Surface Microstructure Regulation of Low-Dimensional Nanomaterials Photocatalysts for Energy and Environmental Applications
A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy and Catalysis".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 19 September 2025 | Viewed by 568
Special Issue Editors
Interests: porous photocatalytic nanomaterials for solar energy conversion; energy and environmental applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Given the explosive growth of the global economy, the excessive consumption of conventional fossil fuels has caused an energy crisis and environmental concerns—two serious obstacles for the progress of human society. Semiconductor photocatalysis, which converts ubiquitous, inexhaustible, and clean solar power into high energy density chemical energy, is considered as one of the most promising technologies to solve these problems, exhibiting tremendous potential for application in many important fields, such as CO2 reduction, water splitting for hydrogen evolution, pollution degradation, organic synthesis, and N2 fixation. Compared with their bulk counterparts, low-dimensional nanomaterial photocatalysts commonly have smaller sizes and larger specific surface areas, can expose more active sites, and contribute to the subsequent structural modifications and reactant absorption. More importantly, low-dimensional photocatalysts possess a shorter bulk diffusion distance compared to photoinduced carriers, which reduces electron–hole pair recombination. On the other hand, the surface microstructure of nanomaterials has an important effect on the physical and chemical properties of the materials. Optimizing the electronic band structure and surface properties of low-dimensional photocatalysts through surface microstructure regulation strategies such as crystal plane engineering, defect engineering, and surface modification, as well as morphology and size control is of great significance to further enhance their photocatalytic performance and promote their applications in the fields of energy and the environment.
Prof. Dr. Wei Zhou
Prof. Dr. Zhenzi Li
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- nanomaterials
- semiconductor photocatalysis
- low dimension
- surface microstructure
- crystal plane engineering
- defect engineering
- surface modification
- energy
- environment
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