Introduction of the Presenters

8:30-9:15 

Water splitting by particulate photocatalysts: our recent progress and challenges

Prof. Kazunari Domen

The University of Tokyo／Shinshu University,Japan

Professor Kazunari Domen received B.S. (1976), M.S. (1979), and Ph.D. (1982) honors in chemistry from the University of Tokyo. Dr. Domen joined Chemical Resources Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1982 as Assistant Professor and was subsequently promoted to Associate Professor in 1990 and Professor in 1996. Moving to the University of Tokyo as Professor in 2004, and Cross appointment with Shinshu University as Special Contract Professor in 2017. University Professor of the University of Tokyo in 2019.His research interests include heterogeneous catalysis and materials chemistry, with particular focus on surface chemical reaction dynamics, photocatalysis, solid acid catalysis, and mesoporous materials. Recently, his effort is focused on development of photocatalysts for water splitting and construction of practical solar hydrogen production system. 

All time (1980-2024.3):Publications (peer reviewed original papers and Reviews) ≥ 900;Citations ≥ 100,000;h-index: 147 (Web of Science)

9:15-9:45

Expediting Solar Water Splitting Over Perovskites

Prof. Xiaoxiang Xu 

Tongji University

Prof. Xiaoxiang Xu received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2006 and his Ph.D. degree from the University of St Andrews in 2010. After receiving his Ph.D. degree, he continued post.doc research at the University of St Andrews and worked as a visiting scholar at the California Institute of Technology. In 2014, he moved to Tongji University and now is a professor in the school of chemical science and engineering. Prof. Xu has been working on solar energy conversion into useful chemicals, such as photocatalytic water splitting into H₂ and O₂, N₂ photo-fixation into ammonia, etc. His main research interest is perovskite-based inorganic compounds that can split water under visible light. He has published more than 120 SCI papers, including Nature Materials, Advanced Materials, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Sciences, ACS Nano, ACS Catalysis etc. He has also been granted 1 US patent and 8 Chinese patents

9:45-10:15

Polymeric Carbon Nitride for Photocatalytic Overall Water Splitting 

Prof. Shaohua Shen

Xi'an Jiaotong University

Prof. Shaohua Shen obtained his Bachelor degree in Applied Chemistry in 2004 and PhD degree in Thermal Engineering in 2010 from Xi'an Jiaotong University. During 2008-2009 and 2011-2012, he worked as a guest researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Berkeley. He is currently a professor at Xi'an Jiaotong University, China, and the receipt of National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars. His research interests include nanomaterials and devices for photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical solar energy conversion. He has published more than 100 papers in Nature Energy, Advanced Materials, etc

10:30-11:15

Upscaling Solar Hydrogen Production System to Practical Scale

Prof. Jae Sung Lee

Ulsan National Institute of Science & Technology

Professor Jae Sung Lee received his BS degree from Seoul National University in 1975, MS degree from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in 1977, and PhD degree from Stanford University in 1984. After a brief tenure at Catalytica Inc. as a research fellow, he returned to his native Korea to become a professor of chemical engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH). He and his group moved to Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in 2013. He has been leading a research group of the “eco-friendly catalysis and energy laboratory (Ecocat)”, whose research interests are focused on photocatalysis for energy applications, electrocatalysis for water splitting, and heterogeneous catalysis of CO₂ utilization. He has special interest in solar fuel production via photoelectrochemical cells or photovoltaic-electrolyzer systems. 

He served as the President of Korean Association of Photo Science (KAPS) and the Treasurer of Asian Pacific Association of Catalysis Societies (APACS). He is (or was) in the editorial boards of Journal of Catalysis, Applied Catalysis A, Journal of Molecular Catalysis, ChemCatChem, Catalysts, Catalysis Letters, and ACS Artificial Photosynthesis. He served as a technical advisor for many Korean chemical companies including Sam Sung Petrochemicals, Sam Sung Advanced Institute of Technology, and LG Chemicals. He was the recipient of Green Energy Prize 2005 (Korean Society of Energy Engineering) and Yeosan Catalysis Research Prize 2010 (Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers). He has ⁓490 peer-reviewed publications, which have been cited more than 33,000 times (H-index: 100), and ~100 granted patents. 

11:15-11:45

Solar hydrogen production by photoelectrochemical water splitting

Prof. Zhaosheng Li

Nanjing University

Prof. Zhaosheng Li received his Ph.D. degree in Condensed Matter Physics from the Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2003. After a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Nanjing University, he became a lecturer. In 2006, he was promoted to an associate professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Nanjing University. Since 2011, he has been a full professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University. His current research interest is photoelectrochemistry and photocatalysis.

11:45-12:15

Crystalline Carbon Nitrides for Sustainable Energy Use

Prof. Li Li

Northeastern University (CN) 

Prof. Li Li (Ph.D., FRSC, FIMMM) is the Full Professor in the School of Metallurgy in Northeastern University, China and Director of Institute for Renewable Energy Materials. He is the Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and National Distinguished Scholar. He was awarded with the TMS Young Leader Development Award, RSC Emerging Investigator, the excellent Key Reader Award of MMTA and other more than 20 awards. As the corresponding author, he has published more than 100 papers in prestigious journals including Chem, Matter, PNAS, JACS, Angew, Acta Materialia, Energy & Environmental Science, etc with a H index higher than 60. He serves as the Editorial Group of National Science Review (NSR), director of review committee for MMTA and associate editor/editor/editorial board member for more than 10 prestigious journals including Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B, Nanoscale Horizons, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Materials Horizons, etc. His primary research is focused on the sustainable energy materials development for energy conversion/storage and environmental use, etc.

