Speaker: Prof. Paolo Fornasiero
Webinar time: July. 23th 2026 (Thursday), 16:00-17:30
Venue: Room 231, New Environmental Building
Inviter: Lizhi Zhang, Chengliang Mao
Abstract:
The evolution of heterogeneous catalysis from conventional metal nanoparticles to atomically precise clusters, single-atom catalysts, and ultimately metal-free photocatalytic systems has opened new opportunities for the development of sustainable chemical processes. This presentation will trace this scientific journey through representative examples that illustrate how increasing control over catalyst structure has enabled significant advances in activity, selectivity, and resource efficiency. Readily available, well-defined single-atom and metal-free photocatalysts are attracting increasing attention as industry seeks more sustainable routes for chemical production. Recent developments demonstrate their outstanding potential in environmental remediation through pollutant degradation, biomass valorization, hydrogen production and liquid hydrogen carrier technologies, selective organic synthesis, propane dehydrogenation, and the highly challenging photocatalytic conversion of CO2 into ethylene. These examples illustrate how rational catalyst design across different structural scales—from metal nanoparticles to clusters, isolated atoms, and metal-free materials—can unlock new catalytic mechanisms and improve performance. Beyond highlighting recent scientific advances, the lecture will discuss the prospects for translating these emerging catalytic systems from fundamental research to industrial implementation, contributing to greener chemical manufacturing, renewable energy conversion, and pollution prevention. Particular emphasis will be placed on the importance of international collaboration, especially with China, in addressing the major catalytic challenges of the 21st century.
About the speaker:
Dr. Paolo Fornasiero holds the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Trieste and is Vice-rector for Research. He is Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (2021), of the Academia Europaea (2022), of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (2025) and of the Italian Academy of Engineering and Technology (2026). His research interests focus on inorganic chemistry, with attention to the design and development of multi-functional nano-systems and their advanced applications in energy related processes and environmental heterogeneous catalysis. He has published over 350 articles in prestigious international journals (including 5 Science, Nature, Nature Energy. Nature Catalysis, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., Adv. Mater., Angew. Chem., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Adv. Func. Mater., ACS Nano, Energy Environmental Science, etc.), which have been cited over 44,000 times (H index = 99 Scopus, H index = 110 Google Schoolar). He serves the community as Executive Editor of the journal ACS Catalysis. He received the 2005 Nasini Medal, the 2013 Chiusoli Medal, the 2022 Malatesta award and the 2025 Chini memorial Lecture, the 2016 Heinz Heinemann Award from the International Association of Catalysis Societies. He was 2018 Visiting Scientist Fellowship of the Chinese Academy of Science.