Preface to special topic: a survey of some new developments in heterogeneous catalysis.

This special topic section on heterogeneous catalysis contains essays on fast-evolving topics by several leading scientists in the field. In this preface, I outline those issues, raised in the special topic articles, that seemed most interesting to me. I selected those aspects that should be of greatest interest to physical chemists who are not experts in catalysis but might be interested in entering this exciting and important field of research.