Emerging Nanomaterials and Plasma Catalytic Technologies for Clean Energy and Environmental Remediation

The transition towards a low-carbon and resource-efficient society requires technologies that can simultaneously produce clean fuels, convert greenhouse gases, and remove persistent pollutants. Nanostructured catalysts—including metal oxides, carbon-based materials, two-dimensional materials, metal–organic frameworks, single-atom catalysts, and multifunctional composites—offer tunable surface chemistry, abundant active sites, and enhanced charge and mass transfer. In parallel, non-thermal plasma generates energetic electrons, radicals, ions, and excited species under comparatively mild bulk conditions, enabling reactions that are difficult to achieve through conventional thermal processes. Integrating emerging nanomaterials with plasma, photo-, electro-, and thermocatalytic processes therefore creates new opportunities for hydrogen production, carbon dioxide utilization, nitrogen fixation, pollutant degradation, water purification, and air treatment. However, performance, stability, selectivity, energy efficiency, safety, and scale-up remain major challenges.This Research Topic aims to address the fundamental and engineering barriers limiting the practical deployment of nanomaterial-enabled and plasma-catalytic technologies for clean-energy production and environmental remediation. Particular attention will be given to the rational design of catalysts and reactor systems that improve conversion, selectivity, energy yield, durability, and resistance to deactivation while minimizing material toxicity and secondary waste. Recent advances in defect engineering, heterostructures, single-atom and bimetallic catalysts, porous frameworks, operando characterization, plasma–surface diagnostics, computational modelling, and data-driven optimization provide powerful tools for understanding and controlling reaction pathways. Contributions should clarify catalyst–plasma interactions, identify active species and rate-limiting steps, establish meaningful performance metrics, and evaluate scalability under realistic operating conditions. By connecting material properties, plasma characteristics, reaction mechanisms, and process performance, this collection seeks to accelerate the translation of laboratory discoveries into robust, energy-efficient, economically viable, and environmentally responsible technologies.We welcome original research articles, reviews, perspectives, and methodological studies addressing emerging nanomaterials and plasma-assisted catalytic systems for sustainable energy conversion and pollution control. Contributions should emphasize mechanistic understanding, quantitative performance evaluation, material stability, and practical relevance. Topics include, but are not limited to:• Nanocatalysts, single-atom catalysts, heterostructures, porous frameworks, and two-dimensional materials for energy and environmental applications.• Plasma-catalytic conversion of CO₂, CH₄, N₂, NH₃, biomass-derived molecules, and other low-carbon feedstocks.• Hydrogen production, ammonia synthesis and cracking, carbon utilization, and renewable-fuel generation.• Plasma, photocatalytic, electrocatalytic, and hybrid processes for water, air, soil, and emerging-contaminant remediation.• Catalyst–plasma interactions, reaction mechanisms, operando diagnostics, computational modelling, machine learning, reactor design, scale-up, life-cycle assessment, and techno-economic analysis. Topic editors: Prajwal Lamichhane, Dr. Tirtha Raj Acharya, Shirjana Saud, Nosir Matyakubov Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84563/emerging-nanomaterials-and-plasma-catalytic-technologies-for-clean-energy-and-environmental-remediation