Topic: Energy Functional Materials for Aqueous Batteries and Electrocatalysis

The rapid development of sustainable energy technologies has stimulated growing interest in energy functional materials for aqueous batteries and electrocatalysis. Aqueous electrochemical systems offer attractive advantages, including high safety, low cost, environmental compatibility, and facile processing, making them promising candidates for next-generation energy storage and conversion. However, sluggish reaction kinetics, parasitic reactions, interfacial instability, limited electrochemical stability, and structural degradation of functional materials remain major challenges that hinder their practical applications. Rational materials design and effective interface engineering are therefore essential for regulating electrochemical reactions, improving catalytic activity, and enhancing energy storage performance. A deeper understanding of the relationships between material structure, interfacial properties, and electrochemical behavior is crucial for developing advanced aqueous electrochemical systems.

This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances in energy functional materials for aqueous batteries and electrocatalysis, including electrode and electrocatalytic materials, structural and electronic regulation, defect engineering, electrolytes, electrode/electrolyte interfaces, interfacial water chemistry, reaction mechanisms, advanced characterization, theoretical modeling, and emerging aqueous energy storage and electrocatalytic systems.

This Special Issue invites original research, reviews, and perspectives in the broad domain of electrocatalysis and aqueous batteries. Topics include, but are not limited to:

● Electrocatalyst design;

● Anode materials;

● Cathode materials;

● Liquid electrolytes;

● Binder and separator;

● Electrode/electrolyte interface;

● Electrochemical mechanism;

● Interface modulation;

● In-situ and ex-situ characterization;

● Theoretical modeling;

● Electrochemical reaction;

● Battery recycling.