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Catalysis Accelerating Energy and Environmental Sustainability
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Catalysis Accelerating Energy and Environmental Sustainability

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 4282

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jinxing Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore
Interests: nanozymes; electrocatalytic CO2RR; single-atom catalysts
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite your contributions to this Special Issue, entitled “Catalysis Accelerating Energy and Environmental Sustainability”.

The increasing global demand for clean energy and environmental protection underscores the urgent need for advanced chemical technologies that are capable of addressing the intertwined challenges of climate change and ecological degradation. Catalysis plays a central role in this transition, offering molecular-level control over reaction pathways and enabling efficient, selective, and sustainable chemical transformations under mild conditions. These attributes position catalysis as a cornerstone technology for the development of low-emission, resource-efficient, and environmentally compliant chemical processes.

This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances in catalysis that contribute to long-term energy and environmental objectives. We welcome contributions ranging from fundamental mechanistic studies and catalyst design to applied innovations that promote green synthesis, sustainable energy conversion, and pollution-free chemical manufacturing. Particular consideration will be given to studies that quantitatively address sustainability metrics, including catalytic efficiency, greenhouse gas mitigation, circular resource utilization, and minimized ecological impact.

In doing so, this Special Issue offers a platform for the catalysis community to rethink its role in an era of rapid global transition. We particularly encourage submissions that transcend conventional disciplinary boundaries, integrate diverse catalytic strategies, or present visionary perspectives on how catalytic innovation can help shape a more resilient and sustainable future.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

Catalytic Systems for Clean Energy Conversion: Exploring electrocatalytic and photocatalytic approaches for water splitting, CO2 reduction to fuels and chemicals, and ambient-condition N₂ fixation. Emphasis is placed on system-level efficiency, product selectivity, and the long-term operational stability of catalysts under realistic working conditions.

Advanced Catalyst Design and Reaction Mechanisms: Development of high-performance catalysts including single-atom catalysts, nanoclusters, and heterostructures, with tailored active sites and tunable electronic structures. We encourage submissions combining in situ/operando spectroscopy, theoretical modeling (e.g., DFT and AIMD), and machine learning to unravel dynamic active-site behavior and mechanistic pathways.

Catalysis for Environmental Remediation: Innovative catalytic solutions for air purification, wastewater treatment, the degradation of persistent organic pollutants, and VOC or CO elimination. Special interest lies in processes operating under mild or solar-assisted conditions, aiming for low-energy, high-efficiency pollution control.

Sustainable Catalyst Fabrication and Green Chemistry Integration: Emphasizing eco-friendly synthesis strategies, including biomass-derived precursors, solvent-free fabrication, and the use of non-precious, earth-abundant elements. We welcome studies on catalysts with enhanced durability, regeneration ability, and scalability for real-world deployment in sustainable chemistry frameworks.

Dr. Jinxing Chen
Guest Editor

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

  • energy conversion
  • environmental sustainability
  • electrocatalysis
  • photocatalysis
  • green chemistry
  • earth-abundant catalysts
  • catalyst durability and regeneration
  • low-emission processes

