Title：Non-Planar Electrocatalysis

 Time: 11:00 AM, Saturday, March 28, 2026

 Venue: Conference roomB8-445，University Town Campus

 Organizer: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

[Biography]

Professor Hou Chunchao has long been engaged in interdisciplinary research spanning inorganic chemistry, materials chemistry, and catalytic chemistry, with a particular focus on crystalline porous functional materials such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and their application in electrocatalysis and electrosynthesis for clean energy utilization. He has published over 70 papers in top-tier international journals including Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Advanced Materials, Energy & Environmental Science, and Advanced Energy Materials. Many of these papers are ESI Highly Cited Papers and have been selected as cover articles for global readership. He has been invited to serve as a reviewer for more than 50 international journals including Advanced Materials, and as a youth editorial board member for Nano-Micro Letters, Advanced Powder Materials, SmartMat, Frontiers in Energy, among others. He was interviewed and featured by Scientific Chinese, a magazine under the China Association for Science and Technology. He was named among the World's Top 2% Scientists in 2025. He has led projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Shandong Province Taishan Young Expert Program, and the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation Major Basic Research Project, and has participated in evaluations for projects under the Shandong Provincial Department of Science and Technology.

 [Abstract]

In China's current industrial chain layout, catalysis technology serves as the core enabler for the production of important industrial basic chemicals and the efficient utilization of clean energy (such as hydrogen). It is also deeply integrated with and synergistically empowers the development of environmentally friendly materials and environmental pollution control. Hydrogenation and oxidation, as the core transformation strategies in chemical catalysis and synthesis, currently rely primarily on fossil fuel-driven thermochemical approaches. These harsh operating conditions not only result in high energy consumption but also conflict with the principles of environmental friendliness and pollution control requirements. Under the national strategic imperatives of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality (Dual Carbon Strategy) and the battle against environmental pollution, there is an urgent need to adopt electrocatalysis technology driven by renewable energy. Non-planar electrocatalysis has emerged as a prominent frontier scientific field. Catalytic reactions occur on catalyst surfaces, which are by no means simple planar structures. As topological manifolds, surfaces are not limited to zero-curvature (i.e., planar) configurations. In fact, under actual working conditions, the vast majority of catalytically active surfaces predominantly exhibit non-planar morphologies. Traditional catalytic models often establish correlations between surface structure and catalytic performance based on planar assumptions, but such simplifications obscure the origin of catalytic activity behind a theoretical void. New theoretical frameworks are urgently needed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms.

 Announced by School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering