Dear Colleagues:

The rapid development of industry and its over-reliance on carbon-rich fossil fuels have resulted in a series of energy and environmental problems, including a shortage of resources, the energy crisis, water pollution, air pollution, and global climate change (due to the massive emission of CO₂ gas). Biomass originates from CO₂ and water via natural photosynthesis using energy from sunlight. As a kind of abundant renewable carbon-based resource, biomass and its derivatives have been regarded as crucial and cheap feedstock for the production of high-quality fine chemicals and fuels. Moreover, the oxidation of biomass-derived molecules can be coupled with a water reduction reaction for the concurrent generation of green hydrogen energy and useful chemicals. Thus, it is highly desirable to develop advanced technologies for the efficient removal of organic pollutants (such as organic dyes, microplastics, pharmaceuticals, etc.) and the conversion of CO₂ and biomass into high-value-added chemicals and renewable fuels. In this context, solar-driven semiconductor photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical technologies have become some of the most important and promising approaches for the production of green energy and environmental remediation. Meanwhile, electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction and biomass conversion via renewable electricity from sunlight have also attracted increasing interest due to their low cost, mild reaction conditions and high efficiency.

The aim of this Special Issue is to collect new ideas on the controllable synthesis of state-of-the-art nanomaterials for highly efficient photocatalytic, photoelectrochemical and electrocatalytic pollutant degradation and fuel production (such as CO₂ reduction, biomass upgrading and water splitting). Furthermore, we would like to highlight the current achievements in mechanism studies about CO₂ reduction, biomass conversion and the photodegradation of organic pollutants in water and air. To promote the large-scale application of solar photo(electro)catalytic technology, studies focused on the design of related reaction cells and devices are particularly welcome. Moreover, the combination of photo(electro)catalysis with other green and sustainable approaches (such as adsorption, piezocatalysis, thermocatalysis, and so on) for efficient pollutant degradation and fuel production also falls within the scope of this Special Issue.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. We cordially invite you to contribute your original research work or review articles to this Special Issue entitled, "Organic Matter Degradation, Biomass Conversion and CO₂ Reduction". Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Photocatalysis;
• Photoelectrocatalysis;
• Photoelectrochemical cells;
• CO₂ reduction;
• Pollutant degradation;
• Biomass upgrading;
• Adsorption;
• Wastewater treatment;
• Air purification;
• Solar fuel production;
• Piezo-photocatalysis;
• Photothermocatalysis;
• Water splitting;
• Hydrogen evolution reactions.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Qiang Wang
Dr. Cheng-Chao Jin
Guest Editors

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• solar energy conversion
• photocatalytic degradation
• CO₂ photoreduction
• electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction, biomass conversion
• HMF
• FDCA
• persistent organic pollutants
• volatile organic compounds
• dyes
• antibiotics
• solar fuel production
• heterojunction
• nanocomposites
• porous nanomaterials
• single-atom catalysts
• DFT calculation
• in situ/operando characterizations