1

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS

Fuzhou, Fujian, China

January 02-04, 2018

Organized by

Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

Sponsored by

State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry

Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

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General Information and Logistics

Accommodation

Rongqiao Crowne Plaza Fuzhou Riverside（融侨皇冠假日酒店）

Address：100-1, Jiangbin West Avenue, Taijiang District, Fuzhou, Fujian, P.R. China.

Hotel Reservations：+86-591-87248888

Breakfast

Buffet breakfast

Location: Rongqiao Crowne Plaza Fuzhou Riverside（融侨皇冠假日酒店）

Conference Location

Chemistry Building Level 4, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, CAS

Address: 155 Yangqiao Road West, Fuzhou, 350002, P.R.China

Conference Opening

Wednesday, 03 January 2018, 08:30-17:30 hrs

Transportation

Transportation from Hotel to Conference Avenue will be provided by the Organizing Committee.

Boarding time: Wednesday, 03 January 2018, 08:00. Pick-up point: Hotel lobby

Presentation

The time allowed for presentation including discussion will be 30 minutes. The Language of the conference

is Chinese OR English

Scientific Secretariat:

Dr. Yubiao Chen

Tel.: +86-13600811328

Dr. Tianhua Zhou

Tel.: +86-13599434968

E-mail: thzhou@fjirsm.ac.cn

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CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

Wednesday, 03 January 2018

08:30 Opening Ceremony

Session Chair: Jian Zhang

8:40 Rong Xu, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Title: Design of Efficient Catalysts for Energy Conversion from Metal-Organic Precursors

9:10 Yongfa Zhu, Tsinghua University, Beijng

Title: Supramolecular Organic Photocatalysts with High Visible Light Degradation and

Cancer Therapy

9:40 Xiong Wen (David) Lou, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Title: Hollow Nanostructures for Lithium Sulfur/Selenium Batteries

10:10 Group Photo/Coffee Break

Session Chair: Zhenhai Wen

10:30 Xinchen Wang, Fuzhou University, Fujian

Title: Photocatalytic Water Splitting by Graphitic Carbon Nitride Polymers

11:00 Zhichuan J Xu, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Title: Oxygen Electrocatalysis on Transition Metal Spinel Oxides

11:30 Kaifeng Wu, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS, Dalian

Title: Carrier and photon managements for solar energy conversion using engineered

colloidal nanostructures

12:00 Lunch

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Session Chair: Lei Zhang

14:00 Hongjin Fan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Title: Vanadium oxide based electrode materials for fast metal ion storage

14:30 Tierui Zhang, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, CAS, Beijing

Title: 2D Photocatalysts for Efficient Solar Fuels

15:00 Zhengzong Sun, Fudan University, Shanghai

Title: Phase, Conductivity and Surface Coordination Environment in 2D Electrochemistry

15:30 Coffee Break

Session Chair: Tianhua Zhou

16:00 Ji-Jun Zou, Tianjin University, Tianjin

Title: Oxygen Electrocatalysis on Transition Metal Spinel Oxides

16:30 Shuangyin Wang, Hunan University, Changsha

Title: Defects of Cobalt-based Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

17:00 Jian Zhang, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, CAS, Fuzhou

Title: Crystal Engineering of Titaniumoxo clusters

17:30 Conference Dinner

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Abstract

6

Design of Efficient Catalysts for Energy Conversion from Metal-Organic Precursors

Xu Rong

School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University

E-mail: rxu@ntu.edu.sg

Abstract It is a demanding task to develop high performance catalysts for artificial photosynthesis. Among the

chemical reactions that utilize photon or electron energy, oxygen evolution from water and CO2 reduction are

particularly challenging with multifaceted hurdles to be overcome. We attempt to design solid catalysts with

molecularly defined structures or local structures from metal-organic precursors to uncover the origin of the active

sites for these reactions. Several recent examples will be discussed [1-5].

References 1. Zhou, T.; Du, Y.; Yin, S.; Tian, X.; Yang, H.; Wang, X.; Liu, B.; Zheng, H.; Qiao, S.; Xu, R., Nitrogen-doped cobalt

phosphate@nanocarbon hybrids for efficient electrocatalytic oxygen reduction. Energ Environ Sci 2016, 9, 2563-2570.

2. Zhou, T. H., Du, Y. H., Wang, D. P., Yin, S. M., Tu, W. G., Chen, Z., Borgna, A., Xu, R.,* Phosphonate-Based Metal-

Organic Framework Derived Co-P-C Hybrid as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction, ACS Catal.,

2017, 7, 6000-6007.

3. Niu, K. Y., Xu, Y., Wang, H. C., Ye, R., Xin, H. L., Lin, F., Tian, C. X., Lum, Y. W., Bustillo, K. C., Doeff, M. M., Koper,

M., Ager, J., Xu, R.,* Zheng, H. M.,* A spongy nickel-organic CO2 reduction photocatalyst for nearly 100% selective CO

production, Sci. Adv., 2017, 3, e1700921.

4. Yin, S. M., Du, Y. H., Sheng, Y., Tu, W. G., Kraft, M., Borgna, A., Xu, R.*, Highly Efficient Oxygen Evolution Catalyst

Consisting of Interconnected Nickel-Iron Layered Double Hydroxide and Carbon Nanodomains, Adv. Mater., 2018. DOI:

10.1002/adma.201705106

5. Xu, Y.; Tu, W.; Zhang, B.; Yin, S.; Huang, Y.; Kraft, M.; Xu, R., Nickel Nanoparticles Encapsulated in Few-Layer Nitrogen-

Doped Graphene Derived from Metal–Organic Frameworks as Efficient Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Overall Water

Splitting. Adv Mater 2017, 29, 1605957.

Prof. Xu Rong received her Bachelor (First Class Honors), Master and PhD degrees in Chemical

Engineering from the National University of Singapore (NUS). She joined the School of

Chemical and Biomedical Engineering (SCBE), NTU as an Assistant Professor in 2004. She was

promoted to Associate Professor in 2010 and to Professor in 2017. She served as Associate Chair

Research (2011-2014) and is currently the Interim Chair of SCBE since 1 Jul 2017. Prof Xu is

an active researcher in design of functional materials for energy and environmental applications.

She is particularly interested in molecular design of solid catalysts for photocatalysis and

electrocatalysis to achieve the conversion of solar energy to chemical energy via water splitting

and carbon dioxide reduction. She has published over 140 journal papers with a citation count of

over 7,000 and an Hirsch-index of 50. Over the years, she has successfully garnered several external grants totaling

over $8 million. She has also served as Vice President of the Singapore Catalysis Society (2014-2015) and as Associate

Editor of RSC Advances (2015-2017) and Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology (2013-present).

7

Supramolecular Organic Photocatalysts with High Visible Light

Degradation and Cancer Therapy

Yongfa Zhu*

Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

*Corresponding Author’s E-mail: zhuyf@tsinghua.edu.cn

Abstract A novel purely organic supramolecular photocatalyst based on perylene diimide dye has been developed.

