MDPI is committed to supporting the academic community, nurturing talent and advancing science. Awards are an important part of the research landscape and play a vital role in helping academics gain recognition, especially young researchers as they embark on new research avenues.

In 2022, our journals presented a total number of 394 Awards, including Travel Awards, Young Investigator Awards, Best PhD Thesis Awards, Best Paper Awards, and Outstanding Reviewer Awards, with several winners announced for some of the awards. The total prize sum amounted to just under 580,000 Swiss francs (CHF), or approximately 650,000 US dollars. Overall, more than 720 scholars were awarded.

The majority of the awards were dedicated to young researchers in relatively early stages of their careers. This encompassed 66 of the afore-mentioned Travel Awards, 60 Young Investigator Awards, supporting research projects and conference attendance, as well as 51 Best PhD Thesis Awards. Additionally, 113 Best Paper Awards were given by our journals. The selection committees were entrusted with identifying the most impactful and novel research and review articles published in their journal within a given year.

MDPI will continue its support and recognition for the academic community moving forward, sponsoring new awards across disciplines. To learn more about all the awardees and their research projects in your field of study, please visit the following pages:

To explore more MDPI awards, please click here.

MDPI will be attending the 74th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry, hosted by the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE), which will be held by the International Society of Electrochemistry from 3 to 8 September 2023, in Lyon, France. France has a strong history of electrochemistry research and has a large number of ISE members in the country, and the ISE has hosted this congress on several previous occasions: Lyon in 1982; Paris in 1997, which was the occasion of a joint meeting with the ECS; and, more recently, in Nice in 2010. Thus, after more than 40 years, the congress returns to Lyon. About 1,800 participants have registered from all regions of the world. Thus, this congress will provide an opportunity for electrochemists in Lyon to participate in fruitful discussions in an atmosphere of friendly exchange.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Coatings;
• Molecules;
• Energies;
• Materials;
• Biosensors;
• Batteries;
• Liquids;
• Crystals;
• Solids;
• Electrochem;
• Sensors;
• Metals.

If you plan on attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth (#09) and start a conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the following link: https://annual74.ise-online.org/index.php.

MDPI’s Young Investigator Awards recognize promising junior researchers, acknowledge their contributions, and enhance communication among scientists. We are proud to present the winners for the year 2022 in chemistry and materials science. The winners were selected by the journals’ Award Evaluation Committee.

We warmly congratulate the awarded young investigators for their outstanding contributions. MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition for the academic community.

Crystals:

• Mattia Biesuz, University of Trento, Italy

Metals:

• Yonggang Yao, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China

Molecules:          

• Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Nanomaterials:

• Liang Huang, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China
• Aiping Chen, Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT), USA
• Leonardo Ricotti, BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA), Italy

About MDPI Awards:

In order to reward the academic community, especially young researchers, and enhance communication among scientists, MDPI journals regularly offer various awards to researchers in specific fields. These awards, serving as a source of inspiration and recognition, help raise the influence of talented individuals who have been credited with outstanding achievements and are making a significant contribution to the advancement of their fields.

To see more MDPI awards, click here.

We are proud to recognize the winners of MDPI’s 2022 Travel Awards in chemistry and materials science for their outstanding presentations and present them with the prize.

MDPI journals regularly offer travel awards to encourage junior scientists to present their latest research at academic conferences in specific fields, which helps increase their influence.

The winners mentioned below were carefully selected by the journal editors based on an outline of their research and the work to be presented at an academic conference.

We would like to warmly congratulate the winners of the 2022 Travel Awards and wish them the greatest success with their future research endeavors. MDPI will continue to enhance communication among scientists.

Catalysts:           

• Shiva Mohajernia, University of Siegen, Germany

Chemistry:          

• Maria Antonietta Casulli, Sophia University Yotsuya Campus, Japan            

Gels:     

• Lan Xiao, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Materials:           

• Danila Merino, Smart Materials Group of the Italian Institute of Technology, Italy
• Elena Blundo, University of Rome, Italy

Nanomaterials:   

• Arun Kumar, Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems, Italy
• Elena Blundo, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy            

Separations:        

• Tonni Agustiono Kurniawan, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia

About MDPI Awards:

In order to reward the academic community, especially young researchers, and enhance communication among scientists, MDPI journals regularly offer various awards to researchers in specific fields. These awards, serving as a source of inspiration and recognition, help raise the influence of talented individuals who have been credited with outstanding achievements and are making a significant contribution to the advancement of their fields.

To see more MDPI awards, click here.

In order to acknowledge our reviewers, who so generously dedicate their time to reviewing papers and demonstrate diligence, professionalism, and timeliness when reviewing manuscripts, MDPI journals regularly offer outstanding reviewer awards to scholars who participate in the peer-review process.

We are proud to recognize the winners for the 2022 Outstanding Reviewer Awards in chemistry and materials science for their outstanding contributions among the extensive competition.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the winners on their achievements. MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition for the academic community.

Catalysts:

• Aleksandr S. Kazachenko, Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science, Russia
• Ionut Banu, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania
• Shahid Zaman, Southern University of Science and Technology, China
• Rahat Javaid, Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute, Japan

Coatings:

• Anca Mazare, Friedrich-Alexander University, Germany
• Costica Bejinariu, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi, Romania

Fibers:

• Aref Abbasi Moud, University of British Columbia, Canada
• Amit Kenny, Shamoon College of Engineering, Ashdod, Israel

Gels:

• Bapan Pramanik, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
• Mutian Hua, University of California, USA            

JFB:

• Elisa Boanini, University of Bologna, Italy

Materials:

• Alexander Sobolev, Ariel University, Israel
• Anca Mazare, Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen Nurnberg, Germany
• László Almásy, Centre for Energy Research, Hungary
• Valerio Belardi, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy
• Wenbin Zhou, Imperial College London, UK
• Piotr A. Gauden, Nicholas Copernicus University, Poland

Magnetochemistry:

• Moustafa Darwish, Tanta University, Egypt

Metals: 

• Wolfgang Löser, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW), Germany
• Weimin Wang, Shandong University, China

Nanomaterials:

• Gueorgui Gueorguiev, Linköping University, Sweden
• Tsung-Rong Kuo, Taipei Medical University, China
• Kisan Chhetri, Jeonbuk National University, Republic of Korea

Polymers:

• Yiwen Li, Sichuan University, China
• Saulius Grigalevicius, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania
• Mirela-Fernanda Zaltariov, “Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Romania
• Narsimha Mamidi, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
• Nikolaos Politakos, University of the Basque Country, Spain

Separations:

• Balawanthrao Jadhav, South Dakota State University, USA
• Łukasz Dąbrowski, Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology, Poland
• Sidi Zhu, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, China

About MDPI Awards:

In order to reward the academic community, especially young researchers, and enhance communication among scientists, MDPI journals regularly offer various awards to researchers in specific fields. These awards, serving as a source of inspiration and recognition, help raise the influence of talented individuals who have been credited with outstanding achievements and are making a significant contribution to the advancement of their fields.

For more MDPI awards, click here.

MDPI’s Best PhD Thesis Awards are presented to recognize the young scholars who are judged to have completed the most outstanding PhD thesis in their field of research, and to encourage them to continue their outstanding work and further contribution to their field.

We would like to warmly congratulate the winners of the 2022 Best PhD Thesis Awards and wish them success with their future research endeavors. MDPI will continue to enhance communication among scientists.

Ceramics:

• “Metal Nanoparticle Carbon Nanocomposites to Produce Electrochemical Devices for Environmental Water Monitoring”
  by Wenchao Duan, Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) and Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona (IMB-CNM-CSIC), Spain

Crystals:

• “Modeling and Design of a Phononic Crystal with Piezoelectric Defects for Broadband Energy Localization and Harvesting”
  by Soo-Ho Jo, Department of Mechanical Engineering at Seoul National University, South Korea

Logistics:

• “A Decision-Support Framework for Smart and Sustainable Reverse Logistics Network Design”
  by Xu Sun, The Arctic University of Norway, Norway

Macromol:

• “Polymer Drug Carriers for Immuno-Oncotherapy”
  by Marina Rodrigues Tavares, Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic

• “Design and Fabrication of Advanced Materials Obtained from Hemp Fibers and Sustainable Polymers”
  by Gianluca Viscusi, Department of Industrial Engineering-University of Salerno, Italy

Materials:

• “Ultrafast Processes in Perylene and Rubrene Systems: Singlet Fission, Excimer Formation and Charge Transfer”
  by Wenjun Ni, Dalian University of Technology, China

Metals:

• “Computational and Experimental Thermo-Mechanics of Metal Additive Manufacturing: Stress, Warpage, Cracks and Properties”
  by Xufei Lu, Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Spain

Molecules:

• “Development of Modern Sample Preparation Techniques Utilizing Novel Materials Combined with Chromatographic and Spectrometric Methods for the Determination of Environmental Pollutants in Food and Environmental Samples”
  by Natalia Manousi, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

• “Studying Protein Function with Fluorescent Nanoantennas”
  by Scott G. Harroun, University of Montreal, Canada

Nanomaterials:

• “Predictive Modelling of Ultrafast Hot Carrier Dynamics and Nonlinear Photothermal Phenomena in Designer Nanophotonic Structures”
  by Andrea Schirato, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Physchem:

• “Studying Protein Function with Fluorescent Nanoantennas”
  by Scott G. Harroun, Université de Montréal / Polytechnique Montréal, Canada

Polymers:

• “Formation, Modification and New Applications of Orderly Structured Titanium Oxide Nanostructures”
  by Simonas Ramanavicius, State Research Institute Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Lithuania 

Sustainable Chemistry:

• “Electrochemical Routes for Upgrading Carbon-based Greenhouse Gases”
  by Aditya Prajapati, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA

About MDPI Awards:

In order to reward the academic community, especially young researchers, and enhance communication among scientists, MDPI journals regularly offer various awards to researchers in specific fields. These awards, serving as a source of inspiration and recognition, help raise the influence of talented individuals who have been credited with outstanding achievements and are making a significant contribution to the advancement of their fields.

