Education: (PhD- Master- Bachelor)

Nov. 2009 – Nov. 2013, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany

Ph. D. in Physical Chemistry, Department of Physical Chemistry II

Sep. 2006 – Jul. 2009, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

M.Sc. in Physical Chemistry, National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory

Sep. 2001 – Jul. 2006, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

B.Sc. in Applied Physics, Department of Physics

Working Experience:

May. 2015 – Jun. 2018, University of Washington, USA, Research Associate

Apr. 2014 – Apr. 2015, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Awards:

2018, Shenzhen Overseas High Level Talent (Peacock Plan; Level C)

Research Interests:

Research Projects:

01/2020—12/2023, National Natural Science Foundation of China, PI;

03/2020—02/2023, Shenzhen Science and Technology Program, PI;

01/2020—12/2022, Shenzhen Peacock Plan Start-up, PI;

Book Chapters:

(2)Wei Zhao, Lei Dong, Ran Zhang and Nian Lin, " On-surface Coupling Reactions with Extrinsic Catalysts ", Chapter in: de Oteyza D., Rogero C. (eds) On-Surface Synthesis II. Advances in Atom and Single Molecule Machines. Springer, Cham, 2018, p195-207.

(1)Wei Zhao, Christian Papp, and Hans-Peter Steinrück, "Heterographenes", Chapter in: “Encyclopedia of Polymeric Nanomaterials”; Kobayashi, S., Müllen, K., Eds.; Springer Berlin Heidelberg: Berlin, Heidelberg, 2015, p 924.

Journal Publications:

(55) Saira Ajmal, Ghulam Yasin, Anuj Kumar, Mohammad Tabish, Shumaila Ibraheem, Khan Abdul Sammed, Muhammad Asim Mushtaq, Ali Saad, Zhousheng Mo,Wei Zhao*, A disquisition on CO2 electroreduction to C2H4: An engineering and design perspective looking beyond novel choosy catalyst materials, Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 2023, 485, 215099.

(54) Zhousheng Mo, Saira Ajmal, Mohammad Tabish, Anuj Kumar, Ghulam Yasin*,Wei Zhao*, Metal-Organic Frameworks-Based Advanced Catalysts for Anthropogenic CO2 Conversion Toward Sustainable Future, Fuel Processing Technology, 2023, 244, 107705.

(53)Ghulam Yasin, Sajjad Ali, Shumaila Ibraheem, Anuj Kumar, Mohammad Tabish, Muhammad Asim Mushtaq, Saira Ajmal, Muhammad Arif, Muhammad Abubaker Khan, Ali Saad, Liang Qiao,Wei Zhao*, Simultaneously Engineering the Synergistic-Effects and Coordination-Environment of Dual-Single-Atomic Iron/Cobalt-sites as a Bifunctional Oxygen Electrocatalyst for Rechargeable Zinc-Air Batteries, ACS Catalysis, 2023, 13, 2313–2325.

(52)Saira Ajmal, Anuj Kumar, Ghulam Yasin*, Mohammed Mujahid Alam, Manickam Selvaraj, Mohammad Tabish, Muhammad Asim Mushtaq, Ram K. Gupta,Wei Zhao*, A Microwave-assisted Decoration of Carbon Nanotubes with Fe3O4 Nanoparticles for Efficient Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction Reaction, Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2023, 943, 169067.

(51)Rashid Iqbal, Sajjad Ali, Adil Saleem, Muhammad K. Majeed, Arshad Hussain, Sajid Rauf, Abdul Rehman Akbar, Hu Xu, Liang Qiao,Wei Zhao*, Electrically Conductive Pt-MOFs for Acidic Oxygen Reduction: Optimized Performance via Altering Conjugated Ligands, Chemical Engineering Journal, 2023, 455, 140799.

(50) Dawei Zheng, Rui Cheng, Abdul Rehman Akbar, Shan Feng, Abdur Rauf, Ubaid Khan, Zhousheng Mo,Wei Zhao, Zhuangchun Wu, Guangqiang Peng, Fude Liu*, Structural evolution and electrolyte engineering for tri-electrolyte zinc-air cells, Journal of Power Sources, 2022, 540, 231634.

(49) Henan Chen, Tao Peng, Baiyao Liang, Dingyi Zhang, Guanwu Lian, Chenxin Yang, Yun Zhang,Wei Zhao*, Efficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation of Cinnamaldehyde to Value-added Chemicals, Green Chemistry, 2022, 24, 3655 - 3661.

