Wenhao Ren

Wenhao Ren

School of Chemical Engineering

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Dr. Wenhao Ren is an innovative researcher in the fields of nanomaterials, electrocatalysis and battery technologies. He has published over 50 high-quality refereed journal papers, containing 1 ESI Hot papers, 4 ESI Highly Cited papers. These include 15 papers as the first/co-first authors and 2 as the co-corresponding authors in flagship Materials and Chemistry journals including Nat. Commun., Joule, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Nano Lett., Adv. Energy Mater., Adv. Funct. Mater., ACS Catalysis, etc. He has achieved an h-index of 35 and total citations of > 4,500 (Google Scholar). Dr Ren has also been involved in several industrial projects and applied for 2 PCT patents, and 3 Chinese patents as the co-inventor.

  • Appointments
    Date Position Institution name
    2023 - 2026 DECRA Fellow University of Adelaide
    2020 - 2023 Postdoc (Marie Curie Fellow) The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
    2017 - 2020 Postdoc The University of New South Wales
    2012 - 2017 PhD Wuhan University of Technology

  • Education
    Date Institution name Country Title
    2012 - 2017 Wuhan University of Technology China PhD

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2023 Chang, M., Ren, W., Ni, W., Lee, S., & Hu, X. (2023). Ionomers Modify the Selectivity of Cu-Catalyzed Electrochemical CO<inf>2</inf> Reduction. ChemSusChem, 16(5), 7 pages.
    DOI Scopus5 WoS2
    2023 Ren, W., Ma, W., & Hu, X. (2023). Tailored water and hydroxide transport at a quasi-two-phase interface of membrane electrode assembly electrolyzer for CO electroreduction. Joule, 7(10), 2349-2360.
    DOI Scopus5
    2022 Zhang, Y., Chen, X., Cen, W., Ren, W., Guo, H., Wu, S., . . . Zhao, C. (2022). Flash-assisted doping graphene for ultrafast potassium transport. Nano Research, 15(5), 4083-4090.
    DOI Scopus9 WoS4
    2022 Ren, W., Xu, A., Chan, K., & Hu, X. (2022). A Cation Concentration Gradient Approach to Tune the Selectivity and Activity of CO<inf>2</inf> Electroreduction. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 61(49), 6 pages.
    DOI Scopus38 WoS14 Europe PMC5
    2022 Xu, W., Zhao, K., Liao, X., Sun, C., He, K., Yuan, Y., . . . Lu, J. (2022). Proton Storage in Metallic H<inf>1.75</inf>MoO<inf>3</inf> Nanobelts through the Grotthuss Mechanism. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 144(38), 17407-17415.
    DOI Scopus40 WoS22 Europe PMC5
    2022 Ren, W., Tan, X., Jia, C., Krammer, A., Sun, Q., Qu, J., . . . Zhao, C. (2022). Electronic Regulation of Nickel Single Atoms by Confined Nickel Nanoparticles for Energy-Efficient CO<inf>2</inf> Electroreduction. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 61(26), 5 pages.
    DOI Scopus98 WoS53 Europe PMC3
    2022 Qu, J., Yang, W., Wu, T., Ren, W., Huang, J., Yu, H., . . . Cairney, J. M. (2022). Atom probe specimen preparation methods for nanoparticles. Ultramicroscopy, 233, 8 pages.
    DOI Scopus3 WoS2 Europe PMC1
    2022 Sun, Q., Zhao, Y., Ren, W., & Zhao, C. (2022). Electroreduction of low concentration CO<inf>2</inf> at atomically dispersed Ni-N-C catalysts with nanoconfined ionic liquids. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 304, 8 pages.
    DOI Scopus33 WoS20
