Catalysis for Sustainable Energy

The “Catalysis for Sustainable Energy” section of the journal Catalysts publishes original and high-quality research communications, articles, and reviews on the topics of catalytic reactions that enable the sustainable production and transformation of energy.

Energy is a major driver of economic growth and prosperity. However, its production through the burning of fossil fuels inevitably emits greenhouse gases, contributing to global warming and climate change. Thus, sustainable energy production through the use of renewable energy (e.g., wind, solar, hydro) is of immense importance. Green hydrogen has been indicated as an important energy carrier to facilitate energy transition, with its production requiring the application of catalysts able to facilitate chemical transformations.

The “Catalysis for Sustainable Energy” section aims to cover recent promising research in the field of the development of innovative catalytic materials, from their syntheses (powdered or structured catalysts) to their application in reactions ranging from water splitting (electrochemical/ photochemical), CO₂ reduction, and transformation to value-added chemicals (CH₃OH, C₂₊), environmental catalysis, biomass pyrolysis/gasification, reforming of hydrocarbons/bio-oil/ glycerol, methane oxidative coupling, dehydrogenation, etc. Special attention is given to the durability and reusability of applied catalysts.

Fundamental studies that establish structure–reactivity/selectivity relationships and elucidate the kinetics of heterogeneous reactions are also expected to provide information about mechanisms, optimizing the reactor design and the catalytic process.

Advanced knowledge of recent catalytic processes (photo-catalysis, plasma-catalysis, electro-catalysis, etc.) applied to sustainable energy production is also addressed, as well as an understanding of the key challenges in promoting their application to full scale.