Junwang Tang

Junwang Tang, MAE, FRSC and FIMMM, is the Founding Director of Industrial Catalysis Center, and Carbon Neutrality Chair Professor of Materials Chemistry and Catalysis at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University and Visiting Professor at University College London (UCL). He also served as the Director of the University Material Hub at UCL (2016–2019).

Junwang Tang
Alma mater	Northeastern University (China) (BA) Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (PhD)
Awards	IChemE Global Business Start-Up Award (2019) IPS Scientist Award (2018)
Scientific career
Fields	Solar energy Photochemistry.^[1]
Institutions	University College London
Thesis	Microwave catalytic conversion of NOx  (2001)
Doctoral advisor	Tao Zhang
Website	ucl.ac.uk/solar-energy-advanced-materials/

Education

Tang was educated at Northeastern University (China), where he received his BSc degree in chemistry in 1995. Then he attended the Institute of Metal Research in China and was awarded a MSc degree in inorganic materials in 1998. In 2001, Tang was awarded a PhD in physical chemistry with research on heterogeneous catalytic conversion of NO to N₂, supervised by Tao Zhang at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), China^[2]

Career

In 2002, Tang was awarded a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) search Fellowship and NIMS Researcher, enable to expand his research in photocatalysis in the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan.^[3] In 2005, he was appointed as a senior research associate in the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College London, UK.^[4]

In 2009, Tang was appointed as a lecturer in energy (permanent position) in Department of Chemical Engineering at University College London, then promoted to a senior lecturer in 2011, a readership in 2014 and finally a full professor of materials chemistry and engineering in 2017. During this period, he was also appointed as the director of University Materials Hub.^[5] In 2022, Tang moved from UCL to Tsinghua University.

Tang is a member of the Academy of Europe / Academia Europaea,^[6] a Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow,^[7] a Fellow of European Academy of Sciences,^[8] a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry. He also sits on the editorial board of four international journals, e.g. editor of Applied Catalysis B : Environmental, editor-in-chief of Journal of Advanced Chemical Engineering, associate editor of Asia-Pacific Journal of Chemical Engineering and associate editor of Chin Journal of Catalysis, as well as a member of the committees of the RSC Chemical Nanoscience & Nanotechnology. He also sits on the panel of a few counties’ National Science Foundations.

Research

Tang's research interests encompass photocatalytic/thermocatalytic small molecule activation (e.g. CH₄,^[9][10] N₂,^[11] H₂O,^[12] C₆H₆ and CO₂^[13][14]) and microwave catalysis (e.g. plastic recycling),^[15] together with the investigation of the underlying charge dynamics and kinetics by state-of-the-art spectroscopies.^[16][17] According to Google Scholar, these research activities result into >250 journal papers in reputable journals.^[18]

Awards and honours

• 2001: Outstanding President Prize by The Chinese Academy of Sciences.
• 2003–2005: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
• 2008: Young Scientist Award for research on renewable solar energy by The International Association of Catalysis Societies.
• 2014: Runner-up of the Global Innovator of the Year by IChemE.
• 2018: IPS Scientist Award in the 22nd International Conference on Chemical Conversion and Storage of Solar Energy.^[19]
• 2019: Winner of the IChemE Global Business Start-Up Award 2019 and Runner-up of the IChemE Global Oil and Gas Award 2019 .^[20][21]
• 2021: Winder of the IChemE Innovative Product Global Award.
• 2021: Winner of the 2021 Corday-Morgan Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry.^[22]
• 2021: Winner of the IChemE Medal Round: The Andrew Medal.^[23]
• 2021   IChemE Innovative Product Award, IChemE
• 2021   Member of the Academy of Europe
• 2022   IChemE Global Oil and Gas Award
• 2022   Fellow of Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining

