Polyoxometalates in Catalysis, Biology, Energy and Materials Science

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About this Research Topic

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Background

This Research Topic focuses on catalysis, energy, and biological applications of polyoxometalates (POMs) and POM-based materials, an immediate need for present times. From this nucleating point the Topic will branch out and curate not only new architectures based on oxometalates, but also their applications in diverse fields ranging from energy harvesting materials to the crystallization of POMs inside protein scaffolds.

In recent years, the chemistry of POMs and metal clusters has seen rapid growth in the areas of catalysis and material construction—for instance, CO2 reduction and water oxidation by POMs, or the construction of novel as well as soft materials based on oxometalates such as soft-oxometalates. Novel aspects of non-linear construction of POMs, aspects of interaction of light with oxometalates, and soft fabrication of POMs will be explored. Contributions will highlight the construction of hybrid materials like those based on conducting polymers, vesicles, and materials for theranostic applications based on POMs and metal clusters. In short, this Topic will focus and highlight architectures based on POMs and metal clusters that transcend the crystalline regime and explore the nonlinear emergence of structures in a novel structural phase space. However, the primary emphasis will be on catalytic energy storing and harvesting materials based on POMs and their biological applications.

As such, this Research Topic welcomes contributions from senior practitioners, and aims to emphasize contributions from new and emerging practitioners in the area of POMs. There will be a further emphasis on manuscript contributions from Asia, where POM research is rapidly gaining ground and where such contributions will be particularly welcome. We envisage a collection of at least thirty contributions from around the world, with equal emphasis on architecture and activity. The key features of this Topic in terms of scope can be summarized as follows:

 1. The present Topic will focus on catalytic applications that include energy-related research by practitioners of POMs.
 2. It will cover research on biological applications of POMs.
 3. It will reach out more to new and emerging practitioners of POMs with varied and different approaches in diverse areas of science.

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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