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 3882 KB  
Article
Energy-Saving-Targeted Solar Photothermal Dehydration and Confined Catalytic Pyrolysis of Oily Sludge Using Wood Sponge Loaded with Carbon Dots
by Chujun Luan, Huiyi Mao, Fawei Lin and Hongyun Yao
Catalysts 2025, 15(8), 764; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15080764 - 9 Aug 2025
Viewed by 370
Abstract
Pyrolysis of oily sludge (OS) faces two significant challenges, dehydration in emulsion and coke formation, which cause extra energy consumption. Targeting energy saving, this paper first reported on solar photothermal dehydration and confined catalytic pyrolysis of OS using a single material. A wood [...] Read more.
Pyrolysis of oily sludge (OS) faces two significant challenges, dehydration in emulsion and coke formation, which cause extra energy consumption. Targeting energy saving, this paper first reported on solar photothermal dehydration and confined catalytic pyrolysis of OS using a single material. A wood sponge loaded with carbon dots (CM-CDs) can generate heat by absorbing solar energy and promote rapid phase separation and water transport via capillary action of oil–water emulsion in OS under sunlight. Almost all free water in OS with varied content can be removed after 3 h. Hydrocarbons entered the internal space of CM-CDs instead of contacting with soil minerals, contributed to the subsequent confined catalytic pyrolysis, led to a reduction in Ea (35.61 kJ/mol), inhibited coking and caking, and yielded higher oil recovery efficiency. In addition, CDs can form hotspots to enhance pyrolytic behaviors in local regions. When the ratio of OS to CM-CDs reached 10:0.6, the recovery rate of the oil fraction through combined pyrolysis was as high as 89%, which was 17% higher than that of OS pyrolysis alone. This discovery provides a new way to solve the bottleneck problems of OS pyrolysis in the industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalysis Accelerating Energy and Environmental Sustainability)
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20 pages, 2213 KB  
Article
ANCUT1, a Fungal Cutinase MgCl2-Activated by a Non-Essential Activation Mechanism for Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Hydrolysis
by José Augusto Castro-Rodríguez, Karla Fernanda Ramírez-González, Francisco Franco-Guerrero, Andrea Sabido-Ramos, Ilce Fernanda Abundio-Sánchez, Rogelio Rodríguez-Sotres, Adela Rodríguez-Romero and Amelia Farrés
Catalysts 2025, 15(8), 757; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15080757 - 7 Aug 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 690
Abstract
Plastic waste, particularly poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), negatively impacts the environment and human health. Biotechnology could become an alternative to managing PET waste if enzymes ensure the recovery of terephthalic acid with efficiencies comparable to those of chemical treatments. Recent research has highlighted the [...] Read more.
Plastic waste, particularly poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), negatively impacts the environment and human health. Biotechnology could become an alternative to managing PET waste if enzymes ensure the recovery of terephthalic acid with efficiencies comparable to those of chemical treatments. Recent research has highlighted the potential of fungal cutinases, such as wild-type ANCUT1 (ANCUT1wt) from Aspergillus nidulans, in achieving PET depolymerization. Fungal cutinases’ structures differ from those of bacterial cutinases, while their PET depolymerization mechanism has not been well studied. Here, a reliable model of the ANCUT1wt was obtained using AlphaFold 2.0. Computational chemistry revealed potential cation-binding sites, which had not been described regarding enzymatic activation in fungal cutinases. Moreover, it allowed the prediction of residues with the ability to interact with a PET trimer that were mutation candidates to engineer the substrate binding cleft, seeking enhancements of PET hydrolysis. Enzyme kinetics revealed that both ANCUT1wt and ANCUT1N73V/L171Q (DM) were activated by MgCl2, increasing the dissociation constant of the substrate and maximal reaction rate. We found that in the presence of MgCl2, DM hydrolyzed different PET samples and released 9.1-fold more products than ANCUT1wt. Scanning Electron Microscopy revealed a different hydrolysis mode of these enzymes, influenced by the polymer’s crystallinity and structure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalysis Accelerating Energy and Environmental Sustainability)
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14 pages, 2584 KB  
Article
Enhanced Catalytic Ozonation of Formaldehyde over MOFs- Derived MnOx Catalysts with Diverse Morphologies: The Role of Oxygen Vacancies
by Yulin Sun, Yiwei Zhang, Yong He, Wubin Weng, Yanqun Zhu and Zhihua Wang
Catalysts 2025, 15(8), 752; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15080752 - 6 Aug 2025
Viewed by 474
Abstract
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have become a hot topic in various research fields nowadays. And MOF-derived metal oxides prepared by the sacrificial template method have been widely applied as catalysts for pollutant removal. Accordingly, we prepared a series of MOF-derived MnOx catalysts with [...] Read more.
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have become a hot topic in various research fields nowadays. And MOF-derived metal oxides prepared by the sacrificial template method have been widely applied as catalysts for pollutant removal. Accordingly, we prepared a series of MOF-derived MnOx catalysts with diverse morphologies (rod-like, flower-like, slab-like) via the pyrolysis of MOF precursors, and the as-prepared MnOx catalysts demonstrated superior performance compared to the one prepared using the co-precipitation method. MnOx-II, with a flower-like structure, exhibited excellent activity for formaldehyde (HCHO) catalytic ozonation at room temperature, reaching complete HCHO conversion at O3/HCHO of 1.5 and more than 90% CO2 selectivity at an O3/HCHO ratio of 2.5. On the basis of various characterization methods, it was clarified that the enhanced catalytic performance of MnOx-II benefited from its larger BET surface area, abundant oxygen vacancies, better redox ability at lower temperature, and more Lewis acid sites. The H2O resistance and stability tests were also conducted. Furthermore, DFT calculations substantiated the enhanced adsorption of HCHO and O3 on oxygen vacancies, while in–situ DRIFTS measurements elucidated the degradation pathway of HCHO during catalytic ozonation through detected intermediates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalysis Accelerating Energy and Environmental Sustainability)