To see more MDPI awards, click here.

The purpose of our best paper awards is to promote and recognize the most impactful contributions published within MDPI journals.

The editors of each journal have carefully selected reviews and research papers through a rigorous judging process based on criteria such as the scientific merit, overall impact and the quality of presentation of the papers published in the journal.

We are honored to present the winners announced in 2022 in chemistry and materials science, who were selected among an extensive competition, and congratulate the authors for their outstanding scientific publications. MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition for the academic community.

C:

• “Biochar and Energy Production: Valorizing Swine Manure through Coupling Co-Digestion and Pyrolysis”
  by Rubén González, Judith González, José G. Rosas, Richard Smith and Xiomar Gómez
  C 2020, 6(2), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/c6020043

Coatings:

• “Introduction to Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation—An Overview of the Process and Applications”
  by Frank Simchen, Maximilian Sieber, Alexander Kopp and Thomas Lampke
  Coatings 2020, 10(7), 628; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings10070628

• “First Insights into Photocatalytic Degradation of HDPE and LDPE Microplastics by a Mesoporous N–TiO2 Coating: Effect of Size and Shape of Microplastics”
  by Brenda Estefanía Llorente-García, Juan Manuel Hernández-López, Antonio Alberto Zaldívar-Cadena, Cristina Siligardi and Erika Iveth Cedillo-González
  Coatings 2020, 10(7), 658; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings10070658

Fibers:

• “U-Jacketing Applications of Fiber-Reinforced Polymers in Reinforced Concrete T-Beams against Shear—Tests and Design”
  by Constantin E. Chalioris, Adamantis G. Zapris and Chris G. Karayannis
  Fibers 2020, 8(2), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/fib8020013

• “Laser Sources Based on Rare-Earth Ion Doped Tellurite Glass Fibers and Microspheres”
  by Elena A. Anashkina
  Fibers 2020, 8(5), 30; https://doi.org/10.3390/fib8050030

Inorganics:

• “Magnetic Materials and Systems: Domain Structure Visualization and Other Characterization Techniques for Application in Materials Science and Biomedicine”
  by Roberto Nisticò, Federico Cesano and Francesca Garello
  Inorganics 2020, 8(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics8010006

• “Magnetic Composite Submicron Carriers with Structure-Dependent MRI Contrast”
  by Anastasiia A. Kozlova, Sergey V. German, Vsevolod S. Atkin, Victor V. Zyev, Maxwell A. Astle, Daniil N. Bratashov, Yulia I. Svenskaya and Dmitry A. Gorin
  Inorganics 2020, 8(2), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics8020011

• “A Partial Anion Disorder in SrVO₂H Induced by Biaxial Tensile Strain”
  by Morito Namba, Hiroshi Takatsu, Wataru Yoshimune, Aurélien Daniel, Shoichi Itoh, Takahito Terashima and Hiroshi Kageyama
  Inorganics 2020, 8(4), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics8040026

Magnetochemistry:

• “Magnetic Nanoparticle Systems for Nanomedicine—A Materials Science Perspective”
  by Vlad Socoliuc, Davide Peddis, Viktor I. Petrenko, Mikhail V. Avdeev, Daniela Susan-Resiga, Tamas Szabó, Rodica Turcu, Etelka Tombácz and Ladislau Vékás
  Magnetochemistry 2020, 6(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/magnetochemistry6010002

• “Magnetite (Fe₃O₄) Nanoparticles in Biomedical Application: From Synthesis to Surface Functionalisation”
  by Lokesh Srinath Ganapathe, Mohd Ambri Mohamed, Rozan Mohamad Yunus and Dilla Duryha Berhanuddin
  Magnetochemistry 2020, 6(4), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/magnetochemistry6040068

• “Saturation of Specific Absorption Rate for Soft and Hard Spinel Ferrite Nanoparticles Synthesized by Polyol Process”
  by Cristian Iacovita, Gabriela Fabiola Stiufiuc, Roxana Dudric, Nicoleta Vedeanu, Romulus Tetean, Rares Ionut Stiufiuc and Constantin Mihai Lucaciu
  Magnetochemistry 2020, 6(2), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/magnetochemistry6020023

• “False Chirality, Absolute Enantioselection and CP Violation: Pierre Curie’s Legacy”
  by Laurence D. Barron
  Magnetochemistry 2020, 6(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/magnetochemistry6010005         

Materials:

• “A Broadband Tunable Terahertz Metamaterial Absorber Based on Single-Layer Complementary Gammadion-Shaped Graphene”
  by Fu Chen, Yongzhi Cheng and Hui Luo
  Materials 2020, 13(4), 860; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13040860

• “3-D Printed Protective Equipment during COVID-19 Pandemic”
  by Christian Wesemann, Stefano Pieralli, Tobias Fretwurs, Julian Nold, Katja Nelson, Rainer Schmelzeisen, Elmar Hellwig and Benedikt Christopher Spies
  Materials 2020, 13(8), 1997; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13081997

• “On the Vibrations and Stability of Moving Viscoelastic Axially Functionally Graded Nanobeams”
  by Ali Shariati, Dong won Jun, Hamid Mohammad-Sedighi, Krzysztof Kamil Żur, Mostafa Habibi and Maryam Safa
  Materials 2020, 13(7), 1707; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13071707

• “Brief History of Early Lithium Battery Development”
  by Mogalahalli V. Reddy, Alain Mauger, Christian M. Julien, Andrea Paolella and Karim Zaghib
  Materials, 2020, 13(8), 1884; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13081884

• “Face Masks and Respirators in the Fight Against the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review of Current Materials, Advances and Future Perspectives”
  by Kris O’Dowd, Keerthi M. Nair, Parnia Forouzandeh, Snehamol Mathew, Jamie Gran, Ruth Moran, John Bartlet, Jerry Bird and Suresh C. Pillai
  Materials 2020, 13(15), 3363; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13153363

• “Recent Trends in the Use of Pectin from Agro-Waste Residues as a Natural-Based Biopolymer for Food Packaging Applications”
  by Cristina Mellinas, Marina Ramos, Alfonso Jiménez and María Carmen Garrigós
  Materials 2020, 13(3), 673; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13030673

Membranes:

• “Membrane Technologies in Wastewater Treatment: A Review”
  by Elorm Obotey Ezugbe and Sudesh Rathilal
  Membranes 2020, 10(5), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes10050089

• “Development of Hydrophilic PVDF Membrane Using Vapour Induced Phase Separation Method for Produced Water Treatment”
  by Muhammad Roil Bilad, Normi Izati Mat Nawi, Min Chean Ho, Norazanita Shamsuddin, Thanitporn Narkkun, Kajornsak Faungnawakij and Asim Laeeq Khan
  Membranes 2020, 10(6), 121; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes10060121

Molecules:

• “Polymeric Nanoparticles: Production, Characterization, Toxicology and Ecotoxicology”
  by Aleksandra Zielińska, Filipa Carreiró, Ana M. Oliveira, Andreia Neves, Bárbara Pires, D. Nagasamy Venkatesh, Alessandra Durazzo, Massimo Lucarini, Piotr Eder, Amélia M. Silva et al.
  Molecules 2020, 25(16), 3731; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25163731

• “Nanomaterials for Wound Dressings: An Up-to-Date Overview”
  by Alexandra Elena Stoica, Cristina Chircov and Alexandru Mihai Grumezescu
  Molecules 2020, 25(11), 2699; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25112699

• “PROTACs and Building Blocks: The 2D Chemical Space in Very Early Drug Discovery”
  by Giuseppe Ermondi, Diego Garcia-Jimenez and Giulia Caron
  Molecules 2021, 26(3), 672; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26030672

• “LncMirNet: Predicting LncRNA–miRNA Interaction Based on Deep Learning of Ribonucleic Acid Sequences”
  by Sen Yang, Yan Wang, Yu Lin, Dan Shao, Kai He and Lan Huang
  Molecules 2020, 25(19), 4372; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25194372

• “Merging Ligand-Based and Structure-Based Methods in Drug Discovery: An Overview of Combined Virtual Screening Approaches”
  by Javier Vázquez, Manel López, Enric Gibert, Enric Herrero and F. Javier Luque
  Molecules 2020, 25(20), 4723; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25204723

• “The Protective Role of Butyrate against Obesity and Obesity-Related Diseases”
  by Serena Coppola, Carmen Avagliano, Antonio Calignano and Roberto Berni Canani
  Molecules 2021, 26(3), 682; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26030682

• “Cyanogenic Glycoside Analysis in American Elderberry”
  by Michael K. Appenteng, Ritter Krueger, Mitch C. Johnson, Harrison Ingold, Richard Bell, Andrew L. Thomas and C. Michael Greenlief
  Molecules 2021, 26(5), 1384; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26051384

• “Amygdalin: Toxicity, Anticancer Activity and Analytical Procedures for Its Determination in Plant Seeds”
  by Ewa Jaszczak-Wilke, Żaneta Polkowska, Marek Koprowski, Krzysztof Owsianik, Alyson E. Mitchell and Piotr Bałczewski
  Molecules 2021, 26(8), 2253; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26082253

Nanomaterials:

• “Perfect Dual-Band Absorber Based on Plasmonic Effect with the Cross-Hair/Nanorod Combination”
  by Yuan-Fong Chou Chau, Chung-Ting Chou Chao, Hung Ji Huang, Muhammad Raziq Rahimi Kooh, N. T. R. N. Kumara, Chee Ming Lim and Hai-Pang Chiang
  Nanomaterials 2020, 10(3), 493; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10030493

• “Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles: Prospects and Applications in Medicine”
  by Daniel Ziental, Beata Czarczynska-Goslinska, Dariusz T. Mlynarczyk, Arleta Glowacka-Sobotta, Beata Stanisz, Tomasz Goslinski and Lukasz Sobotta
  Nanomaterials 2020, 10(2), 387; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10020387

