EPJ ST Special Issue: Preparation, Characterization, and Application of Photo-Thermo-Electric Functional Materials Based on Spatial Charge Modulation

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Published on 26 June 2025

Guest Editors: Wenbo Yan, Yue Liu

Electrons and holes, as the primary carriers of charges, play crucial roles in numerous physicochemical processes. Most fundamental effects in optoelectronic, thermoelectric, and photo-therm-oelectric functional materials are associated with the generation, transport, modulation, and recombination of electrons and holes. Recently, deep involvement of charges was found in many emerging applications of functional materials, for example, photovoltaic micro/nano manipulation based on surface charge modulation, hybrid microfluidics utilizing triboelectricity, trace molecule detection through plasmonic array, ion sensing via surface plasmon resonance, perovskite quantum dots leveraging electron-hole recombination, and photocatalytic water splitting enabled by spatial charge separation in III-V compounds.

On a macroscopic level, spatial modulation of bulk or surface photovoltaic charges can be employed to regulate spatial charge field, thereby achieving three-dimensional electrostatic manipulation of charged and neutral micro/nano targets. In particular, hybrid-mode photovoltaic manipulation can even be realized when combined with triboelectricity of super-hydrophobic surfaces. At the microscopic scale, the spatial control of electron-hole pairs enables confinement effects in light absorption/emission as well as high-efficiency photocatalytic water splitting at particular positions. Moreover, local surface plasmon resonance and propagating surface plasmon polaritons triggered by spatially modulated electron oscillations can be engineered into devices for low-concentration molecular and ionic detection.

The articles in this issue provide a snapshot of preparation, characterization, and application of photo-thermo-electric functional materials, along with an emphasis on the important role of spatial charge modulation in various physicochemical processes.

Articles should be submitted to the Editorial Office of EPJ ST via the submission system, and should be clearly identified as intended for the topical issue “Interaction of Highly Charged Ions and Electrons with Atoms and Molecules”.

More detailed author information including paper types can be found in the Submission Guidelines. For the preparation of the manuscripts a special latex template (preferably single-column layout) is available here.

Guest Editors:

Prof. Dr. Wenbo Yan
State Key Laboratory of Reliability and Intelligence of Electrical Equipment, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China
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Prof. Dr. Yue Liu
School of Internet of Things, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Taicang, China
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