Dear Colleagues,

The seminal work of Honda and Fujishima in 1972 demonstrated the feasibility of photoelectrochemical water splitting via TiO₂ to produce a high-energy carrier, hydrogen. This simple, yet powerful, solar-driven, clean energy technology has, since, promoted enormous research activities in catalysis, based on semiconducting materials.

Over the past 40 years, a wide-range of semiconductors have been employed as light absorbents to efficiently harvest solar energy, and the coupling of suitable catalysts, promoting chemical reactions to generate desirable fuels. Among the keys that underpin the progress in semiconductor catalysis are strategies, such as band-gap engineering, to tune the light absorption spectra and minimize charge recombination; integration of efficient co-catalysts; and rational material design through a fundamental understanding, assisted by advanced analytical tools and theoretical modeling. In particular, it is worth mentioning significant nanostructuring efforts with the formation of low-dimensional nanomaterials have led to morphologies with improved surface area, light absorption and photoelectric functional properties. More recently, semi-biological approaches with hybrid semiconductors and biological enzymes have increasingly become of interest.

This Special Issue aims to cover recent progress and developments in semiconductor catalysis in terms of the activation of small molecules, such as H₂O, O₂, CO₂ and N₂, for fuel generation. Contributions of original results (including reviews) from all approaches in devising and developing new materials, characterizations, and strategies that lead to enhance fundamental and applied insight, are particularly welcome. All areas of photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical semiconductor catalysis for fuel generations, based on experimental results and/or theoretical modelling, would be of interest.

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• Semiconductor
• Photocatalysis
• Photoelectrochemistry
• Cocatalyst
• Water splitting
• Proton reduction
• CO₂ reduction
• N₂ reduction
• Nanostructured
• Solar fuels