• “High Quality Factor, High Sensitivity Metamaterial Graphene—Perfect Absorber Based on Critical Coupling Theory and Impedance Matching”
  by Chunlian Cen, Zeqiang Chen, Danyang Xu, Liying Jiang, Xifang Chen, Zao Yi, Pinghui Wu, Gongfa Li and Yougen Yi
  Nanomaterials 2020, 10(1), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10010095

• “An Overview of Micro- and Nanoemulsions as Vehicles for Essential Oils: Formulation, Preparation and Stability”
  by Lucia Pavoni, Diego Romano Perinelli, Giulia Bonacucina, Marco Cespi and Giovanni Filippo Palmieri
  Nanomaterials 2020, 10(1), 135; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10010135

• “Making Nd³⁺ a Sensitive Luminescent Thermometer for Physiological Temperatures—An Account of Pitfalls in Boltzmann Thermometry”
  by Markus Suta, Željka Antić, Vesna Ðorđević, Sanja Kuzman, Miroslav D. Dramićanin  and Andries Meijerink
  Nanomaterials 2020, 10(3), 543; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10030543

• “Metal-Based Nanoparticles as Antimicrobial Agents: An Overview”
  by Elena Sánchez-López, Daniela Gomes, Gerard Esteruelas, Lorena Bonilla, Ana Laura Lopez-Machado, Ruth Galindo, Amanda Cano, Marta Espina, Miren Ettcheto, Antoni Camins et al.
  Nanomaterials 2020, 10(2), 292; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10020292

Polymers:

• “Core–Shell Eudragit S100 Nanofibers Prepared via Triaxial Electrospinning to Provide a Colon-Targeted Extended Drug Release”
  by Yanfei Ding, Cheng Dou, Shuyue Chang, Zhengming Xie, Deng-Guang Yu, Yanan Liu and Jun Shao
  Polymers 2020, 12(9), 2034; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12092034

• “The Inhibition Property and Mechanism of a Novel Low Molecular Weight Zwitterionic Copolymer for Improving Wellbore Stability”
  by Weichao Du, Michal Slaný, Xiangyun Wang, Gang Chen and Jie Zhang
  Polymers 2020, 12(3), 708; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12030708

• “Solid Polymer Electrolytes with Flexible Framework of SiO₂ Nanofibers for Highly Safe Solid Lithium Batteries”
  by Jin Cui, Zehao Zhou, Mengyang Jia, Xin Chen, Chuan Shi, Ning Zhao and Xiangxin Guo
  Polymers 2020, 12(6), 1324; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12061324

• “Conducting Polymers in the Design of Biosensors and Biofuel Cells”
  by Simonas Ramanavicius and Arunas Ramanavicius
  Polymers 2021, 13(1), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13010049

About MDPI Awards:

In order to reward the academic community, especially young researchers, and enhance communication among scientists, MDPI journals regularly offer various awards to researchers in specific fields. These awards, serving as a source of inspiration and recognition, help raise the influence of talented individuals who have been credited with outstanding achievements and are making a significant contribution to the advancement of their fields.

To see more MDPI awards, click here.

MDPI will be attending the 2023 National University Students Innovation Contest on Plasma Science and Technology, organized by the China Electrotechnical Society and hosted by the Huazhong University of Science and Technology and the Wuhan University, which will be held from 12 to 14 August 2023, in Wuhan, China.

The National University Students Innovation Contest on Plasma Science and Technology is based on the principle of interdisciplinary integration and innovation-driven development. The contest revolves around national and industry needs, focusing on the forefront issues of high-voltage discharge and plasma. It aims to guide university students to carry out plasma science and technology innovation activities and cultivate their interdisciplinary innovation abilities. It also promotes the development of plasma in fields such as environmental protection, low-carbon energy, advanced manufacturing, eco-friendly agriculture, life and health, aerospace and ocean, advanced materials, high-voltage power transmission, pulse power and high-energy physics. The finals of the contest will be held in conjunction with the High-Voltage Discharge and Plasma Interdisciplinary Forum.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Coatings (leading);
• Applied Sciences;
• ASI;
• CMD;
• Actuators.

If you plan on attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth and speak with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have.

For more information about the conference, please visit https://ipst.mh.chaoxing.com/.

MDPI will be attending the 9th International Discussion Meeting on Relaxations in Complex Systems, organized by the University of Tokyo, held from 12 to 18 August 2023, in Chiba, Japan.

The conference topics include the following:

• Polymer Nanocomposites and MOF;
• Photonic Disordered Materials;
• Network and Inorganic Glasses;
• Interrelation between T and V in Dynamics of Liquids and Polymers;
• Colloidal Systems and Dispersions;
• Information Science and Machine Learning;
• Linear and Nonlinear Dielectric Dynamics.

During this conference, MDPI (at booth #Ex-14) will welcome researchers from different backgrounds to visit and share their latest views and research with us.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Materials;
• Polymers;
• Coatings;
• Membranes;
• Computation.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to start an online conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person at booth #Ex-14 and answering any questions that you may have.

For more information about the conference, please visit the following link: https://9idmrcs.jp/index.html.

We are pleased to inform you that Coatings’ 2022 Impact Factor is 3.4. Our journal continues to help advance the science and engineering of coatings, thin and thick films, surfaces and interfaces.

Coatings (ISSN: 2079-6412) ranks as follows:

• Q2 (9 out of 21 journals) in the "Materials Science, Coatings and Films" category;
• Q2 (56 out of 159 journals) in the "Physics, Applied" category.

For more journal statistics, please visit https://www.mdpi.com/journal/coatings/stats.

The Coatings Editorial Office would like to thank all authors, reviewers, and editors who have contributed to the journal.

With the first issue released in June 2023, five new MDPI journals disseminating multi-disciplinary science are due to launch, which will cover the subjects of medicine & pharmacology, biology and physical sciences.

The newly launched journals will be overseen by professional Editorial Board Members and Editors to ensure an accurate and rapid publication, rigorous peer review and broad visibility.

Please feel free to browse and discover more about the new journals below.

Journal	Founding Editor-in-Chief	Journal topics (selected)
	Prof. Dr. Jun Ma, Peking University, China| Editorial | view inaugural issue	growth and development; diet and nutrients; school health promotion policies and practices; child health and care; adolescent health and wellbeing | view journal scope | submit an article
	Prof. Dr. Bernd Rehm, Griffith University, Australia | Editorial | view inaugural issue	DNA and gene synthesis; synthetic transcription factors; protein engineering; viral engineering; metabolic engineering | view journal scope | submit an article
	Prof. Dr. Varsha Gandhi, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA | Editorial | view inaugural issue	lymphatics; cancers associated with lymphocytes and lymphoblasts; lymphatic tissues; lymphoma; lymphoid leukemia | view journal scope | submit an article
	Dr. Bradley Turner, University of Melbourne, Australia | Editorial | view inaugural issue	multiple sclerosis; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; primary lateral sclerosis; atherosclerosis; systemic sclerosis | view journal scope | submit an article
	Prof. Dr. Clemens Burda, Case Western Reserve University, USA | Editorial | view inaugural issue	Gamma ray, X-ray, and UV–Vis spectroscopies; NIR/mid-infrared/Raman spectroscopy; microwave and THz spectroscopy; high-resolution gas-phase atomic, molecular, and cluster spectroscopy; MS, NMR, and EPR spectroscopy | view journal scope | submit an article

We wish to thank everyone who has supported the development of open access publishing. You are welcome to submit an application to the New Journal Committee ([email protected]) if you would like to create more new journals.

Date: 25–27 October 2023
Location: Lanzhou, China
Conference website: http://www.fineceram.cn/page109

The 2023 Conference of Material Coating Science and Technology will be held from 25 to 27 October 2023, in Lanzhou, China. The conference is hosted by the Advanced Ceramics Division of the Chinese Ceramic Society and the international journal Coatings (ISSN: 2079-6412) and is co-organized by the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Gansu Materials Society, and the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics group, Chinese Academy of Sciences Youth Innovation Promotion Association. This conference will strengthen the scientific and technological exchanges among experts and scholars in the field of coating science and technology, promote the application of coating technology and promote the high-quality economic development.

This conference sets up 19 topics, covering the application-related areas of coatings and surfaces, which will invite leading experts to deliver plenary speeches. The organizing committee warmly welcomes experts, scholars, engineering technicians and postgraduates in the field of coating technology to attend this conference.

Important dates
Abstract deadline: 25 July 2023 (submission link: https://sciforum.net/user/submission/create/931)
Full submission deadline: 30 December 2023 

Scope
Coating materials: A1 high entropy materials, A2 thermal functional materials, A3 optical functional materials, A4 electric/magnetic/acoustic functional materials;
Coating technologies: B1 vapor deposition, B2 thermal spraying, B3 plasma electrolytic oxidation, B4 atomic layer deposition, B5 chemical deposition, B6 self-assembly;
Coating applications: C1 thermal/environmental barrier coating, C2 battery coating, C3 biological coating, C4 superphobic/hydrophilic coating, C5 anti-friction and wear-resistant coating, C6 antibacterial coating, C7 anti-fouling coating, C8 fuel cladding coating, C9 smart coating.

Contact
Coatings Editorial Office
Ms. Diana Zhao
Tel: 18002161361, Email: [email protected]

The 2022 citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and we’re pleased to announce the following results for MDPI journals:

We are thrilled to announce that 90% of our ranked MDPI journals, specifically 86 out of 96 (captured in the table below), are performing above average in Q1 or Q2. This year, Clarivate has expanded its Impact Factor (IF) awards to include journals in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), providing greater transparency for the full set of journals indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. As a result, 111 of MDPI journals have received their first IF in 2023, with 37 journals surpassing an IF of 3.0. In total, 208 MDPI journals have been honored with an IF.

Clarivate explains that by "expanding the coverage but holding to highly selective standards, the [Impact Factor] is now a reliable indicator of trustworthiness, as well as a measure of scholarly impact, at the journal level."

Please visit our blog post where we discuss the release of the latest citation metrics with our Indexing Manager, Dr. Constanze Schelhorn, to find out what's different this time around and how to make use of different metrics available.

