Fields of Research (FoR)
Energy Generation, Conversion and Storage Engineering, Ethical Use of New Technology (e.g. Nanotechnology, Biotechnology), Functional Materials, Electrochemistry, Physical Chemistry of MaterialsSEO tags
Biography
Professional Experience
- Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney (01 Jan 2022 - now)
- Senior Lecturer, UNSW Sydney (01 July 2019 - 31 Dec 2022)
- Scientia Fellow, UNSW Sydney (01 Jan 2019 - now)
- Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, UNSW Sydney (01 Jan 2017 - 31 Dec 2019)
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UNSW Sydney (01 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2016)
Teaching
- CEIC2009 Materials and Energy Balances in the Chemical Process Industry.
- CEIC2000...view more
Professional Experience
- Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney (01 Jan 2022 - now)
- Senior Lecturer, UNSW Sydney (01 July 2019 - 31 Dec 2022)
- Scientia Fellow, UNSW Sydney (01 Jan 2019 - now)
- Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, UNSW Sydney (01 Jan 2017 - 31 Dec 2019)
- 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:
- Y. Zhao, P.V. Kumar, X. Tan, X.X. Lu, X. Zhu, J. Jiang, J. Pan, S. Xi, H. Y. Yang, Z. Ma, T. Wan, D. Chu, W. Jiang, S.C. Smith, R. Amal, Z. Han, X. Lu, Modulating Pt-O-Pt atomic clusters with isolated cobalt atoms for enhanced hydrogen evolution catalysis, Nature Communications, 2022, 13, 2430.
- Z. Lin, Q. Zhang, J. Pan, C. Tsounis, A.A. Esmailpour, S. Xi, Y.H. Yang, Z. Han, J. Yun, R. Amal, X. Lu, Atomic Co decorated free-standing graphene electrode assembly for efficient hydrogen peroxide production in acid, Energy & Environmental Science, 2022, 15, 1172-1182.
- Q. Zhang, P. Kumar, X. Zhu, R. Daiyan, N.M. Bedford, K. Wu, Z. Han, T. Zhang, R. Amal, X. Lu, Electronically Modified Atomic Sites Within a Multicomponent Co/Cu Composite for Efficient Oxygen Electroreduction, Advanced Energy Materials, 2021, 11, 2100303.
- Y. Zhao, W.-J. Jiang, J. Zhang, E.C. Lovell, R. Amal, Z. Han, X. Lu, Anchoring Sites Engineering in Single-Atom Catalysts for Highly Efficient Electrochemical Energy Conversion Reactions, Advanced Materials, 2021, 33, 2102801.
- X. Zhu, X. Tan, K.-H. Wu, S.-C. Haw, C.-W. Pao, B.-J. Su, J. Jiang, S.C. Smith, J.-M. Chen, R. Amal, X. Lu, Intrinsic ORR Activity Enhancement of Pt Atomic Sites by Engineering the d-Band Center via Local Coordination Tuning, Angewandte Chemie-International Edition, 2021, 60, 21911-21917.
- Q. Zhang, X. Tan, N.M. Bedford, Z. Han, L. Thomsen, S. Smith, R. Amal, X. Lu, Direct insights into the role of epoxy groups on cobalt sites for acidic H2O2 production, Nature Communications, 2020, 11, 4181.
- X. Zhu, C. Hu, R. Amal, L. Dai, X. Lu, Heteroatom-doped carbon catalysts for zinc-air batteries: progress, mechanism, and opportunities, Energy & Environmental Science, 2020, 13, 4536-4563.
Ph.D. positions and Honours projects are available, please contact Dr. Lu for further discussions.