer Pt-based multimetallic nanowires boost the Pt utilization efficiency for enhancing ORR. Dr. Guo has published over 250 papers that have been cited over 20,000 times, indicative of his broad impact on the catalysis community. Congratulations to Dr. Guo and thanks to all who were nominated.

Keith L. Hohn
Editor-in-Chief

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the winner of the Catalysts 2019 Travel Award, which is given to one outstanding postdoctoral fellow or non-fellow postdoctoral trainee.

Juan Vicente Alegre Requena, a Postdoctoral Fellow in Robert Paton’s research group at Colorado State University, has been selected as the winner from a pool of 65 applicants. Juan’s research focuses on the use of computational chemistry to elucidate the reaction mechanisms of diverse catalytic and organic synthetic processes. Juan will be attending the 257^th American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Congratulations to Juan and thanks to all who applied.

Dear Authors,

I am pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Best Paper Award. Two papers were selected for this award: one research article and one review. All papers published in 2016 in Catalysts were considered for the award. An Evaluation Committee considered the originality and significance of the papers as well as the citations and downloads in 2017 and 2018 in choosing the winners.

This year’s winners are “Charge Transfer Mechanism in Titanium-Doped Microporous Silica for Photovoltaic Water-Splitting Applications” by Wendi Sapp, Ranjit Koodali, and Dmitri Kilin in the research paper category and “Catalysts for the Selective Oxidation of Methanol” by Catherine Brookes, Michael Bowker, and Peter P. Wells in the review paper category.

The contribution by Sapp and coworkers used density functional theory to elucidate the mechanisms underlying photocatalytic water splitting on titanium-doped microporous silica. Most significantly, they showed that the porous silica structure with embedded Ti⁴⁺ ions on the inner pore wall contains electron and hole trap states that could facilitate a chemical reaction. In this way, they showed that the silica substrate played an important role in the electron/hole dynamics of the system.

The contribution by Brookes and coworkers reviewed the literature on the mechanism for the selective oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde on iron molybdate catalysts. In particular, they addressed the debate on the relative roles of stoichiometric Fe₂(MoO₄)₃ and excess MoO₃, both of which are present in the most active catalysts. From literature results and new experimental results, they conclude that the key factors affecting methanol selective oxidation are that the surface is dominated by Mo oxide and that the surface must tolerate a degree of oxygen loss without permanent loss of structural integrity.

Congratulations to the authors of these two outstanding papers!

Keith L. Hohn,
Editor-in-Chief

 

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the winner of the Catalysts 2018 Travel Award, given to one outstanding PhD student. Shangqian Zhu, a PhD student in Minhua Shao’s research group at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, has been selected as the winner from a pool of 95 applicants.

Shangqian’s research focuses on the development of advanced catalysts and a fundamental understanding of CO2 electrochemical reduction and fuel cell reactions. Shangqian will be attending the Americas International Meeting on Electrochemistry and Solid State Science (AiMES)/The Electrochemical Society (ECS) 234th meeting in Cancun, Mexico.

Congratulations to Shangqian and thanks to all who applied.

Editor-in-Chief
Keith L. Hohn

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the winner of the inaugural Catalysts Travel Award, given to one outstanding post-doctoral researcher. The Travel Award for 2017 was granted to Michiel Dusselier, a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Bert Sel’s laboratory at KU-Leuven. Dr. Dusselier was selected from an applicant pool of 181 post-doctoral scholars.

Dr. Dusselier’s research focuses on new catalytic processes, functional bioplastics, and zeolite synthesis. He plans to attend the 7th FEZA conference in Sophia, Bulgaria to talk about his work on synthesis of novel zeolites.

Congratulations to Dr. Dusselier and thanks to all who applied.

Editor-in-Chief,
Keith L. Hohn