Catalytic Strategies for Sustainable Water Splitting

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Catalysis for Sustainable Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 May 2026 | Viewed by 10

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Angstrom Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Interests: photocatalysis; electrocatalysis; metal–oxygen batteries; metal–sulfur batteries
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Center, Frontiers Science Center for Materiobiology and Dynamic Chemistry, Institute of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemistry & Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
Interests: photocatalysis; advanced oxidation technology; water pollution control; water oxidation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The global transition toward a carbon-neutral energy system urgently demands sustainable and efficient routes for clean hydrogen production. Among various technologies, water splitting driven by renewable energy sources—such as sunlight or electricity—offers a promising pathway to produce green hydrogen with zero carbon emissions. However, the large-scale implementation of water splitting remains hindered by sluggish kinetics, high overpotentials, and the scarcity of active and durable catalysts.

This Special Issue, “Catalytic Strategies for Sustainable Water Splitting,” aims to bring together the latest advances in both fundamental understanding and practical innovation of catalytic systems for hydrogen and oxygen evolution. We invite contributions focusing on design principles, synthesis strategies, operando characterization, and theoretical modeling of catalysts for overall water splitting, electrocatalytic and photocatalytic systems, and hybrid processes. Studies that explore earth-abundant materials, defect engineering, single-atom and heterostructured catalysts, as well as mechanistic insights into reaction intermediates, are particularly welcome.

By integrating multidisciplinary perspectives—from materials chemistry to electrochemical engineering—this Special Issue seeks to highlight transformative catalytic approaches that advance the sustainable hydrogen economy.

Dr. Jiefang Zhu
Dr. Yi Zhou
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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

  • water splitting
  • hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)
  • oxygen evolution reaction (OER)
  • electrocatalysis
  • photocatalysis
  • photoelectrocatalysis

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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