Clean energy

Dr Peng Chen

Developing low-cost thin-film solar cells based on halide perovskites, with a particular focus on lead-free tin halide compositions and on 2D/3D heterostructures that combine high efficiency with operational stability. Device engineering is paired with synchrotron structural characterisation to establish what actually limits performance, and the same materials are extended to quantum dots and other optoelectronic devices.

Dr Zhiliang Wang

Using sunlight to drive chemical reactions on semiconductor photoelectrodes — splitting water for hydrogen, reducing carbon dioxide, and producing hydrogen peroxide. A recurring theme is defect engineering: how oxygen vacancies and surface states govern charge separation and transfer in oxide photoanodes such as BiVO4 and hematite, and how that understanding translates into working devices.

Dr Haijiao Lu

Designing catalysts that turn small, stubborn molecules into fuels and chemicals: carbon dioxide to methane and methanol, methane coupling, and nitrate to ammonia. The work centres on single-atom and dual-atom active sites, and on combining light with heat to drive conversions that neither can achieve efficiently on its own.