Note: The Journal of Personalized Medicine's Impact Factor was omitted in the original release and will be assigned separately. Please find the data on the journal webpage in due course.

Source: 2022 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ^TM (Clarivate, 2023)

The International Conference on Processing & Manufacturing of Advanced Materials: Processing, Fabrication, Properties, Applications (THERMEC’2023) is the twelfth international conference on the advanced materials series built upon the proven concept and continues the tradition of its eleven predecessors: Japan (1988), Australia (1997), USA (2000), Spain (2003), Vancouver, Canada (2006), Berlin, Germany (2009), Quebec City, Canada (2011), Las Vegas, USA (2013), Graz, Austria (2016), Paris, France (2018) and Virtual Conference in June 2021.

MDPI will be attending the event as an exhibitor, and we welcome researchers from different backgrounds to visit and share their latest ideas with us.

We are looking forward to meeting you at our booth #35, where you can find more information about the MDPI journals attending the conference:

• Metals;
• Materials;
• Coatings;
• Nanomaterials;
• Energies;
• Micromachines.

Our representatives Igor Matic and Teodora Stepanov are eager to answer your questions and address any inquiries you may have.

Date: 20–23 October 2023
Location: Shenzhen, China
Conference website: http://annual2023.csmnt.org.cn

The 25th Annual Conference of the Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology & 14th International Conference of the Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology (CSMNT2023) will be held from 20 to 23 October 2023, in Shenzhen, China. The conference is hosted by the Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology, and organized by the Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Harbin Institute of Technology and Shenzhen Society of Micro-Nano Technology. The theme of this conference is "Magical Micro-Nano • Wonderful World", which will invite 10–12 leading experts to deliver plenary speeches. CSMNT2023 will deeply focus on new technologies, achievements, breakthroughs and trends in the fields of micro/nano and other related frontiers. Through various activities, such as the opening ceremony, plenary talks, special sessions, training, call for papers and technology exhibitions, it will build a bridge for communication and cooperation between domestic and foreign micro/nanotechnology workers.

Important dates:

• Abstract deadline: 30 June 2023
• Notification of abstract acceptance: early August 2023
• Poster submission deadline: 15 September 2023
• Full submission deadline: 20 October 2023

Scope:

CSMNT2023 welcomes academic papers in micro-nanotechnology and related fields. Topics include, but are not limited to:

Instructions for submission:
Please click on “Download” and then “Pre-Notification of CSMNT2023” at the following link for more information: http://annual2023.csmnt.org.cn.

Contact:
Secretariat Office of the Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology (CSMNT)
Tel: +0086 10 62796707, +0086 10 62772108
E-mail: [email protected]

We are pleased to inform you that Coatings (ISSN: 2079-6412) has received an updated CiteScore of 4.7, an increase of 20% compared with the 2021 metric. The 2022 CiteScore™ was released recently, assessing the scientific influence of journals in the 2019 to 2022 period.

Coatings’ CiteScore ranks as follows:

• Q2 (20 out of 55 journals) in the “Surfaces and Interfaces” category;
• Q2 (49 out of 131 journals) in the “Surfaces, Coatings and Films” category;
• Q2 (115 out of 306 journals) in the “Materials Chemistry” category.

For more journal statistics, please visit https://www.mdpi.com/journal/coatings/stats.

We would like to thank the award committee of Coatings (ISSN: 2079-6412) for their hard work in selecting two winners from such a large number of exceptional candidates, with Dr. Costică Bejinariu being one of the winners. We will continue to reward reviewers with the Outstanding Reviewer Award to acknowledge their efforts in maintaining the high quality and quick turnaround time of the journal, and we wish them every success in their careers.

Short biography: Dr. Costică Bejinariu is a full professor and researcher at Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi, Romania, with over 35 years of academic experience. He also holds the position of Vice Dean at the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering and has been a Ph.D. supervisor since 2009. He has completed five doctoral theses and currently supervises 10 doctoral students.

Dr. Costică Bejinariu’s main field of expertise is materials engineering. He has published 25 books/chapters and monographs, over 250 research papers with more than 1000 citations, and possesses an h-index of 18-WoS/20-Scopus. He has worked on over 50 scientific research and development contracts; for 5 of which he was the project director, and for 2 projects he worked as the project manager. Furthermore, he owns 12 invention patents in the field of materials engineering, which were presented at numerous invention conferences, where he was awarded medals.

Dr. Costică Bejinariu is an active member of several professional associations in the field, a reviewer for multiple scientific journals, and is on scientific committees of different congresses. He is a member of the Committee of Materials Engineering, Engineering and Materials Science of the National Council for Attestation of University Titles, Diplomas and Certificates (CNATDCU), which is an independent, national consulting entity in Romania.

Contact emails: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

We hope you enjoy the interview.

1. Could you give a brief introduction of yourself to the readers?

I am a university professor at Gheorghe Asachi Technical University in Iasi, Romania, and am involved in both teaching and research. The main subject that I teach undergraduate students is materials technology, materials science and engineering, a subject with content related to the elaboration of metallic materials and the processing of metallic materials via casting, plastic deformation, welding, etc. As a secondary discipline, I teach assessment of occupational injury and illness risks to master's degree students. I conduct research with doctoral and postdoctoral students in the field of materials engineering.

2. What is your current research and why did you choose this research field?

Currently, my main research is focused on the field of coatings via the conversion of metallic materials, in this case, the formation of phosphate layers on the surfaces of some metallic materials, mainly to improve steel corrosion resistance or to improve osseointegration for some biomaterials based on titanium.

3. Which research topics do you think will be of particular interest to the research community in the coming years?

In the materials engineering field, in the near future, the trends will be those of replacing some polymeric materials with biodegradable materials and the design of new materials with superior, multifunctional properties, such as smart materials with shape memory or transparent metallic materials.

4. Have you ever encountered any difficulties conducting research? How did you overcome them?

When you begin materials engineering research, the success rate is about 70%. In 30% of cases, either one abandons the research with the publication of the results so that other researchers don’t repeat the same work without success, or some surprising results appear, leading to more successful research.

5. What qualities do you think young scientists need?

Young people with a passion for research need perseverance and strong motivation. I, for example, with my experience gained so far, would not approach some research topics. Young people, however, in the unconsciousness of youth, may approach these topics and the result of their work may be a great success.

6. Can you briefly describe the key to a happy laboratory life?

If you are dedicated to working in the laboratory, the joy comes when the results appear. Being absorbed in your work leads to the intensification of your work, which helps with the dissemination of the results, and thus a happy life in the laboratory.

7. If you have the opportunity, will you actively apply to attend academic conferences? What do you think you can learn from participating in conferences?

The dissemination of results is key to laboratory work development. The exchange of experiences by participating in academic conferences, during the discussion of the results of the presented work, creates the opportunity for improving the work in your laboratory.

8. What do you think are the main criteria that should be taken seriously in the process of reviewing manuscripts?

First, the reviewer guidelines for each journal or group of journals must be followed. Second, each scientific paper is unique and must be reviewed according to the proposed objective, the results obtained, the interpretation of the results, and the drawing of conclusions. This should be achieved by using the research results under discussion.

9. We are an open access journal. How do you think open access impacts reviewers and authors?

Open access journals represent the optimal category of journals today and in the near future. Authors can easily consult scientific works with reference to the current stage of development in the narrow field that they are studying, and the reviewers can check the work much more easily with free access to the bibliography used. The time for evaluating the work is greatly reduced, and the quality of the evaluation is superior.

We would like to thank the award committee of Coatings (ISSN: 2079-6412) for their hard work in selecting two winners from such a large number of exceptional candidates, with Dr. Anca Mazare being one of the winners. We will continue to reward reviewers with the Outstanding Reviewer Award to acknowledge their efforts in maintaining the high quality and quick turnaround time of the journal, and we wish them every success in their careers.

Short biography: Dr. Anca Mazare received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Politechnica University of Bucharest, Romania, in 2012 under the supervision of Prof. Demetrescu. She then joined the group of Prof. Schmuki at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Germany, in 2012 as a postdoctoral fellow, and was a visiting associate professor at AIMR, Tohoku University, Japan, for 13 months between September 2021 and January 2023. Currently, she is also pursuing her habilitation under the supervision of Prof. Schmuki. Her research field comprises oxide nanomaterials and their nanostructuring, composite materials of different oxides, oxide modification with organic materials, biomaterials, energy conversion, photocatalysis, and surface analytics (XPS, SEM, ToF-SIMS, AFM, electrochemical characterization). She is an active reviewer and has published more than 80 papers in international journals, has an h-index of 30, and has given numerous oral presentations/invited talks at international conferences.

Interests: nanomaterials; nanostructuring; nanomanufacturing; biomaterials; functional biomaterials; semiconductors; photocatalysis; electrocatalysis; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; surface analysis techniques; single atom; energy conversion

We hope you enjoy the interview.

1. Could you give a brief introduction of yourself to the readers?

As mentioned in my biographical statement, I am currently a postdoctoral researcher but I’m also additionally pursuing my habilitation at FAU. I enjoy the challenges that come with research in general, as well as the teaching opportunities.

2. What is your current research and why did you choose this research field?

I am currently working on oxide nanomaterials and their applications in energy conversion and biomedical areas. This is actually quite a vast field, but for me, I found my niche when I started my postdoctoral activity in 2012 working in the group of Prof. Schmuki, an expert in the field of nanostructured oxide materials via electrochemical anodization, and building upon this with targeted applications. I am also fascinated by surface analysis techniques that bring forth a more thorough understanding of materials’ properties.

3. Which research topics do you think will be of particular interest to the research community in the coming years?

Research topics are in a continuous state of development, especially regarding the strive for green energy, sustainability, and better utilization of resources. Besides these research directions, I strongly believe that medical research will always be of interest, i.e., devices, drugs, and biomedical applications. No matter the advances in the design of materials, analysis techniques also have to keep up, especially regarding nanosurfaces and in situ analysis.

