Miss Qian Sun

Research Experiences

CO electroreduction to acetate by the atomic Cu-Au interfaces |2021/09-2022/05

• Atomic Cu-Au interfaces were constructed for effective CO-to-acetate/C₂₊ species in alkaline flow cell, attributed to the unique geometric and electronic structure of the catalyst. Gas and liquid products were quantified by GC and NMR, respectively;
• Density functional theory calculation reveals that the introduced Au atoms into Cu support promotes C-C coupling and thereby improving acetate formation by weakening the binding strength of *CO+*CO on catalyst surface.

Effective electroreduction of diluted CO₂ by single Ni atoms with nanoconfined ionic liquids |2020/09-2021/09

• Nanoconfined ionic liquids are introduced into porous atomically dispersed nickel-nitrogen-carbon (Ni-N-C) catalysts to enrich local CO₂ concentration and increase the CO₂ electrochemical reduction (CO₂RR) reaction kinetics. The nanoconfined ILs play multiple roles as a CO₂ concentrator, a co-catalyst, and a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) suppressor. Besides, nanoconfined ILs also solves the high viscosity and low conductivity issues of the bulk IL electrolytes.
• A series of ILs with different combinations of cations and anions were employed and their effects on CO₂RR are studied. The optimized Ni-N-C/[Bmim][PF₆] composite exhibited promising catalytic performances for electroreduction of CO₂ to CO at low concentration, demonstrating great potentials of the Ni-N-C/ILs composites for future industrial CO₂ electroreduction applications.

Gram-scale produced single-atom catalysts for CO₂ electroreduction |2019/08-2020/09

• Nickel-nitrogen-carbon (Ni-N-C) catalysts were developed and used for electroreduction of CO₂, which delivered high Faradaic efficiency for CO₂-to-CO conversion and good stability;
• Gram-scale preparation of Ni single atom catalyst for CO₂ electroreduction. 

Interfacial tailoring of lithium-ion batteries by atomic/molecular deposition |2017/01-2019/12

• Lithium metal anode was stabilized by depositing ALD Al₂O₃, the ALD Al₂O₃ works as protection layer to inhibit the lithium dendrite growth;
• Si/Graphite electrode was protected by ALD deposited materials, it is demonstrated to effectively protect the Si/G electrode.

Single crystal of coordination complexes is made, and the structure is characterized using XRD method, thermal behavior is analyzed using DSC and TG/DTG methods |2013/09-2016/07

• Single crystal of metal complexes is made through solution evaporation method, usually, the solution is methylamine, ethylamine, ethanediamine and ammonia solution;
• Crystal structure is characterized by XDR method, the obtained data is analyzed using Shelx, the 2D and 3D structures are drawn using Diamond;
• The melting point of the product is characterized, after that, DSC and TG/DTG are measured to analyze thermal behavior.  

Academic meetings and others

1. Oral presentation in Royal Australian Chemical Institute National Congress 2022 (RACI 2022) in Brisbane. Presentation title “CO₂ electroreduction at single atom catalysts with nanoconfined ionic liquids”, Australia | 2022/07/03-08.
2. Postgraduate Research Showcase (1MT Competition), UNSW | 2022/06/23.
3. Quantitative X-ray diffraction a 5-day course by the Mark Wainwright Analytical Center, UNSW | 2021/05/24-27.
4. Oral presentation in Satellite 9th Australasian Symposium of Ionic Liquids in Monash University. Presentation title “Single atom catalysts with nanoconfined ionic liquids for enhanced CO₂ electroreduction”, Australia | 2020/12/01-02.
5. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy a 5-day short course on surface analysis using XPS by the Mark Wainwright Analytical Center in University of New South Wales, Australia | 2019/12/01.
6. Emerging energy and environmental technologies (young academic forum), Australia | 2019/12/04-06.
7. Custom Officer in Registered Student Organizations Electrochemical Society-University of Arkansas, America| 2018/04-12.
8. 2018 Arkansas NSF EPSCoR Annual meeting. Write an abstract and make a poster with the title of “Controllable surface functionalization by atomic layer deposition and molecular layer deposition” | 2018/06/11-2018/06/12.
9. Center for Advanced Surface Engineering (CASE) Retreat, Arkansas National Science Foundation (NSF). EPSCoR Make a poster with the title of “Functional surfaces by atomic layer deposition” | 2018/01/04-2018/01/05.
10. The 5th National Symposium on Thermal Analysis Kinetics and Thermo kinetics of Chinese Chemical Society in Yan’an, China. Publish an academic paper with the title of “Study on combustion heat and specific heat capacity of FOX-7 and its five derivatives” in Chinese | 2015/04/24-2015/04/26.