    2021 Jia, C., Li, S., Zhao, Y., Hocking, R. K., Ren, W., Chen, X., . . . Zhao, C. (2021). Nitrogen Vacancy Induced Coordinative Reconstruction of Single-Atom Ni Catalyst for Efficient Electrochemical CO<inf>2</inf> Reduction. Advanced Functional Materials, 31(51), 8 pages.
    DOI Scopus103 WoS71
    2021 Sun, Q., Ren, W., Zhao, Y., & Zhao, C. (2021). Gram-scale synthesis of single-atom metal-N-CNT catalysts for highly efficient CO<inf>2</inf>electroreduction. Chemical Communications, 57(12), 1514-1517.
    DOI Scopus16 WoS14 Europe PMC2
    2021 Qin, M., Ren, W., Jiang, R., Li, Q., Yao, X., Wang, S., . . . Mai, L. (2021). Highly Crystallized Prussian Blue with Enhanced Kinetics for Highly Efficient Sodium Storage. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 13(3), 3999-4007.
    DOI Scopus110 WoS74 Europe PMC6
    2021 Jia, C., Tan, X., Zhao, Y., Ren, W., Li, Y., Su, Z., . . . Zhao, C. (2021). Sulfur-Dopant-Promoted Electroreduction of CO<inf>2</inf> over Coordinatively Unsaturated Ni-N<inf>2</inf> Moieties. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 60(43), 23342-23348.
    DOI Scopus103 WoS72 Europe PMC7
    2021 Su, Z., Chen, J., Ren, W., Guo, H., Jia, C., Yin, S., . . . Zhao, C. (2021). “Water-in-Sugar” Electrolytes Enable Ultrafast and Stable Electrochemical Naked Proton Storage. Small, 17(40), 9 pages.
    DOI Scopus33 WoS28 Europe PMC1
    2021 Ren, W., Tan, X., Qu, J., Li, S., Li, J., Liu, X., . . . Zhao, C. (2021). Isolated copper–tin atomic interfaces tuning electrocatalytic CO<inf>2</inf> conversion. Nature Communications, 12(1), 8 pages.
    DOI Scopus121 WoS92 Europe PMC15
    2020 Ahmed, M. I., Liu, C., Zhao, Y., Ren, W., Chen, X., Chen, S., & Zhao, C. (2020). Metal–Sulfur Linkages Achieved by Organic Tethering of Ruthenium Nanocrystals for Enhanced Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 59(48), 21465-21469.
    DOI Scopus57 WoS46 Europe PMC3
    2020 Zhao, Y., Tan, X., Yang, W., Jia, C., Chen, X., Ren, W., . . . Zhao, C. (2020). Surface Reconstruction of Ultrathin Palladium Nanosheets during Electrocatalytic CO<inf>2</inf> Reduction. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 59(48), 21493-21498.
    DOI Scopus104 WoS99 Europe PMC11
    2020 Ren, W., Tan, X., Chen, X., Zhang, G., Zhao, K., Yang, W., . . . Zhao, C. (2020). Confinement of Ionic Liquids at Single-Ni-Sites Boost Electroreduction of CO<inf>2</inf>in Aqueous Electrolytes. ACS Catalysis, 10(22), 13171-13178.
    DOI Scopus56 WoS46
    2020 Jia, C., Ren, W., Chen, X., Yang, W., & Zhao, C. (2020). (N, B) Dual Heteroatom-Doped Hierarchical Porous Carbon Framework for Efficient Electroreduction of Carbon Dioxide. ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 8(15), 6003-6010.
    DOI Scopus50 WoS42
    2020 Su, Z., Ren, W., Guo, H., Peng, X., Chen, X., & Zhao, C. (2020). Ultrahigh Areal Capacity Hydrogen-Ion Batteries with MoO<inf>3</inf> Loading Over 90 mg cm<sup>−2</sup>. Advanced Functional Materials, 30(46), 8 pages.
    DOI Scopus60 WoS48
    2020 Peng, X., Guo, H., Ren, W., Su, Z., & Zhao, C. (2020). Vanadium hexacyanoferrate as high-capacity cathode for fast proton storage. Chemical Communications, 56(79), 11803-11806.
    DOI Scopus46 WoS34 Europe PMC7
    2020 Wu, S., Mo, J., Zeng, Y., Wang, Y., Rawal, A., Scott, J., . . . Chen, X. (2020). Shock Exfoliation of Graphene Fluoride in Microwave. Small, 16(12), 10 pages.
    DOI Scopus23 WoS23 Europe PMC2
    2020 Zhao, Y., Tan, X., Yang, W., Jia, C., Chen, X., Ren, W., . . . Zhao, C. (2020). Surface Reconstruction of Ultrathin Palladium Nanosheets during Electrocatalytic CO<sub>2</sub> Reduction. Angewandte Chemie, 132(48), 21677-21682.