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21 pages, 3418 KB  
Article
Tunable Optical Bandgap and Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity of ZnFe2O3-Doped ZIF-8 Composites for Sustainable Environmental Remediation
by Fatma Alharbi, Taymour Hamdalla, Hanan Al-Ghamdi, Badriah Albarzan and Ahmed Darwish
Catalysts 2025, 15(8), 720; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15080720 - 29 Jul 2025
Viewed by 458
Abstract
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), particularly ZIF-8, have emerged as promising materials due to their high porosity, tunability, and chemical stability. In this study, we report the synthesis of ZnFe2O3-doped ZIF-8 composites with 10 wt% loading via a solvothermal method to [...] Read more.
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), particularly ZIF-8, have emerged as promising materials due to their high porosity, tunability, and chemical stability. In this study, we report the synthesis of ZnFe2O3-doped ZIF-8 composites with 10 wt% loading via a solvothermal method to enhance their optical and photocatalytic performance. Structural analyses confirmed the successful incorporation of ZnFe2O3 without disrupting the ZIF-8 framework. Optical studies revealed enhanced absorption in the visible range, a narrowed bandgap (4.26 eV vs. 4.37 eV for pristine ZIF-8), and an increased extinction coefficient, indicating superior light-harvesting potential. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by methylene blue (MB) degradation under visible light, where the 10 wt% ZnFe2O3-ZIF-8 composite achieved 90% degradation efficiency, outperforming pristine ZIF-8 (67.8%). The catalyst also demonstrated excellent recyclability over five cycles and a proposed degradation mechanism involving ·OH and ·O2− radical formation. These findings demonstrate the potential of highly doped ZnFe2O3@ZIF-8 composites for environmental remediation and photonic applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalysis Accelerating Energy and Environmental Sustainability)
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17 pages, 3396 KB  
Article
Morphological Regulation of Bi5O7I for Enhanced Efficiency of Rhodamine B Degradation Under Visible-Light
by Xi Yang, Jiahuali Lu, Lei Zhou, Qin Wang, Fan Wu, Yuwei Pan, Ming Zhang and Guangyu Wu
Catalysts 2025, 15(8), 714; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15080714 - 26 Jul 2025
Viewed by 464
Abstract
Photocatalysis is considered to be a very promising method for the degradation of organic matter, because its process of degrading organic matter is safe. However, some problems such as weak absorption of visible light and electronic-hole recombination easily are obviously drawbacks. In this [...] Read more.
Photocatalysis is considered to be a very promising method for the degradation of organic matter, because its process of degrading organic matter is safe. However, some problems such as weak absorption of visible light and electronic-hole recombination easily are obviously drawbacks. In this paper, three different morphologies of Bi5O7I (nanoball, nanosheet, and nanotube) were successfully prepared by solvothermal method, which was used for the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). Comparing the photocatalytic effect of three different morphologies and concluding that the optimal morphology was the Bi5O7I nanoball (97.8% RhB degradation within 100 min), which was analysed by the characterisation tests. Free radical trapping experiments were tested, which revealed that the main roles in the degradation process were singlet oxygen (1O2) and holes (h+). The degradation pathways of RhB were analyzed in detail. The photo/electrochemical parts of the three materials were analysed and explained the degradation mechanism of RhB degradation. This investigate provides a very valuable guide for the development of multiple morphologies of bismuth-based photocatalysts for removing organic dyes in aquatic environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalysis Accelerating Energy and Environmental Sustainability)
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15 pages, 4061 KB  
Article
Influence of Metal Compounds on Structural and Electrochemical Characteristics of Chars from PVC Pyrolysis
by Jiayou Sun, Tianyang Ding, Xue Zhao, Guorong Xu, Chang Wen and Jie Yu
Catalysts 2025, 15(7), 660; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15070660 - 6 Jul 2025
Viewed by 514
Abstract
This study aims to investigate the influence of various metal compounds (ZnO, ZnCl2, Zn(OH)2, MgO, MgCl2, and Mg(OH)2) on the structural and electrochemical properties of chars derived from the pyrolysis of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Raw [...] Read more.
This study aims to investigate the influence of various metal compounds (ZnO, ZnCl2, Zn(OH)2, MgO, MgCl2, and Mg(OH)2) on the structural and electrochemical properties of chars derived from the pyrolysis of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Raw PVC samples mixed with different metal compounds were firstly pyrolyzed at 500 °C in a fixed-bed reactor. The produced chars were further pyrolyzed at 800 °C. The objective was to evaluate the impact of these metal compounds on the char structure through comparative analysis. The pyrolytic chars were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. Zinc-based additives notably increased carbon yield to 32–34 wt.%, attributed to ZnCl2-induced cross-linking. Specifically, ZnO facilitated porous architectures and aromatic structures with six or more rings. Mg-based compounds induce the formation of a highly stacked carbon structure primarily composed of crosslinked cyclic alkenes, rather than large polyaromatic domains. Upon further thermal treatment, these aliphatic-rich stacked structures can be progressively transformed into aromatic frameworks through dehydrogenation reactions at elevated temperatures. A high-surface-area porous carbon material (PVC/ZnO-800, SSA = 609.382 m2 g−1) was synthesized, demonstrating a specific capacitance of 306 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 current density. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalysis Accelerating Energy and Environmental Sustainability)
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Review

