Novel Materials and Emerging Technologies in Energy Solutions and Environmental Remediation

The simultaneous challenges of global anthropogenic climate change and resource scarcity necessitate an accelerated paradigm shift toward clean energy systems and advanced environmental remediation. Because conventional material architectures are inadequate for meeting stringent modern efficiency and ecological benchmarks, the rational design of novel functional materials has emerged as the definitive cornerstone of next-generation sustainable technologies. This Research Topic offers a balanced examination of foundational materials-level breakthroughs across both vital domains. For energy sector applications, the collection highlights innovations in photovoltaics, green hydrogen generation, and high-density electrochemical energy storage. Concurrently, for environmental engineering applications, emphasis is placed on advanced architectural designs for high-capacity carbon capture, membrane-based water purification, and high-sensitivity ecological sensing. By bridging fundamental materials science with applied engineering, this collection aims to catalyze scalable technological solutions for global sustainability.

The overarching goal of this Research Topic is to address the critical efficiency and scalability bottlenecks that prevent laboratory-scale material innovations from being effectively deployed in commercial energy and environmental systems. Currently, conventional systems suffer from rapid degradation, low selectivity, and high production costs, stalling progress in green energy transitions and ecological remediation. To tackle these limitations, this collection focuses on exploiting recent advancements in materials engineering including high-entropy designs, precise defect engineering, and 2D heterostructures. These strategies offer unprecedented control overactive catalytic sites, electronic transport, and molecular separation. By leveraging these breakthroughs, researchers can synthesize highly stable, cost-effective architectures tailored for high-performance applications. Ultimately, this topic aims to consolidate interdisciplinary research that transitions these advanced materials into scalable technologies. We seek contributions that successfully demonstrate enhanced power conversion, superior electrochemical storage capacity, accelerated pollutant degradation, and selective molecular filtration, thereby establishing a clear path toward global sustainability.

This Research Topic invites high-quality contributions addressing the design, synthesis, and application of advanced materials for sustainable energy and environmental engineering. We welcome submissions that bridge fundamental materials science with applied technological solutions.
Specific themes of interest include, but are not limited to:
• High-efficiency photovoltaics and green hydrogen generation catalysts.
• Next-generation electrochemical energy storage, batteries, and supercapacitors.
• Advanced architectures for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS).
• Innovative membranes and porous frameworks for water purification and desalination.
• High-sensitivity smart materials for ecological sensing and monitoring.

Article types and fees

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

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• 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
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review

Keywords: Advanced Functional Materials, Nanomaterials & Nanocomposites, Porous Materials, Green Hydrogen Production, Thermoelectric Materials, Photocatalytic Degradation, Environmental Remediation, Sustainable Synthesis, Electrocatalytic materials.

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.