Recent Advances in Catalytic Materials for Water and Air Treatments

Dear Colleagues,

Currently, water and air pollution remain urgent global challenges, and catalytic materials offer a sustainable route to degrade recalcitrant pollutants without secondary contamination. Among various catalytic systems, heterogeneous catalysts—including photocatalysts, electrocatalysts, and Fenton-like materials—have attracted growing interest due to their ability to generate reactive oxygen species under mild conditions. However, practical applications are often limited by issues such as low charge carrier separation efficiency, insufficient catalyst stability under dynamic water/air matrices, metal leaching, and deactivation of active sites in real environments. One promising solution is the rational design of nanostructured catalysts (e.g., metal oxides, MOFs, carbon-based materials, single-atom catalysts, LDHs) with controlled morphology, surface chemistry, and electronic structure.

This Special Issue, titled “Recent Advances in Catalytic Materials for Water and Air Treatments”, aims to showcase cutting-edge research on the development, characterization, and application of novel catalytic materials for the remediation of water and air pollutants. It seeks to address current environmental challenges under environmentally relevant conditions by highlighting heterogeneous catalysis, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and advanced oxidation processes. Original research articles, reviews, and short communications are welcome. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: catalytic degradation of persistent organic pollutants and gaseous pollutants; photocatalytic and electrocatalytic water treatment; catalytic removal of airborne pollutants (thermocatalysis, photocatalysis, plasma-catalysis hybrid systems); advanced oxidation processes (Fenton, photo-Fenton, persulfate activation, ozone catalysis); catalyst stability, reusability, and leaching behavior; mechanistic studies (radical vs. nonradical pathways, in situ characterization, DFT calculations); and pilot-scale or field validation studies in real wastewater, drinking water, or indoor/outdoor air. Interdisciplinary contributions combining materials synthesis, surface chemistry, environmental engineering, and reaction modeling are particularly welcome.

Best regards,

Dr. Junchao Xu
Dr. Ying Hu
Dr. Lei Ding
Guest Editors

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