Prof. Zhenbin WANG

PhD in NanoEngineering, University of California, San Diego

Assistant Professor
(Joint appointment with Department of Materials Science and Engineering)

Prof. Zhenbin WANG obtained his BEng and MEng degrees from the Harbin Institute of Technology and the University of Science and Technology of China in 2011 and 2014, respectively. He earned his Ph.D. in NanoEngineering from the University of California, San Diego, in 2018, where he was honored with the Chancellor's Dissertation Medal, Gareth Thomas Materials Excellence Award, and Henry Booker Prize. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Catalysis Theory Center of the Technical University of Denmark before joining CityU.

Research Interest

Novel materials hold tremendous potential to revolutionize various industries, particularly energy, and chemicals. Prof. WANG's research focuses on utilizing first-principles calculations, high-throughput computation, and artificial intelligence to accelerate the development and discovery of new materials that can effectively address global challenges in clean energy and the environment. His current interests include studying and designing catalyst materials for electro/photo-catalysis. In doing so, his team not only uncover the fundamental mechanisms of electrochemical reactions, but also apply the insights gained to guide the design of better materials. Additionally, the team aims to develop advanced materials informatics and surrogate models to accelerate materials innovation for general energy applications.

Selected Publications

A. Xu^†, S.-F. Hung^†, A. Cao^†, Z. Wang^†, N. Karmodak, J. E. Huang, Y. Yan, A. S. Rasouli, A. Ozden, E. H. Sargent et al., Copper/alkaline earth metal oxide interfaces for electrochemical CO2-to-alcohol conversion by selective hydrogenation, Nature Catalysis, 5, 1081–1088 (2022).
R. Wang, Z Wang*, L. Zhang, Q. Wang, Z. Zhao, W. Huang, J. Shi. Computation-Aided Discovery and Synthesis of 2D PrOBr Photocatalyst, ACS Energy Letters, 2022, 7, 1980–1986.
S. Li, M. Amachraa, C Chen, Z. Wang*, S. P. Ong, R.-J. Xie. Efficient near-infrared phosphors discovered by parametrizing the Eu(II) 5d-to-4f energy gap, Matter, 5, 1924–1936, June 1, 2022.
S. Pan, H. Li, D. Liu, Rui Huang, Xuelei Pan, Dan Ren, Jun Li, Mohsen Shakouri, Z. Wang*, M. Graetzel, X. Zhang et al., Highly efficient and stable noble-metal-free catalyst for acidic water oxidation, Nature Communications, 13, 2294 (2022).
A. Cao^†, V. Bukas^†, V. Shadravan^†, Z Wang^†, H. Li, J. Kibsgaard, I. Chorkendorff, Jens K. Nørskov, Non-traditional promoters in ammonia synthesis - introducing a spin promotion effect, Nature Communications, 13, 2382 (2022).
M. Amachraa, S. Li, P.-Y. Huang, R.-S. Liu, Z. Wang*, R.-J. Xie, and S. P. Ong, M_xLa_1-xSiO_2-yN_z (M=Ca/Sr/Ba): Elucidating and Tuning the Structure and Eu2+ Local Environments to Develop Full-Visible Spectrum Phosphors, Chemistry of Materials, 2022, 34, 9, 4039–4049.
Z. Wang, M. T. Tang, A. Cao, K. Chan, J. K. Nørskov. Insights into hydrogen evolution reaction on 2D transition metal dichalcogenides, The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2022, 126, 11, 5151–5158.
Y-R. Zheng^†, J. Vernieres^†, Wang^†, K. Zhang^†, D. Hochfilzer, K. Krempl, J. K. Nørskov, I. Chorkendorff. Monitoring oxygen production on mass-selected Iridium-Tantalum oxide catalysts, Nature Energy, 7, 55–64 (2022).
M. You L. Gui, X. Ma, Z. Wang*, Y. Xu, J. Zhang, J. Sun, B. He, L. Zhao. Electronic tuning of SrIrO₃ perovskite nanosheets by sulfur incorporation to induce highly efficient and long-lasting oxygen evolution in acidic media, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2021, 298, 120562.
Z. Wang, Y.-R. Zheng, J. Montoya, D. Hochfilzer, I. Chorkendorff, and J. K. Nørskov. Origins of the Instability of Non-precious HER Catalysts at Open Circuit Potential, ACS Energy Letters, 2021, 6, 6, 2268–2274.
Z. Wang, X. Guo, J. Montoya, J. K. Nørskov. Predicting aqueous stability of solid with computed Pourbaix diagram using SCAN functional, Npj Computational Materials, 2020, 6, 160.
Z. Wang, Y-R. Zheng, I. Chorkendorff, J. K. Nørskov. Acid-Stable Oxides for Oxygen Electrocatalysis, ACS Energy Letters, 2020, 5, 9, 2905–2908.
M. Amachraa^†, Z. Wang^†, C. Chen, S. Hariyani, H. Tang, J. Brgoch, S. P. Ong. Predicting Thermal Quenching in Inorganic Phosphors, Chemistry of Materials, 2020, 32, 14, 6256–6265.
S. Li, Y. Xia, M. Amachraa, N. T. Hung, Z. Wang*, S. P. Ong, R. J. Xie. Data-Driven Discovery of Full-Visible-Spectrum Phosphor, Chemistry of Materials, 2019, 31 (16), 6286-6294.
Z. Wang, J. Ha, Y. H. Kim, W. B. Im, J. McKittrick, S. P. Ong. Mining Unexplored Chemistries for Phosphors for High-Color-Quality White-Light-Emitting Diodes, Joule, 2018, 2 (5), 914-926.
Z. Wang, W. Ye, I. H. Chu, S. P. Ong. Elucidating structure–composition–property relationships of the β-SiAlON:Eu²⁺ phosphor. Chemistry of Materials, 2016, 28(23), 8622-8630.
Z. Wang, I. H. Chu, F. Zhou, S. P. Ong. Electronic structure descriptor for the discovery of narrow-band red-emitting phosphors. Chemistry of Materials, 2016, 28(11), 4024-4031.
Z. Wang, R. Peng, W. Zhang, X. Wu, C. Xia, Y. Lu. Oxygen reduction and transport on the La_1-xSr_xCo_1-yFe_yO_3-δ cathode in solid oxide fuel cells: a first-principles study. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2013, 1(41), 12932-12940.
Z. Wang, W. Yang, Z. Zhu, R. Peng, X. Wu, C. Xia, Y. Lu. First-principles study of O₂ reduction on BaZr_1-xCo_xO₃ cathodes in protonic-solid oxide fuel cells. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2014, 2(39), 16707-16714.

Contact Information

Office:	BOC-R7135
Phone:	+(852)-3442-2803
Email:	zwan22@cityu.edu.hk

Time slots for consultation

Research Interests

Catalyst design for electrocatalysis and photocatalysis
Data-driven materials design for energy applications
Materials informatics and machine learning for materials modeling