Prof. Zhang Hua is the Herman Hu Chair Professor of Nanomaterials and the Director of Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK). He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Nanjing University in 1992 and 1995 respectively and his Ph.D. from Peking University in 1998. He joined the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore in 2006, and the Department of Chemistry at CityUHK in 2019. He was elected as a foreign member of the European Academy of Sciences in 2020, and an Academician of the Asia Pacific Academy of Materials in 2015. Prof. Zhang Hua has filed more than 100 patent applications and published over 570 papers with a total citation count exceeding 152,000 (H-index of 193, Google Scholar).
Prof. Zhang Hua’s research interest focuses on nanomaterials. Recently, he has proposed the concept of "Phase Engineering of Nanomaterials (PEN)". He designed and prepared a variety of unconventional-phase nanomaterials, which exhibit great potentials in catalysis, clean energy, optoelectronic devices, and biosensors. In today's world, where sustainable development and clean energy demands are increasingly pressing, traditional materials science often falls short when it comes to environmental protection and energy transformation. Specifically, in areas such as catalysis, energy storage, and clean energy technologies, conventional materials frequently fail to meet the stringent standards required by modern industry and environmental protocols.
To address these challenges, Prof. Zhang Hua introduced the PEN strategy, leading to the development of a series of unconventional-phase nanomaterials. These materials not only demonstrate superior catalytic activity, selectivity and stability, but also show significant promise in practical applications. For instance, Prof. Zhang Hua’s team developed high-purity 1T′-phase transition.