Photocatalytic Water Splitting and Pollutant Degradation: Recent Progress and Emerging Trends
A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Photocatalysis".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 December 2025 | Viewed by 97
Special Issue Editor
Interests: photocatalysis; water splitting; hydrogen evolution
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue focuses on cutting-edge advancements in photocatalysis, with dual emphasis on (1) solar-driven hydrogen production via water splitting and (2) environmental remediation through pollutant degradation, particularly targeting emerging contaminants. By curating high-quality research and reviews, we aim to address critical challenges in designing efficient, stable, and scalable photocatalytic systems. These processes involve the use of photocatalysts to convert sunlight into chemical energy, remove pollutants, and use them. Despite progress, key challenges persist, including rapid charge-carrier recombination, limited visible-light absorption, catalyst instability under operational conditions, and scalability barriers for real-world applications. This Special Issue invites researchers from different fields to discuss the latest developments and challenges, addressing these hurdles through innovative material and photocatalyst design and synthesis, advanced characterization, process optimization, photoinduced carrier dynamics at the interfaces of photocatalysts, synergistic processes (e.g., photo-Fenton, photoelectrocatalysis), and the integration of photocatalytic systems into practical applications. The articles in this Special Issue will provide insights and perspectives on the future prospects of photocatalytic water splitting and hydrogen and pollution degradation. Particular attention will be paid to the development of new, promising ways to synthesize active, stable, and selective nanocomposite photocatalysts for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and pollutant degradation, as well as applications of energy and environmental photocatalysts in various fields.
Prof. Dr. Zichao Lian
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- photocatalysis
- photocatalytic water splitting
- environmental remediation
- emerging contaminants
- synergistic effect
- synthesis of heterostructured photocatalysts
- Fenton-like reactions
- solar energy conversion
- photoinduced carrier dynamics
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