Different from the common dye-sensitized function of perylene diimide in various compo-site systems; we report here,

for the first time, the self-assembled perylene diimide supramolecular nanowires can directly act as a highly efficient

photocatalyst for photo-oxidation over most of visible region. Contrary to the isolated perylene diimide molecules

with discrete energy levels, semiconductor-like continuous energy level of perylene diimide supramolecular is formed

upon π-π stacking. Unique one-dimensional delocalized conjugated π system in supramolecular nanowires results in

the highly efficient excitation, separation and migration of carriers, which is considered to be the origin of

photocatalytic activity. This purely organic supramolecular photocatalyst may represent a new forward to the

development of photocatalyst owing to its advantages of sufficiently efficient, broad spectral response, naturally

abundant, inexpensive, eco-friendly and diverse synthetic modularity. The catalysts showed very high activity for

cancer therapy.

References

1. Liu D, Wang J, Bai X J, Zong R L, Zhu Y F. Self-assembled PDINH supramolecular for photocatalysis under visible light,

Adv. Mater., 2016 28, 7284–7290 2. Jun Wang, Wen Shi, Di Liu, ZiJian Zhang, Yanfang Liu, Kaijian Zhu, Zhen Wei, Wenjun Jiang, Yongfa Zhu* and Dong

Wang*,Supramolecular Perylene Diimide Nanowires for Efficient Oxygen Evolution under Visible Light, Applied Catalysis

B：2017,202,289-297

Prof. Yongfa Zhu received his BA degree in 1985 from Nanjing University and obtained his

master degree in 1988 from Peking University. He had studied and worked at Tsinghua

University since 1992 to now and received a PhD degree at 1995. He is currently a full professor

of Tsinghua University and associate editor for Applied Catalysis B. His current research is

focused on photocatalysis, environmental and energy catalysis and nanomaterials. He is the

author and co-author of 296 original research papers published in SCI journals. The total cited

numbers reached about 17300 and the H-index arrived at 72. About 27 papers was selected as

High-Cited Papers by Essential Science Indicators. Besides, he has written about 5 books and

applied about 18 patents.

8

Hollow Nanostructures for Lithium Sulfur/Selenium Batteries

Xiong Wen (David) Lou*

School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore E-mail: xwlou@ntu.edu.sg

Abstract Hollow nanostructures are promising as electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage, including

lithium-ion batteries, supercapacitors and lithium-sulfur batteries. The main challenges associated with lithium-sulfur

batteries are low specific capacity (hence low energy density) caused by the insulating nature of sulfur, and poor

stability arisen from dissolution of polysulfides into most organic electrodes. We found that hollow nanostructures as

advanced sulfur hosts can remarkably confine polysulfide loss and improve the electrochemical performance of

lithium-sulfur batteries. We have designed carbon hollow structures (including double-shelled hollow carbon spheres

and pie-like paper) to fabricate advanced cathode materials for lithium-sulfur batteries. Most recently, we also

designed some hollow structures of carbon-metal oxide including MnOx-carbon nanofibers, TiO@carbon spheres, and

grape cluster-like TiO@carbon fibers for lithium-sulfur batteries. Such composite hollow structures can not only

generate sufficient electrical contact to the insulating sulfur for high capacity, but also effectively confine polysulfides

for prolonged cycle life. Additionally, the designed composite cathodes can further maximize the polysulfide

restriction capability by using the polar shells to prevent their outward diffusion, which avoids the need for chemically

bonding all polysulfides on the surfaces of polar particles.

References:

1. Z. Li, J. T. Zhang, B. Y. Guan, D. Wang, L. M. Liu, X. W. Lou, A new sulfur host based on metallic and polar TiO@carbon

hollow spheres for advanced lithium-sulfur batteries, Nature Communications, 7, 13065 (2016).

2. Z. Li, J. T. Zhang, Y. M. Chen, J. Li, X. W. Lou, Pie-like electrode design for high-energy density lithium-sulphur batteries,

Nature Communications, 6, 8850 (2015).

3. Z. Li, J. T. Zhang, X. W. Lou, Hollow carbon nanofibers filled with MnO2 nanosheets as a highly efficient sulfur host for

lithium-sulfur batteries with high energy density and long cycle life, Angewandte Chemie – International Edition, 54, 12886

(2015).

4. Z. Li, B. Y. Guan, J. T. Zhang, X. W. Lou, A compact nanoconfined sulfur cathode for high performance lithium-sulfur

batteries, Joule, published online (2017).

5. C. F. Zhang, H. B. Wu, C. Z. Yuan, Z. P. Guo, X. W. Lou, Confining sulphur in double-shelled carbon hollow spheres for

lithium-sulfur batteries, Angewandte Chemie – International Edition, 51, 9592 (2012).

Dr. David Lou received his B.Eng. (1st class honors) (2002) and M.Eng. (2004) degrees from

the National University of Singapore. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering

from Cornell University in 2008. Right after graduation, he joined Nanyang Technological

University (NTU) as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor since

September 2013, and to Full Professor since September 2015. He has published over 270

papers with a total SCI citation of >42,500, and an H-index of 122 as of December 2017.

Among which, 139 papers are ESI highly cited papers. His main research interest is on designed

synthesis of nanostructured materials for energy and environmental applications. In particular,

he has strong interest on synthesis of hollow nanostructures for different applications, such as,

lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors. He also explores the applications of novel

nanostructured materials for electrocatalysis and photocatalysis. He has received several important awards including

the Young Scientist Award 2012 by National Academy of Science of Singapore. He also received the Nanyang

Research Award 2012 by Nanyang Technological University. He was listed as a Highly Cited Researcher by Thomson

Reuters in 2014 - 2017.

9

Photocatalytic Water Splitting by Graphitic Carbon Nitride Polymers

Xinchen Wang

College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350002, China Phone & Fax: +86-591-83920097; Email:xcwang@fzu.edu.cn

Homepage: http://wanglab.fzu.edu.cn/

Abstract The production of hydrogen from water using a catalyst and sunlight is an ideal future energy source,

independent of fossil reserves. During the past 40 years, various inorganic semiconductors and molecular assemblies

have been developed as catalysts for sustainable hydrogen production from water under visible light illumination.

However, for an economical utilization of water and solar energy catalysts that are sufficiently efficient, stable, cheap,

and capable of harvesting the abundant visible light are required. We have found that an abundant material, polymeric

carbon nitride, can activate hydrogen production from water under visible light irradiation. Graphitic carbon nitride

(g-C3N4) is the most stable phase of covalent carbon nitride and the facile synthesis of the melon substructure from

simple liquid precursors and monomers allows easy engineering of carbon nitride materials to achieve better

photocatalytic performance via several processing routes and methods, like doping, templated synthesis,

copolymerization, hot-fluid annealing, and surface heterojunction design. Here, we will present the last advance on

the modification of graphitic carbon nitride polymers for solar energy conversion via relevant chemical reactions.