(48) Miao Wang, Tao Peng, Chenxin Yang, Baiyao Liang, Henan Chen, Mohan Kumar, Yun Zhang,Wei Zhao*, Electrocatalytic hydrogenation of lignin monomer to methoxy-cyclohexanes with a high faradaic efficiency, Green Chemistry, 2022, 24, 142 – 146.

(47) Hengyu Li, Qiang Wan, CongCong Du, QiuNan Liu, Jiamin Qi, Xingyu Ding, Shuai Wang, Shaolong Wan, Jingdong Lin, Chen Tian, Lina Li, Tao Peng,Wei Zhao, Hongliang Zhang, Jianyu Huang, Xiaoben Zhang, Qingqing Gu, Bing Yang, Hua Guo, Sen Lin*, Abhaya K. Datye*, Yong Wang*, and Haifeng Xiong*, Vapor-phase self-assembly for generating thermally stable single atom catalysts, Chem, 2022. 8, 731-748.

(46)Ghulam Yasin, Shumaila Ibraheem, Sajjad Ali, Muhammad Arif, Sehrish Ibrahim, Rashid Iqbal, Anuj Kumar, Mohammad Tabish, Muhammad Asim Mushtaq, Ali Saad, Hu Xu,Wei Zhao*, Defects-engineered tailoring of tri-doped interlinked metal-free bifunctional catalyst with lower gibbs free energy of OER/HER intermediates for overall water splitting, Materials Today Chemistry, 2022, 23, 100634.

(45) Tao Peng, Taotao Zhuang , Yu Yan, Jin Qian, et al., Jeremy S. Luterbacher*, Wei Zhao*, Edward H. Sargent*, Ternary Alloys Enable Efficient Production of Methoxylated Chemicals via Selective Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation of Lignin Monomers, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2021, 143(41),17226-17235.

(44) Rashid Iqbal, Sajjad Ali, Ghulam Yasin, Shumaila Ibraheem, Mohammad Tabish, Mathar Hamza, Hu Xu, Jie Zeng,Wei Zhao*, A Novel 2D Co3(HADQ)2 Metal-Organic Framework as a Highly Active and Stable Electrocatalyst for Acidic Oxygen Reduction, Chemical Engineering Journal, 2022, 430, 132642.

(43) Miao Wang, Ali Saad, Xiaoguang Li, Tao Peng, Qi-Tao Zhang, Mohan Kumar,Wei Zhao*, Solid-state Synthesis of Single-phase Nickel Monophosphosulfide for Oxygen Evolution Reaction, Dalton Transactions, 2021, 50, 12870 – 12878.

(42)Ghulam Yasin, Sehrish Ibrahim, Shumaila Ibraheem*, Sajjad Ali*, Rashid Iqba, Anuj Kumar*, Mohammad Tabish, Yassine Slimani, Tuan Anh Nguyen, Hu Xu*,Wei Zhao*, Defective/Graphitic-Synergy in Heteroatom-interlinked-triggered Metal-free Electrocatalyst for High-performance Rechargeable Zinc-Air Batteries, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2021, 9, 18222-18230.

(41) Chenxin Yang, Henan Chen, Tao Peng, Baiyao Liang, Yun Zhang*,Wei Zhao*, Lignin Valorization toward Value-Added Chemicals and Fuels via Electrocatalysis: A Perspective, Chinese Journal of Catalysis, 2021, 42, 1831-1842.

(40) Mohan Kumar, B.E. Kumara Swamy, Bin Hu, Miao Wang, Ghulam Yasin, Baiyao Liang, H.D. Madhuchandra,Wei Zhao*, Electrochemical activation of copper oxide decorated graphene oxide modified carbon paste electrode surface for the simultaneous determination of hazardous Di-hydroxybenzene isomers, Microchemical Journal, 2021, 168, 106503.

(39) Miao Wang, Yun Zhang, Tao Peng, Mohan Kumar, Qitao Zhang,Wei Zhao*, Endohedral Fe3C decorated multi-walled CNTs as an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution, Diamond and Related Materials, 2021, 118, 108508.

