About this Research Topic

Background

Catalysis is important to both our lives and lifestyles. Today, almost 90% of the product manufacturing processes involve at least one catalytic step, from the food on our dining table to automotive markets, etc. Overall, catalysis contributes to more than 35% of the global GDP across from the petroleum sector, to energy production, chemical production, and the food industry. With the rapid growth of the global population, the role of catalysis becomes more and more vital in the worldwide collective efforts to meet the increasingly high demand for energy as well as remediate the global warming effect by converting greenhouse gas molecules into value-added products. Nowadays, the catalysis community in China has been growing fast and becoming a central part of this important scientific discipline. Hereby, we launch this research topic with Frontiers, aiming at bringing young talented scholars in China to the spotlight, and showcasing potential solutions to address the global grand challenges in energy shortage and climate change through novel catalytic strategies.

This issue specifically focuses on highlighting the endeavors made by young Chinese scholars who leverage catalytic techniques to address the global grand challenges in energy shortage and climate change. These goals can be potentially approached through development of new green catalytic technologies based on renewable resources like solar energy, green electricity, photothermal energy, etc., together with the rational reactor engineering and the process intensification. In addition, catalytic conversion of potent greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4) or biomass waste into value-added products, such as methanol and alcohols, represents another interesting avenue coping with the worldwide “waste-to-wealth” initiative. Environmental catalysis remediating the emission of pollutants such as volatile organic compounds and hydrocarbons also plays an indispensable part on our way to a clean and sustainable future. Last but not least, research also emerges over the past few years utilizing the machine-learning based algorithms for catalyst precision design and high-throughput screening in a much more effective manner.

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

• C1 catalysis
• Thermocatalysis
• Photocatalysis
• Electrocatalysis
• Photoelectrochemical catalysis
• Photothermal catalysis
• Catalytic green hydrogen production
• Biomass upgrading
• Environmental catalysis
• Computational-aided catalyst design
• Kinetic studies
• Thermodynamic analysis
• Reactor engineering
• Process intensification

Keywords: Catalysis, Rising stars, China, Chemistry

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.

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