Announcements

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Federico Bella has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Section "Energy Materials" in Materials (ISSN: 1996-1944).

Prof. Dr. Federico Bella (Torino, 1987) is a full professor of chemistry at Politecnico di Torino. In the Electrochemistry Group, he leads the research activities on post-Li batteries, electrochemical nitrogen reduction and hybrid photovoltaics.

Due to his important achievements in energy chemistry, Prof. Dr. Federico Bella received both the “ENI Award” and the “Roberto Piontelli Award” from the President of the Italian Republic. In 2021, he was the recipient of the USERN Prize, awarded among 10000 candidates by a jury of previous Nobel awardees.

Prof. Dr. Federico Bella is an author of more than 100 international publications (h-index 65) and leads the ERC project SuN2rise, a €1.5 M EU grant to redesign the process of NH₃ production. He has coordinated the Early-Career Division of the Italian Chemical Society and is a member of the Editorial Board of cutting-edge journals in the field of chemistry, e.g., ChemSusChem and ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Federico Bella, who shared his vision for the Section, in addition to his views on the research area:

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Section Editor-in-Chief?
In recent years I have worked a lot for Materials in order to propose new Special Issues on emerging thematic areas and contribute to the manuscripts review process. Now, I am happy to have this opportunity to devote myself to the development of one of the most strategic Sections of this journal, i.e., “Energy Materials”.
 
2. What is your vision for the Section?
We are experiencing an energy transition that must necessarily be accompanied by an ecological transition. All of these challenges are achievable if new materials are developed and are capable of providing performance, sustainability and low costs at the same time: to this end, this Section of the Materials journal will be invaluable in collecting the best possible contributions in this field.
 
3. What does the future of this field of research look like?
Batteries, supercapacitors, electrocatalytic reactors and photovoltaic cells will be the main players in the electrification of society and industry during the next decade. And it is on these pillars that the “Energy Materials” Section will focus its efforts in order to offer high-quality research articles.
 
4. What do you think of the development of Open Access in the publishing field?
Researchers must be able to work in the best possible conditions in order to reach important goals. To this purpose, the first requirement is to have access to the literature on one's own research topic, hence the high importance of the Open Access system emerges.
 
5. What aspects do you focus on when reviewing a manuscript?
I check these three items when I first read a newly submitted manuscript. First, the main challenge of the work must be clearly highlighted. Second, a phenomenological explanation for the measured performances has to be clearly indicated. Third, English style: authors often do not take care of this aspect, but this influences the way a research work is appreciated by a referee.
 
6. Do you have any suggestions for young researchers in this field?
There is strong competition between research groups in the field of energy materials, and this stems from the great challenges in place and the potential to be financed more easily than in other sectors. However, innovation always comes first: I suggest young people focus on a challenge where they can emerge with a new material or a new phenomenon, rather than chasing performance records on existing materials developed by others.

We wish Prof. Dr. Federico Bella every success in his new position, and we look forward to his contributions to the journal.