Photoactivity represents the ability of a material to activate when interacting with light. It can be declined in many ways, and several functionalities arising from this behavior of materials can be exploited, all leading to positive repercussions on our environment. There are several classes of effects of photoactivity, all of which have been deeply investigated in the last few decades, allowing researchers to develop more and more efficient materials and devices. The special issue "Novel Photoactive Materials" has been proposed as a means to present recent developments in the field; for this reason the articles included touch different aspects of photoactivity, from photocatalysis to photovoltaics to light emitting materials, as highlighted in this editorial.
Keywords: TiO2; ZnO; density functional theory (DFT); organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs); photocatalysis; photovoltaics.