Dr. Xinchen Wang obtained his BSc and MSc at Fuzhou University, and his PhD from The Chinese

University of Hong Kong. In 2006, he moved to Tokyo University as a JSPS postdoctoral researcher,

then went to the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Germany, as a Alexander von

Humboldt fellow, where he was Group Leader from 2008 to 2012. He became Professor at Fuzhou

University in 2005. He is currently the Director of the State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on

Energy and Environment, and the Dean of the College of Chemistry in Fuzhou University. His

research interests cover catalysis and photocatalysis.

10

Oxygen Electrocatalysis on Transition Metal Spinel Oxides

Zhichuan J. Xu (徐梽川) 1,2,3*

1 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore

2 Solar Fuels Laboratory, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore 3 Energy Research Institute@NTU, ERI@N, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore

* E-mail: xuzc@ntu.edu.sg

Abstract Exploring efficient and low cost oxygen electrocatalysts for ORR and OER is critical for developing

renewable energy technologies like fuel cells, metal-air batteries, and water electrolyzers. This presentation will

presents a systematic study on oxygen electrocatalysis (ORR and OER) of transition metal spinel oxides.[1] Starting

with a model system of Mn-Co spinel, the presentation will introduce the correlation of oxygen catalytic activities of

these oxides and their intrinsic chemical properties. The catalytic activity was measured by rotating disk technique

and the intrinsic chemical properties were probed by synchrotron X-ray absorption techniques. It was found that

molecular orbital theory is able to well-explain their activities.[2] The attention was further extended from cubic Mn-

Co spinels to tetragonal Mn-Co spinels and it was found that the molecular theory is again dominant in determining

the catalytic activies. This mechanistic principle is further applied to explain the ORR/OER activities of other spinels

containing other transition metals (Fe, Ni, Zn, Li, and etc.).

References:

(1) Wei C, Feng Z, Scherer G, Barber J, Shao-Horn Y, Xu Z, Adv. Mater. 2017, DOI: 10.1002/adma.201606800.

(2) Suntivich J, May KJ, Gasteiger HA, Goodenough JB, Shao-Horn Y, Science 334 (2011) 1383.

(3) Wei C, Feng Z, Baisariyev M, Yu L, Zeng L, Wu T, Zhao H, Huang Y, Bedzyk M, Sritharan T, Xu Z, Chemistry

of Materials, 2016, 28, 4129–4133.

Dr. Zhichuan is an associate professor in School of Materials Science and Engineering,

Nanyang Technological University. He received his PhD degree in Electroanalytical Chemistry

at 2008 and B.S. degree in Chemistry at 2002 from Lanzhou University, China. His PhD training

was received in Lanzhou University (2002-2004), Institute of Physics, CAS (2004-2005), and

Brown University (2005-2007). Since 2007, he worked in State University of New York at

Binghamton as a Research Associate and from 2009 he worked in Massachusetts Institute of

Technology as a Postdoctoral Researcher. Dr. Xu is member of International Society of

Electrochemistry (ISE), The Electrochemistry Society (ECS), and The Royal Society of

Chemistry (RSC).

11

Carrier and photon managements for solar energy conversion using engineered colloidal nanostructures

Kaifeng Wu

State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS

457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian, 116023, China

E-mail: kwu@dicp.ac.cn

Abstract The nature of solar energy conversion is light-matter interaction. Accordingly, high conversion efficiencies

can be achieved by managing the solar photons in the sunlight and/or managing the charge carriers in the conversion

matter. The optical and electronic properties of colloidal nanostructures can be controllably engineered using simple

yet versatile synthesis, make them ideal platforms for exploring the physical principles of photon and carrier

managements. In this talk, I will cover our recent progress on both aspects. I will first introduce our efforts of carrier

management using various semiconductor-semiconductor and semiconductor-metal nano heterostructures, with the

general goal of facilitating charge separation and suppressing charge recombination. Efficient (near unity) and long-

lived (microsecond timescale) charge separations have indeed been achieved through rational design of donor-

acceptor-catalyst like heterostructures. In the second part, I will introduce the concept of luminescent solar

concentrators for advanced photon management. Specially-designed core/shell or doped nanocrystals can absorb solar

photons, efficiently emit luminescence photons and guide them to the edges of a planar concentrator. This can

potentially enhance the efficiencies of edge-attached photovoltaic (PV) cells, and meanwhile, decrease the cost of

modern PV devices. In parallel with introducing the photon and carrier management concepts, I will also discuss the

underpinning fundamental physics, such as light absorption and emission, charge transfer, and energy transfer, studied

by a variety of steady-state and ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopic techniques

References:

1. Wu, K.; Chen, J.; McBride, J. R.; Lian, T. “Efficient Hot-Electron Transfer by a Plasmon-Induced Charge-

Transfer Transition.” Science 2015, 349, 632-635.

2. Wu, K.; Park Y.; Lim J..; Klimov, V. “Towards zero-threshold optical gain using charged semiconductor quantum

dots.” Nature Nanotech. 2017, DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2017.189

3. Li, H.#; Wu, K#.; Lim, J.; Song, H.; Klimov, V. “Doctor-blade deposition of quantum dots onto standard window

glasses for low-loss large-area luminescent solar concentrators.” Nature Energy 2016, 1, 16157 (#co-first

authors).

4. Wu, K.; Li, H.; Klimov, V. “Tandem luminescent solar concentrators based on engineered quantum dots.” Nature

Photon. 2017, in press

5. Wu, K.; Lian, T. “Quantum Confined Colloidal Nanorod Heterostructures for Solar-to-Fuel Conversion.” Chem.

Soc. Rev. 2016, 45, 3781-3810.

6. Wu, K.; Zhu, H.; Lian, T. “Ultrafast Exciton Dynamics and Light-Driven H2 Evolution in Colloidal

Semiconductor Nanorods and Pt-Tipped Nanorods.” Acc. Chem. Res. 2015, 48, 851-859.

7. Wu, K. #;; Liang, G. #;; Shang, Q.; Ren, Y.; Kong, D.; Lian, T. “Ultrafast Interfacial Electron and Hole Transfer

from CsPbBr3 Perovskite Quantum Dots.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 12792-12795.

8. Wu, K.; Du, Y.; Tang, H.; Chen Z.; Lian, T. “Efficient Extraction of Trapped Holes from Colloidal CdS

Nanorods.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 10224-10230.

9. Wu, K.; Chen, Z.; Lv, H.; Zhu, H.; Hill, C. L.; Lian, T. “Hole Removal Rate Limits Photo-driven H2 Generation

Efficiency in CdS-Pt and CdSe/CdS-Pt Semiconductor Nanorod-metal tip Heterostructures.” J. Am. Chem. Soc.

2014, 136, 7708-7716.

