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Advances in Photocatalytic Degradation, 2nd Edition
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Advances in Photocatalytic Degradation, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Photocatalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 3088

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Socorro Oros-Ruiz

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Guest Editor
SECIHTI, Instituto de Física, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Mexico
Interests: photocatalysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Juan Carlos Durán-Álvarez

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Guest Editor
Instituto de Ciencias Aplicadas y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Interests: photocatalytic processes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Esmeralda Mendoza

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Guest Editor
SECIHTI, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Dr. Manuel Nava 6, San Luis Potosí 78210, Mexico
Interests: heterogeneous photocatalysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This issue is a continuation of the previously successful Special Issue “Advances in Photocatalytic Degradation”.

The rapid development of industrialization has led to excessive emissions of hazardous pollutants into our water and air resources, which has a negative impact on health and the environment. Photocatalysis is widely used to degrade and mineralize hazardous organic compounds, reduce toxic metal ions to their non-toxic states, deactivate and destroy waterborne microorganisms, decompose air pollutants including volatile organic compounds, NOx, CO, and NH3, remove pathogens from air, and degrade waste plastics.

This Special Issue is a collection of original research papers, reviews, and commentaries that address the development and application of innovative photocatalytic systems for environmental remediation. Submissions are welcome in, but are not limited to, the following areas:

  • Development of novel semiconductors and/or composites for environmental remediation;
  • Photocatalytic degradation of emerging contaminants in wastewater;
  • Photocatalytic hydrogen production;
  • Use of photocatalysis for indoor and urban air quality intervention;
  • Scale-up approaches for photocatalytic degradation systems;
  • Economic and life cycle assessment for environmental remediation by photocatalysis.

Dr. Socorro Oros-Ruiz
Dr. Juan Carlos Durán-Álvarez
Dr. Esmeralda Mendoza
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Catalysts is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • photocatalysis
  • composite materials
  • wastewater treatment
  • organic pollutants
  • dyes degradation
  • photocatalytic hydrogen production
  • emerging water contaminants
  • indoor air quality
  • urban air quality
  • life cycle analysis

