Interface Engineering for Energy Storage and Catalysis

Dear Colleagues,

Interface engineering is key to advancing energy storage and catalytic systems, enabling enhanced performance through precise control of ion transport and chemical reactions. Here, we highlight two significant areas where interface engineering is making a substantial impact.

Topic 1: Inorganic Solid-State Electrolytes for All-Solid-State Lithium Batteries: Ion Transport, Materials Design, and Interfacial Engineering

All-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs) are widely regarded as a promising next-generation energy-storage technology for electric vehicles and advanced battery systems, owing to their potential advantages in safety, energy density, packaging flexibility, and wide-temperature operation. As a key component of ASSLBs, inorganic lithium-ion solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) play a decisive role in enabling high-performance, durable, and safe solid-state batteries. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, ion-transport mechanisms, crystal-structure regulation, defect engineering, mechanical-strain effects, and strategies for enhancing ionic conductivity. Contributions addressing the synthesis, processing, structural characterization, and structure–property relationships of different classes of SSEs are particularly welcome. This Topic also focuses on critical challenges related to chemical stability, electrochemical compatibility, and electrode/electrolyte interfacial behavior. Studies on interfacial reactions, impedance evolution, interphase design, artificial buffer layers, composite electrolytes, advanced characterization, and theoretical modeling are encouraged. This Topic seeks to promote the rational design of advanced SSEs and accelerate the development of practical ASSLBs for next-generation energy-storage and transportation technologies.

Topic 2: Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction for Green Ammonia Synthesis: Active Hydrogen Regulation, Catalyst Design, and Mechanistic Insights

The electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction (NO₃RR) provides a sustainable route for green ammonia synthesis under ambient conditions while offering opportunities for coupling nitrate remediation with value-added chemical production. Despite rapid progress, achieving highly selective NH₃ production over a broad potential window and at industrially relevant current densities remains a major challenge, largely due to the difficulty in precisely regulating active hydrogen supply, intermediate hydrogenation, and the competing hydrogen evolution reaction. This Topic focuses on driving the electrocatalytic NO₃RR toward green ammonia synthesis, with a particular emphasis on catalyst design, active-site engineering, and reaction-pathway regulation. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, active hydrogen generation and transfer, hydrogen spillover, adsorption and hydrogenation of key nitrogen-containing intermediates, suppression of competing side reactions, and the development of catalysts with broad-potential-window selectivity and long-term stability. Contributions involving metals, alloys, phosphides, oxides, single-atom catalysts, nanoporous architectures, and hybrid catalytic systems are welcome. Studies combining in situ/operando spectroscopy, isotope-labeling experiments, electrochemical kinetic analysis, density functional theory calculations, and device-level evaluation are particularly encouraged. By bringing together emerging concepts and mechanistic understanding, this Topic aims to advance the rational design of efficient NO₃RR catalysts and promote renewable-energy-driven ammonia synthesis for a sustainable nitrogen cycle.

Dr. Zhonghui Gao
Dr. Wence Xu
Topic Editors