4. Have you ever encountered any difficulties conducting research? How did you overcome them?

There are always difficulties in research. From the perspective of the research itself, what you plan/expect is not (always) what you get, so adaptability, finding alternate solutions to reach milestones, and resilience are always a must. My approach is seeing it as figuring out a puzzle, and I adapt based on my initial findings. One difficulty is related to time management, especially for researchers with kids who are directly dependent on their available childcare solutions. For me, the toughest time was the closure of kindergartens during the COVID pandemic, and I cannot say I overcame it, but I survived it.

5. What qualities do you think young scientists need?

Curiosity, adaptability, resilience, some analytical abilities, and good enough communication and collaboration skills.

6. If you have the opportunity, will you actively apply to attend academic conferences? What do you think you can learn from participating in conferences, which is different from working in a lab?

Yes, I do strive to actively attend academic conferences (although this is more difficult now with a 5-year-old and an 8-month-old baby). Participating in conferences strengthens one’s analytical skills (figuring out what others did from their presentations/posters), communication (being able to briefly explain why your research is important), language skills, and it can also improve collaboration skills. The highest impact lies in networking, which can bring about an increase in collaborations.

7. What do you think are the main criteria that should be taken seriously in the process of reviewing manuscripts?

This is a long list but some of the most important aspects are the following: Is there novel data or the reproduction of previous works? How does it fit into the research topic? Does the data support the authors’ conclusion? Are the methods clearly described (logical, reproducible, etc.)? Does it fit within the scope of the journal (consider its novelty too)? Is there a clear presentation of data, sound data presentation?

8. We are an open access journal. How do you think open access impacts reviewers and authors?

This enables greater accessability, as no subscription is needed and this leads to a higher distribution of the work and more visibility for the authors. The reviewers can be negatively impacted by the number of papers that they receive for review, as reviewing is time-consuming, and thus a balance between the research work, teaching, and other activities has to be found. However, reviewing strengthens one’s knowledge in their respective field of work and keeps reviewers up-to-date with recent scientific developments.

The editorial team of the journal Coatings (IF: 3.236, ISSN: 2079-6412) was honored to meet the Section Editor-in-Chief Dr. Michele Ferrari at the Barcelona office on 29 May 2023.

Dr. Michele Ferrari, from the Institute of Condensed Matter Chemistry and Technologies for Energy, National Research Council, Italy, was appointed Section-Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Environmental Aspects in Colloid and Interface Science” and became a Section Board Member of the Section “Corrosion, Wear and Erosion” of Coatings in 2021. During the visit, Dr. Ferrari offered us many professional suggestions which will be valuable for further improving the journal’s service.

We appreciate the support that Dr. Ferrari has given to MDPI, and we look forward to his contributions to the journal and the continued success of Coatings. Further information about the journal can be found here.

(a)	(b)

(a) From left to right: Regional Operations Director Mr. Hobart Mu and Dr. Michele Ferrari;
(b) From left to right: Dr. Michele Ferrari and Mr. Hobart Mu.

MDPI will be attending the 21st National Electrochemistry Conference, organized by the Chinese Society of Electrochemistry (CSE) and hosted by the Dalian University of Technology, which will be held from 22 to 25 May 2023, in Dalian, China. The conference will focus on the development of electrochemical science and comprehensively present the latest research progress and results achieved in electrochemistry in China in the new era. The aim is to promote the application of electrochemical science and technology in energy, environment, materials and other relevant fields, and to achieve the sustainable development of society.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Energies;
• Molecules;
• Coatings;
• IJMS;
• Batteries;
• Symmetry;
• Processes;
• Catalysts;
• Crystals;
• Minerals;
• Technologies;
• Electrochem;
• ChemEngineering;
• Analytica;
• Chemosensors.

If you plan on attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth (#55) and start a conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the following link: http://www.sciencemate.com/meeting/electrochem.

The editorial team of the journal Coatings (IF: 3.236, ISSN: 2079-6412) was honored to attend the 22nd National High Technology Ceramics Annual Conference, which took place in Fuzhou, Fujian province, China, from 22 to 24 March 2023.

We were very pleased to meet Prof. Dr. Wei Pan, the Editor-in-Chief of Coatings, from Tsinghua University.

It was also our great honor to meet Prof. Dr. Hua-Tay Lin, who is a professor at the Guangdong University of Technology, academician of the World Ceramic Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the American Society of Metals, Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, and Director of the Board of Directors of the American Ceramic Society. We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Lin has been appointed as an Editorial Board Member (EBM) of Coatings. We wish Prof. Dr. Hua-Tay Lin every success in his current position as an Editorial Board Member, and we look forward to his contributions to the journal.

(From left to right: Editor-in-Chief Prof. Dr. Wei Pan, Managing Editor Ms. Diana Zhao, Publisher Ms. Jennifer Li and Editorial Board Member Prof. Dr. Hua-Tay Lin)

As a leading open access publisher, MDPI provides scholars with a high-quality and rich academic exchange platform by continuously expanding into new and exciting research areas.

In December 2022, MDPI launched five new journals, covering multiple subjects such as life sciences, biology, medicine and pharmacology, social sciences and humanities. These new journals are being edited by established scholars across the world.

If you are interested in creating more open access journals with us to publish cutting-edge research, please send your journal proposal application to [email protected].

MDPI will be attending the 18th Chinese Conference on Colloid and Interface Chemistry (CCIC18), hosted by the Colloid and Interface Chemistry Professional Committee of the Chinese Chemical Society and Shaanxi Normal University, which will be held from 7 to 11 April 2023 in Xi’an, China.

This conference will exchange hot topics, research progress, development trends, personnel training in the field of colloid and interface chemistry, and the important application of colloid and interface chemistry in industrial and agricultural production through conference reports, invited reports, oral presentations, and posters. A total of 2000 delegates are expected to attend.

The main topics of the conference include the following: new theories and technologies in colloid and interface chemistry; ordered assembly of amphiphilic molecules; soft matter chemistry and supramolecular assembly; functional micro-nano materials; superwetting interface and material transport; optoelectronic functional assemblies and surface interfaces; biomolecular self-assembly and biocolloids; colloid motors; food colloids; applied colloid; and interface chemistry.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Molecules;
• Coatings;
• Colloids and Interfaces;
• Surfaces;
• Polymers;
• Gels.

If you plan on attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth (#31) and start a conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit: https://www.nccic18.cn/.

MDPI is pleased to announce that we now display the co-authors’ email addresses in addition to the corresponding author’s email address on the webpage of published papers, protected by Captcha. For more information about this change, please visit the journal’s instructions for authors page. 

We believe this change will facilitate academic discussions and advance our cause of open science and research. The corresponding authors are responsible for communicating with their co-authors and indicating in our system (https://susy.mdpi.com/) if co-authors would prefer for their email addresses not to be displayed.

We would like to congratulate Prof. Dr. Anton Ficai, Section Editor-in-Chief of Coatings (ISSN: 2079-6412), for his achievements in the fields of coatings/surface modification for restoration and environmental, medical, and industrial applications. He received the researcher award at the 1st Romanian Research Gala. This is a special award for the transfer of research results to the economy, awarded to Daniela Rus and Anton Ficai. You can see the details at the following link: https://www.aosr.ro/en/anton-ficai-aosr-corresponding-member-awarded-at-the-romanian-research-gala-1st-edition/.

On 9 February 2023, Clarivate, a global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics, added the Preprint Citation Index to the Web of Science platform, streamlining the research process by allowing researchers to locate and link to preprints alongside other trusted content in the database.

The Preprint Citation Index will act as a bridge to connect cutting-edge preprints with peer-reviewed journal articles published within the Web of Science Core Collection. Alerts can be easily set to monitor new research across several repositories and authors will also be able to include preprints on their Web of Science Research Profile to more accurately display their various research outputs.

As of its launch, the Preprint Citation Index will provide nearly two million preprints from various repositories, including MDPI’s own Preprints.org.

MDPI's Preprints Platform – Preprints.org

To advance Open Science and the fast dissemination of research, MDPI offers researchers a free multidisciplinary preprint platform. Preprints.org accepts submissions from all research areas and offers authors high visibility, permanent archiving, article-level Metrics and immediately citable content by assigning a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to all preprints.

During submission to any MDPI journal, authors have the option to share their research as a preprint. After an initial screening, the manuscript is available online in 48 hours or less. Once online, preprints can be downloaded, shared, commented on, and cited, providing authors maximum visibility.

We invite you to join the ranks of the over 100k researchers using Preprints.org and share your research.

For more information, please visit Preprints.org.

Conference: The Fourth International Conference on Energy Storage Materials
Date: 13–16 April 2023

MDPI will be attending the Fourth International Conference on Energy Storage Materials as the exhibitor. With the theme of advanced energy storage materials and energy storage devices, this seminar invites well-known scholars and industry professionals from around the world to discuss the latest research progress and industrial development status and trends in advanced energy storage materials and devices from academic and industrial perspectives in order to promote the application process of energy storage materials and energy storage devices. The conference is held annually.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Batteries;
• Energies;

• Coatings;

• Sustainability;
• Materials;
• Electronics;
• Nanomaterials;
• Inorganics;
• Crystals;
• AppliedChem;
• Membranes;
• Electrochem;
• Applied Sciences;
• Metals;
• Molecules.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to start a conversation with us at our booth: #9. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit http://www.icensm.ac.cn/eindex.html.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Coatings 2022 Best Paper Award. All the papers published in 2020 in Coatings (ISSN: 2079-6412) were considered for the award. After a thorough evaluation of the originality and significance of the papers, citations, and downloads, two winners were selected. The papers were selected after a thorough evaluation by the journal Award Committee led by the Editors-in-Chief, Dr. Alessandro Lavacchi and Prof. Dr. Wei Pan. We invited one of the winning teams for an interview and discussed their academic research stories and attitudes toward Open Access publishing.

