Dynamic Structure in Adsorption and Catalysis by Porous Materials

 

Dynamic Structure in Adsorption and Catalysis by Porous Materials

 

Date: 3^rd June, 2026 (Wednesday)

Time: 4:30 - 5:30 pm (HKT)

 

Venue: Lecture Theatre P3, Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building

 

 

College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering

Peking University

 

Sihai Yang was born in Tianjin. He received his BSc in Chemistry from Peking University in 2007 and his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Nottingham in 2010. Sihai worked at the University of Nottingham between 2011 and 2015 as a Research Fellow and Assistant Professor. In 2015, he moved to the Department of Chemistry at the University of Manchester, where he was promoted to a Chair. In 2023, he took up the LiGe-ZhaoNing Chair and ChangJiang Chair at Peking University and leads a dynamic and creative Peking University Framework Materials group. Research within the Yang group has been recognised by the RSC's Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize and Physics BTM Willis Prize, CCDC Chemical Crystallography Prize, STFC/ISIS Neutron & Muon Source Impact Awards, Xplore Prize and QingShan Scientific Prize. Yang also serves in a series of committees at the International Facilities in the UK, USA and Europe and in the UK Science and Technology Facility Council Advisory Panel.

 

Framework materials are built from the periodic linking of functional components by covalent or coordination bonds in the three-dimensional space. We target the design and synthesis of new functional materials with exceptional stability and functions tailored for energy storage, clean-air technology, carbon capture, sustainable catalysis, and future medicine. We focus on investigations of the structure and dynamics information underpinning their materials function using state-of-the-art neutron scattering, and synchrotron X-ray diffraction, spectroscopy, combined with modelling. Recent finding includes the discovery of catalytic origins for a range of important catalytic reactions, and a series of new metal-organic frameworks showing properties for the clean-up of air pollutants, such as SO₂, NO_x and NH₃. Specifically, I will talk about the application of neutron scattering techniques to investigate the dynamic structure in adsorption and catalysis by porous materials.