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 7722 KB  
Article
Photo-Assisted Catalytic Degradation of 2,4,6-Trichlorophenol by Mixed Oxides Co3O4–CoFe2O4 Derived from Hydrotalcites
by Esthela Ramos-Ramírez, Norma Gutiérrez-Ortega, Julio Castillo-Rodríguez, Claudia Martínez-Gómez, Israel Rangel-Vázquez, Francisco Tzompantzi-Morales, José María Solis-Murillo and Javier Vallejo-Montesinos
Catalysts 2026, 16(5), 441; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal16050441 - 9 May 2026
Viewed by 159
Abstract
Currently, the search continues for solutions for the treatment of water contaminated by toxic compounds such as chlorophenols that are used in the manufacture of pesticides, insecticides, and the paper industry, among others, and that are considered persistent in the environment, in addition [...] Read more.
Currently, the search continues for solutions for the treatment of water contaminated by toxic compounds such as chlorophenols that are used in the manufacture of pesticides, insecticides, and the paper industry, among others, and that are considered persistent in the environment, in addition to being extremely toxic, especially 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, which is potentially carcinogenic. In this work, the use of thermally activated Co/Fe hydrotalcites as photocatalysts is presented. The catalysts were characterized by differential thermal and thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, N2 physisorption, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and photoluminescence. The catalysts were tested in the photo-assisted degradation of 80 mg/L of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol. The catalytic structures present are Co/Fe simple and mixed oxides. The results of the photocatalytic activity show that the materials have good photocatalytic activity with a degradation efficiency of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, reaching a maximum capacity of 65% for oxides derived from hydrotalcites with a Co/Fe ratio of 2 and calcined at 500 °C, exceeding the activity shown by the reference catalyst, high-performance commercial titanium dioxide. The photocatalytic activity studied for the catalyst with the highest percentage of degradation is attributed to the presence of holes, as well as to the formation of oxidizing species such as superoxide and hydroxyl radicals that are determinants in the degradation mechanism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Photocatalytic Degradation, 2nd Edition)
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29 pages, 5239 KB  
Article
Density Functional Theory Study of the Photocatalytic Degradation of Penicillin by Nanocrystalline TiO2
by Corneliu I. Oprea, Robert M. Solomon and Mihai A. Gîrțu
Catalysts 2026, 16(2), 171; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal16020171 - 5 Feb 2026
Viewed by 965
Abstract
A promising route for removing antibiotics such as penicillin from wastewater is photocatalytic degradation under UV irradiation using TiO2 nanoparticles. However, the microscopic mechanisms governing the initial degradation steps remain poorly understood. In particular, it is still unclear whether degradation preferentially occurs [...] Read more.
A promising route for removing antibiotics such as penicillin from wastewater is photocatalytic degradation under UV irradiation using TiO2 nanoparticles. However, the microscopic mechanisms governing the initial degradation steps remain poorly understood. In particular, it is still unclear whether degradation preferentially occurs in solution or upon adsorption on the oxide surface, and which molecular sites are most vulnerable to attack in solution compared to those activated on the catalyst. In this work, we introduce a unified density functional theory approach that treats penicillin V (phenoxymethylpenicillin) consistently, both isolated in solution and adsorbed on an anatase TiO2 nanocluster, enabling a direct comparison between solution-phase and surface-mediated degradation pathways. Within this framework, we analyze the adsorption configurations, energy-level alignment, charge-transfer pathways, UV-Vis absorption properties, local reactivity descriptors, and the initial steps leading to bond breaking. The results show that the direct photoexcitation of PenV followed by electron transfer to the oxide is less likely, due to the high energy of the pollutant’s excited states. In contrast, degradation initiated by the transfer of photogenerated holes from the catalyst to the adsorbed antibiotic appears more probable, driven by the smaller energetic offset and by the hybridization between molecular and oxide states. Overall, adsorption on the oxide surface appears to be more conducive to degradation, with the carbon atom in the β-lactam ring consistently identified as a susceptible site for attack across different environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Photocatalytic Degradation, 2nd Edition)
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25 pages, 6228 KB  
Article
Production of Methane and Ethane with Photoreduction of CO2 Using Nanomaterials of TiO2 (Anatase–Brookite) Modifications with Cobalt
by Israel Rangel-Vázquez, Esthela Ramos-Ramírez, Gloria Alicia del Ángel Montes, L. Huerta, F. González, Próspero Acevedo-Peña, Diana Nolasco-Guerrero, Claudia M. Gómez, E. Palacios-González and Marina Caballero Díaz
Catalysts 2026, 16(2), 146; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal16020146 - 2 Feb 2026
Viewed by 678
Abstract
In this study, we present the synthesis of TiO2 nanomaterials doped with different mol% cobalt, prepared by the sol–gel method for CO2 reduction using UV light. The nanomaterials were calcined at 400 °C for 4 h. Characterization of the nanomaterials was [...] Read more.
In this study, we present the synthesis of TiO2 nanomaterials doped with different mol% cobalt, prepared by the sol–gel method for CO2 reduction using UV light. The nanomaterials were calcined at 400 °C for 4 h. Characterization of the nanomaterials was performed using XRD-Rietveld refinement, XPS, Raman spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), SEM-EDS, TEM-HRTEM, BET area, photoluminescence, and electrochemical techniques. The results show that the incorporation of cobalt into TiO2 modifies the structural properties, binding energies, and oxygen vacancy generation, it undergoes a shift towards the visible region, the recombination of charge carriers decreases, and the BET area is slightly modified. The photoreduction of CO2 with the highest production of methane and ethane is with 1% mol% of cobalt in TiO2, exhibiting values 3 and 14 times higher with respect to TiO2, which is attributed to the efficiency in the separation of photogenerated species (e−/h+) as a consequence of the generation of energetic states that function as an electron trap and thus improve the photocatalytic activity for the photoreduction of CO2. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Photocatalytic Degradation, 2nd Edition)
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26 pages, 7676 KB  
Article
Effects of WO3 Amount and Treatment Temperature on TiO2-ZrO2-WO3 Photocatalysts Used in the Solar Photocatalytic Oxidation of Sildenafil
by Jhatziry Hernández Sierra, Jorge Cortez Elizalde, José Gilberto Torres Torres, Adib Abiu Silahua Pavón, Adrian Cervantes Uribe, Adrian Cordero García, Zenaida Guerra Que, Gerardo Enrique Córdova Pérez, Israel Rangel Vázquez and Juan Carlos Arevalo Perez
Catalysts 2026, 16(1), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal16010082 - 10 Jan 2026
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 846
Abstract
TiO2 shows improved photocatalytic properties when combined with other oxides, such as ZrO2. Unfortunately, this material does not exhibit a spectral response in the visible range, but this can be improved by adding WO3. Here, the effect of [...] Read more.
TiO2 shows improved photocatalytic properties when combined with other oxides, such as ZrO2. Unfortunately, this material does not exhibit a spectral response in the visible range, but this can be improved by adding WO3. Here, the effect of the amount of WO3 and the treatment temperature on TiO2-ZrO2-WO3 materials applied in the solar photocatalytic oxidation of sildenafil was evaluated. The materials were synthesized using the sol–gel method and were characterized by N2, XRD, UV-Vis RDS, SEM, PL, and XPS. Photocatalytic activity was determined by the degradation and mineralization of sildenafil. The most active photocatalysts were selected for stability testing and to determine the oxidizing species that dominate the reaction mechanism. The optimal amount of WO3 that improves solar photocatalytic activity at both treatment temperatures was found to be 1% with a reaction mechanism based on OH· and h+. WO3 reduces electron–hole pair recombination. At 500 °C, the crystallinity of the anatase phase is improved, while at 800 °C, the transformation to rutile is suppressed at low WO3 concentrations. XPS observed the reduction in Ti4+ to Ti3+ and W6+ to W5+ in TiO2–ZrO2–WO3 materials, which were found to be photoactive under sunlight with potential for use in industrial-scale reaction systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Photocatalytic Degradation, 2nd Edition)
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