The recipients of the Coatings 2022 Best Paper Award are as follows:

Review: “Introduction to Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation—An Overview of the Process and Applications”
by Frank Simchen, Maximilian Sieber, Alexander Kopp and Thomas Lampke
Coatings 2020, 10(7), 628; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings10070628

Article: “First Insights into Photocatalytic Degradation of HDPE and LDPE Microplastics by a Mesoporous N–TiO₂ Coating: Effect of Size and Shape of Microplastics”
by Brenda Estefanía Llorente-García, Juan Manuel Hernández-López, Antonio Alberto Zaldívar-Cadena, Cristina Siligardi and Erika Iveth Cedillo-González
Coatings 2020, 10(7), 658; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings10070658

Biographical statement of the winning team (article):

M.Sc. Llorente-García completed her master’s degree in sustainable processes in 2020 at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL, Mexico). Her thesis was based on the photocatalytic removal of microplastics from water using TiO₂-based materials.

Dr. Hernández-López is an Associate Professor of the Chemical Sciences Faculty of UANL. His research focuses on studying materials with industrial interest to improve their properties and to ensure their ability to eliminate emerging contaminants.

Dr. Zaldivar-Cadena is an Associate Professor of the Civil Engineering Faculty of UANL. His research focuses on hydrogen storage in metal alloys and bioreceptive cementing materials.

Dr. Siligardi is a Full Professor at the Department of Engineering "Enzo Ferrari" (DIEF) of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE, Italy). Her activity focuses on functional and structural ceramic materials. She was the coordinator of several international and national projects.

Dr. Cedillo-González is a researcher from the DIEF department of UNIMORE. Her research focuses on the multidisciplinary development of sustainable materials for the construction and environmental remediation of microplastic pollution. From 2017 to 2021, she served as an Associate Professor at UANL. She was the PI of two projects granted by the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology and the Mexican Ministry of Public Education.

1. What’s your current research and why did you choose this research field?
Our research currently focuses on materials science, with particular attention paid to the remediation of aquatic contamination by micro- and nanoplastics using photocatalytic processes. We chose that field because this kind of environmental pollution is already ubiquitous, and many remediation strategies can be designed from a materials science point of view.

2. Which research topics do you think are of particular interest to the research community in the coming years?
We consider that research topics of interest can be those related to the design of materials or new technologies with the lowest possible environmental impact. We also believe that designing materials that can directly or indirectly contribute to tackling climate change and water pollution can also be of interest.

3. Have you encountered any difficulties when you conducted the research? How did you overcome them?
The difficulties during this research were mainly related to the almost null availability of the scientific literature related to the topic (at the time the research was conducted). However, those difficulties allowed us to design our research from a materials science point of view. Thanks to this, the work was one of the first publications available in the field.

4. What qualities do you think young scientists need?
Scientific writing and grant proposal writing skills, project management, team leading and management, and critical thinking.

5. When and how did you first become acquainted with Coatings?
The story began in 2017, it was the first time our research group published a paper in this journal.

6. We are an Open Access journal. How do you think Open Access impacts the readers and authors?
As authors, we acknowledged that Open Access would allow our research to reach a wider audience. Indeed, Open Access allowed us to reach not only other scientists (at any carrier stage) but also other audiences that may not directly conduct research but perform science communication.

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new initiative—the MDPI Special Issue Mentor Program.

This program will enable early career researchers (who must hold a Ph.D. in a related field) to experience editing a Special Issue in MDPI journals, under the mentorship of our experienced Editorial Board Members or other experienced scientists. The mentor program will provide an excellent opportunity for early career scientists to gain editorial experience, and to cultivate their ability to edit scientific research.

The mentee’s responsibilities include:

• Proposing a Special Issue title and assisting the mentor in preparing a summary (around 200–400 words) and 3–10 keywords describing the background, importance, and goal of the Issue;
• Writing a brief promotion plan for the Special Issue;
• Preparing a list of scholars who may be interested in the Issue and personally e-mailing invitations on behalf of Guest Editors;
• Writing an editorial for the online Special Issue together with the mentor.

The mentor’s responsibilities include:

• Conducting a final check before the Special Issue is published online;
• Performing editorial control of the Special Issue and quality control of the publications, both of which must be carried out in a timely manner;
• Providing suggestions to younger scholars if they have any doubts or concerns regarding submissions;
• Organizing video calls with young scholars and the Editorial Office regularly to discuss problems and improvement suggestions for the Special Issue;
• Making and submitting decisions regarding submissions with the assistance of mentees.

Certificates and awards:
After the Special Issue closes, the Editorial Office will provide official certificates for all the mentors and early career researchers.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your Special Issue proposal to the Editorial Office of a journal you choose, and we will discuss the process (i.e., mentor collaboration, Special Issue topic feasibility analysis, etc.) in further detail. The full list of MDPI journals is as follows: https://www.mdpi.com/about/journals.

In addition to the new Special Issue Mentor Program, we will continue to welcome all Special Issue proposals focusing on hot research topics.

Recently, Clarivate^TM revealed its 2022 list of Highly Cited Researchers™—individuals at universities, research institutes, and commercial organizations.

The scientists who were selected for this year’s list of Highly Cited Researchers have published highly cited papers in the 11-year period from January 2011 to December 2021, with citation frequencies in the top 1% of academic subjects and the same year of publication in the Web of Science^TM database. Based on Web of Science citation data, 6,938 researchers from across the globe, who have demonstrated a disproportionate level of significant and broad influence in their chosen field or fields over the last decade, have been awarded Highly Cited Researcher 2022 designations. The list is truly global, spanning 69 countries or regions, and spread across a diverse range of research sciences and social sciences.

According to statistics, Prof. Dr. Laifei Cheng (Northwestern Polytechnical University, China), the Editorial Board Member of Coatings (ISSN: 2079-6412), has been selected for the list of Highly Cited Researchers of Clarivate in 2022. Prof. Dr. Cheng is recognized for the high-quality scientific research achievements and outstanding contributions to professional fields. The Coatings journal office sincerely congratulates Prof. Dr. Cheng and hopes that he continues to have an academically productive relationship with the journal.

MDPI has just become the first open access (OA) publisher to reach the milestone of one million articles published. That is one million articles freely available to all, to circulate and build upon! We are proud to share this special moment with the global scientific community.

This landmark has been reached thanks to the immeasurable support of more than 600,000 expert reviewers, 66,000 editorial board members and 6700 hard-working colleagues across MDPI’s global offices.

Within more than 25 years of publishing, our journals received 2.1 million manuscripts and generated 4.6 million peer review reports to get to one million papers published.

Reaching the milestone of one million articles published reinforces our mission to remove any existing barriers and to make scientific research accessible to all. Since its inception, MDPI’s goal has been to create reliable processes to make science open. This is a path towards facilitating the dissemination of novel insights in scientific communities.

Regular feedback from authors and reviewers shows that our service is greatly appreciated and needed. At the same time, the feedback helps us identify areas for further improvement.

As it stands, a significant share of published research findings remain closed access. More than half of the content published with the most well-known legacy publishers stays behind a paywall, and that is not including articles published in hybrid OA journals, or made available months or years after publication.

A new policy announced by the US administration in August 2022 requires that, as of January 2026, all US federally funded research be made freely and immediately available after publication. While the new policy does not mandate articles be published under an open access license, it is aligned with the open access movement in removing all barriers to research. Similarly, some of the most advanced research institutions in the world intend to have all funded research articles published in open access by 2025.

MDPI is proud to be the leading agent of the transition to open access.

"Thanks a Million" to all the contributors!

We are pleased to announce that the website of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation has been revamped! For the past couple of months, our UX UI team and front-end developers have been working hard to launch the website in time for the opening of the Sustainability Awards nominations.

The website is not the only thing that has had a remodeling. Indeed, the format of the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award (ESLA) has been updated. ESLA is now a competition open to individual researchers or start-ups founded by researchers under the age of 35. Nominee applications will go through 2 rounds of selection until the final 3 are decided. The finalists will then be invited to give pitch presentations during the Award Ceremony to win either first place (10,000 USD) or runner-up (2 x 5000 USD).

The World Sustainability Award, on the other hand, remains the same: a total prize money of 100,000 USD is up for grabs by senior individual researchers or groups of researchers from the international research community.

Nominations for both the World Sustainability Award and the Emerging Sustainability Leader award are now open! Check out our new website for more information on how to nominate.

MDPI will be attending the 14th National Surface Engineering Conference, held in Wuhan, China, from 11 to 13 November 2022. This conference aims to achieve an in-depth exchange of the latest research results in surface engineering and related disciplines and to discuss the frontier trends and future development trends of surface engineering research and engineering application. During this conference, MDPI will welcome researchers from different backgrounds to visit and share their latest ideas with us. 

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Lubricants;
• Applied Sciences;
• Surfaces;
• Polymers;
• Materials;
• QuBS;
• Coatings;
• Clean Technologies. 

If you plan on attending this conference, feel free to stop by our booth. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have. 

For more information about the conference, please see the following link: http://bmgc2022.aconf.cn/index.html.

Peer Review Week began 19 September 2022 under the theme of “Research Integrity: Creating and Supporting Trust in Research”. Through various blog articles, podcast, and webinar, we discussed this crucial subject throughout the week, celebrating the essential role peer review plays in maintaining research quality.

To begin, we held a Webinar on the topic. Professor Peter W. Choate and Dr. Emmanuel Obeng-Gyasi joined Dr. Ioana Craciun, one of MDPI’s scientific officers, for an in-depth discussion.

We invite you to view the event recording:

During the week, the MDPI Blog in a series articles highlighted how good Peer Review safeguards research integrity. The following topics were covered:

• Peer Review Week 2022
• Research Integrity
• What We’ve Learned About Peer Review Reports
• 4 Steps to the Perfect Peer Review Report
• How to Write the Perfect Peer Review Report: An Interview
• Inviting Great Peer Reviewers

In a new edition of Insight Faster, an MDPI podcast, we were delighted to talk to the co-chairs of the Peer Review Week committee, Jayashree Rajagopalan (Senior Manager of Global Community Engagement for CACTUS) and Danielle Padula (Head of Marketing and Community Development at Scholastica) to get their take on this year’s event and its related topics.

