Recent Advances in Carbon Composites for Electrochemistry and Catalysis

Carbon-based materials have seen rapid and growing scientific interest in the last decade focused on their use as catalysts for electrochemical applications in different technological fields, such as fuel cells, metal-air batteries, electrolyzes, etc., fundamental for future sustainable energy applications. Their unique characteristics and multiple advantages, including the abundance of sources, tunable structures, high electronic conductivity, and environmental compatibility, have favoured their use as electrocatalysts for Oxygen reduction reactions (ORR)/ Oxygen evolution reactions (OER) / Hydrogen evolution reactions (HER), while improving devices performances. This Research Topic reviews the main methods used at the state-of-art to produce carbon-based materials spanning from metal-free carbons to hybridized and self-supported carbons and the synthetic strategies (heteroatoms doping, surface functionalization, defect, porosity and morphology engineering) to optimize their electrocatalytic properties highlighting the most recent research progress and providing at the same time new trends and perspective for the future design of high-performance materials.

The current Research Topic aims to showcase the use of carbon-based materials (having different dimensionality: CNTs, graphene sheets, quantum dots) in the field of catalysis with particular attention to the innovative applications in sustainable catalysis. Following the global drive for clean energy, and resource efficiency, it will present the highly varied utilizations in the electrochemistry field (in particular for the industrial catalytic processes) characterized by high selective conversions, which provide new solutions for the electrification of the chemical production besides the traditional use in energy conversion systems and environmental remediation purpose. It aims to cover promising, recent, and novel research trends in carbon composites active in electrochemistry and catalysis.

We look forward to receiving contributions from researchers around the world to foster an exchange of know-how within the international scientific community and the development of new ideas to address future challenges for a more sustainable society.

We welcome Original Research, Review, Mini Review and Perspective articles on themes including, but not limited to:

• Functionalized/defunctionalized C-based 1D-3D Networks; Surface Chemistry, New Synthetic Methodologies, and their Catalytic Application.
• 2D and 3D C-based Coordination Polymers, their Derivatives and Use in Catalysis.
• C-based Materials activated by Thermo-, Electro-, Photo- and Photo(electro)-catalysis methods.
• Confined Carbon Catalysis and Energy Storage/Conversion Purposes using Zeolite-like Micro/Mesoporous Nanomaterials.
• C-based Catalysts Prepared from Renewable Supplies and their Use in the Catalytic Conversion of Natural Feedstock.
• C-based Catalysts for Environmental Applications and Remediation Purposes.
• From M-NPs/C to single-atom catalysts (ASCs) and their Catalysis application in Hybrid Materials and Composites.
• Advanced Characterization Techniques and Theoretical Simulation for C-based Materials in Catalysis.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review

Keywords: carbon-based materials, electrochemistry, composites, catalysis, Carbon for energy storage, C-based polymers, zeolites

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.