Electrocatalysis is becoming the limelight of the field of energy conversion and storage, owing to the nature of sustainability and versatility. Elite electrocatalysts necessitate outstanding abilities to enable a synergistic control over the adsorption and concentration of reactants, the stabilization of key intermediates, and the desorption of products. Materials design strategies, such as morphological control, component tuning, and surface/interface functionalization, have been developed to optimize these processes. Concepts, including field effect-enhanced catalysis, single-atom catalysis, confinement effect, tandem catalysis, and scaling relationship breaking, have been proposed to enrich our toolbox for customizing desired electrocatalysts. Various in situ characterization techniques, such as FTIR, Raman, XAS, and XPS, have been utilized to unveil the structure-performance relationship to offer guidelines for constructing electrocatalysts with higher activity for practical use.

With the large-scale application of renewable energy sources such as solar energy and wind energy, the problem of intermittency and instability has become increasingly prominent, requiring efficient energy storage technology to solve. Research on energy storage batteries provides key technical support for renewable energy storage, and through the development of high-performance, large-capacity, long-life energy storage batteries, we can realize effective storage and flexible deployment of renewable energy, improve the stability and reliability of the energy system, and promote the transformation of energy structure and sustainable development. Currently there are various battery systems developed and researched, such as lithium-ion batteries, zinc-ion batteries, metal-air batteries, sodium-ion and potassium-ion batteries. These battery systems have different advantages in terms of energy density, safety or cost, and are expected to meet the diversified needs for batteries in different fields in the future, providing better solutions for energy storage and conversion.

The scope of this focus issue in Frontiers of Physics will cover all of the aspects from theory calculations, material synthesis, property characterizations, and applications of electrocatalytic materials. This special issue will present the major recent progress in this field from the best experimental and theoretical teams all over the world. We do hope that the issue will form a broad overview of the current state of this cutting-edge field.

Specific materials of interest covered in this issue include

● Simulation, synthesis, characterization, and mechanistic exploration of electrocatalysts for water splitting, CO₂ reduction, nitrogen and nitrate reduction, oxygen

    reduction, etc.;

●  Operando investigations into the structural and electronic changes of electrocatalysts using techniques of synchrotron radiation and electron microscope;

●  In situ tracking of intermediates by FTIR, Raman, and XPS to clarify the catalytic mechanism;

● Synthesis, simulation and mechanism study of novel electrode materials in various battery systems;

● Implementation of in-situ analysis techniques such as in-situ spectroscopy and in-situ electron microscopy to monitor the evolution of electrode structure and surface

   properties under working conditions.

We are seeking for high-profile researchers from China and overseas to contribute Review, Topical Review, Report, View & Perspective, Research Article, or Letter/Communication in the foresaid areas. Please feel free to choose a striking topic that best fits the issue. Co-authorship is welcome. There is no strict length limit for each article, and for each review at least 15 pages length is highly expected.

Here is the format-free submission statement: https://journal.hep.com.cn/fop/EN/column/column15258.shtml and the new manuscript can be submitted online through http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fop. All online versions of the articles can be freely browsed and downloaded and a copy of the volume will be mailed to all participants.

Sincerely,

Jie Li

Henan University, Kaifeng, China

E-mail: jieli@henu.edu.cn

Haiqing Zhou

Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China

E-mail: hqzhou@hunnu.edu.cn

Ming Zhang

Hunan University, Changsha, China

E-mail: zhangming@hnu.edu.cn

Min Liu

Central South University, Changsha, China

E-mail: minliu@csu.edu.cn