Xunyu Lu

xunyu Lu new
Scientia Fellow and Senior Lecturer
Chemical Engineering
Contact details:
+61 2 93857360
xunyu.lu@unsw.edu.au
Location:

TETB, Room 345

Dr Lu received his BS degree from East China University of Science and Technology in 2007. He started his PhD study at the School of Chemistry, UNSW in 2011 and received his PhD degree in 2014 under the supervision of A/Prof. Chuan Zhao. Following his PhD graduation, Xunyu worked with A/Prof. Chuan Zhao and Dr. Yun Hau Ng as research associate in the School of Chemistry. Xunyu joined the Partcat group in the School of Chemical Engineering at UNSW in 2015.

His research interests mainly focused on the development of novel functional materials towards highly efficeint energy conversion reactions, such as nanocarbon and/or non-precious metal composites for oxygen evolution reactions and oxygen reduction reactions.

 

Professional Experience

  •   Senior Lecturer, UNSW Sydney (01 July 2019 - now).
  •   Scientia Fellow, UNSW Sydney (01 Jan 2019 - now)
  •   Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, UNSW Sydney (01 Jan 2017 - now)
  •   Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UNSW Sydney (01 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2016)

Teaching

  • CEIC2009 Materials and Energy Balances in the Chemical Process Industry.
  • CEIC2000 Materials and Energy Systems.

 

My Qualifications

Education 

  • Ph.D. in Chemistry (School of Chemistry, UNSW Sydney, Oct 2014)

 

My Awards

Awards and Honours

  • Bloom-Gutmann Prize (2012) from Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI).
  • ARC DECRA Fellow (2017-2019).
  • UNSW Scientia Fellow (2019-2022).

 

My Research Activities

Research Activities and Current Projects 

  • 1. Development of cost-effective and active catalyst for electrochemical energy conversion reactions. 
  • 2. Fundamental study of electrocatalysis with combined computational and experimental techniques. 
  • 3. Design and fabrication of energy devices (water/CO2 electrolysers, fuel cell stacks, metal-air batteries) for potential industrial applications.
  • 4. Control the geometric and electronic effects of single atom catalysts for selectivity and activity enhancements. 
  • 5. Integration of the energy devices with state-of-the-art photovoltaic (PV) cells to produce renewable chemicals and fuels.

Recent Selected Publications:

  • Q. Zhang, X. Tan, N. M. Bedford, Z. Han, L. Thomsen, S. Smith, R. Amal*, X. Lu*, Nat. Commun., 2020, accepted.
  • R. Daiyan#, X. Zhu#, Z. Tong, L. Gong, A. Razmjou, R.S. Liu*, Z. Xia, X. Lu*, L. Dai, R. Amal*, "Transforming active sites in nickel–nitrogen–carbon catalysts for efficient electrochemical CO2 reduction to CO", Nano Energy, 2020, 105213.
  • R. Daiyan#, E. C. Lovell#, B. Huang, M. Zubair, J. Leverett, Q. Zhang, S. Lim, J. Horlyck, J. Tang, X. Lu, K. Kalantar‐Zadeh, J. N. Hart, N. M. Bedford*, R. Amal*, “Uncovering Atomic‐Scale Stability and Reactivity in Engineered Zinc Oxide Electrocatalysts for Controllable Syngas Production”, Adv. Energy Mater., 2020, 2001381.
  • X. Zhu, D. Zhang, C. J. Chen, Q. Zhang, R. S. Liu*, Z. Xia, L. Dai, R. Amal*, X. Lu*, “Harnessing the interplay of Fe–Ni atom pairs embedded in nitrogen-doped carbon for bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis”, Nano Energy, 2020, 71, 104597.
  • R. Daiyan, W. H. Saputera, H. Masood, J. Leverett, X. Lu*, R. Amal*, “A Disquisition on the Active Sites of Heterogeneous Catalysts for Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to Value‐Added Chemicals and Fuel”, Adv. Energy. Mater., 2020, 10, 1902106.
  • E. C. Lovell, X. Lu*, Q. Zhang, J. Scott, R. Amal*, “From passivation to activation–tunable nickel/nickel oxide for hydrogen evolution electrocatalysis”, Chem. Commun., 2020, 56, 1709-1712.
  • Q. Zhang, N. M. Bedford, J. Pan, X. Lu*, R. Amal*, “A Fully Reversible Water Electrolyzer Cell made up from FeCoNi (Oxy)hydroxide Atomic Layers”, Adv. Energy Mater. 2019, 1901312.  
  • R. Daiyan#, E. C. Lovell#, N. M. Bedford, W. H. Saputera, K. H. Wu, S. Lim, J. Horlyck, Y. H. Ng, X. Lu*, R. Amal*, “Modulating Activity through Defect Engineering of Tin Oxides for Electrochemical CO2Reduction”, Adv. Sci. 2019, 1900678.
  • X. Zhu, X. Tan, K. H. Wu, C. L. Chiang, Y. C. Lin, Y. G. Lin, D. W. Wang, S. Smith, X. Lu*, R. Amal*, “N,P co-coordinated Fe species embedded in carbon hollow spheres for oxygen electrocatalysis”, J. Mater. Chem. A 2019, 7, 14732-14742.
  • X. Zhu, R. Amal*, X. Lu*, “N,P Co-Coordinated Manganese Atoms in Mesoporous Carbon for Electrochemical Oxygen Reduction”, Small 2019, 1804524.
  • S. Zhao, X. Lu, L. Wang, J. Gale, R. Amal*, “Carbon-Based Metal-Free Catalysts for Electrocatalytic Reduction of Nitrogen for Synthesisof Ammonia at Ambient Conditions”, Adv. Mater. 2019, 1805367.
  • X. Lu#, X. Tan#, Q. Zhang, R. Daiyan, J. Pan, R. Chen, H. A. Tahini, D. W. Wang, S. C. Smith*, R. Amal*, “Versatile electrocatalytic processes realized by Ni, Co and Fe alloyed core coordinated carbon shells”, J. Mater. Chem. A 2019, 7, 12154-12165.
  • R. Daiyan, X. Tan, R. Chen, W. H. Saputera, H. A. Tahini, E. Lovell, Y. H. Ng, S. C. Smith, L. Dai, X. Lu*, R. Amal*, “Electroreduction of CO2 to CO on a Mesoporous Carbon Catalyst with Progressively Removed Nitrogen Moieties”, ACS Energy Lett. 2018, 3, 2292-2298.
  • X. Lu*, J. Pan, E. Lovell, T. H. Tan, Y. H. Ng, R. Amal*, “A sea-change: Manganese doped nickel/nickel oxide electrocatalysts for hydrogen generation from seawater”, Energy Environ. Sci. 2018, 11, 1898-1910.

 

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