(38) Muqing Hua, Bowen Xia, Miao Wang, En Li, Jing Liu, Tianhao Wu, Yifan Wang, Ruoning Li, Honghe Ding, Jun Hu, Yongfeng Wang, Junfa Zhu, Hu Xu,Wei Zhao*, Nian Lin*, Highly Degenerate Ground States in a Frustrated Antiferromagnetic Kagome Lattice in a Two-Dimensional Metal–Organic Framework, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2021, 12, 3733−3739.

(37) Anuj Kumar, Ghulam Yasin⁎, Vinod Kumar Vashistha, Deepak K. Das, Majeed Ur Rehman, Rashid Iqbal, Zhousheng Mo, Tuan Anh Nguyen, Y. Slimani, M. Tariq Nazir,Wei Zhao*, Enhancing oxygen reduction reaction performance via CNTs/graphene supported iron protoporphyrin IX: A hybrid nanoarchitecture electrocatalyst, Diamond and Related Materials, 2021, 113, 108272.

(36) Muhammad Nadeem, GhulamYasin⁎, MuhammadArif, HassinaTabassum, Moazzam H.Bhatti⁎, MazharMehmood, UzmaYunus, RashidIqbal, Tuan AnhNguyen, YassineSlimani, HuaiheSong⁎,Wei Zhao*, Highly active sites of Pt/Er dispersed N-doped hierarchical porous carbon for trifunctional electrocatalyst, Chemical Engineering Journal, 2021, 409, 128205.

(35) Mohan Kumar, Yongsheng Fu, Miao Wang, B.E. Kumara Swamy, Gururaj Kudur Jayaprakash,Wei Zhao*, Influence of cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide for electrochemical detection of guanine, uric acid and dopamine, Journal of Molecular Liquids, 2021,321,114893.

(34) Ying Liu, Yue Jiang, Zhe Hu, Jian Peng, Weihong Lai, Dianlun Wu, Shouwei Zuo, Jing Zhang, Bin Chen, Ziwen Dai, Yingguo Yang, Yang Huang*, Wei Zhang,Wei Zhao, Wang Zhang*, Lei Wang, and Shulei Chou*, In-Situ Electrochemically Activated Surface Vanadium Valence in V2C MXene to Achieve High Capacity and Superior Rate Performance for Zn-Ion Batteries, Advanced Functional Materials, 2020, 8, 2008033.

(33) Miao Wang, Guo-Ming Weng, Ghulam Yasin, Mohan Kumar,Wei Zhao*, A high-performance tin phosphide/carbon composite anode for lithium-ion batteries, Dalton Transactions, 2020, 49, 17026-17032.

(32) Zhongtian Mao,Wei Zhao, Ziareena A. Al-Mualem, and Charles T. Campbell*, Energetics and Structure of Nickel Atoms and Nanoparticles on MgO(100), Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2020, 124, 14685.

(31) Mohan Kumar, Miao Wang, B.E Kumara Swamy, M. Praveen,Wei Zhao*, Poly (alanine)/NaOH/ MoS2/MWCNTs modified carbon paste electrode for simultaneous detection of dopamine, ascorbic acid, serotonin and guanine, Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 2020, 196, 111299.

(30) Mohan Kumar, B.E Kumara Swamy*, Sathish Reddy, J.K Shashi Kumara,Wei Zhao*, Electrochemical Determination of Hematoxylin by Pretreated ZnO Nanoflakes Modified Carbon Paste Electrode in the Absence and Presence of Eosin Y, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 2020, 167, 087511.

(29) Kun Zhou, Huifang Liang, Miao Wang, Shuaipeng Xing, Honghe Ding, Yang Song, Yuxu Wang, Qian Xu, Jing-Hui He, Junfa Zhu,Wei Zhao*, Yu-qiang Ma*, and Ziliang Shi*, Fine-Tuning of Two-Dimensional Metal-Organic Nanostructures via Alkali-Pyridyl Coordination, Nanoscale Advances, 2020, 2, 2170-2176.

(28) Mohan Kumar, B.E. Kumara Swamy*, Sathish Reddy,Wei Zhao, S. Chetana, V. Gowrav Kumar, ZnO/functionalized MWCNT and Ag/functionalized MWCNT modified carbon paste electrodes for the determination of dopamine, paracetamol and folic acid, Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, 2019, 835, 96-105.