You can find the Podcast here.

We hope you enjoy the contents!

MDPI will be attending the 6th Micro-Nano Optical Technology and Application Conference (MOTA2022) in Nanjing, China, which will take place from 21 to 23 October 2022. The MOTA2022 is organized by the Chinese Society for Optical Engineering, aiming to build a communication platform between researchers and industrial application teams, as well as promote scientific research progress and the industrialization development of micro-nano optics.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Electronics (leading journal);
• Photonics (leading journal);
• Coatings;
• Sensors;
• Crystals;
• Journal of Imaging.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions that you may have.

For more information about the conference, please visit the following link: https://b2b.csoe.org.cn/meeting/MOTA2022.html.

The 2021 citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and we’re pleased to announce the following results for MDPI journals:

For more information on Impact Factors and what it means to index academic journals, please visit our related blog posts.

* Journals given their first Impact Factor in 2022

Source: 2021 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ^TM (Clarivate, 2022)

MDPI’s Young Investigator Awards recognize promising junior researchers, acknowledge their contributions, and enhance communication among scientists. We are proud to present the winners for the year 2021 in the “Chemistry & Materials Sciences” category. The winners were selected by the journals’ editors.

We warmly congratulate the awarded Young Investigators for their outstanding contributions.

MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

Coatings:

• Marta Mohedano, Complutense University of Madrid-UCM, Spain

Materials:

• Edoardo Baldini, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Magnetochemistry:

• Mauro Perfetti, University of Florence, Italy

Membranes:

• Xu Hou, Xiamen University, China

Molecules:

• Biplab Maji, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, India

Nanomaterials:

• Andres Castellanos-Gomez, Instituto de Ciencia de los Materiales de Madrid, Spain
• Takuya Isono, Hokkaido University, Japan
• Panbo Liu, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China

In order to acknowledge our reviewers, who so generously dedicate their time to reviewing papers and demonstrate diligence, professionalism, and timeliness when reviewing manuscripts, MDPI journals regularly offer outstanding reviewer awards to scholars who participate in the peer-review process.

We are proud to recognize the winners for the year 2021 in the “Chemistry & Materials Sciences” category for their outstanding contributions among extensive competition by presenting them with the Outstanding Reviewer Award.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the winners on their achievement.

MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

Catalysts:

• Rahat Javaid, Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute, Japan
• Georgios Bampos, University of Patras, Greece
• Esmail Doustkhah, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan
• Pawan Kumar, University of Alberta, Canada

Magnetochemistry:

• Lorenzo Sorace, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy

Materials:

• Khaled Giasin, University of Portsmouth, UK
• Oldrich Sucharda, VSB-Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic
• Danil Pimenov, South Ural State University, Russia
• Marián Palcut, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia

Metals:

• Khaled Giasin, University of Portsmouth, UK
• Catalin Pruncu, University of Strathclyde, UK
• Jacek Tomków, Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland
• Alexander Yu Churyumov, National University of Science and Technology (MISiS), Russia
• Hesam Pouraliakbar, Chungnam National University, South Korea

Nanomaterials:

• George Kenanakis, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, Greece
• Goshtasp Cheraghian, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany
• Oana Cadar, Research Institute for Analytical Instrumentation, Romania

Polymers:

• Sawsan A. Zaitone, Suez Canal University, Saudi Arabia
• Lucia Baldino, University of Salerno Via Giovanni Paolo II, Fisciano (SA) Italy
• Gyorgy Szekely, University of Manchester, UK
• Bin Jiang, Northeast Agricultural University, China
• Haibao Lu, Harbin Institute of Technology, China

The purpose of our Best Paper Awards is to promote and recognize the most impactful contributions published within MDPI journals.

The editors of each journal carefully selected reviews and research papers through a rigorous judging process based on criteria such as the scientific merit, overall impact, and the quality of presentation of the papers published in the journal last year.

We are honored to present the winners in the “Chemistry & Materials Sciences” category, who were selected amongst the extensive competition, and congratulate the authors for their outstanding scientific publications.

MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

C — Journal of Carbon Research：

• “Activated Carbons Derived from High-Temperature Pyrolysis of Lignocellulosic Biomass”
  by Cristian I. Contescu, Shiba P. Adhikari, Nidia C. Gallego, Neal D. Evans and Bryan E. Biss
  C 2018, 4(3), 51; doi:10.3390/c4030051

Catalysts:

• “Hydrogen Oxidation on Ni-Based Electrocatalysts: The Effect of Metal Doping”
  by Elena S. Davydova, Jérémie Zaffran, Kapil Dhaka, Maytal Caspary Toroker and Dario R. Dekel
  Catalysts 2018, 8(10), 454; doi:10.3390/catal8100454
• “Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production: Role of Sacrificial Reagents on the Activity of Oxide, Carbon, and Sulfide Catalysts”
  by Vignesh Kumaravel, Muhammad Danyal Imam, Ahmed Badreldin, Rama Krishna Chava, Jeong Yeon Do, Misook Kang and Ahmed Abdel-Wahab
  Catalysts 2019, 9(3), 276; doi:10.3390/catal9030276
• “A General Overview of Support Materials for Enzyme Immobilization: Characteristics, Properties, Practical Utility”
  by Jakub Zdarta, Anne S. Meyer, Teofil Jesionowski and Manuel Pinelo
  Catalysts 2018, 8(2), 92; doi:10.3390/catal8020092
• “Mechanistic Insights into Photodegradation of Organic Dyes Using Heterostructure Photocatalysts”
  by Yi-Hsuan Chiu, Tso-Fu Mark Chang, Chun-Yi Chen, Masato Sone and Yung-Jung Hsu
  Catalysts 2019, 9(5), 430; doi:10.3390/catal9050430

Ceramics:

• “Chemical Preparation Routes and Lowering the Sintering Temperature of Ceramics”
  by Philippe Colomban
  Ceramics 2020, 3(3), 312–339; doi:10.3390/ceramics3030029

Coatings:

• “State of the Art in Directed Energy Deposition: From Additive Manufacturing to Materials Design”
  by Adrita Dass and Atieh Moridi
  Coatings 2019, 9(7), 418; doi:10.3390/coatings9070418
• “Encapsulation of Organic and Perovskite Solar Cells: A Review”
  by Ashraf Uddin, Mushfika Baishakhi Upama, Haimang Yi and Leiping Duan
  Coatings 2019, 9(2), 65; doi:10.3390/coatings9020065
• “Poly (Lactic Acid)/Thermoplastic Starch Films: Effect of Cardoon Seed Epoxidized Oil on Their Chemicophysical, Mechanical, and Barrier Properties”
  by Rosa Turco, Rodrigo Ortega-Toro, Riccardo Tesser, Salvatore Mallardo, Sofia Collazo-Bigliardi, Amparo Chiralt Boix, Mario Malinconico, Massimo Rippa, Martino Di Serio and Gabriella Santagata
  Coatings 2019, 9(9), 574; doi:10.3390/coatings9090574
• “Physical and Morphological Characterization of Chitosan/Montmorillonite Films Incorporated with Ginger Essential Oil”
  by Victor Gomes Lauriano Souza, João Ricardo Afonso Pires, Carolina Rodrigues, Patricia Freitas Rodrigues, Andréia Lopes, Rui Jorge Silva, Jorge Caldeira, Maria Paula Duarte, Francisco Braz Fernandes, Isabel Maria Coelhoso and Ana Luisa Fernando
  Coatings 2019, 9(11), 700; doi:10.3390/coatings9110700
• “Application and Evaluation of a Pectin-Based Edible Coating Process for Quality Change Kinetics and Shelf-Life Extension of Lime Fruit (Citrus aurantifolium)”
  by Neda Maftoonazad and Hosahalli S. Ramaswamy
  Coatings 2019, 9(5), 285; doi:10.3390/coatings9050285

Crystals:

• “Crystal and Magnetic Structures in Layered, Transition Metal Dihalides and Trihalides”
  by Michael A. McGuire
  Crystals 2017, 7(5), 121; doi:10.3390/cryst7050121
• “σ-Hole Interactions: Perspectives and Misconceptions”
  by Peter Politzer and Jane S. Murray
  Crystals 2017, 7(7), 212; doi:10.3390/cryst7070212
• “σ-Hole Interactions of Covalently-Bonded Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Arsenic: A Survey of Crystal Structures”
  by Peter Politzer, Jane S. Murray, Goran V. Janjić and Snežana D. Zarić 
  Crystals 2014, 4(1), 12-31; doi:10.3390/cryst4010012
• “Epitaxial Graphene on SiC: A Review of Growth and Characterization”
  by Gholam Reza Yazdi, Tihomir Iakimov and Rositsa Yakimova
  Crystals 2016, 6(5), 53; doi:10.3390/cryst6050053

Magnetochemistry:

• “A Clock Transition in the Cr₇Mn Molecular Nanomagnet”
  by Charles A. Collett, Kai-Isaak Ellers, Nicholas Russo, Kevin R. Kittilstved, Grigore A. Timco, Richard E. P. Winpenny and Jonathan R. Friedman
  Magnetochemistry 2019, 5(1), 4; doi:10.3390/magnetochemistry5010004
• “A Series of Field-Induced Single-Ion Magnets Based on the Seven-Coordinate Co(II) Complexes with the Pentadentate (N₃O₂) H₂dapsc Ligand”
  by Vyacheslav A. Kopotkov, Denis V. Korchagin, Valentina D. Sasnovskaya, Ildar F. Gilmutdinov and Eduard B. Yagubskii
  Magnetochemistry 2019, 5(4), 58; doi:10.3390/magnetochemistry5040058
• “Magnetic Janus Particles for Static and Dynamic (Bio)Sensing”
  by Susana Campuzano, Maria Gamella, Verónica Serafín, María Pedrero, Paloma Yáñez-Sedeño and José Manuel Pingarrón
  Magnetochemistry 2019, 5(3), 47; doi:10.3390/magnetochemistry5030047

