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Emerging Materials for Photonic and Solar-Driven Applications

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 940

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Interests: heterogeneous catalysis; photocatalytic water splitting; photocatalytic CO2 reduction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
Interests: photocatalysis; CO2 conversion; hydrogen; electrocatalyst
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid advancement of global sustainability goals has underscored the need for emerging materials that can address the dual challenges of environmental remediation and the energy transition. This Special Issue, “Emerging Materials for Photonic and Solar-Driven Applications”, aims to highlight recent advances in the design, synthesis, and application of innovative materials for light-driven processes, including photovoltaic energy harvesting, photocatalytic reactions, and solar-fueled environmental technologies.

We particularly welcome studies exploring new material architectures, heterojunction interfaces, nanostructuring strategies, and band structure modulation, which can significantly enhance photon absorption, charge carrier dynamics, and reaction selectivity. The scope also includes hybrid systems, co-catalysts, and the integration of solar materials into scalable devices.

This Special Issue serves as an interdisciplinary platform bridging materials science, environmental chemistry, nanotechnology, and renewable energy engineering, aiming to deliver transformative solutions for carbon neutrality, pollutant degradation, and clean fuel generation.

We invite the submission of original research articles, reviews, and perspectives that provide insights into the fundamental mechanisms, advanced fabrication techniques, and practical deployment of next-generation solar-driven technologies.

We look forward to receiving your contributions, which will be published in open access and disseminated widely to foster knowledge exchange and collaboration in this dynamic field.

Dr. Tongming Su
Dr. Xingwang Zhu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • environmental remediation
  • solar energy conversion
  • photovoltaics
  • photocatalysis
  • light-harvesting materials
  • charge separation
  • green catalysis
  • energy storage
  • heterojunctions
  • nanomaterials

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 3237 KB  
Article
Dimensional Engineering of 1D/2D Synergistic TiO2 Nanostructures for High-Efficiency Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction
by Xiang Liu, Fujiang Huang, Xiang Shi, Hangmin Xu, Jian Xu and Xingwang Zhu
Materials 2025, 18(17), 4148; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18174148 - 4 Sep 2025
Viewed by 786
Abstract
Alongside the gradual progress of industrialization and the continuous development of human society, the problems of environmental pollution and energy crisis have become increasingly prominent. Semiconductor photocatalysis is a promising solution to these challenges. The photocatalytic reduction of CO2 by TiO2 [...] Read more.
Alongside the gradual progress of industrialization and the continuous development of human society, the problems of environmental pollution and energy crisis have become increasingly prominent. Semiconductor photocatalysis is a promising solution to these challenges. The photocatalytic reduction of CO2 by TiO2 to produce carbon monoxide and methane is a process which has been identified as a means of developing clean energy. In this paper, two-dimensional TiO2 (2D-TiO2) was synthesized via a one-step solvothermal method, and one-dimensional TiO2 (1D-TiO2) was obtained through a hydrothermal process. Their photocatalytic CO2 reduction performances were systematically investigated. The results show that 2D-TiO2 exhibits superior catalytic activity compared to 1D-TiO2, which can be attributed to its lamellar structure, larger specific surface area, and improved hydrophilicity, providing more active sites and faster reaction kinetics. To further reveal the reaction mechanism, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were carried out using VASP with the GGA–PBE functional, PAW potentials, and a plane-wave cutoff energy of 520 eV. A 3 × 3 × 1 Monkhorst–Pack grid was used for Brillouin zone integration, and all possible adsorption configurations of CO2*, COOH*, and CO* intermediates on the 2D-TiO2 surface were evaluated. The results confirm that 2D-TiO2 stabilizes key intermediates more effectively, thereby lowering the energy barrier and facilitating CO2 reduction. These findings demonstrate that structural modulation of TiO2 significantly influences its photocatalytic performance and highlight the great potential of 2D-TiO2 for efficient CO2 conversion and clean energy applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Materials for Photonic and Solar-Driven Applications)
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