(Correspondents: Xue Wenxuan, Cheng Ran) At the invitation of our university, Professor Zhang Tierui from the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, visited our university for academic exchange on January 14, 2026. He delivered an academic lecture titled "Layered Double Hydroxide-Based Nano-Photocatalytic Materials for the Synthesis of Solar Fuels and High-Value-Added Chemicals" in Conference Room 305 of the Northwest District Building No. 1. The lecture was chaired by Professor Yu Junxia, Dean of the School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, and was attended by relevant faculty and students of the school.

The lecture began with the application prospects of photocatalytic technology in the energy field, with a focus on recent research progress in layered double hydroxide (LDH)-based nanostructured materials as novel efficient photocatalysts. The report systematically presented the team's innovative work in this field in recent years: by constructing defect structures on the surface of LDHs to increase active sites, effectively enhancing the adsorption and activation of nitrogen molecules, thereby significantly improving photocatalytic activity; simultaneously, by precisely constructing interfacial active sites to regulate the reaction pathways of key intermediate species, achieving highly selective synthesis of high-value-added products. These research findings provide important theoretical and experimental foundations for designing efficient and selective photocatalytic materials.

After the wonderful academic lecture, Professor Zhang Tierui engaged in in-depth exchanges and lively discussions with the faculty and students present. He not only patiently answered numerous professional questions raised by the attendees but also shared key experimental design ideas and forward-looking perspectives in the field based on his own research experience. The interactive atmosphere was very active, with the collision of ideas continuously sparking new thinking.

Expert Biography: Professor Zhang Tierui received his Ph.D. degree in 2003 from the Department of Chemistry, Jilin University. He is currently a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is a Fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society, a Fellow of the Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has received numerous awards, including the Special Prize of the Scientific and Technological Award of the Chinese Society of Imaging Science and Technology (as the leading recipient). He serves as the principal investigator for projects funded by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, the Innovative Research Group Project, key projects, and key international cooperation projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He is the Chief Scientist of key special projects of the National Key Research and Development Program of China and the Principal Investigator of the Royal Society Newton Advanced Fellowship Programme. He concurrently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Cambridge Materials Energy, Associate Editor of Science Bulletin, Industrial Chemistry & Materials, Nano Research Energy, EcoEnergy, and Transactions of Tianjin University, and serves on the editorial boards of numerous journals including Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Science, Chemical Science, Carbon Energy, Small Methods, Small Structures, Solar RRL, Scientific Reports, Materials Chemistry Frontiers, ChemPhysChem, The Innovation, and SmartMat. He currently holds several academic positions, including Deputy Director and Standing Committee Member of the Photochemistry Professional Committee of the Chinese Renewable Energy Society, Secretary-General of the Energy Chemistry Professional Committee of the Chinese Chemical Society, and Chairman of the Photocatalysis Professional Committee of the Chinese Society of Imaging Science and Technology. His main research focuses on energy conversion nanocatalytic materials. He has published over 390 SCI-indexed papers in journals such as Nature Catalysis, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, and Journal of the American Chemical Society, with over 55,000 citations and an H-index of 126. He has been listed as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher from 2018 to 2025 and holds 65 authorized national invention patents.