12

10. Wu, K., Zhu, H., Liu, Z., Rodríguez-Córdoba, W. E., and Lian, T. “Ultrafast Charge Separation and Long-lived

Charge Separated State in Photocatalytic CdS-Pt Nanorod Heterostructures.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134,

10337-10340.

11. Wu, K.; Rodríguez-Córdoba, W. E.; Yang, Y.; Lian, T. “Plasmon-Induced Hot Electron Transfer from the Au

Tip to CdS Rod in CdS-Au Nanoheterostructures.” Nano Lett. 2013, 13, 5255-5263.

12. Wu, K.; Lim J..; Klimov, V. “Superposition Principle in Auger Recombination of Charged and Neutral

Multicarrier States in Semiconductor Quantum Dots.” ACS Nano 2017, 11, 8437-8447.

13. Wu, K.; Hill, L; Chen, J.; McBride, J. R.; Payropolous, N.; Richey, N.; Pyun, J.; Lian, T. “Universal Length-

dependence of Exciton Localization Efficiency in Type I and Quasi Type II CdSe@CdS Dot-in-rod Nanorods.”

ACS Nano 2015, 9, 4591–4599.

14. Wu, K.; Li, Q.; Jia, Y.; McBride, J. R.; Xie, Z.; Lian, T. “Efficient and Ultrafast Formation of Long-Lived

Charge-transfer Exciton State in Atomically-thin CdSe/CdTe Type-II Heteronanosheets.” ACS Nano 2015, 9,

961-968.

15. Wu, K.; Rodríguez-Córdoba, W. E.; Liu, Z.; Zhu, H.; Lian, T. “Beyond Band Alignment: Hole Localization

Driven Formation of Three Spatially Separated Long-lived Exciton States in CdSe/CdS Quasi-type II Dot-in-rod

Nanorods.” ACS Nano 2013, 7, 7173-7185.

16. Wu, K.; Li, Q.; Du, Y.; Chen, Z.; Lian, T. “Ultrafast Exciton Quenching by Energy and Electron Transfer in

Colloidal CdSe Nanosheet-Pt Heterostructures.” Chemical Science 2015, 6, 1049-1054.

17. Wu, K.#;.; Liang, G. #;; Kong, D.; Chen, J.; Chen, Z.; Lian, T. “Quasi-Type II CuInS2/CdS Core/Shell Quantum

Dots.” Chemical Science 2016, 7, 1038-1244.

Dr. Kaifeng Wu was born in Oct. 1989, in Gao’an, Jiangxi. He obtained his B.S. degree in

materials physics from University of Science and Technology of China (2010) and his Ph. D.

degree in physical chemistry from Emory University (2015, with Prof. Tim Lian). From 2015

to 2017, he was the director’s funded Postdoc fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory,

working with senior scientist Victor Klimov. In 2017, he was enrolled into the 1000-Young-

Talent program and joined State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Dalian

Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS, as a full professor. He is now the leader of “Dynamics in

Optoelectronic Materials” research group, working on the ultrafast spectroscopy and device

applications of quantum-confined optoelectronic materials. In the past 5 years, Prof. Wu has

published more than 40 papers, with most of his first-author papers published in high-profile journals such as Science,

Nature Nanotech., Nature Photon., Nature Energy, Chem. Soc. Rev., Acc. Chem. Res., J. Am. Chem. Soc., etc.

13

Phase, Conductivity and Surface Coordination Environment in 2D Electrochemistry

Zhengzong Sun

Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Yuan Chengying Building 427, 200433, China E-mail: zhengzong_sun@fudan.edu.cn

Abstract Molybdenum-based transitional metal dichalcogenides(TMDs) have emerged as a dark horse in the race of

hydrogen evolution reaction(HER). Traditionally, semimetallic (1T or 1T’) TMD are believed to be superior in

catalytic activity over the semiconductive (2H) phase. However, if the 2H TMD becomes more conductive, will it

display a comparable catalytic performance as the semimetallic phases? CVD grown ultrathin 2H- and 1T’-MoTe2

films were chosen as the model catalyst. Their graphene-based vertical Van der Waals heterojunctions were artificially

constructed using a flipped transfer method, eliminating the conductive limitation of 2H-MoTe2. Interestingly, the

graphene’s conductivity boost helps 2H-MoTe2 to catch up its semimetallic counterpart’s HER performance

(overpotential from 1000 mV to 403 mV). This phenomena provides a new perspective to unveil the phase-dependent

TMDs’ HER catalysis mechanism under complementary conductive circumstances.

References:

1. Zhengzong Sun, Zheng Yan, Jun Yao, Elvira Beitler, Yu Zhu, and James M. Tour, Growth of graphene from

solid carbon sources. Nature, 2010, 468, 549-552.

2. Zhengzong Sun,Cary L. Pint, Daniela C. Marcano, Chenguang Zhang, Jun Yao, Gedeng Ruan, Zheng Yan, Yu

Zhu, Robert H. Hauge, James M. Tour, Toward hybrid superlattices in graphene. Nature Communications, 2011,

2, 559.

3. Zhengzong Sun, Abdul-Rahman O. Raji, Yu Zhu, Changsheng Xiang, Zheng Yan, Carter Kittrell, E. L. G. Samuel,

and James M. Tour, Large-area bernal-stacked bi-, tri-, and tetralayer graphene. ACS Nano, 2012, 6, 9790-9796.

4. Yu Zhu, Lei Li, Chenguang Zhang, Gilberto Casillas, Zhengzong Sun, Zheng Yan, Gedeng Ruan, Zhiwei Peng,

Abdul-Rahman O. Raji, Carter Kittrell, Robert H. Hauge and James M. Tour, A seamless three-dimensional

carbon nanotube graphene hybrid material. Nature Communications, 2012, 3, 1225.

5. Ayrat Dimiev, Dmitry V. Kosynkin, Alexander Sinitskii, Alexander Slesarev, Zhengzong Sun, and James M.

Tour, Layer-by-layer removal of graphene for device patterning. Science, 2011, 331, 1168-1172.

Dr. Zhengzong Sun received his B.S. from Nanjing University in 2004 and his Ph.D. from

Rice University in 2011. Then he moved to UC Berkeley in 2012 as a Postdoc Research Fellow

at the Department of Physics. In 2013, he joined the Chemistry Department of Fudan University

as a professor. Awards include Harry B. Weiser Research Award (2011), The Norman

Hackerman Fellowship in Chemistry (2012), Richard Turner Memorial Award (2012), and

1000 Young Talent (2013). Zhengzong Sun has over 50 research publications, with an H-index

= 33 and total citations over 10,000 (Google Scholar). His current research stretches from basic

science such as crystal growth, catalysis and energy conversion mechanism to future

technologies like CO2 reduction, wafer-size 2D electronics and Smart catalyst.

