Nanostructured Photocatalysts for Selective Light Alkane Oxidation

报告人简介：
Chenlu Xie received her B.S. in chemistry from University of Science and Technology of China in 2013, and Ph.D. in chemistry from UC Berkeley in 2018 under the supervision of Prof. Peidong Yang. After graduation, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Arun Majumdar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. In February 2022, she joined ShanghaiTech University as an tenure-track assistant professor. Her research focuses on nanostructured catalysts design for photochemical and photo-thermal light alkane conversion.

讲座摘要：
Photocatalytic oxidation of light alkanes (CH4, C2H6) offers an promising route to directly transform abundant and inexpensive natural gas into valuable fuels and chemicals. However, achieving high selectivity with high conversion in the direct conversion of alkanes to oxygenates remains a long-standing challenge, hindered by the inertness of C-H bonds and the risk of overoxidation. Photocatalytic alkane oxidation involves a complex interplay of processes across multiple length scales, including electron/hole separation within the photocatalyst, surface redox reactions, and radical coupling in the aqueous or gas phase.  
This talk will highlight our recent advances in addressing these challenges through catalyst design strategy at different level, focusing on: (1) metal active site design to enhance photocarrier separation and control surface redox reactions; (2) interfacial micro-environment design by tuning water structure to modulate proton/electron transfer pathways and optimize alkane oxidation kinetics; and (3) reaction pathway design through exploration of alternative radical pathways beyond •OH to enable C-S and C-C bond formation.  

主持人：申文杰