13:30-14:15

Recent Advances in the Development of Sustainable Photocatalysts

Prof. Jimmy C. Yu

Chinese University of Hong Kong

Prof. Jimmy C. Yu is Research Professor and Emeritus Choh-Ming Li Professor of Chemistry at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Before retiring from teaching, he was Head of United College from 2012 to 2022. Prof. Yu is a leading scientist in photocatalysis research, and he holds several patents on the fabrication and application of photocatalytic nanomaterials. As a highly cited researcher, Prof. Yu has received numerous honors including a State Natural Science Award and Chang Jiang Scholar Chair Professorship.

14:15-14:45

The Software Architecture of LASP for Artificial Intelligence-Driven Atomic Simulation and Its Application in Catalysis

Prof. Zhipan Liu 

Fudan University

In 2003, Prof. Zhipan Liu received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry from Queen's University, Belfast, United Kingdom. From 2003 to 2005, he conducted postdoctoral research in surface science theory at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. His primary research focuses on the development of theoretical computational chemistry methods and the simulation of chemical reaction processes at surface and interface. He has achieved a series of significant accomplishments in areas such as the theory of solvation models at solid-liquid interfaces, the exploration of complex potential energy surface structures and reaction searching methods, the construction of global neural network potential functions, and the fundamental theory of multicomponent heterogeneous catalysis. He has established a comprehensive framework for theoretical catalysis research, significantly advancing the field of theoretical catalytic chemistry. He has presided over key research and development projects in nanotechnology funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, 973 projects, and key projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, among other national-level projects. He has received funding from the Chang Jiang Scholars Program of the Ministry of Education and the National Science Foundation of China for Distinguished Young Scholars. In 2020, he was awarded the second Xplorer Prize, and in 2019, he won the First Prize of Shanghai Natural Science Award (as the first recipient). He has also been honored with the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) Young Chemist Award in 2004, the Chinese Chemical Society Young Chemist Award in 2007, the title of the Fourth Shanghai Youth Science and Technology Talent in 2008, and the "Oriental Scholar" designation as a Distinguished Professor in Shanghai's Higher Education Institutions in 2008. Currently, he serves as an Executive Editor for J.Phys. Chem. A/B/C.

14:45-15:15

Defective Layered Double Hydroxide Based Nanostructured Photocatalysts

Prof. Tierui Zhang

Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry,Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Prof. Tierui Zhang received his PhD in Chemistry from Jilin University in 2003. He is currently a professor and doctoral supervisor of Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Director of Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, CAS. He was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in 2017 and a fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society (FCCS) in 2023. He is also the associate editor of Science Bulletin, Industrial Chemistry & Materials, Nano Research Energy and Transactions of Tianjin University, and also serves as an editorial board member for peer-reviewed journals including Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Science, Chemical Science. He is mainly engaged in the research of energy conversion nanocatalytic materials, and has published more than 360 SCI papers in Nat. Catal., Nat. Commun., Adv. Mater., Angew. Chem., JACS and other journals, which have been cited more than 44000 times, with an H index of 115. He was named in the annual Highly Cited Researchers 2018-2023 List by Clarivate Analytics; 53 national invention patents were authorized. 

15:30-16:15

Semiconductor Nanomaterials for photoelectrochemical energy conversion

Prof. Lianzhou Wang

The University of Queensland

Prof. Lianzhou Wang is a professor and Australian Research Council (ARC) Australian Laureate Fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering, Director of Nanomaterials Centre, and Senior Group Leader of Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. His research focuses on the design and application of semiconductor nanomaterials for renewable energy conversion and storage including photocatalysts for hydrogen production, low-cost solar cells and rechargeable batteries. He has published > 600 peer-reviewed articles in high quality journals including with a H-index of 127. He won some prestigious honours/awards including ARC QEII Fellowship (2006), Future Fellowship (2012), Laureate Fellowship (2019) and Industry Laureate Fellowship (2024), Scopus Young Researcher Award, and Research Excellence Award in Chemical Engineering. Lianzhou serves as the Editor/Associate Editor/editorial board of more than 10 international journals, and is the President of Australian Materials Research Society. He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA), Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Royal Society of Chemistry and Academia Europaea (The Academy of Europe), and is named on the Clarivate’ Highly Cited Researchers list.

16:15-16:45

Engineering Ta3N5 thin film photoanodes for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

Prof. Yanbo Li

University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Prof. Yanbo Li is a professor at the Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC). He obtained Bachelor's (2005) and Master's (2007) degrees in Physics from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Ph.D. degree (2010) in Engineering Synthesis from The University of Tokyo (UT). He then worked as a Postdoc Fellow under the supervision of Prof. Domen at UT (2010-2014) and under Dr. Ian Sharp in the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (2014-2016). Since 2016, his group at UESTC has been devoted to developing efficient Ta3N5 thin film photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting. 

16:45-17:15

Ferroelectric and Z-scheme photocatalytic water splitting

Prof. Chao Zhen 

Institute of Metal Research,Chinese Academy of Sciences

Prof. Chao Zhen conducts primary research on solar energy conversion materials and devices. He has presided over seven projects, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China's Youth Fund and General Program. In 2020, he was selected to join the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and has successively been recognized as a member of the "Million Talents Program" at the provincial level in Liaoning Province (2019) and a top talent in Shenyang City (2020). He serves as a young editorial board member for EcoEnergy. He has published over 50 SCI-indexed papers, among which 34 are (co-)first/corresponding author papers in prestigious journals such as Nat. Commun., Chem. Soc. Rev., Adv. Funct. Mater., Sci. Bull., Nano Energy, etc. His publications have been cited over 2,500 times in SCI. He holds 10 authorized Chinese invention patents.