Associate Professor of Department of Chemistry
| Office: | YEUNG-P5307 |
|---|---|
| Phone: | +852 3442-7817 |
| Fax: | +852 3442-0522 |
| Email: | zhanxi.fan@cityu.edu.hk |
| Web: | Group Website |
| ORCID ID: | 0000-0003-3133-6503 |
| Scopus: | 56007892600 |
- Materials chemistry
- Nanoscience
- Metal and metal-based nanomaterials
- Crystal phase control
- Catalysis
- Energy conversion
Dr. Zhanxi FAN received his B.S. degree (2010) in Chemistry from Jilin University (China) under the guidance of Prof. Bai Yang and Prof. Hao Zhang. Then he completed his Ph.D. (2015) in Materials Chemistry from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) under the supervision of Prof. Hua Zhang. Afterwards, he spent a few years as Project Officer/Research Fellow/Postdoc Fellow in Nanyang Technological University with Prof. Hua Zhang and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA) with Prof. Haimei Zheng. In November 2019, he joined City University of Hong Kong as an Assistant Professor, and was later promoted to Associate Professor (Tenured) in July 2024. His research interest lies in the fields of materials chemistry, nanoscience, catalysis, and energy conversion. Currently, he mainly focuses on the controlled synthesis of novel low-dimensional metal-based nanomaterials and their potential applications in catalysis, clean energy, environmental remediation, etc. Until 05-May-2025, he has published 130 SCI papers with a total citation of over 20500 and H-index of 66, including 62 corresponding/first-authored papers in PNAS (3), Nat. Rev. Chem., Nat. Commun. (4), Nat. Protoc., Chem. Soc. Rev. (2), Acc. Chem. Res. (2), J. Am. Chem. Soc. (4), Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (5), Adv. Mater. (6), Matter (2), Environ. Sci. Technol., ACS Nano (3), etc. Based on these works, he has been rated/honored as a “IAAM Fellow” by The International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM) in 2024, a “Highly Cited Researcher” (Top 1‰, World-wide) by Web of Science for consecutive 6 years from 2018 to 2023, a “Rising Star” by both Advanced Materials and Small in 2022, a “Top 2% of the World’s Most Cited Scholar” by Stanford University for consecutive 5 years from 2020 to 2024, a “Vebleo Fellow” by Vebleo in 2021, an “Emerging Investigator” by J. Mater. Chem. A in 2021, and is also a recipient of multiple awards including the “Young Scientist Award” from European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) in 2015, “MSE Doctorate Research Excellence Award” from Nanyang Technological University in 2016, and “Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad” from CSC in 2015.
Postdoc Opportunities:
We now have 1-2 postdoc positions available in the research directions of electrosynthesis, electrocatalysis, or metal nanomaterials synthesis. If you are interested in it, you can send your CV and representative publications to Prof. FAN ( E-mail: zhanxi.fan@cityu.edu.hk ), and mark the email theme with “Postdoc Application-Your Name”.
(* Corresponding Author, # Co-first Author)
(Full publication list is available here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GpKEA6wAAAAJ&hl=zh-TW )
- Yunhao Wang, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Atomic coordination environment engineering of bimetallic alloy nanostructures for efficient ammonia electrosynthesis from nitrate, PNAS 120, e2306461120 (2023).
- Jingwen Zhou, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Constructing molecule-metal relay catalysis over heterophase metallene for high-performance rechargeable zinc-nitrate/ethanol batteries, PNAS 120, e2311149120 (2023).
- Jingwen Zhou, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Boosting the reaction kinetics in aprotic lithium-carbon dioxide batteries with unconventional phase metal nanomaterials, PNAS 119, e2204666119 (2022).
- Jinwen Yin, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Unconventional hexagonal open Prussian blue analog structures, Nat. Commun. 16, 370 (2025).
- Fu Liu & Zhanxi Fan*, Defect engineering of two-dimensional materials for advanced energy conversion and storage, Chem. Soc. Rev. 52, 1723-1772 (2023).
- Yunhao Wang, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Interfacial Water Structure Modulation on Unconventional Phase Non-Precious Metal Alloy Nanostructures for Efficient Nitrate Electroreduction to Ammonia in Neutral Media, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 64, e202508617 (2025).
- Fu Liu, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Enhanced p-d Orbital Coupling in Unconventional Phase RhSb Alloy Nanoflowers for Efficient Ammonia Electrosynthesis in Neutral Media, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 64, e202504641 (2025).
- Jingwen Zhou, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Theory-Guided Design of Unconventional Phase Metal Heteronanostructures for Higher-Rate Stable Li-CO2 and Li-Air Batteries, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 64, e202402841 (2025).
- Yunhao Wang, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Controlled synthesis of unconventional phase alloy nanobranches for highly selective electrocatalytic nitrite reduction to ammonia, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 63, e202402841 (2024).
