Editorial

XXVI International Materials Research Congress (IMRC2017), is an annual conference jointly organized by the Sociedad Mexicana de Materials (SMM) and the Materials Research Society (MRS), USA, Mexico. In the year 2017, it was held in Cancun, Mexico from August 20–25, and about 50 symposia were organized including the symposium on “Advances in Functional Semiconducting Materials” (AFSM). More than 2500 participants from about 45 countries actively presented their research findings, and specifically in the symposium on AFSM about nine invited, 14 oral lectures and about 100 posters were presented. The symposium on AFSM, envisioned as a platform for disseminating research results on recent progresses in semiconducting materials, providing an excellent opportunity for basic researchers and industrialists around the world to discuss their findings and kickoff collaboration at the national and international level. This special issue contains selected peer-reviewed work presented in the symposium on AFSM and some more works presented in other symposia.

The symposium on AFSM covered recent trends and progresses on key issues like growth, characterization, theoretical evaluations, device applications and specific problems related to semiconducting materials. A number of students and more senior researchers presented oral and poster contributions which made for a lively and intellectually stimulating three days. One session in the symposium focused on fabrication of nanostructures by different techniques, a wide range of characterizations and potential use in gas sensors. Materials for visible light Photocatalysis is the major issue for the scientific community and one complete day in the symposium was dedicated to materials like Cu: Mo doped, BiVO₄, TiO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites, mesoporous Ce-MCM-41 hybrid materials, Fe₂O₃/por-Si and Fe₃O₄/TiO₂. Another day in the symposium was dedicated to energy harvesting materials, specifically on the photovoltaics: and during this many interesting methodologies evolved on the processing and various treatment for obtaining good devices were presented.

It is my great privilege to express my deepest appreciation to the organizing committee and volunteers who have made this symposium successful. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all the contributing authors, the reviewers of the Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, and especially to the Editor-in-Chief Professor S. Kasap and the associates from Springer; their coordinated work and timely alerts made this special issue a reality. Special thanks are due to my co-organizers—Dr. Alex Freundlich, University of Houston, USA, Dr. Maria de Luz Olvera, CINVESTAV, Mexico, Dr.Jingbiao Cui, University of Memphis, USA, and members of the international Scientific Advisory committee.