References

1. "Junwang Tang – Google Scholar Citations". Google Scholar.
2. "毕业研究生-催化与新材料研究室". www.taozhang.dicp.ac.cn. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
3. "JSPS Fellow".
4. "Research Associate at Imperial College London".
5. UCL (8 October 2018). "Prof Junwang Tang". UCL Department of Chemical Engineering. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
6. "Academy of Europe: Tang Junwang". www.ae-info.org. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
7. "Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellows 2021 | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
8. "Member Profile: Junwang Tang".
9. Xie, Jijia; Jin, Renxi; Li, Ang; Bi, Yingpu; Ruan, Qiushi; Deng, Yucheng; Zhang, Yajun; Yao, Siyu; Sankar, Gopinathan; Ma, Ding; Tang, Junwang (2018). "Highly selective oxidation of methane to methanol at ambient conditions by titanium dioxide-supported iron species". Nature Catalysis. 1 (11): 889–896. doi:10.1038/s41929-018-0170-x. S2CID 105479424.
10. Li, Xiyi; Xie, Jijia; Rao, Heng; Wang, Chao; Tang, Junwang (2020). "Platinum- and CuOx-Decorated TiO2 Photocatalyst for Oxidative Coupling of Methane to C2 Hydrocarbons in a Flow Reactor". Angewandte Chemie. 132 (44): 19870–19875. doi:10.1002/ange.202007557. ISSN 1521-3757. S2CID 241504755.
11. Liao, Yuan; Qian, Jing; Xie, Gang; Han, Qing; Dang, Wenqiang; Wang, Yuanshen; Lv, Lingling; Zhao, Sen; Luo, Lei; Zhang, Wen; Jiang, Hai-Ying; Tang, Junwang (2020). "2D-layered Ti3C2 MXenes for promoted synthesis of NH3 on P25 photocatalysts". Applied Catalysis B: Environmental. 273: 119054. doi:10.1016/j.apcatb.2020.119054. S2CID 219051056.
12. Wang, Yiou; Vogel, Anastasia; Sachs, Michael; Sprick, Reiner Sebastian; Wilbraham, Liam; Moniz, Savio J. A.; Godin, Robert; Zwijnenburg, Martijn A.; Durrant, James R.; Cooper, Andrew I.; Tang, Junwang (2019). "Current understanding and challenges of solar-driven hydrogen generation using polymeric photocatalysts". Nature Energy. 4 (9): 746–760. Bibcode:2019NatEn...4..746W. doi:10.1038/s41560-019-0456-5. hdl:10044/1/74694. S2CID 203529156.
13. Wang, Yiou; Liu, Xu; Han, Xiaoyu; Godin, Robert; Chen, Jialu; Zhou, Wuzong; Jiang, Chaoran; Thompson, Jamie F.; Mustafa, K. Bayazit; Shevlin, Stephen A.; Durrant, James R.; Guo, Zhengxiao; Tang, Junwang (2020). "Unique hole-accepting carbon-dots promoting selective carbon dioxide reduction nearly 100% to methanol by pure water". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 2531. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.2531W. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16227-3. PMC 7242399. PMID 32439875. S2CID 218762417.
14. Wang, Yiou; Godin, Robert; Durrant, James R.; Tang, Junwang (2021). "Efficient Hole Trapping in Carbon Dot/Oxygen-Modified Carbon Nitride Heterojunction Photocatalysts for Enhanced Methanol Production from CO2 under Neutral Conditions". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 60 (38): 20811–20816. doi:10.1002/anie.202105570. ISSN 1521-3773. PMC 8519127. PMID 34288316.
15. Tang, J. (2002). "Microwave-assisted purification of automotive emissions". Journal of Catalysis. 211 (2): 560–564. doi:10.1016/S0021-9517(02)93751-6.
16. Tang, Junwang; Durrant, James R.; Klug, David R. (22 October 2008). "Mechanism of Photocatalytic Water Splitting in TiO2. Reaction of Water with Photoholes, Importance of Charge Carrier Dynamics, and Evidence for Four-Hole Chemistry". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 130 (42): 13885–13891. doi:10.1021/ja8034637. ISSN 0002-7863. PMID 18817387.
17. Ruan, Qiushi; Miao, Tina; Wang, Hui; Tang, Junwang (12 February 2020). "Insight on Shallow Trap States-Introduced Photocathodic Performance in n-Type Polymer Photocatalysts". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 142 (6): 2795–2802. doi:10.1021/jacs.9b10476. ISSN 0002-7863. PMC 7145347. PMID 31940191.
18. "Junwang Tang - Google Scholar Citations". Google Scholar.
19. "Professor Junwang Tang presented with the Prestigious IPS Scientist Award". UCL Department of Chemical Engineering. 21 September 2018.
20. "Prof Junwang (John) Tang wins Business Start-Up Award at the IChemE Global Awards 2019". UCL Department of Chemical Engineering. 13 November 2019.
21. "IChemE Global Business Start-Up Award 2019". YouTube.
22. "Winner: 2021 Corday-Morgan Prize".
23. "Chemical engineering excellence recognised through IChemE medals (1) – IChemE". www.icheme.org. Retrieved 17 February 2022.

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