Photocatalysis towards Detoxification of Environmental Pollutants: From Materials and Photoreactors to Technology Issues

We would like to inform you about a special issue just launched in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, IJERPH, (MDPI, IF: 3.39), JCR - Q1 (Public, Environmental & Occupational Health) / CiteScore - Q2 (Public health, environment and occupational health)

Due to the huge increase in the world population and agricultural / industrial activities, our planet becomes heavily polluted due to various chemical and biological contaminants, resulting in serious risks to human health and our environment. The development of materials and systems for improved environmental remediation and detoxification has received a lot of attention from both the scientific and industrial communities. Among, the strategies for water and air remediation, photocatalysis technology, which is one of the advanced oxidation processes, has been emerged as a potential green approach to fight air and water pollution with the power of the light.  Although, it has shown many outstanding and unique options, it suffers from a number of technological shortcomings which limit its scaling up. The transfer of photocatalysis technology could be caught through specific/unique application of these technology contemporary environmental issues or by developing photocatalytic systems that are able to compete with the existing technologies in terms of efficiency, cost and sustainability. Axes of interest include but are not limited to: 

• Combination of photocatalysis technology with other approaches to speed up the removal process and/or to solve common issues in single systems. 
• Engineering of photocatalytic materials and systems with multifunctional properties that are able to compete with existing technologies.
• Addressing and solving some specific issues in photocatalytic technology, i.e., deactivation, and toxic by-products formation.
• Application of photocatalysis in quasi-similar real conditions, i.e., removal of mixed pollutants.
• Floating photocatalysts for solar water remediation.
• Unique applications of photocatalysis technology, i.e., self-cleaning materials, antifouling of membranes.
• Photocatalytic conversion of some toxic compounds into valuable products.
• Critical reviews and studies regarding the possible use of photocatalytic technology at large scale. 

Prof. Dr. Claudia Bianchi
Dr. Djellabi Ridha
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 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. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 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 2500 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.

• Photocatalysis technology
• Environmental remediation
• Photocatalyst deactivation
• Photo-Fenton
• Hybrid systems
• Toxic by-products
• Technology scaling up
• Floating photocatalysts
• Solar energy
• Advanced oxidation processes