Research
Transition to clean energy, mitigation of carbon emissions, and protection of clean air and water resources are crucial global challenges. Solving these large-scale problems will be aided by the development of systems for the precise interconversion of chemical and electrical or solar energy, for example, catalysts for controlled electrochemical reactions involving small molecules such as CO2. These reactions are inefficient due to their sluggish kinetics and myriad of possible reaction pathways. There is a critical need for understanding and developing catalysts, to both accelerate these reactions and improve selectivity to the desired products.

Research in the Wang Group develops catalyst materials and catalytic processes for energy and environmental applications guided by fundamental structure-reactivity correlation studies. Specifically, the following five research thrusts are being pursued:

Heterogeneous molecular catalysts for electrochemical conversion of small molecules, including carbon dioxide, nitrate, and volatile organic compounds,
Photochemistry for solar energy utilization, fuel production, and energy storage,
Nanoscale interactions for cooperative electrocatalysis,
Interface chemistry and catalysis in next-generation high-energy batteries, and
Application of electrocatalysis and photocatalysis in environmental chemistry for air and water treatment.