With rapidly mounting environmental concerns coupled with the accelerated depletion of fossil fuels, there is a significant demand for the development of advanced technologies for environmental remediation, as well as for the production of alternative energy transformation and storage devices. Nanostructured materials with high surface areas have garnered significant interest due to their unique properties and numerous impressive applications spanning electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, energy conversion and storage, sensors, and wastewater remediation.
Recently, Professor Aicheng Chen's research team designed and investigated a variety of novel functional nanomaterials. In this talk, Professor Chen will present the synthesis and surface characterization of advanced gold, palladium, titanium dioxide, and graphene-based nanomaterials. He will address the electrochemical and photocatalytic properties of these nanomaterials, as well as their promising applications in green chemistry, medicine, and the envisioned hydrogen economy.
Biographical Scketch
Aicheng Chen is a Professor of Chemistry, Director of the Electrochemical Technology Centre at the University of Guelph, and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Electrochemistry and Nanoscience. He received his MSc from Xiamen University under the supervision of Prof. S.-G. Sun and his PhD in Electrochemistry from the University of Guelph in 1998 under the direction of Prof. J. Lipkowski. Subsequent to working in the chemical industry as a Research Scientist and Electrochemical Specialist for four years, Chen joined Lakehead University in 2002 as an Assistant Professor, where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2005, Canada Research Chair in 2006, and Full Professor in 2010. He relocated to the University of Guelph in 2017.
Chen’s research interests span the areas of electrochemistry, green chemistry, biorefining, materials science, and nanotechnology. He has published over 200 journal articles and 10 book chapters with over 10,000 citations and an h-index of 56. In addition, Chen has authored/co-authored over 120 industrial technical reports. He served the International Society of Electrochemistry as the Canada Regional Representative and served the Electrochemical Society Canadian Section as Secretary, Vice Chair, Chair and Councilor. Chen has been Associate Editor of Canadian Journal of Chemistry since 2013 and Editor of Electrochimica Acta since 2016.
For his accomplishments, Chen has received a number of awards, including the Premier’s Research Excellence Award (2003), the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship (2006), the 2009 Fred Beamish Award of the Canadian Society for Chemistry, the Lash Miller Award of The Electrochemical Society Canada Section (2009), the NSERC DAS Award (2010), the Keith Laidler Award of the Canadian Society for Chemistry (2012), the Lakehead University Distinguished Researcher Award (2013), the Canadian Catalysis Lectureship Award (2013), the RBC Innovation Award (2015), and the W.A.E. McBryde Medal of the Canadian Society for Chemistry (2016). In addition, Chen was named as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) in 2011, a Fellow of the International Society of Electrochemistry in 2014, and a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada in 2017.