14

Vanadium oxide based electrode materials for fast metal ion storage

Hong Jin Fan

School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Email: fanhj@ntu.edu.sg

Abstract Nanoarray electrodes are being widely investigated for power source in microelectronics, which requires

high rates, high areal capacity/capacitance and long cycle stability. When the metal-ion battery electrode materials are

designed into nanostructures (e.g., 1D array, 2D nanosheets), the pseudocapacitive effect may become dominating

which leads to high-rate performance. Our group has been actively working on nanoarray materials directly on

conductive substrates as electrodes for Li-ion and Na-ion battery electrodes and hybrid capacitors. In this talk, I will

present our results on vanadium oxide based electrode materials and discuss how the extrinsic pseudocapacitance

effect contributes to the high-rate performance.

Dr. Fan is currently an associate professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He

received PhD from National University of Singapore in 2003, followed by postdoc at Max-

Planck-Institute of Microstructure Physics, Germany and University of Cambridge. He joined

NTU as Nanyang Assistant Professor in 2008. He is an editorial board member of

Nanotechnology and Materials Today Nano, advisory board member of Adv Sci, Adv Mater

Interface, and Adv Mater Technologies, and Associate Editor of Materials Research Bulletin.

Dr. Fan’s research interests include energy conversion and storage applications of nanomaterials

(including photolysis and electrolysis of water, batteries), and light emissions of low-

dimensional semiconductors. He has co-authored 190 journal papers with an H-index of 63.

15

2D Photocatalysts for Efficient Solar Fuels

Tierui Zhang *

Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials/Technical Institute of Physics and

Chemistry, Beijing, 10190, China

* Corresponding author E-mail: tierui@mail.ipc.ac.cn

Abstract Herein, some very recent research progress in my group has been summarized on the rational design and

controlled synthesis of nanostructured photocatalysts for highly efficient visible light-driven H2 evolution and

photocatalytic conversion of CO2 or CO into high value-added hydrocarbons by enhancing the light absorbance and

separation of electron-hole pairs of photocatalysts. I) By developing high conductive Cd nanosheet support for CdS,

the quantum efficiency of photocatalytic H2 production of CdS/Cd achieved 33% at 420 nm; II) By creating more

oxygen defects in ultrathin ZnAl-LDH nanosheets, the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 with water over ZnAl-LDH

exhibited stable activity of ≈7.6 μmol g-1 h-1; in ultrathin ZnAl-LDH nanosheets N2 can be efficiently reduced into

NH3 under visible-light irradiation; III) By constructing heterogeneous interface structure, NiO/Ni nanocatalysts

exhibited an unexpectedly high selectivity of 60% for C2-C7 hydrocarbons in the CO hydrogenation reaction under

visible-light irradiation.[1-7]

References:

(1) Zhang, Tierui, et al., Adv. Mater. 2017, DOI: 10.1002/adma.201703828.

(2) Zhang, Tierui, et al., Adv. Mater. 2017, 29 (27), 1700803.

(3) Zhang, Tierui, et al., Adv. Mater. 2017, 29 (16), 1605148.

(4) Zhang, Tierui, et al., Adv. Mater. 2016, 28 (43), 9454-9477.

(5) Zhang, Tierui, et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55 (13), 4215-4219.

(6) Zhang, Tierui, et al., Adv. Energy Mater. 2016, 6 (3), 1501241.

(7) Zhang, Tierui, et al., Adv. Mater. 2015, 27 (47), 7824-7831.

Dr. Tierui Zhang is a full Professor in Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry (TIPC),

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He received his B.S. in Chemistry in 1998, and Ph.D. in

Organic Chemistry in 2003 from Jilin University. His research activity focuses on catalyst

nanomaterials for efficient and clean production and utilization of hydrogen. He has published

more than 140 peer reviewed SCI journal articles in international famous journals such as

Advacned Materials, Angew. Chem. and J. Am. Chem. Soc. These publications have earned him

to date over 5000 citations with H-index 40. Dr. Zhang is the associate editor of Science Bulletin

and also serves as an editorial board member for peer-reviewed journals including Scientific

Reports (Nature Publishing). He is the recipient of a number of awards including Newton

Advanced Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, “Hundred Talents Program”

Scholars of Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2017 he was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry

(RSC).

16

Materials for Photocatalytic H2 generation

Ji-Jun Zou*

Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and

Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.

*Email: jj_zou@tju.edu.cn

Abstract: Photocatalytic H2 evolution using particulate semiconductors is a potentially scalable and economically feasible

technology to utilize solar energy. A wide absorption range, long-term stability, high charge-separation efficiency and strong

redox ability are the key features for H2 evolution. To improve the charge separation we modified the electric structure of

semicondcutors like titanium oxide, tunsten oxide, ceria oxide, and carbon nitride by generating metal/oxygen vacancies in

the lattice. Then we constructed p-n homojunction or Z-scheme structure using these semicondcutors to further drive the

charge transfer at the interface. We also fabricated HER and OER catalyst that are highly active in electrocatalytic water

splitting and also promising as co-catalyst to accelerate the suface reaction kinteics of photocatalytic water splitting.

References:

[1]. Nasir Mahmood, Yunduo Yao, Jing-Wen Zhang, Lun Pan, Xiangwen Zhang, Ji-Jun Zou, Adv. Sci. 2017, 201700464.

[2]. Muhammad Tahir, Lun Pan, Rongrong Zhang, Yi-Cheng Wang, Guoqiang Shen, Imran Aslam, M. A. Qadeer, Nasir

Mahmood, Wei Xu, Li Wang, Xiangwen Zhang, Ji-Jun Zou, ACS Energy Lett. 2017, 2: 2177-2182.

[3]. Zhen-Feng Huang, Jiajia Song, Xin Wang, Lun Pan, Ke Li, Xiangwen Zhang, Li Wang, Ji-Jun Zou, Nano Energy

2017, 40: 308-316.

[4]. Muhammad Tahir, Lun Pan, Xiangwen Zhang, Li Wang, Ji-Jun Zou, Zhong Lin Wang, Nano Energy 2017, 37: 136-

157.

[5]. Zhen-Feng Huang, Jiajia Song, Ke Li, Muhammad Tahir, Yu-Tong Wang, Lun Pan, Li Wang, Xiangwen Zhang, Ji-

Jun Zou, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138: 1359-1365.

[6]. Lun Pan, Songbo Wang, Jiawei Xie, Li Wang, Xiangwen Zhang, Ji-Jun Zou, Nano Energy 2016, 28: 296-303.

[7]. Songbo Wang, Lun Pan, Jia-Jia Song Wenbo Mi, Ji-Jun Zou, Li Wang, Xiangwen Zhang, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015,

137: 2975-2983.

[8]. Zhen-Feng Huang, Jiajia Song, Lun Pan, Xiangwen Zhang, Li Wang, Ji-Jun Zou, Adv. Mater. 2015, 27: 5309-5327.