(27) Shuaipeng Xing, Zhe Zhang, Xiyu Fei,Wei Zhao, Ran Zhang, Tao Lin, Danli Zhao, Huanxin Ju, Hu Xu, Jian Fan, Junfa Zhu, Yu-qiang Ma and Ziliang Shi, Selective On-Surface Covalent Coupling Based on Metal-Organic Coordination Template, Nature Communication, 2019, 10, 70.

(26) Spencer J. Carey,Wei Zhaoand Charles T. Campbell, Bond Energies of Adsorbed Intermediates on Metal Surfaces Correlate with H-Ligand and H-Surface Bond Energies and Electronegativities, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2018, 57, 16877.

(25) Spencer J. Carey+,Wei Zhao+, Elizabeth Harman, Ann-Katrin Baumann, Zhongtian Mao, Wei Zhang and Charles T. Campbell, Energetics of Adsorbed Methanol and Methoxy on Ni(111): Comparisons to Pt(111), ACS Catalysis 2018, 8, 10089-10095. (+shared first author)

(24) Spencer J. Carey,Wei Zhao, Charles T. Campbell, Energetics of Adsorbed Benzene on Ni(111) and Pt(111) by Calorimetry, Surface Science, 2018, 676, 9-16. (Selected as Cover Page by Editor)

(23)Wei Zhao, Spencer J. Carey, Zhongtian Mao and Charles T. Campbell, Adsorbed Hydroxyl and Water on Ni(111): Heats of Formation by Calorimetry, ACS Catalysis, 2018, 8, 1485–1489.

(22)Wei Zhao, Andrew D. Doyle, Sawyer E. Morgan, MichalBajdich, Jens K. Nørskov and Charles T. Campbell, Formic Acid Dissociative Adsorption on NiO(111): Energetics and Structure of Adsorbed Formate, Journal of Physical Chemistry C,121 (2017), 28001-28006.

(21)Wei Zhao, Spencer J. Carey, Sawyer E. Morgan and Charles T. Campbell, Energetics of Adsorbed Formate and Formic Acid on Ni(111) by Calorimetry, J. Catal. 352 (2017), 300-304.

(20) Spencer J. Carey,Wei Zhao, AmillaFrehner, Charles T. Campbell and Bret Earl Jackson, The Energetics of Adsorbed Methyl and Methyl Iodide on Ni(111) by Calorimetry: Comparison to Pt(111) and Implications for Catalysis, ACS Catal. 7 (2017), 1286–1294.

(19)Wei Zhao, Michal Bajdich, Spencer Carey, Aleksandra Vojvodic, Jens K. Nørskov and Charles T. Campbell, Water Dissociative Adsorption on NiO(111): Energetics and Structure of the Hydroxylated Surface, ACS Catal.6 (2016), 7377-7384.

(18)Wei Zhao*, Lei Dong, Chao Huang, ZawMyo Win and Nian Lin*, Cu- and Pd-Catalyzed Ullmann Reaction on a Hexagonal Boron Nitride Layer, Chem. Comm.52 (2016),13225-13228. (*corresponding author)

(17) F. Späth,W. Zhao, C. Gleichweit, K. Gotterbarm, U. Bauer, O. Höfert, H.-P. Steinrück and C. Papp, Hydrogenation and Dehydrogenation of Nitrogen-doped Graphene investigated by X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Surf. Sci.634 (2015) 89.

(16)W. Zhao, J. Gebhardt, F. Späth, K. Gotterbarm, C. Gleichweit, H.-P. Steinrück, A. Görling, and C. Papp, Reversible Hydrogenation of Graphene on Ni(111) - Synthesis of 'Graphone', Chem. Eur. J.21 (2015) 3347.

(15) C. Gleichweit, M. Amende, U. Bauer, S. Schernich, O. Höfert, M. P. A. Lorenz,W. Zhao, M. Müller, M. Koch,P. Bachmann, P. Wasserscheid, J. Libuda, H.-P. Steinrück, and C. Papp. Alkyl chain length-dependent surface reaction of dodecahydro-N-alkylcarbazoles on Pt model catalysts. J. Chem. Phys.140 (2014) 204711.

(14) M. Amende, C. Gleichweit, S. Schernich, O. Höfert, M. P. A. Lorenz,W. Zhao, M. Koch, K. Obesser, C. Papp, P. Wasserscheid, H.-P. Steinrück, J. Libuda, Size and Structure Effects Controlling the Stability of the Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier dodecahydro-N-ethylcarbazole During Dehydrogenation over Pt Model Catalysts. J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 5 (2014) 1498.

