Symmetry and Asymmetry in Electrochemistry

Dear Colleagues,

Across electrochemical systems, symmetry is both a design principle and a lever for performance. On the materials side, deliberately breaking local or global symmetry via heteroatom substitution, vacancies/defects, asymmetric coordination, or polar surfaces can reshape adsorption energetics and conversion pathways, lowering barriers and steering selectivity in key electrocatalytic reactions.

On the device side, symmetry in architecture provides clarity and robustness. Symmetric cells (e.g., metal–electrolyte–metal, single-material “bipolar” sodium-ion cells, symmetric organic redox-flow batteries) decouple electrode effects, simplify diagnostics, and can improve safety and manufacturability. Meanwhile, symmetric supercapacitors and all-solid-state designs illustrate how mirrored electrodes and balanced charge windows deliver high rate capability and durability.

This Special Issue invites original research papers, reviews, perspectives, and methods that (A) engineer and probe symmetry breaking for improved electrocatalysis and charge storage and (B) exploit device-level symmetry for performance, safety, and diagnostics—spanning batteries, supercapacitors, and redox-flow systems. We aim for a collection that links material-level asymmetry to device-level symmetry in practical operation.

Suggested themes include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Deliberate symmetry breaking in electrocatalysts: defects/vacancies, asymmetric coordination, and ferroelectric/polar surfaces.
• Symmetric device concepts: symmetric Na-ion batteries and bipolar stacks; symmetric organic redox-flow batteries.
• Symmetric supercapacitors: mirrored electrodes, all-solid-state formats, charge-balance windows, ESR/frequency response.
• Operando/diagnostic protocols using symmetry: symmetric test cells to decouple interfacial vs bulk limitations; safety and abuse tolerance in symmetric architectures.

Dr. Alexey Rulev
Dr. Mihai V. Putz
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Symmetry is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 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.