Membranes:

• “Composite Membranes for High Temperature PEM Fuel Cells and Electrolysers: A Critical Review”
  by Xinwei Sun, Stian Christopher Simonsen, Truls Norby and Athanasios Chatzitakis
  Membranes 2019, 9(7), 83; doi:10.3390/membranes9070083

• “Transport Characteristics of Fujifilm Ion-Exchange Membranes as Compared to Homogeneous Membranes AMX and CMX and to Heterogeneous Membranes MK-40 and MA-41”
  by Veronika Sarapulova, Inna Shkorkina, Semyon Mareev, Natalia Pismenskaya, Natalia Kononenko, Christian Larchet, Lasaad Dammak and Victor Nikonenko
  Membranes 2019, 9(7), 84; doi:10.3390/membranes9070084

Nanomaterials:

• “Nanomaterials for the Removal of Heavy Metals from Wastewater”
  by Jinyue Yang, Baohong Hou, Jingkang Wang, Beiqian Tian, Jingtao Bi, Na Wang, Xin Li and Xin Huang
  Nanomaterials 2019, 9(3), 424; doi:10.3390/nano9030424
• “Injectable Alginate-Peptide Composite Hydrogel as a Scaffold for Bone Tissue Regeneration”
  Moumita Ghosh, Michal Halperin-Sternfeld, Itzhak Grinberg and Lihi Adler-Abramovich
  Nanomaterials 2019, 9(4), 497; doi:10.3390/nano9040497
• “Carbon Dots and Graphene Quantum Dots in Electrochemical Biosensing”
  by Susana Campuzano, Paloma Yáñez-Sedeño and José M. Pingarrón
  Nanomaterials 2019, 9(4), 634; doi:10.3390/nano9040634
• “A Smart Nanovector for Cancer Targeted Drug Delivery Based on Graphene Quantum Dots”
  by Daniela Iannazzo, Alessandro Pistone, Consuelo Celesti, Claudia Triolo, Salvatore Patané, Salvatore V. Giofré, Roberto Romeo, Ida Ziccarelli, Raffaella Mancuso, Bartolo Gabriele, Giuseppa Visalli, Alessio Facciolà and Angela Di Pietro
  Nanomaterials 2019, 9(2), 282; doi:10.3390/nano9020282
• “Evolution of Wearable Devices with Real-Time Disease Monitoring for Personalized Healthcare”
  by Kyeonghye Guk, Gaon Han, Jaewoo Lim, Keunwon Jeong, Taejoon Kang, Eun-Kyung Lim and Juyeon Jung
  Nanomaterials 2019, 9(6), 813; doi:10.3390/nano9060813
• “An Ultra-High-Energy Density Supercapacitor; Fabrication Based on Thiolfunctionalized Graphene”
  by Janardhanan. R. Rani, Ranjith Thangavel, Se-I Oh, Yun Sung Lee and Jae-Hyung Jang
  Nanomaterials 2019, 9(2), 148; doi:10.3390/nano9020148

Polymers:

• “The Relationships between the Working Fluids, Process Characteristics and Products from the Modified Coaxial Electrospinning of Zein”
  by Menglong Wang, Tao Hai, Zhangbin Feng, Deng-Guang Yu, Yaoyao Yang and SW Annie Bligh 
  Polymers 2019, 11(8), 1287; doi:10.3390/polym11081287
• “Design of Controlled Release System for Paracetamol Based on Modified Lignin”
  by Mahboubeh Pishnamazi, Hamid Hafizi, Saeed Shirazian, Mario Culebras, Gavin M. Walker and Maurice N. Collins 
  Polymers 2019, 11(6), 1059; doi:10.3390/polym11061059
• “Additive Manufacturing of PLA-Based Composites Using Fused Filament Fabrication: Effect of Graphene Nanoplatelet Reinforcement on Mechanical Properties, Dimensional Accuracy and Texture”
  by Miguel Ángel Caminero, Jesús Miguel Chacón, Eustaquio García-Plaza, Pedro José Núñez, José María Reverte and Jean Paul Becar
  Polymers 2019, 11(5), 799; doi:10.3390/polym11050799
• “Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites: Manufacturing, Properties, and Applications”
  by Miguel Ángel Caminero, Jesús Miguel Chacón, ,Eustaquio García-Plaza, Pedro José Núñez, José María Reverte and Jean Paul Becar
  Polymers 2019, 11(10), 1667; doi:10.3390/polym11101667 

We are proud to recognize the winners of MDPI’s 2021 Travel Awards in the “Chemistry & Materials Sciences” category for their outstanding presentations.

MDPI journals regularly offer travel awards to encourage talented junior scientists to present their latest research at academic conferences in specific fields, which helps to increase their influence.

The winners mentioned below were carefully selected by the journal editors based on an outline of their research and the work to be presented at an academic conference.

We would like to warmly congratulate the winners of Travel Awards for the year 2021 and wish them the greatest success with their future research endeavors.

MDPI will continue to enhance communication among scientists.

Crystals:

• Gaojun Mao, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
• Lidia Bofill Herrera, University of Barcelona, Spain

Gels:

• Demetra Giuri, University of Bologna, Italy
• Martina Genta, Imperial College London, UK

Journal of Functional Biomaterials:

• Anushree Seth, Washington University, USA

Magnetochemistry:

• Fabio Ferreira, University of Coimbra, Portugal
• Giulia Serrano, University of Florence, Italy

Materials：

• Giulia Fredi, University of Trento, Italy
• Mattia Biesuz, Czech Academy of Science, Czech Republic

Metals:

• Adriana Eres-Castellanos, Spanish National Center for Metallurgical Research, Spain
• Pavel Shurkin, National University of Science and Technology, Russia

Nanomaterials:

• Aleksandrs Leitis, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, France
• Ekaterina Kolesova, ITMO, Russia

Separations:

• Christoph Gstoettner, Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands

The 2021 citation metrics have been officially released in Scopus!

We are pleased to announce that 182 MDPI journals are included, of which:

● 21 journals received their first CiteScore.
● 85% of journals increased their CiteScore from 2020.
● 155 journals (85%) ranked above average, in at least one category.

The following 65 MDPI journals (36%) ranked among the top 25% of journals, in at least one category:

Source: 2021 CiteScores™ (Elsevier)

It is our pleasure to announce the launch of a new initiative—the Special Issue Mentor Program.

This program intends to provide an opportunity for early career scientists to enhance their editing, networking, and organizational skills, and to work closely with our journal to gain additional editorial experience. Early career scientists who have novel ideas for new Special Issues to be published in Coatings (ISSN: 2079-6412) will act as Guest Editors under the mentorship of an experienced scientist; this mentor could be a member of the Coatings Editorial Board or may be from other well-established research institutes or laboratories.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your Special Issue proposal to the Coatings Editorial Office ([email protected]), and we will discuss the process (i.e., mentor collaboration, Special Issue topic feasibility analysis, etc.) in further detail. When the Special Issue is closed, our office will provide certificates to all of the mentors and to those who have completed the program. Younger scholars will be prioritized as candidates for our journal award.

In addition to the new Special Issue Mentor Program, Coatings will continue to welcome all Special Issue proposals based on hot research topics in the field.

Follow our Facebook account for up-to-date information regarding the latest research news, Coatings (ISSN: 2079-6412) award announcements, new Editorial Board Members, etc. You can access our Facebook page here.

It is our pleasure to welcome Prof. Jian, Prof. Yanxin Qiao, Prof. Yefei Li, Dr. Xuanpeng Wan, Dr. Isabel Coelhoso and Dr. Daniele Carullo, who have joined Coatings (ISSN: 2079-6412) as Editiorial Section Board Members. We look forward to their contributions to the journal.

The award ceremony of "Wuhan University of Technology-Coatings Scholarship" was held on the 8th of December. The winner is Mr. Shidong Li, a Ph.D. student at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology.

On the 4^th of November, the China Association for Science and Technology released the "High-Quality Science and Technology Journals Classification Catalogue Summary":
https://www.cast.org.cn/art/2021/11/4/art_43_172464.html.

Coatings has been graded as T2 in "High-Level English Journals in the Field of Coatings"! There are only 6 journals in T1.

The members of Corrosion and Materials Degradation (ISSN: 2624-5558) are pleased to announce this call for participation in the 2nd Corrosion and Materials Degradation Web Conference. Scientists and engineers currently working on corrosion research are encouraged to join this event and share their findings with colleagues from all over the world.

The conference will cover the following general and related themes (note that this list is not exhaustive):

1. Electrochemical corrosion mechanism at the interface (localized, crevice, advanced characterization techniques, EAC, nanoscale);
2. Corrosion of steel in concrete;
3. Computational modelling, design and prediction of corrosion;
4. Surface treatments and coatings for corrosion protection;
5. Corrosion in new materials (HEA, CCA, TWIP/TRIP, AM, PM);
6. Corrosion in the energy sector (renewable and nuclear);
7. Corrosion in biomedical implants;
8. Atmospheric corrosion;
9. Microbiologically influenced corrosion;
10. Corrosion of magnesium alloys;
11. Corrosion inhibition.

Only abstracts will be accepted for the 2nd Corrosion and Materials Degradation Web Conference. All abstracts that are accepted will be available to view online in open access form on Sciforum.net. Selected authors will have the option to include a video presentation to be displayed with their abstract online. Participants who are selected to make an oral contribution will need to contribute a full manuscript to the section “Selected Papers from Corrosion and Materials Degradation Conference” in Corrosion and Materials Degradation, free of charge.

Important Dates:

Abstract submission: 1 March 2022;
Acceptance notification: 28 March 2022;
Early bird registration: 18 April 2022;
Covering author registration: 1 June 2022.

The Scientific Committee looks forward to receiving contributions in response to this call and would be glad to provide any further information to interested parties. Any questions may be addressed to the conference secretariat ([email protected]).

We thank you in advance for attending this conference, and we look forward to a stimulating exchange.

To find out more about the conference, please visit the following link: https://sciforum.net/event/CMDWC2022.