[9]. Zhen-Feng Huang, Jiajia Song, Lun Pan, Ziming Wang, Xueqiang Zhang, Ji-Jun Zou, Wenbo Mi, Xiangwen Zhang,

Li Wang, Nano Energy 2015, 12: 646-656.

[10]. Jiajia Song, Zhen-Feng Huang, Lun Pan, Ji-Jun Zou, Xiangwen Zhang, Li Wang, ACS Catal. 2015, 5: 6594-6599.

[11]. Yong-Chao Zhang, Zheng Li, Lei Zhang, Lun Pan, Xiangwen Zhang, Li Wang, Fazal-e-Aleem, Ji-Jun Zou, Appl.

Catal. B 2018, 224: 101-108.

[12]. Jing-Wen Zhang, Si Gong, Nasir Mahmood, Lun Pan, Xiangwen Zhang, Ji-Jun Zou, Appl. Catal. B 2018, 221: 9-16.

Prof. Ji-Jun Zou received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering from Tianjin University

in 2000, 2002 and 2005, respectively. Then he became an assistant professor at School of Chemical

Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University and was promoted as full professor from 2013. He was the

visiting scholar from 2014 to 2015 at University of California, Riverside. His research interests mainly

surround nanostructured catalysts for photo/electrocatalysis, fuel processing and biomass conversion. He

received several honors including National Excellent Young Scientist (by NSFC), Changjiang Young

Scholar (by MOE), National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation (by MOE) and Peiyang Distinguished Young

Scholar (by TJU). Currently he serves as the Associate Editor of RSC Advances.

17

Defects of Cobalt-based Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Shuangyin Wang*

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, China *Corresponding Author’s E-mail: shuangyinwang@hnu.edu.cn

Abstract Surface engineering on the electrocatalyts is one of the most popular strategies to tune the electrocatalytic

activities. Here, we will present our recent progress on the Co-based electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction

(OER), which is the key process for metal-air batteries, and water splitting. Currently, the typical electrocatalyst for

OER is RuO2 and IrO2-based precious metal compounds. However, these noble metal-based electrocatalysts are of

high cost and poor stability. Therefore, various strategies have been developed to enhance the electrocatalyst

performance through the surface control. Recently, we have developed the plasma technology to tune the

electrocatalytic performance of carbon-based metal-free electrocatalyst, Co-based compound and 2D layered

nanomaterials for OER. In this talk, we will focus on the recent development of Co-based electrocatalysts in the aspects

of defect chemistry.

References:

1. R. Liu, Y. Wang, D. Liu, Y. Zou, S. Wang, “Water-plasma-enabled Exfoliation of Ultrathin Layered Double

Hydroxides Nanosheets with Multi-vacancies for Water Oxidation", Advanced Materials, 2017, DOI:

10.1002/adma.201701546

2. Y. Wang, Y. Zhang, Z. Liu, C. Xie, S. Feng, D. Liu, M. Shao, S. Wang,* "Layered Double Hydroxide Nanosheets

with Multiple Vacancies Obtained by Dry Exfoliation as Highly Efficient Oxygen Evolution

Electrocatalysts", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201701477.

3. D. Yan, Y. Li, J. Huo, R. Chen, L. Dai, S. Wang, Defect Chemistry of Non-precious Metal Electrocatalysts for

Oxygen Reactions", Advanced Materials, 2017, DOI ：10.1002/adma.201606459

4. Z. Liu, Z. Zhao, Y. Wang, S. Dou, D. Yan, D. Liu, Z. Xia, S. Wang, "In Situ Exfoliated, Edge-rich, Oxygen-

functionalized Graphene from Carbon Fibers for Oxygen Electrocatalysis", Advanced Materials, 2017,

DOI: 10.1002/adma.201606207

5. L.Xu, Q.Jiang, Z. Xiao, S. Wang, "Plasma-Engraved Co3O4 Nanosheets with Oxygen Vacancies and High Surface

Area for Oxygen Evolution Reaction"，Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 5277-5281

Prof. Shuangyin Wang received his bachelor's degree in 2006 from Zhejiang University and his

Ph.D. in 2010 from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He was a postdoctoral fellow

working with Prof. Liming Dai (2010–2011) and Prof. A. Manthiram (2011–2012). He was a

Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Manchester with Prof. K. Novoselov (2012–2013). He

is currently a Professor of the Key Laboratory for Graphene Materials and Devices and College

of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University. His research interests are in novel

carbon catalysts, defects in various crystals, and their application in electrocatalysis.

18

Crystal Engineering of Titaniumoxo clusters

Jian Zhang

State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese

Academy of Sciences, Fujian, Fuzhou, 350002, China

E-mail: zhj@fjirsm.ac.cn

Abstract In this talk, I will show our recent works on titaniumoxo clusters. The titaniumoxo cluster

[Ti42(3O)60(OiPr)42(OH)12)]6 (TOF-1) with the first fullerene-like TiO shell structure is presented. The {Ti42O60}

core of this compound exemplifies icosahedral (Ih) symmetry as C60, the highest possible symmetry for molecules.[1]

Through the labile coordination sites of a robust phosphonate-stabilized titaniumoxo cluster, 14 O-donor ligands

have been successfully introduced without changing the cluster core. The increasing electron-withdrawing effect of

the organic species allows the gradually reduction of bandgaps of the {Ti6} complexes. Transition metal ions are then

incorporated by the utilization of bifunctional O/N-donor ligands, organizing these {Ti6} clusters into polymeric

structures. [2] We report a 3.6 nm Ti52-oxo cluster with precise atomic structure, which presents a largest size record

in the family of titaniumoxo clusters (TOCs). The crystal growth of such large Ti52 is based on a stepwise inter-layer

assembly approach from Ti6 sub-structures. This work not only represents a milestone in constructing large TOCs with

comparable sizes as TiO2 nanoparticles, also brings significant advances in improving photocatalytic behaviors of

TOCs. [3]

References:

1. Mei-Yan Gao, Fei Wang, Zhi-Gang Gu, De-Xiang Zhang, Lei Zhang*, Jian Zhang*, “Fullerene-Like

Polyoxotitanium Cage with High Solution Stability”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 2556-2559.

2. Wei-Hui Fang, Lei Zhang* and Jian Zhang*, “A 3.6 nm Ti52-Oxo Nanocluster with Precise Atomic Structure”, J.

Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 7480-7483.

3. Jin-Xiu Liu, Mei-Yan Gao, Wei-Hui Fang, Lei Zhang* and Jian Zhang*, “Bandgap Engineering of TitaniumOxo

Clusters: Surface Labile Sites Method for Ligand Substitution and Metal Incorporation”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.

2016, 55, 5160-5165.

4. Zhi-Gang Gu†, Caihong Zhan†, Jian Zhang*, Xianhui Bu*, “Chiral Chemistry of Metal-camphorate Frameworks”,

Chem. Soc. Rev. 2016, 45, 3122 – 3144.

