Time：March 24th, 2022. 10:30 ( China time )

Meeting ID：553 402 394 ( VOOV MEETING)

Bio：

Dr. Haotian Wang is currently a William Marsh Rice Trustee Chair Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University. He obtained his PhD degree in the Department of Applied Physics at Stanford University in 2016 and his Bachelor of Science in Physics at the University of Science and Technology of China in 2011. In 2016 he received the Rowland Fellowship and began his independent research career at Harvard as a principal investigator. He was awarded the 2021 Sloan Fellow, 2020 Packard Fellow, 2019 CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar, 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30, highly cited researchers, etc. He serves as the editorial board of Communications Materials. His research group has been focused on developing novel nanomaterials for energy and environmental applications including energy storage, chemical/fuel generation, water treatment, etc.

Abstract：

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction, with the energy input from renewable electricity, provides a green and alternative route for the generation of chemicals and fuels. However, its practice is currently challenged at two systematical levels: the lack of selective electrocatalysts to combat the strong completion from water reduction, and the lack of novel reactors for large-scale reaction rates and efficient product separation. In this talk, I will introduce the rational design of both catalytic materials and reactors towards practical CO₂ reduction performances. By dispersing transition metals into isolated single atoms with electronic structures significantly different from their bulk counterparts, we can dramatically suppress the competing hydrogen evolution and deliver an ultra-high CO₂ reduction selectivity of more than 95% under ambient conditions in water. Scaled-up synthesis and efficient reactors demonstrated the potential for practical applications. Furthermore, by designing a novel solid electrolyte reactor, we successfully demonstrated a continuous generation of pure liquid fuel solutions via CO₂ reduction. This technology eliminates the product separation process required in traditional CO₂ reduction electrolyzers, opening up its practical applications in the future.