Publications

1. Jia, C.; Sun, Q.; Zhao, C. From bulk metals to single-atoms: design of efficient catalysts for electroreduction of CO₂, Chemical Communications, 2023.
2. Sun, Q.; Zhao, Y.; Tan, X.; Jia, C.; Su, Z.; Meyer, Q.; Ahmed, M.; Zhao, C. Atomically dispersed Cu–Au alloy for efficient electrocatalytic reduction of carbon monoxide to acetate, ACS Catalysis. 2023, 13, 8, 5689–5696.
3. Sun, Q.; Dastafkan, K.; Zhao, C. Electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to value-added chemicals and fuels, Conversion of Water and CO₂ to Fuels using Solar Energy: Science, Technology and Materials, 2023. (Finished replying the comments from reviewers and editor, the revised manuscript was send back to the editor)
4. Sun, Q.; Jia, C.; Zhao, C. Ionic liquids for electrochemical CO₂ reduction, Encyclopedia of Ionic Liquids, 2022 Springer Nature Singapore, 1-22.
5. Sun, Q.; Jia, C.; Zhao, C. Single atom-based catalysts for electrochemical CO₂ reduction, Chinese Journal of Catalysis, 2022, 43(7), 1547-1597.
6. Sun, Q.; Zhao, Y.; Ren, W. H.; Zhao, C. Electroreduction of low concentration CO₂ at atomically dispersed Ni-N-C catalysts with nanoconfined ionic liquids, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2022, 304, 120963.
7. Ren, W. H.; Tan, X.; Jia, C.; Krammer, A.; Sun, Q.; Qu, J. T.; Smith, S. C.; Schueler, A.; Hu, X.; Zhao, C. Electronic regulation of nickel single atoms by confined nickel nanoparticles for energy-efficient CO₂ electroreduction, Angewandte Chemie, 2022, 61, e202203335.
8. Sun, Q.; Ren, W. H.; Zhao, Y.; Zhao, C. Gram-scale synthesis of single-atom metal–N–CNT catalysts for highly efficient CO₂ electroreduction, Chemical Communications, 2021, 57(12), 1514-1517.
9. Zhao, C.; Ren, W. H.; Sun, Q. A catalyst, Australia patent, P0036167AU, 2021.
10. Sun, Q.; Meng, X. Inhibiting lithium dendrite growth for lithium batteries: Challenges and Strategies, Nova Sciences, 2018, ISBN: 978-1-53613-498-8.
11. Sun, Q.; Lau, K. C.; Geng, D.; Meng, X. Atomic and molecular layer deposition for superior lithium-sulfur batteries: strategies, performance, and mechanisms, Batteries & Supercaps, 2018, 1, 41-68.
12. Cai, J.; Sun, Q.; Meng, X. Nanostructured materials by atomic and molecular layer deposition, AIMS Materials Science, 2018, 5(5), 957-999.
13. Ullah, F.; Sun, Q.; Yang, W. T.; Shah, M. N.; Zhang, Z. Q.; Chen, H. Z.; Li, C. Z. Donor-acceptor (D-A) terpolymers based on alkyl-DPP and t-BocDPP moieties for polymer solar cells. Chinese Chemical Letters 2017, 28, 2223-2226.
14. Shah, M. N.; Zhang S. H.; Sun, Q.; Ullah, F.; Chen, H. Z.; Li, C. Z. Narrow bandgap semiconducting polymers for solar cells with near-infrared photo response and low energy loss. Tetrahedron Letters 2017, 58, 2975-2980.
15. Sun, Q.; Wang, X. H.; Xu, K. Z.; Li, Y. F.; Song, J. R.; Zhao, F. Q. Crystal structure and thermal behavior of potassium dinitromethane. Chinese Journal of Energetic Materials 2016, 24, 874-879.
16. Sun, Q.; Zhang, Y.; Xu, K. Z.; Ren, Z. Y.; Song J. R.; Zhao, F. Q. Studies on thermodynamic properties of FOX-7 and its five closed-loop derivatives. Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data 2015, 60, 2057-2061;
17. Sun, Q.; Li, Y. F.; Xu, K. Z.; Song, J. R.; Zhao, F. Q. Crystal structure and enthalpy of combustion of AEFOX-7. Chinese Journal of Energetic Materials 2015, 23, 1235-1239.
18. Gong, X.; Sun, Q.; Xu, K. Z.; Song J. R.; Zhao, F. Q. Kinetics, specific heat capacity and adiabatic time-to-explosion of Cu(pn)₂(FOX-7)₂. Chinese Journal of Energetic Materials 2015, 23, 1181-1185.
19. Zhang, Y.; Sun, Q.; Xu, K. Z.; Song, J. R.; Zhao, F. Q. Reviews on the reactivity of 1,1-diamino-2,2 dinitroethylene(FOX-7). Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics 2015, 41, 35-52.
20. Wang, X. J.; Xu, K. Z.; Sun, Q.; Wang, B. Z.; Zhou, C.; Zhao, F. Q. The insensitive energetic material trifurazano-oxacycloheptatriene (TFO): synthesis and detonation properties. Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics 2015, 40, 9-12.
21. Sun, Q.; Li, Z.; Gong, X.; Gao, Z.; Xu, K. Z.; Song J. R.; Zhao, F. Q. Synthesis and characterization of a new cadmium complex based on 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethylene. Journal of Coordination Chemistry 2014, 67, 2576-2582.