5. Zhi-Gang Gu, Hao Fu, Tobias Neumann, Zong-Xiong Xu, Wen-Qiang Fu, Wolfgang Wenzel, Lei Zhang*, Jian

Zhang*, Christof Wöll*, “Chiral Porous Metacrystals: Employing Liquid-phase Epitaxy to Assemble Enantiopure

Metal-Organic Nanoclusters into Molecular Framework Pores”, ACS Nano 2016, 10, 977-983.

6. Hai-Xia Zhang, Meng Liu, Tian Wen, Jian Zhang*, “Synthetic Design of Functional Boron Imidazolate

Frameworks”, Coord. Chem. Rev. 2016, 307, 255-266.

Dr. Jian Zhang graduated from Xiamen University in 2001 and obtained his Ph.D. in 2006 from

the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences

(FJIRSM-CAS). After three years of postdoctoral work with Prof. Xianhui Bu in California State

University, Long Beach, he came back to FJIRSMCAS and served as a Full Research Professor

in September 2009. Dr. Zhang’s group has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers in

international famous journals such as Advacned Materials, Angew. Chem. and J. Am. Chem. Soc.

These publications have received over 8000 citations with H-index 53.

19

Surfactants as Promising Media for the Preparation of Crystalline Inorganic Materials

Qichun Zhang （张其春）

School of Materials Science and Engineering & Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, School of Physical

and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Ave, Singapore 639798)

Email: qczhang@ntu.edu.sg

Abstract Given that surfactants can control the shapes and sizes of micro/nano-particles, they should be able to direct

the growth of bulky crystals. In this talk, I will summarize the recent progress (Figure 1) on using surfactants as

reaction media to prepare crystalline inorganic materials including chalcogenides, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs),

and halides.

Figure 1 surfactant-thermal method to prepare crystalline inorganic materials

Dr. Qichun Zhang obtained his B.S. (1992) at Nanjing University (China), MS (1998) in

physical chemistry at Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, MS (2003) in

organic chemistry at University of California, Los Angeles (USA), and Ph.D. (2007, advised

by Prof. Pingyun Feng) in inorganic chemistry at University of California Riverside (USA).

Then, he joined Prof. Kanatzidis’ group at Northwestern University as a Postdoctoral Fellow

(Oct. 2007 –Dec. 2008). In 2009, he started his career as an Assistant Professor in School

of Materials Science and Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU,

Singapore). In 2014, he was promoted to associate professor and became an adjunct

associate professor at Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, School of Physical

and Mathematical Sciences (NTU). He received TCT fellowship in 2013 and lectureship

from National Taiwan University in 2014. Currently, he is an associate editor of J. Solid

State Chemistry, the Advisory board member of Journal of Materials Chemistry C, the International Advisory Board

member of Chemistry – An Asian Journal; the Advisory board member of Materials Chemistry Frontiers, and the

Advisory board member of Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers. Also, he is Guest Editor of Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers

(2016-2017), Guest Editor of Journal of Materials Chemistry C (2017-2018), and Guest Editor of Inorganic Chemistry

Frontiers (2017-2018). Currently, he is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has published > 265 papers

and 4 patents (H-index: 55).

20

Prof. Dr. Zhenhai Wen

CAS, Key Laboratory of Design and Assembly of Functional Nanostructures, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of

Nanomaterials, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002.

China

Email: wen@fjirsm.ac.cn

Research Topics:

The energy conversion between electricity and chemistry represents a promising pathway for harvesting environment

friendly and renewable energy. For instance, renewable energy harvested from solar or wind are plentiful but tends to

be intermittent and unpredictable, while the associated electrical energy can be potentially stored as chemical energy

through electrolysis strategy. On the other hand, the energy stored in chemical bond can be released in an

environmental friendly manner through a fuel cell or battery system. One of the most critical tasks to implement these

kinds of conversion is to develop high-activity and durable electrocatalysts to facilitate reactions at anode and cathode

in the related energy conversion devices. Research topics in his group mainly include the design and synthesis of

functional nanostructures and exploration their applications in devices of electrochemical energy conversion and

storage system.

Recent Publications:

Luocai Yi, Shenglian Luo*, Suqin Ci, Ping Shao, Yang Hou*, Zhenhai Wen*. Scalable and low-cost synthesis of

black amorphous Al-Ti-O nanostructure for high-efficient photothermal desalination, Nano Energy, 2017, 41:600-

608.

Pingwei Cai, Junheng Huang, Junxiang Chen, Zhenhai Wen*. Oxygen‐Containing Amorphous Cobalt Sulfide

Porous Nanocubes as High‐Activity Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction in an Alkaline/Neutral

Medium, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2017, 56: 4858-4861.

Lin Ye, Guolinag Chai, Zhenhai Wen*. Zn‐MOF‐74 Derived N‐Doped Mesoporous Carbon as pH‐Universal

Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction, Advanced Functional Materials, 2017, 27, 1606190.

Yang Hou, Zhenhai Wen*, Shumao Cui, Suqin Ci, Shun Mao, Junhong Chen. An Advanced Nitrogen-Doped

Graphene/Cobalt-Embedded Porous Carbon Polyhedron Hybrid for Efficient Catalysis of Oxygen Reduction and

Water Splitting. Advanced Functional Materials. 2015, 25, 872-882.

Dr. Zhenhai Wen received his M.Sc. from Beijing University of Technology in 2004 and Ph.D.

degree from the Chinese Academy of Sciences China in 2008. In 2009, he worked in Max Planck

Institute for Polymer Research in Germany as Humboldt postdoctoral research scholar and then

moved to University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as a postdoctoral researcher in 2010. He joined the

Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2015.

Dr Wen has published over 120 peer-reviewed papers in international famous journals with over

6600 citations with H-index 45.

21

Lei Zhang

State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese

Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China

Email: LZhang@fjirsm.ac.cn

Research Activities:

Titanium oxide is an technologically important and widely used photocatalyst for solar energy conversion and

degradation of environmental pollutants. As its model complexes, titanium-oxo clusters (TOCs) have also attracted

increasing interest during the past decades. To prepare new kinds of TOCs, we applied esterification reactions between

carboxylates and alcohols to control the water amounts during the hydrolysis of isopropyl titanate. With this synthetic

strategy, the first fullerene-type TOC (Ti42) and the largest Ti52-oxo cluster reported to date have been prepared. Taking

advantages of the labile coordination sites, we systemically investigated the influence of organic ligands and transition

metal ions on the bandgaps of TOCs. Moreover, we have also developed several effective protocols for the

construction of TOCs based composite materials with excellent visible-light driven H2 evolution activities. More

recently, our research interest has also been extended to Ti-organic cages, which present not only efficient but also

selective photocatalytic activities due to host-guest supramolecular interactions.

Recent Publications:

• “Synthetic strategies, diverse structures and tuneable properties of polyoxo-titanium clusters”, W. H. Fang, L.

Zhang, J. Zhang, Chem. Soc. Rev. 2018, 10.1039/C7CS00511C.

