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Prof. Junwang Tang awarded prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry
9 June 2021
Our group leader, Professor Junwang Tang, along with two other UCL scientists, have been named the winners of Royal Society of Chemistry prizes recognising excellence in the chemical sciences.
Seperately, Professor Tang also won the Corday-Morgan Prize for the discovery of efficient photocatalysts that can convert solar energy into renewable fuels – an important step towards making society sustainable.
Professor Tang said: “The 2021 Corday-Morgan Prize recognises not only my achievements but more importantly my group members’ contribution to renewable fuel synthesis, as such novel results are a collective contribution from many talented students and postdoctoral researchers working in my group over the past decades.
“I am also very grateful to the RSC as the prize will encourage more researchers to concentrate on this challenging frontier topic and contribute to a sustainable economy and low carbon society.”
His research focuses on the discovery of efficient photocatalysts for renewable fuel synthesis and chemical recycling and chemical systems, helping to increase the supply of renewable energy and protect the environment.
His research group uses two key synthesis processes to produce renewable fuels: splitting water to produce H2 and converting CO2 to produce alcohols. Both processes are driven by solar energy.
The group is also exploring the conversion of shale gas/natural gas to high value chemicals to provide a low carbon process for chemical synthesis. Another area they are working on is the decomposition of plastics into feedstock using robust catalysts driven by microwave energy.