- Yangbo Ma, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Site-selective growth of fcc-2H-fcc copper on unconventional phase metal nanomaterials for highly efficient tandem CO2 electroreduction, Adv. Mater. 36, 2402979 (2024).
- Yunhao Wang, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Crystal phase engineering of ultrathin alloy nanostructures for highly efficient electroreduction of nitrate to ammonia, Adv. Mater. 36, 2313548 (2024).
- Yuecheng Xiong, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Regulating the Electrochemical Nitrate Reduction Performance with Controllable Distribution of Unconventional Phase Copper on Alloy Nanostructures, Adv. Mater. 36, 2407889 (2024).
- Yuecheng Xiong, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Electrochemical nitrate reduction: ammonia synthesis and the beyond, Adv. Mater. 36, 202304021 (2024).
- Yangbo Ma, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Confined growth of silver-copper Janus nanostructures with {100} facets for highly selective tandem electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction, Adv. Mater. 34, 2110607 (2022). (Rising Stars series)
- Yuecheng Xiong, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Electrochemical lithium extraction from aqueous sources, Matter 5, 1760-1791 (2022).
- Yangbo Ma, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Surface modification of metal materials for high-performance electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction, Matter 4, 888-926 (2021).
- Yuecheng Xiong, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Metal doped unconventional phase irni nanobranches: tunable electrochemical nitrate reduction performance and pollutants upcycling, Environ. Sci. Technol. 58, 10863-10873 (2024).
- Xichen Zhou, et al., Zhanxi Fan* & Hua Zhang*, Preparation of Au@Pd core-shell nanorods with fcc-2H-fcc heterophase for highly efficient electrocatalytic alcohol oxidation, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 144, 547-555 (2022).
- Shiyao Lu, et al., Zhanxi Fan* & Hua Zhang*, Crystal phase control of gold nanomaterials by wet-chemical synthesis, Acc. Chem. Res. 53, 2106-2118 (2020).
- Jinli Yu, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Enhancing the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to multi-carbon products on copper nanosheet arrays via cation-catalyst interaction, Cell Rep. Phys. Sci. 4, 101366 (2023).
- Jinli Yu, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Acidic conditions for efficient carbon dioxide electroreduction in flow and MEA cells, Chem Catal. 3, 100670 (2023).
- Jinli Yu, et al., Zhanxi Fan*, Interfacial electric field effect on electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction, Chem Catal. 2, 2229-2252 (2022).
- Zhanxi Fan, et al., Haimei Zheng* & Hua Zhang*, Heterophase fcc-2H-fcc gold nanorods, Nat. Commun. 11, 3293 (2020).
- Ye Chen #, Zhanxi Fan #, et al., Hua Zhang*, Ethylene selectivity in electrocatalytic CO2 reduction on Cu nanomaterials: a crystal phase-dependent study, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 142, 12760-12766 (2020).
- Ye Chen #, Zhuangchai Lai #, Xiao Zhang #, Zhanxi Fan #, Qiyuan He #, Chaoliang Tan & Hua Zhang*, Phase engineering of nanomaterials, Nat. Rev. Chem. 4, 243-256 (2020).
- Zhanxi Fan, et al., Hua Zhang*, Facile synthesis of gold nanomaterials with unusual crystal structures, Nat. Protoc. 12, 2367-2378 (2017).
- Zhanxi Fan, et al., Peidong Yang* & Hua Zhang*, Stabilization of 4H hexagonal phase in gold nanoribbons, Nat. Commun. 6, 7684 (2015).
- Zhanxi Fan, et al., Hua Zhang*, Surface modification-induced phase transformation of hexagonal close-packed gold square sheets, Nat. Commun. 6, 6571 (2015). ?
- Zhanxi Fan & Hua Zhang*, Crystal phase-controlled synthesis, properties and applications of noble metal nanomaterials, Chem. Soc. Rev. 45, 63-82 (2016).
- Zhanxi Fan & Hua Zhang*, Template synthesis of noble metal nanocrystals with unusual crystal structures and their catalytic applications, Acc. Chem. Res. 49, 2841-2850 (2016). ?
- Zhanxi Fan, et al., Hua Zhang*, Synthesis of 4H/fcc noble multimetallic nanoribbons for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 138, 1414-1419 (2016). ?
- Zhanxi Fan, et al., Hua Zhang*, Synthesis of 4H/fcc-Au@metal sulfide core-shell nanoribbons, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 137, 10910-10913 (2015).
- Ye Chen ?#, Zhanxi Fan? #, Zhimin Luo? #, et al., Hua Zhang*, High-yield synthesis of crystal-phase-heterostructured 4H/fcc Au@Pd core-shell nanorods for electrocatalytic ethanol oxidation, Adv. Mater. 29, 1701331 (2017).
- Zhanxi Fan, et al., Hua Zhang*, Synthesis of ultrathin face-centered-cubic Au@Pt and Au@Pd core-shell nanoplates from hexagonal close-packed Au square sheets, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 54, 5672-5676 (2015).