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19 pages, 3220 KB  
Review
Integrated Technology of CO2 Adsorption and Catalysis
by Mengzhao Li and Rui Wang
Catalysts 2025, 15(8), 745; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15080745 - 5 Aug 2025
Viewed by 484
Abstract
This paper discusses the integrated technology of CO2 adsorption and catalysis, which combines adsorption and catalytic conversion, simplifies the traditional process, reduces energy consumption, and improves efficiency. The traditional carbon capture technology has the problems of high energy consumption, equipment corrosion, and [...] Read more.
This paper discusses the integrated technology of CO2 adsorption and catalysis, which combines adsorption and catalytic conversion, simplifies the traditional process, reduces energy consumption, and improves efficiency. The traditional carbon capture technology has the problems of high energy consumption, equipment corrosion, and absorbent loss, while the integrated technology realizes the adsorption, conversion, and catalyst regeneration of CO2 in a single reaction system, avoiding complex desorption steps. Through micropore confinement and surface electron transfer mechanism, the technology improves the reactant concentration and mass transfer efficiency, reduces the activation energy, and realizes the low-temperature and high-efficiency conversion of CO2. In terms of materials, MOF-based composites, alkali metal modified oxides, and carbon-based hybrid materials show excellent performance, helping to efficiently adsorb and transform CO2. However, the design and engineering of reactors still face challenges, such as the development of new moving bed reactors. This technology provides a new idea for CO2 capture and resource utilization and has important environmental significance and broad application prospects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalysis Accelerating Energy and Environmental Sustainability)
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