Speaker: Prof. Nianjun Yang (Hasselt University, Belgium)

Invited by: Professor Du Li

Time: August 25, 2026 (Tuesday), 10:30 AM‑11:30 AM

Venue: Room 902, Building B13, University Town Campus

Organizer: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering / Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Fuel Cell Technology

Biography:

  Professor Nianjun Yang is currently a Professor at the Department of Chemistry and the Institute for Materials Research (IMO‑IMOMEC), Hasselt University, Belgium. He obtained his doctoral degree from the University of Fukui, Japan in 2005. He carried out his post‑doctoral research successively at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan and New Mexico State University in the United States. He once served as Research Group Leader and Senior Researcher at the University of Siegen in Germany, and conducted research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid‑State Physics in Germany. His long‑term research focuses on the design, synthesis and electrochemical applications of functional materials, with particular emphasis on the preparation, surface‑interface chemistry and electrochemical properties of diamond and its composite materials, as well as their applications in electrochemical sensing, energy storage and conversion, and electrocatalysis. He acts as guest editor and advisory board member for multiple academic journals, editor of book series and monographs, and has long been engaged in the organization and academic committee work of international conferences.

Abstract:

  Diamond is a typical sp³‑hybridized wide‑band‑gap semiconductor carbon material. Benefiting from its outstanding physical and chemical properties, it exhibits broad application prospects in mechanics, optics, thermology, electronics and other fields. Apart from conventional high‑temperature high‑pressure fabrication approaches, the advancement of low‑pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technology has further broadened the research and application scope of diamond materials. In particular, heavy boron doping endows CVD‑grown diamond films with favorable electrical conductivity, which greatly expands their applications in electrochemistry. Featuring a wide potential window, low background current and superior stability, boron‑doped diamond has emerged as a highly promising electrode material for electrochemical analysis, energy storage and conversion, pollutant degradation, electrochemical synthesis and biosensing.

  This lecture systematically presents the research advances achieved by the research group on conductive diamond films and their composites. Centered on the theme of “Diamond Chemistry”, this presentation starts with the CVD growth of diamond materials and relevant plasma chemistry, followed by an introduction to their unique surface chemical properties. On this basis, special attention is paid to the electrochemical properties and applications of diamond materials, including electrochemical sensing of biomolecules such as proteins and DNA, as well as state‑of‑the‑art progress in electrochemical energy storage and conversion such as supercapacitors, batteries and electrocatalysis. Finally, future research directions of diamond chemistry are prospected and discussed.

Announced by School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering