Recent Advances in Nanostructured Photocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution and Pollution Control
A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Nanoscience and Nanotechnology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 February 2027 | Viewed by 230
Editor
Interests: heterocatalytic oxidation; UV Vis spectroscopy/optical characterization; semiconductor metal oxides; photocatalysis; environmental remediation
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to invite you to submit your work to this Special Issue, entitled “Recent Advances in Nanostructured Photocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution and Pollution Control”, which aims to highlight recent progress in nanomaterial-based photocatalytic systems for clean energy production and environmental remediation.
Photocatalysis is widely recognized as a sustainable and environmentally friendly approach for addressing both hydrogen production and removing hazardous compounds. Through the rational design of photocatalytic materials, light-driven processes can be achieved with promising results. To be performant, a photocatalyst should exhibit strong light absorption, efficient separation and transport of photogenerated charge carriers, and suitably aligned energy band structures, while maintaining chemical stability, low toxicity, and reusability.
In this context, nanostructured materials have attracted increasing attention due to their size-dependent physicochemical properties, such as high specific surface area, tunable porosity, reduced charge diffusion lengths, and quantum confinement effects. Consequently, precise control of nanoscale synthesis parameters can significantly enhance photocatalytic performance.
Upon irradiation with photons of energy equal to or greater than the semiconductor band gap, electron–hole pairs are generated. The photogenerated charge carriers reaching the catalyst surface can drive various redox reactions; however, rapid charge recombination remains a key limitation. To address this issue, doping or heterostructure engineering approaches - such as type-II heterojunctions, Z-scheme, and S-scheme photocatalytic systems – have been widely employed. Proper band alignment between coupled semiconductors is crucial to ensure thermodynamically feasible reaction pathways and efficient interfacial charge transfer.
Contributions to this Special Issue, including original research articles and review papers, will focus on the development, synthesis and application of novel photoactive nanomaterials for hydrogen production and pollutant degradation. Emphasis should be placed on photocatalyst design strategies (including elemental doping, and heterojunction construction), advanced characterization techniques to elucidate structure–property–performance relationships, and mechanistic insights governing photocatalytic activity and stability.
We would like to thank in advance all authors who will contribute to this Special Issue for their valuable efforts and scientific contributions.
Dr. Veronica Brǎtan
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 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
- photoactive nanomaterials
- H2 production
- photocatalysis
- depollution
- semiconductors
- heterojunction
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