The Virtual Issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry C presents a few selected publications to highlight recent physical chemistry advances in recent years to develop new light harvesting assemblies, elucidate charge-transfer processes, and improve the efficiency of the water splitting process.

Our perspective article Progress in Heterogeneous Photocatalysis: From Classical Radical Chemistry to Engineering Nanomaterials and Solar Reactors is once again selected as one of the few reviews/perspectives providing recent highlights in photocatalytic generation of hydrogen. This perspectives gives contemporary views on heterogeneous photochemical conversion, encompassing charge transport characteristics, radical chemistry and organic degradation mechanisms, photocatalyst design, and photoreactor engineering.