Title: Unlocking Catalytic Powers of Nonprecious Nanomaterials

Biography: Huijun Zhao obtained his PhD in Chemistry (1994) from the University of Wollongong, Australia. He held Research Fellow/Senior Research Fellow positions during 1994-1997 in the University of Wollongong and University of Western Sydney. He took a Lecturer position at Griffith University in 1997 and was subsequently promoted to Senior Lecturer (2001), A/Professor (2003), Chair Professor of Griffith Commercialization Laboratory (2005). He currently holds a professorial position in School of Environment and Science and is the Direct of the Centre for Clean Environment and Energy at Griffith University. He is also the Director of the Centre for Environmental and Energy Nanomaterials at the Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Prof. Zhao has won a number of awards such as The R.H. Stokes Medal and University Research Leadership Award, and is the Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and the Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (FRACI). He has expertise in energy and environmental nanomaterials, water source control and management system, field-based sensing technologies and aquatic environmental quality assessment. One of his current pursuits is to explore new means to unlock the catalytic powers of nonprecious materials as high performance catalysts for important catalysis reactions. Prof. Zhao has published over 400 refereed journal papers that attracted over 22,000 citations and earned him an H-index of 78. He has also gained 68 international patents within 8 world-wide patent families in functional nanomaterials & nanotechnology, photoelectrocatalysis and environmental monitoring systems.