刘东 Supervisor of Doctorate CandidatesSupervisor of Master's Candidates

Dr. Liu Dong is currently a Research Professor of Chemistry (PI) at the USTC. Dr. Liu Dong, born in August, 1992, obtained his bachelor’s and Ph.D degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2012 and 2017 respectively under the supervision of Professor Xiong Yujie. After graduating from his Ph.D., he went to Nanyang Technological University in Singapore to conduct post-doctoral research supervised by Prof. Liu Bin and Prof. Xue Can. He joined the Suzhou Institute for Advanced Research and School of Chemistry and Materials Science at the USTC in May 2021. To date, he has published more than 60 papers in academic journals, with over 5,300 citations and an H-index of 38 (Google Scholar). Over the past 5 years, he has published 27 papers as the corresponding author in prominent journals such as Nat. Sustain., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Sci. Adv., Nat. Commun., Adv. Mater., Chem. Soc. Rev., J. Energy Chem., and Nano Res.  He currently serves as a Youth Editorial Board Member of Chin. Chem. Lett. (2022-) and Youth Editor of  J. Energy Chem. (2024-). He has been honored with the Nomination Award for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Supervisor at USTC, the CAS President's Award, and the Nano Research Top Papers Award. He serves as a committee member of the Photocatalysis Professional Committee of the Photosensitive Society of China, a youth committee member of the Photochemistry Professional Committee of the China Renewable Energy Society, a youth editorial board member for J. Energy Chem.

Research fields:

1.Controllable synthesis of inorganic solid materials and precise regulation of surface and interface structures;

2.Photocatalytic/photoelectrochemical small molecule activation and its application in the production of high value-added chemicals.

3.Rational design of artificial photosynthesis system and related devices.

Representative publications  (as corresponding author):

15. “Upgrading glycerol to sorbose via a tandem photoelectrocatalysis-enzyme catalysis relay”, Nature Sustainability 9, 1220–1231 (2026). 

14. “Bioinspired proton–electron dual-channels for selective photocatalytic oxidation of methane to methanol”, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Accepted (2026).

13. “Efficient and selective hydroxyl-mediated photocatalytic ethane oxidation to acetic acid”,  Journal of the American Chemical Society 148, 10967–10979 (2026).

12. “Engineering novel bilayer tandem catalysts on Si-based photocathodes for high-performance CO₂ reduction to produce methane”, Advanced Materials 38, e18249 (2026).

11. “Efficient photoelectrochemical synthesis of azo compounds via in situ surface reconstruction of BiVO₄”, Nano Research 19, 94908568 (2026).

10. “Selective photoelectrochemical synthesis of adipic acid using single-atom Ir decorated α-Fe₂O₃ photoanode”, Nature Communications 16, 5128 (2025).

9. “Direct photocatalytic oxidation of methane to formic acid with high selectivity via a concerted proton-electron transfer process”, Journal of the American Chemical Society 147, 2444–2454 (2025).

8. “Tailoring oxygen vacancies with atomically dispersed Cu sites for stable and efficient photothermal CO₂ conversion”, Angewandte Chemie International Edition 64, e202505244 (2025). 

7. “Reaction-induced phase engineering of CuCo nanoparticles for enhanced photothermal CO₂ hydrogenation”, Advanced Materials 38, e15661 (2025).

6. “Bias-free photoelectrochemical system for efficient 5-hydroxymethylfurfural oxidation using engineered silicon-based photoanode”, Journal of Energy Chemistry 115, 25–32 (2025).  

5. “Modulating chloride adsorption for efficient chloride-mediated methane conversion over tungsten oxide photoanode”, ACS Catalysis 15, 6058–6066 (2025).

4. “Stability of photoelectrochemical cells based on colloidal quantum dots”, Chemical Society Reviews 54, 3513–3534 (2025).

3. “Highly efficient, selective and stable photocatalytic methane coupling to ethane enabled by lattice oxygen looping”, Science Advances 10, eado4390 (2024).

2. “A nonmetallic plasmonic catalyst for photothermal CO₂ flow conversion with high activity, selectivity and durability”, Nature Communications 15, 1273 (2024).

1. “Rational design of N-doped carbon coated cobalt nanoparticles for highly efficient and durable photothermal CO₂ conversion”, Advanced Materials 35, 2302537 (2023).

Group members

Dr. Xueying Wan (Associate Researcher) 

PhD Students: Ms. Caiyi Liu, Mr. Yilin Zhao, Mr. Kaizhan Sun, Ms. Wuwen Liu, Mr. Endian Zhao, Mr. Haozhe Meng, Ms. Jianghong Liu

                        Mr. Gaoyang Hu (CityU, Joint PhD Program), Mr. Siyuan Yang (CityU, Joint PhD Program), Mr. Siyuan Wu (CityU, Joint PhD Program)

Master Students: Mr. Yaobin Zhang, Ms. Wanting Tang, Mr. Qingchen Fan, Ms. Ruoxi Huang, Ms. Kaiyi Li, Ms. Siyuan Chen, Ms. Wanqing Ni

International Exchange Student：Gordon Ochsner (The University of Queensland)