Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Dear Colleagues,

The shortage of fossil fuels and environmental pollutants are critical issues that need to be addressed urgently. The development of energy conversion and storage devices with high efficiency, cost-effective and environmentally friendly systems has recently gained considerable attention worldwide. Among the various developed devices, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and metal–air batteries (MABs) are the most promising candidates for future practical use. The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which is a crucial reaction occurring at the cathode, plays a vital role in determining the performance and reliability of PEMFCs and MABs. To date, platinum (Pt)-based materials are known as the state-of-the-art ORR catalysts due to thier high electrocatalytic activity. However, the scarcity, high cost, and instability of Pt hinder the widespread and large-scale application of PEMFCs and MABs. Although numerous highly efficient and stable Pt or non-Pt catalysts have been highly reported over the past decade, there is plenty of challenges and opportunities for further development. This Special Issue aims to acquire research articles or review articles that cover the recent progress and trends of ORR catalysts in several aspects, such as new synthesis approaches, design and modification of new catalysts, improvement of known processes, enhancement of catalytic activity and stability, and theoretical simulation.

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. Oxygen is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1000 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.

• oxygen reduction reaction (ORR)
• proton electrolyte membrane fuel cells
• metal–air batteries
• electrocatalysts
• metal-free catalysts
• heteroatom-doped carbon
• nonprecious metal
• Pt-based catalysts
• Pt alloys
• energy conversion and storage