Molecular and Nanostructured Materials for Energy, Environmental, and Biomedical Applications
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Nanoscience".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 15
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The world is facing a growing combination of energy shortages, environmental concerns, and biomedical challenges. These issues highlight the need for advanced molecular and nanostructured materials that are not only efficient but also sustainable and versatile. Such materials ranging from electrochemical nanomaterials to environmental catalysts and bio-nanomaterials offer distinct benefits including high surface area, tunable properties, controllable surface chemistry, and strong molecular-level interactions. Because of this, they are well-positioned to support progress in three major areas: clean energy technologies, environmental protection, and modern biomedical applications. In the energy field, these materials are helping to improve batteries, supercapacitors, electrocatalytic water splitting, hydrogen production, and fuel cell systems. Environmentally, they play key roles in pollutant removal, photocatalysis, membrane-based purification, adsorption of toxic metals, and detection of contaminants. In biomedicine, their potential is rapidly expanding in biosensing, bioelectronics, wearable and implantable systems, targeted drug delivery, antimicrobial surfaces, and tissue regeneration.
This Special Issue aims to gather new research that provides fundamental insights into functional materials from a molecular-level perspective, directly connecting precise molecular structure to macroscopic performance. Studies that clarify how molecular-scale factors—such as the precise configuration of active sites, surface molecular chemistry, pore microenvironment, tailored electronic states, and rational molecular interface design—govern charge transfer, ion transport, catalytic activity, environmental stability, or biocompatibility are especially welcome. By bringing together advances in molecular synthesis, high-resolution characterization, computational modeling at the molecular/atomic scale, and device integration informed by molecular principles, this Special Issue seeks to highlight innovative materials designed from the molecular level up, contributing to sustainable energy solutions, cleaner environments, and improved healthcare. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Balaji Murugan
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- advanced sustainable materials
- molecular engineering
- energy conversion and storage (supercapacitor, solar cells, and batteries)
- electrocatalysis and photocatalysis
- environmental remediation
- biomedical applications
- bio/electrochemical sensing and bioelectronics
- molecular surface structure and interface chemistry
- in situ/operando spectroscopy
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
