Photo/Electrocatalytic Performance of Novel Transition-Metal Oxide Based Electrocatalysts

Dear Colleagues, 

Due to industrial growth in emerging economies, the extensive utilization of fossil fuels has been the major source of environmental pollution and the energy crisis. Thus, transforming solar energy into chemicals through photosynthesis has been considered the favorable approach to tackle the situation. Material selection for photo/electrochemical applications is critical, provided that photoelectrodes absorb incident photons and generate the charge carriers, and that they are economical for practical applications. In recent decades, transition metal oxides, especially TiO₂-, WO₃-, BiVO₄-, and Fe₂O₃-based catalyst materials, have been widely studied in many research fields, such as catalysis, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, water splitting, electrochemical CO₂ conversion, etc. In recent decades, oxynitrides-based photoanodes have been demonstrated as alternatives for oxide-based electrodes to grasp visible-light photons to produce solar fuels from water at the stoichiometric ratio. These materials have usually been synthesized through simple and cost-effective methods such as hydro/solvothermal methods, co-precipitation methods, sonochemical methods, combustion methods, sol-gel methods, and solid-state methods. Due to their unique features, including physicochemical properties, stable crystal structure, high photostability, good catalytic convertor ability, and high electronic conductivity, transition metal oxides-based catalytic materials have been extensively investigated in photo/electrochemical applications.

This Special Issue aims to cover all types of transition metal oxides and oxynitrides used in photo/electrochemical applications. This includes their synthesis, characterization, property evaluation, composite material synthesis, CO₂ conversion to value-added products, pharmaceutical pollutant degradation and degradation through photo/electrocatalytic oxidations and reductions, and photodegradation applications. The Issue also concerns experimental and theoretical evaluations to understand the photo/electrocatalytic reaction kinetics of potential catalysts. Original research papers, short communications, and review articles are invited for submission.

Dr. Prabhakarn Arunachalam
Dr. Chelladurai Karuppiah
Dr. P.N. Sudha
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 2700 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.

• oxygen evolution reactions
• hydrogen evolution reactions
• supercapacitors and batteries
• photoelectrochemical CO₂ conversion
• photoelectrochemical degradation of pollutants
• photoelectrochemical water splitting
• bifunctional electrochemical reactions
• electrochemical sensors
• transition metal oxide electrocatalysts