Weiwei Wang

Research Focus: Construction of Low/Non-Ir Alloy Nanoclusters and Study of Their OER Performance in PEMWE.

Key Achievements & Projects:

1. Developed High-Stability RuFeO-P Ultrafine Nanoparticles

• Designed and synthesized ultrafine RuFeO-P nanoparticles via size control and lattice strain engineering.
• Independently managed catalyst design, synthesis, characterization, MEA fabrication, and electrolyzer testing; built an in-situ Raman-EQCM couple setup.
• Achieved 400 hours of stable PEM electrolyzer operation at 1 A cm-2 with no significant activity decay.
• Result published in Applied Catalysis B: Environment and Energy (IF: 20.3).

2. Synthesized V-IrRuOx Nano-catalyst Doped with Ir Single Atom.

• Utilized an ionic liquid microenvironment strategy to prepare Ir single-atom doped Ru-based alloy oxide nanoclusters with abundant oxygen vacancies (NBF-V-IrRuOx).
• Independently executed catalyst design, synthesis, characterization, MEA fabrication, and electrolyzer performance evaluation.
• Demonstrated 1000 hours of stable PEM electrolyzer operation at 1 A cm-2 (Ir loading: 0.1 mg cm-2) with a low voltage decay rate of 25 µV h-1.
• To be submitted, targeting Advanced Materials.

3. Constructed Ultrastable IrRu Nanoalloy via In-situ Restructuring

• Proposed and validated an oxide path mechanism via in-situ grain boundary reconstruction for IrRu nanoalloys.
• Led material synthesis, mechanistic studies, high-performance MEA fabrication, and extensive stability testing.
• Achieved >3000 hours of stable PEM electrolyzer operation at 2 A cm-2 (Ir loading: 0.35 mg cm-2) with an exceptionally low voltage decay rate ( < 1 μV h-1)
• Manuscript submitted to Joule (IF: 38.6), currently Under Review.

4. Contributed to Large-Scale MEA Fabrication Process Development

• Participated in developing a continuous, non-destructive large-scale MEA fabrication process.
• Responsible for catalyst scale-up synthesis, slurry optimization, and identifying optimal coating parameters.
• Supported the establishment of a 550 mm width continuous MEA fabrication capability, mastering lab-to-pilot scale-up techniques.

5. Investigated Ionic Liquid Synergistic Lignin Valorization

• Designed and implemented an IL-synergized FeNi@C anode for lignin electrooxidation coupled with hydrogen production in an AEM electrolyzer.
• Optimized reaction conditions, achieving a high total aromatic aldehyde yield of 23.5 wt% from real lignin (Veratraldehyde yield: 7.3 wt%, Selectivity: 31.1%).
• Result published in Green Chemistry (IF: 9.3).

• Research Focus: Synthesis and Optical Property Study of Bio-based Polycarbonates
• Designed and synthesized novel ionic liquid catalysts; developed and optimized melt transesterification polymerization processes for various bio-based polycarbonates
• 2 first-author papers published in Green Chemistry