Biography

Dr. Biaobiao Zhang was born in 1987 in Shandong, China. He received PhD in Applied Chemistry from Dalian University of Technology in 2015 under the guidance of Prof. Fei Li. He joined Prof. Licheng Sun’s research group at KTH Royal Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral researcher since 2015.His current work focuses on mechanism of O−O bonds formation by the natural OEC, development of molecular WOCs and molecular WOCs engineered materials for artificial photosynthesis device. He will start his independent career as an assistant professor at Westlake University in 2020.

Research

Dr. Biaobiao Zhanghas long been devoted to the field of artificial photosynthesis and solar fuels. He has conducted more than ten years of research on the development of high-efficiency water oxidation catalysts and device assembly, and published 42 papers in internationally renowned academic journals. Among them, there are 17 first author and corresponding author papers, including publications in J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Chem. Soc. Rev., Joule, ACS Catal., J. Energy Chem., Chem. Commun., ChemSusChem etc.. He participated in the writing of the classic chemistry book "Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry III". Together with Prof. Fei Li and Prof. Licheng Sun, he has made several scientific research achievements: i) He, for the first time, reported the modification of Ru-bda catalyst (bda = bipyridine dicarboxylic acid) on carbon material surface, which realized the application of molecular catalyst from homogeneous solution catalysis to interface of material electrode; ii) For the first time, a non-noble metal "Co₄O₄" catalyst was combined with a visible light absorbing semiconductor material to realize the efficient use of non-noble metal molecular catalysts in photoelectrochemical water splitting; iii) Revealed the decomposition route and mechanism of Ru-bda catalyst; iv) Developed a manganese oxidation catalyst that ranks in the forefront of manganese-based catalyst. For the first time, the key active species with high valence state Mn^VII=O was captured and characterized. Subsequently, he proposed a new mechanism for the O－O bond formation by the oxygen-evolving complex in PS II. v) He recently summarized the development of water oxidation molecular catalyst and molecular device assembly research field, put forward the catalyst design concept of generating active sites by coordination distortion induction, and the application of water oxidation molecular catalyst to PEM pure water electrolysis technology.

Representative Publications

1. Fei Li (Supervisor),*Biaobiao Zhang, Xiaona Li, Yi Jiang, Lin Chen, Yanqing Li, Licheng Sun,* “Highly efficient oxidation of water by a molecular catalyst immobilized on carbon nanotubes.”Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.,2011, 50, 12276-12279.

2. Qiju Meng,Biaobiao Zhang,* Lizhou Fan, Haidong Liu, Mario Valvo,  Kristina Edström,  Maria Cuartero,  Roland de Marco, Gaston A. Crespo, Licheng Sun, “Efficient BiVO4 Photoanodes by Postsynthetic Treatment: Remarkable Improvements in Photoelectrochemical Performance from Facile Borate Modification”Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.,2019, 58, 19027-19033.

3.Biaobiao Zhangand Licheng Sun,* “Ru-bda: unique molecular catalysts for water oxidation involving 7-coordination and negatively charged ligands”J. Am. Chem. Soc.,2019,2019, 141, 5565-5580.

4.Biaobiao Zhang, Lizhou Fan, Ram B. Ambre, Tianqi Liu, Qijun Meng, Brian J. J. Timmer, Licheng Sun,* “Advancing PEM Electrolyzers with Molecular Catalysts: An Opportunity.”Joule,2020,accepted, article ID: JOULE-D-19-00925R1.

5.Biaobiao Zhangand Licheng Sun,* “Artificial photosynthesis: advantages and challenges of molecular catalyst.”Chem. Soc. Rev.,2019,48,2216-2264.

6.Biaobiao Zhang, Hong Chen, Quentin Daniel, Bertrand Philippe, Fengshou Yu, Mario Valvo, Yuanyuan Li, Ram B. Ambre, Peili Zhang, Fei Li, Håkan Rensmo, and Licheng Sun,*“Defective and “c-Disordered”Hortensia-like layered MnO_xas an efficient electrocatalyst for water oxidation at neutral pH.”ACS Catal.,2017, 7, 6311-6322.

7.Biaobiao Zhang, Fei Li,* Fengshou Yu, Xiaohong Wang, Xu Zhou, Hua Li, Yi Jiang, Licheng Sun,* “Electrochemical and photoelectrochemical water oxidation by supported cobalt-oxo cubanes.”ACS Catal.,2014, 4, 804-809.

8.Biaobiao Zhang, Quentin Daniel, Lizhou Fan, Tianqi Liu, Qijun Meng and Licheng Sun,*“Identifying Mn^VII-oxo species during electrochemical water oxidation by manganese oxide.”iScience,2018, 4, 144-152.

9. Hua Li, Fei Li,*Biaobiao Zhang, Xu Zhou, Fengshou Yu, Licheng Sun,*“Visible light-driven water oxidation promoted by host-guest interaction between photosensitizer and catalyst with a high quantum efficiency.”J. Am. Chem. Soc.,2015, 137, 4332-4335.

10. Fengshou Yu, Fei Li,*Biaobiao Zhang, Hua Li, Licheng Sun,*“Efficient electrocatalytic water oxidation by a copper oxide thin film in borate buffer.”ACS Catal.,2014, 5, 627-630.

11. Yi Jiang, Fei Li,*Biaobiao Zhang, Xiaona Li, Xiaohong Wang, Fang Huang, Licheng Sun,*“Promoting the activity of catalysts for the oxidation of water with bridged dinuclear ruthenium complexes.”Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.,2013, 52, 3398-3401.

12. Fei Li, Yi Jiang,Biaobiao Zhang, Fang Huang, Yan Gao, Licheng Sun,*“Towards a solar fuel device: light-driven water oxidation catalyzed by a supramolecular assembly.”Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.,2012, 51, 2417-2420.

13.Biaobiao Zhangand Licheng Sun,*“Why nature chose the Mn₄CaO₅cluster as water-splitting catalyst in photosystem II: a new hypothesis for the mechanism of O–O bond formation.”Dalton Trans.,2018, 47, 14381-14387.

14.Biaobiao Zhang, Fei Li,* Rong Zhang, Chengbing Ma, Lin Chen, Licheng Sun,* “Characterization of a trinuclear ruthenium species in catalytic water oxidation by Ru(bda)(pic)₂in neutral media.”Chem. Commun.,2016, 52, 8619-8622.

Contact Information

Email：zhangbiaobiao@westlake.edu.cn

Open Positions

We are looking for talented post-doctoral researchers, Ph.D. students, and research assistants with strong background of chemistry, materials, catalysis, artificial photosynthesis, and water splitting etc. You are warmly welcome to contact us and send us your applications!