Advanced Nanomaterials and Technologies for Sustainable Development

Dear Colleagues,

Various advanced nanomaterials have been developed using versatile technologies including electrodeposition, electrospray, electrospinning, chemical vapor deposition, hydrothermal/solvothermal reactions and atom layer deposition. These nanomaterials are generally defined as materials with at least one dimension in the nanometer range (usually below 100 nm). In a broad sense, bulk materials assembled using low-dimensional nanomaterials can also be referred to as nanomaterials. In addition, porous materials comprising abundant nanopores with diameters below 100 nm can also be classified as nanomaterials. As such, these materials exhibit extremely high surface area to volume ratios, and the reduction in dimensionality leads to quantum confinement effects that engender unique physical/chemical properties that are substantially different from their bulk counterparts. The use of nanomaterials is crucial in energy storage/conversion devices such as lithium ion batteries, electrochemical capacitors, hybrid ion capacitors, solar cells and flow batteries due to their exceptional cycling stability and high charge storage capacity. Nanomaterials can be utilized as stable (photo)electrocatalysts in various reactions including (sea)water splitting, the oxygen reduction reaction, the CO2 reduction reaction, the N2 reduction reaction and the urea oxidation reaction. Nanomaterials also have shown promise regarding their application in wastewater treatment as adsorbents to remove/separate dyes, heavy metal ions, antibiotics and oil from water. This Topic aims to provide an overview of recent advances and future prospects regarding the contribution of nanomaterials and related technologies to sustainable development; therefore, we welcome original articles, perspectives, and review articles. We invite authors to submit their latest experimental and theoretical contributions that address the following areas of interest:

• Synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials;
• Advances in analytical tools (in situ, ex situ, operando);
• Applications as (photo)electrocatalysts;
• Applications in energy conversion;
• Applications in energy storage;
• Applications in wastewater treatment.

Prof. Dr. Shuijian He
Prof. Dr. Haoqi Yang
Dr. Hua Zhang
Topic Editors