From May 31 to June 8, "HUST-NTU Academic Lecture Series" of Materials Science and Engineering was successfully held. Upon the invitation of Professor LI Qing, and Professor CHI Xiaodong from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor XU Zhichuan from School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) delivered a lecture entitled "Is it true that a magnetic field can promote the water oxidation reaction?" and Professor ZHAO Yanli from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) delivered a lecture entitled “MOF-Based Functional Materials for Catalysis”. About 200 students and researchers from universities such as Northeastern University, East China University of Science and Technology, Dalian Maritime University have attended the event online.

In the report, Professor Xu Zhichuan systematically introduced the effect of external magnetic field on the kinetics of electrochemical reaction from the perspective of testing. In recent years, electrochemical reactions in magnetic fields have attracted extensive attention from scholars in the fields of electrochemistry and materials science. The magnetic field can enhance the mass transfer on the electrode surface through the Lorentz force, thereby affecting the kinetics of the electrochemical reaction. However, there has been controversy over whether this phenomenon is true, and the specific mechanism is also unclear. Therefore, it is a very meaningful topic to study the essential reasons for improving the electrochemical activity of the magnetic field. To this end, XU's team has conducted long-term and in-depth research on the dynamic behavior of electrochemistry based on magnetic fields, and designed a series of scientific verification experiments. In the report, the effects of external magnetic field on different magnetic materials (paramagnetic, ferromagnetic, etc.), as well as the effects of single-domain and multi-domain materials on the electrochemical activity, and the design of non-noble metal oxygen evolution materials with excellent electrochemical activity under the magnetic field are emphasized.

The study of magnetic field on electrochemical kinetics by XU Group during recent years

Professor ZHAO Yanli systematically introduced their research progress in the field of the metal-organic framework (MOF) based functional materials. MOF-based functional materials are kinds of crystalline organic porous materials with high specific surface area, modifiable cavity, and abundant metal coordination sites. They are another kind of porous materials beyond zeolite and carbon nanotubes, which has a wide range of applications, such as catalysis, energy storage and separation. In the report, Prof. ZHAO Yanli focused on the application of MOF-based functional materials in CO2 capture and catalytic conversion, photocatalysis, and biocatalysis in cancer treatment. Specifically, they improved the MOF’s BET surface area and CO2 capture ability by introducing triazole groups into the MOF; In situ generation of endogenous O2 via multifunctional mesoporous nanozymes derived from MOFs for enhanced PDT therapeutic efficiency.

Prof. ZHAO Yanli delivers the speech "MOF-Based Functional Materials for Catalysis"

During the Q&A session, Professor XU and Professor ZHAO had a thorough exchange with participants, discussing the details like the theoretical calculations of magnetic fields, specific devices for magnetic fields and coordination of nitrogen atoms with metals, etc., which provided new research ideas and guidance in related research fields.

Introduction to Speakers

Professor XU Zhichuan works at School of Materials Science and Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and has been elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, FRSC. He received his BSc in Chemistry and PhD in Electroanalytical Chemistry from Lanzhou University (jointly cultivated with the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Brown University) and participated as a visiting research assistant and postdoctoral fellow at the State University of New York and MIT respectively. He received the International Electrochemical Society's Tian Zhaowu Award in Energy Electrochemistry in 2019. He has been continuously selected as the highly cited researchers by Clarivate since 2018. And the main research interest of XU's group is electrocatalysis.

ZHAO Yanli, Lee Soo Ying Chair Professor, is the Deputy Head of the Department of Chemistry and Assistant Dean of the School of Mathematics and Science at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is also the Chief Scientist of the Materials and Engineering Research Institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore. He is currently involved in research at the intersection of synthetic chemistry and materials science frontiers. His research interests are focused on the design and preparation of novel self-aggregating materials and their application and development in biomedical, catalytic and green energy fields. He has received honours and awards such as the Asia-Pacific Society for Photochemistry Young Scientist Award (2016), American Chemical Society ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces Young Investigator Award (2017), Singapore National Research Foundation Investigatorship (2018), and Coreview Highly Cited Scientist (2018-2021). He is the Executive Editor-in-Chief of ACS Applied Nano Materials.