• “Water Soluble and Ultra-Stable Ti4L6 Tetrahedron with Coordination Assembly Function”, Y. P. He, L. B. Yuan,

G. H. Chen, Q. P. Lin, F. Wang, L. Zhang, J. Zhang, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 16845-16851.

• “Assembling Polyoxo-Titanium Clusters and CdS Nanoparticles to Porous Matrix for Efficient and Tunable H2

Evolution Activities with Visible Light”, Z. Jiang, J. Liu, M. Gao, X. Fan, L. Zhang, J. Zhang, Adv. Mater. 2017,

29, 1603369.

• “Fullerene-Like Polyoxotitanium Cage with High Solution Stability”, M. Y. Gao, F. Wang, Z. G. Gu, D. X. Zhang,

L. Zhang, J. Zhang, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 2556-2559.

• “A 3.6 nm Ti52-Oxo Nanocluster with Precise Atomic Structure”, W. H. Fang, L. Zhang, J. Zhang, J. Am. Chem. Soc.

2016, 138, 7480-7483.

• “Bandgap Engineering of Titanium-Oxo Clusters: Labile Surface Sites Used for Ligand Substitution and Metal

Incorporation”, J. X. Liu, M. Y. Gao, W. H. Fang, L. Zhang, J. Zhang, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 5160-

5165.

Dr. Lei Zhang obtained his bachelor degree from Nanjing University in 2004 and PhD degree

from Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences

(FJIRSM-CAS) in 2009. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Wolfgang

Schmitt at Trinity College Dublin from November 2009 to December 2012, and as an Alexander

von Humboldt Research Fellow with Prof. Thomas F. Fässler at Technische Universität

München from January 2013 to August 2014. Since September 2014, he has been working as a

Full Research Professor at FJIRSM-CAS. His research interest is mainly focusing on molecular

coordination metal-oxo clusters and metal-organic cages.

22

Tianhua Zhou

State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese

Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China

E-mail: thzhou@fjirsm.ac.cn

Research Interests:

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) consisting of organic ligand and metal ions or cluster offer big opportunities in the

fields of energy conversion and storage owing to tunable chemical and physical properties at the molecular level. By

post-synthetic modification of a functional MOF, we constructed a bifunctional MOF to achieve efficient

photocatalytic hydrogen production and uncover the reaction mechanism. On the basis of well-defined crystal structure,

we explored a series of cobalt phosphonates with different structures and investigated the interplay between the

structure and the catalytic activity of water oxidation by means of lattice parameters. Apart from direct uses, these

metal phosphonates were also applied as precursors for fabrication of functional nanomaterials under thermolysis

conditions. The in-situ formed nanomaterials showed great potential applications in electrocatalytic oxygen reduction

reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Currently, we mainly focus on advance functional materials

including Titaniumoxo clusters, Boron imidazolate and phosphonate-based MOF for energy conversion and storage.

Representative publications:

1. Tianhua Zhou, Yonghua Du, Danping Wang, Shengming Yin, Wenguang Tu, Zhong Chen, Armando Borgna,

Rong Xu. Phosphonate-based Metal-Organic Framework Derived Co-P-C Hybrid as an Efficient Electrocatalyst

for Oxygen Evolution Reaction. ACS catalysis, 2017, 7, 6000−6007.

2. Tianhua Zhou, Yonghua Du, Shengming Yin, xuezeng Tian, Hongbin Yang, Xin Wang, Bin Liu, Haimei

Zheng, Shizhang Qiao * and Rong Xu.* Nitrogen-Doped Cobalt Phosphate@Nanocarbon Hybrids for Efficient

Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction, Energy Environ. Sci., 2016, 9, 2563-2570.

3. Tianhua Zhou, Danping Wang, Simon Chun-Kiat Goh, Jindui Hong, Jianyu Han, Jianggao Mao* and Rong Xu.*

Bio-inspired organic cobalt(II) phosphonates toward water oxidation, Energy Environ. Sci., 2015, 8, 526-534 .

4. Tianhua Zhou, Yonghua Du, Armando Borgna, Jindui Hong, Yabo Wang, Jianyu Han, Wei Zhang, and Rong Xu.*

Post-Synthesis Modification of Metal-Organic Frameworks to Construct a Bifunctional Photocatalyst for

Hydrogen Production. Energy Environ. Sci., 2013, 6, 3229-3234.

Dr. Tianhua Zhou obtained his Ph.D. at Fuzhou University in 2008. Then he joined the faculty

of Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter Chinese (FJIRSM), Chinese Academy

of Sciences (CAS) (2008-2012). In 2012, Dr. Zhou moved to Singapore as a Research Fellow

working with Prof. Rong Xu at the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering of the

Nanyang Technological University (NTU),Singapore. During April-Oct 2016, he worked as a

Visiting Scholar in Emory University working with Prof. Tianquan Lian to study ultrafast laser

spectroscopy. In February 2017, he moved back to FJIRSM-CAS as a Full Research Professor.

His current research interests focus mainly on functional metal-organic frameworks for

photocatalytic and electrocatalytic applications.

23

Yanhui Ao

Dr. Yanhui Ao is a full Professor of Environmental Engineering at Hohai University (HHU). He

received his Ph.D degree at 2008 from Southeast university. He joined the College of

Environment, HHU as a Post-doctor in 2009. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011

and to Professor in 2017. In 2016, he worked with Prof. Bin Liu in Nanyang Technological

University as a Visiting Scholar. He gained National Natural Science Foundation for Excellent

Young Scholars in 2014. His research interests mainly focus on Water resources protection, water

remediation technology and Behavior of manufactured nanomaterials in environment. He has

published 110-plus SCI journal articles with a citation of over 3000 and an H-index of 36 (data

in google scholar). Besides, he received several awards including National Science and

Technology Progress Award (First class) in 2016 and Technological invention Award (First class)

by Ministry of Education in 2015

Hua Tang

Prof. Hua Tang received his Bachelor in Wuhan University of Engineering, Master and PhD

degrees in Wuhan University of Technology. He joined the School of Materials Science and

Engineering in Jiangsu University as an Assistant Professor in 2008. He was promoted to

Associate Professor in 2011 and to Professor in 2017. His current research is focused on design

of semiconductor-based photocatalytical materials for energy and environmental applications.

He is the author and co-author of 100 original research papers published in SCI journals.

Shunsheng Cao

Dr. Shunsheng Cao is a full Professor of materials science at Jiangsu University. He received

his M.S. degree in organic chemistry at 2003 from Nanchang University and Ph.D degree in

polymer materials at 2006 from Chengdu Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of

Sciences. He was Marie Curie Fellow (IIF) at Cranfield University with Prof. Anthony P.F.

Turner (2011-2013). His research interests mainly focus on catalyst nanomaterials and smart

nanoreactors. He has published 50-plus SCI journal articles and two English books as an editor

in Elsevier and Bentham Science.

24

Conference Remarks

25