Faculty

Prof. Dr. Yi-Fan Han

Professor, Ph.D. in Chem. Eng.
Dr. Yi-Fan Han received his PhD from East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) with honors in 1997. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the department of chemistry of Fudan University (Shanghai), the Catalysis and Surface Chemistry department of ULM University (Prof. R. J. Behm, Germany), and the chemistry department of Texas A&M University (Prof. W. D. Goodman & Prof. J. H. Lunsfund, College Station, USA). From 2004 to 2009 he was a senior research fellow at the Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (A*STAR, Singapore). He has been at East China University of Science and Technology (Shanghai, China) as a professor since 2009. He has published more than 160 papers in top professional journals like JACS, Angew. Chem.-Int. Edit.,J. Catal, AIChE J., 7500 citations in SCI, 53 application for patents.

Research Fields:
1. Preparation of catalysts and in situ/Operando characterization
Developing novel methods for morphology/size-controlled synthesis of catalysts, and exploring their applications in the low-temperature oxidation reactions, such as CO oxidation, methane/VOC combustion, and H₂O₂ synthesis directly from H₂ and O₂, and so forth. Furthermore, the mechanisms are studied using a variety of technologies from surface science, kinetics and DFT calculations. In particular, the new generation of Operando spectroscopy (high-pressure cell: 50 bar) has been developed in this Lab, we aim to establish the relationships of structure-performance, the theories derived from these studies are used for the rational design of nanocatalysts.

2. Study of key problems for the clean transformation of coal to value-added chemicals
Exploring the mechanisms for the synthesis of C2 chemicals (ethanol, acetaldehyde, acetic acid) directly from syngas (CO+H₂),(CO₂+H₂), including: preparation of catalysts, characterization, DFT calculation, kinetics, reaction on model catalysts (single crystal, clusters in UHV), relationships of model and real world catalytic systems,and rational design of catalysts.

3. Removal of trace amount pollutants in water
It is a challenge to remove trace amount of toxic organics and heavy metals from water. Those toxic pollutants, even existing in water at extremely low concentrations, usually ppb level, cause serious problems to human health. Novel approaches based on new generation of solid-Fenton catalysts are developed to solve those problems, which can effectively decompose H₂O₂ to form OH radicals. The organics and metal ions in water can be oxidized through the interaction with OH radicals without any second-hand pollutants.

4. Operando spectroscopy
With the combination of operando spectroscopy with theoretical calculations, the accurate structure-performance relationships of industrial catalysts will be established, and the approach for the design of next generation catalysts will be achieved, thus leading to high efficiency of industrial catalyst R&D.

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Representative Papers:
Publication

Contact Him:
Prof. Dr. Yi-Fan Han
State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering,
East China University of Science and Technology,
Adress: Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, P. R. China
Post Code: 200237
Email: yifanhan@ecust.edu.cn

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