Prof. YANG Xueming, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and research fellow at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the CAS visited Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics (LICP) of the CAS ON June 24. During his visit, he gave a lectured entitled Surface Photocatalysis of Methanol and Water.

Professor YANG Xueming is giving a lecture.

Titanium dioxide has been extensively investigated as a catalyst or photocatalyst, particularly in applications involving photodegradation of organic molecules and water splitting, which have important implications in environmental remediation and clean energy. Pure TiO₂ is apparently not photocatalytically active for splitting water to produce hydrogen, but the addition of methanol to water can dramatically enhance the photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production. Professor YANG has investigated the photocatalytic dissociation of methanol and water on a TiO₂(110) surface by combining theoretical studies with experimental studies. These results suggest that efficient catalysts for water splitting require a high barrier to recombination. In other words, the oxygen atom must be sequestered in a way that will inhibit recombination, just as the oxygen of methanol is sequestered by becoming part of a stable formaldehyde product. The results of the present study clearly show that surface dynamics are very important in understanding photocatalytic chemistry on surfaces.

Introduction of Prof. YANG Xueming:

Education:

1991 Ph. D. in Chemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

“Spectroscopy and Collisional Dynamics of Highly Vibrationally Excited Molecules” (Prof. A. M. Wodtke)

1985 M. Sc. in Chemical Physics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics,

Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

“High Resolution Spectroscopy of Polyatomic Molecules” (Prof. Qingshi Zhu, and Prof. Cunhao Zhang)

1982 B. Sc. in Physics, Zhejiang Normal University, Zhejiang, China

Professional Experience

Adjunct Professor, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, China, 2003-present

Fellow and Director, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, China, 9/2001-present

Fellow, Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, 8/2000-4/2004.

JILA Visiting Fellow, JILA, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 7/2000-1/2001.

Adjunct Professor, Department of Chemistry, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, 8/1/1999-7/2003.

Associate Fellow, Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, 12/1995-8/2000.

Research Associate, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories and Department of Chemistry, University of California at Berkeley, California, USA, 5/93-11/95 (Advisor: Prof. Yuan T. Lee).

Post Doctoral Research Associate, Princeton University, New Jersey, USA, 9/91-5/93 (Advisor: Prof. Giacinto Scoles).

Research Interests

Kinetics and dynamics of complicated systems.

Multiple channel dynamics of unimolecular photodissociation and bimolecular reactions using universal crossed experimental techniques based on electron impact ionization and VUV (synchrotron & laser based) photoionization.

State-to-state dynamics of unimolecular and bimolecular reactions

Molecular photochemistry.

Electron dynamics at surfaces and interfaces

Photocatalysis