(13) M. Amende, C. Gleichweit, K. Werner, S. Schernich,W. Zhao, M. P. A. Lorenz, O. Höfert, C. Papp, M. Koch, P. Wasserscheid, M. Laurin, H.-P. Steinrück, J. Libuda, Model catalytic studies of liquid organic hydrogen carriers: Dehydrogenation and decomposition mechanisms of dodecahydro-N-ethylcarbazole on Pt(111). ACS Catal.4 (2014) 657.

(12) O. Höfert, M. P. A. Lorenz, R. Streber,W. Zhao, A. Bayer, H.-P. Steinrück, C. Papp, Adsorption and reaction of acetylene on clean and oxygen-precovered Pd(100) studied with high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. J. Chem. Phys. 139 (2013) 164706.

(11) K. Gotterbarm,W. Zhao, O. Höfert, C. Gleichweit, C. Papp, H.-P. Steinrück, Growth and oxidation of graphene on Rh(111). Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 15 (2013) 19625.

(10)W. Zhao, J. Gebhardt, K. Gotterbarm, O. Höfert, C. Gleichweit, C. Papp, A. Görling, H.-P. Steinrück, Gold intercalation of boron-doped graphene on Ni(111): XPS and DFT Study. J. Phys.: Condens. Matter.2013, 25, 445002.

(9) J. Gebhardt, R.J. Koch,W. Zhao, O. Höfert, K. Gotterbarm, S.Mammadov, C. Papp, A. Görling, H.-P. Steinrück, T. Seyller, Growth and Electronic Structure of Boron Doped Graphene. Phys. Rev. B2013, 87, 155437.

(8) C. Gleichweit, M. Amende, S. Schernich,W. Zhao, M.P.A. Lorenz, O. Höfert, N. Brückner, P. Wasserscheid, J. Libuda, H.-P. Steinrück, C. Papp, Dehydrogenation of Dodecahydro-N-Ethylcarbazole on Pt(111). ChemSusChem2013, 6, 974-977.

(7) X. Feng,W. Zhao, H. Ju, L. Zhang, Y. Ye, W. Zhang, J. Zhu, Electronic Structures and Chemical Reactions at the Interface between Li and Regioregular Poly (3-Hexylthiophene). Org. Electron.2012, 13, 1060-1067.

(6) R.J. Koch, M. Weser,W. Zhao, F. Viñes, K. Gotterbarm, S.M. Kozlov, O. Höfert, M. Ostler, C. Papp, J. Gebhardt, H.P. Steinrück, A. Görling, T. Seyller, Growth and Electronic Structure of Nitrogen-Doped Graphene on Ni(111). Phys. Rev. B2012, 86, 075401.

(5)W. Zhao, O. Höfert, K. Gotterbarm, J.F. Zhu, C. Papp, H.P. Steinrück, Production of Nitrogen-Doped Graphene by Low-Energy Nitrogen Implantation. J. Phys. Chem. C2012, 116, 5062-5066.

(4)W. Zhao, S.M. Kozlov, O. Höfert, K. Gotterbarm, M.P.A. Lorenz, F. Viñes, C. Papp, A. Görling, H.-P. Steinrück, Graphene on Ni(111): Coexistence of Different Surface Structures. J. Phys. Chem. Lett.2011, 2, 759-764.

(3) R. Streber, C. Papp, M. P. A. Lorenz, O. Höfert,W. Zhao, S. Wickert, E. Darlatt, A. Bayer, R. Denecke, and H. P. Steinrück, Influence of Steps on the Adsorption and Thermal Evolution of SO2 on Clean and Oxygen Precovered Pt Surfaces. J. Phys. Chem. C2010, 114, 19734-19743.

(2)W. Zhao, Y. Guo, X. Feng, L. Zhang, W. Zhang, J. Zhu, Electronic Structure and Chemical Reaction of Ca Deposition on Regioregular Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) Surfaces. Chinese Sci. Bull.2009, 54, 1978-1982.

(1) J. Zhu, F. Bebensee, W. Hieringer,W. Zhao, J.H. Baricuatro, J.A. Farmer, Y. Bai, H.-P. Steinrück, J.M. Gottfried, C.T. Campbell, Formation of the Calcium/Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) Interface: Structure and Energetics. J. Am. Chem. Soc.2009, 131, 13498-13507.