Development of condensed materials for hydrogen storage and efficient catalysts for ammonia synthesis and decomposition are the primary research interests.

a) Hydrogen storage – Hydrogen has the potential to be a major energy vector in a renewable and sustainable future energy mix. The efficient production and storage of hydrogen are the key technical barriers that have stimulated tremendous research efforts worldwide over the past two decades. We have over 18 years research endeavor on the chemical interaction between H₂ and solid-state materials, and pioneered the research of hydrogen storage in amide-hydride (Nature 2002) and alkali amidoboranes (Nature Materials 2008) systems. The so-called “Protic-hydridic Compositing” strategy was proposed by us, which guided the design and development of binary, ternary and multinary imides (Adv Maters 2004, Adv Funct Mater 2007), amidoboranes (EES 2009), ammoniates (Chem Mater 2009), hydrazinates (EES 2012) and metalated amines (EJC 2014) etc. for hydrogen storage purpose and significantly broadens the materials scope for hydrogen storage. Over 130 institutes, national laboratories and Universities worldwide have the follow-up research activities. More recently, we were invited to contribute a review on “Hydrogen Carriers” to Nature Reviews: Materials (2016 on line).

b) Catalytic NH₃ synthesis and decomposition – Human society has been and will continue to be heavily reliant on industrial N₂ fixation. NH₃ is also a potential hydrogen carrier in the forthcoming hydrogen economy. NH₃ synthesis, however, has to be operated under harsh condition in industry consuming more than 1% of power produced globally. Developing efficient catalysts enabling NH₃ synthesis under mild condition is a long-sought grand scientific challenge and practical need. A novel composite catalyst system made of LiH and transition metals was developed by the applicant recently. Ammonia synthesis at a temperature as low as 150 °C can be achieved. At 300 °C the activities of these composite catalysts are 3-4 orders of magnitude higher than the neat transition metals and significantly outperform the best catalyst ever reported. More importantly, the presence of LiH breaks the intrinsic scaling relations on neat transition metals, an roadblock in ammonia synthesis, and thus pave the way to the rational design and development of more efficient catalysts for clean energy storage and harvesting.The related work in NH₃ synthesis and decomposition have been published in Nature Chemistry (2017) and Angew Chem (2015) etc.

1991        Bachelor in Polymer and Materials Chemistry, Xiamen   University, CHINA

1994        Ms.C in Physical Chemistry, Xiamen University, CHINA

1997        Ph. D in Physical Chemistry, Xiamen University, CHINA

1997-1999  Post-Master   fellow, Physics Department, National University of Singapore

1999-2000  Research   Fellow, Physics Department, National University of Singapore

2000-2006  Senior   Research Fellow, Principle investigator, Physics Department, National                         University of Singapore

2006-2008  Assistant   Professor, Jointly appointed by Physics Department and Chemistry                         Department,National University of Singapore

2008-2009  Associate   Professor, Jointly appointed by Physics Department and Chemistry                       Department,National University of Singapore

2008-           Professor,   Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS, CHINA

2010-           Head of   Hydrogen and Advanced Materials Division, Dalian Institute of                               Chemical Physics, CAS, CHINA

2011-           Visiting   Professor, WPI - I²CNER, Kyushu University, Japan

a)      Supervisor of more than 20 post-graduate students.

b)     Received 2016 DICP best supervisor award.

c)     Lectures and seminars at National University of Singapore, Stanford University, Peking University, Sichuan University, Xiamen University, Zhejiang University, Dalian University of Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, Sandia National Laboratories, AIST (OSAKA), Nissan Corporation etc. 

a)        Temasek Young Investigator Award (Singapore, 2006)

b)        Materials Research Society Best service awards (USA, 2006)

c)        NUS University Awards – Young Researcher Award (Singapore 2007)

d)        IPS World Scientific Award – The World Scientific (Physics Research) Metal and               Prize (Singapore 2008)

e)        Chinese Academy of Science Programme, CHINA, 2009

f)         8^th National Young Female Scientist Awards (2011)

g)        Award for distinguished contribution to the “11-5” National Science &                        Technology programme (2011)

h)        The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (2012)

i)         Special government allowances of the State Council (2013)

a)       Wang PK, Chang F, Gao WB, Chen P* et al. Nature Chemistry,2016 (On line)

b)      He T, Pradip P, Xu Q, Wu H and Chen P*, Nature Reviews: Materials,2016 

        (On line)

c)       Guo JP, Wang PK, Wu GT, Chen P* et al. Angewandte Chemie International                  Edition, 54: 2950, 2015 (Very Important Paper)

d)       He T, Wu H, Wu GT, Chen P* et al. Energy and Environmental Sciences, 5: 5686,           2012

e)       Zheng XL, Wu GT, Li W, Xiong ZT and Chen P* et al. Energy & Environmental                Sciences, 4: 3593, 2011

f)        Wang JH, Liu T, Wu GT and Chen P* et al. Angewandte Chemie, 48(32): 5828,                 2009     

g)        Xiong ZT, Yong CK, Wu GT, Chen P* et al. Nature Materials, 7(2): 138, 2008

h)        Xiong ZT, WU GT, Hu JJ, Chen P* et al., Advanced Materials, 16: 1522, 2004     

i)         Chen P*, Xiong ZT, Luo JZ, Lin JY and Tan KL, Nature, 420 (6913): 3024, 2002

j)         Chen P, Wu XB, Sun X et al. Physical Review Letters, 82(12): 2548, 1999

k)         Chen P, Wu XB, Lin JY, Tan KL et al. Science, 285(5424): 91, 1999  

a)  The 1st Symposium on Hydrogen Energy-based Society (Japan, Aug. 26-27, 2016)

b)   OWSD Fifth Genernal Assembly and International Conference on Women in Science and Technology for the Developing World (Kuwait, May. 16-19, 2016)

c)   The 10th International Symposium Hydrogen & Energy (Sendai, Japan, Feb.21-26, 2016)

d)  The 2015 International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies(Hawaii, USA, Dec. 15-20, 2015)

e)  3rd International Symposium on Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage(Berlin, Germany, Jan. 18-22, 2015)

f)   Energy Future 2014 Conference(Sydney, Australia, Nov. 3-7, 2014)

g)  14th International Symposium on Metal-Hydrogen Systems(Salford, United Kingdom, July 20-25, 2014)

h)   The 6th Forum on New Materials of "CIMTEC 2014"(Montecatini Terme, Italy, June 15-19, 2014)

i)   8th International Symposium “Hydrogen & Energy”(Zhaoqing, China, Feb. 16-21, 2014)

j)   International Conference on Processing & Manufacturing of Advanced Materials(Las Vegas, USA, Dec. 01-07, 2013)

a)   International collaborative networks under the International Energy Agency hydrogen Implementation Agreement (IEA-HIA Task-32) and

International Partnership for Hydrogen Economy (IPHE).

b)   Projects: PI of more than a dozen projects funded by NSFC(China), MOST(China), CAS(China), A*Star(Singapore), DSTA(Singapore), General

Motors(USA), DOE(USA), US Army, NEDO(Japan), CAS-Helmholtz, and MOST-JST bilateral projects.