    DOI
    2020 Guo, H., Goonetilleke, D., Sharma, N., Ren, W., Su, Z., Rawal, A., & Zhao, C. (2020). Two-Phase Electrochemical Proton Transport and Storage in α-MoO<inf>3</inf> for Proton Batteries. Cell Reports Physical Science, 1(10), 16 pages.
    DOI Scopus52 WoS39
    2020 Yang, W., Zhao, Y., Chen, S., Ren, W., Chen, X., Jia, C., . . . Zhao, C. (2020). Defective Indium/Indium Oxide Heterostructures for Highly Selective Carbon Dioxide Electrocatalysis. Inorganic Chemistry, 59(17), 12437-12444.
    DOI Scopus44 WoS30 Europe PMC4
    2020 Ren, W., & Zhao, C. (2020). Paths towards enhanced electrochemical CO<inf>2</inf> reduction. National Science Review, 7(1), 7-9.
    DOI Scopus46 WoS44 Europe PMC5
    2019 Chen, X., Bo, X., Ren, W., Chen, S., & Zhao, C. (2019). Microwave-assisted shock synthesis of diverse ultrathin graphene-derived materials. Materials Chemistry Frontiers, 3(7), 1433-1439.
    DOI Scopus13 WoS11
    2019 Yao, X., Ke, Y., Ren, W., Wang, X., Xiong, F., Yang, W., . . . Mai, L. (2019). Retraction to: Defect-Rich Soft Carbon Porous Nanosheets for Fast and High-Capacity Sodium-Ion Storage (Advanced Energy Materials, (2019), 9, 6, (1803260), 10.1002/aenm.201803260). Advanced Energy Materials, 9(8), 1 page.
    DOI Scopus13 WoS9
    2019 Jia, C., Dastafkan, K., Ren, W., Yang, W., & Zhao, C. (2019). Carbon-based catalysts for electrochemical CO<inf>2</inf> reduction. Sustainable Energy and Fuels, 3(11), 2890-2906.
    DOI Scopus74 WoS57
    2019 Ren, W., Tan, X., Yang, W., Jia, C., Xu, S., Wang, K., . . . Zhao, C. (2019). Isolated Diatomic Ni‐Fe Metal–Nitrogen Sites for Synergistic Electroreduction of CO<sub>2</sub>. Angewandte Chemie, 131(21), 7046-7050.
    DOI
    2019 Ren, W., Zhu, Z., Qin, M., Chen, S., Yao, X., Li, Q., . . . Zhao, C. (2019). Prussian White Hierarchical Nanotubes with Surface-Controlled Charge Storage for Sodium-Ion Batteries. Advanced Functional Materials, 29(15), 10 pages.
    DOI Scopus143 WoS116
    2019 Yang, W., Chen, S., Ren, W., Zhao, Y., Chen, X., Jia, C., . . . Zhao, C. (2019). Nanostructured amalgams with tuneable silver-mercury bonding sites for selective electroreduction of carbon dioxide into formate and carbon monoxide. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 7(26), 15907-15912.
    DOI Scopus36 WoS32
    2019 Yao, X., Ke, Y., Ren, W., Wang, X., Xiong, F., Yang, W., . . . Mai, L. (2019). Defect-Rich Soft Carbon Porous Nanosheets for Fast and High-Capacity Sodium-Ion Storage. Advanced Energy Materials, 9(6), 1-9.
    DOI Scopus280 WoS233
    2019 Ahmed, M. I., Chen, S., Ren, W., Chen, X., & Zhao, C. (2019). Synergistic bimetallic CoFe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>4</inf> clusters supported on graphene for ambient electrocatalytic reduction of nitrogen to ammonia. Chemical Communications, 55(81), 12184-12187.
    DOI Scopus49 WoS42 Europe PMC2
    2019 Wang, Q., Ren, W., Gao, F., Qiu, C., Wang, Q., Gao, F., & Zhao, C. (2019). Thermally Activated Multilayered Carbon Cloth as Flexible Supercapacitor Electrode Material with Significantly Enhanced Areal Energy Density. ChemElectroChem, 6(6), 1768-1775.
    DOI Scopus30 WoS29
    2019 Ren, W., Tan, X., Yang, W., Jia, C., Xu, S., Wang, K., . . . Zhao, C. (2019). Isolated Diatomic Ni-Fe Metal–Nitrogen Sites for Synergistic Electroreduction of CO<inf>2</inf>. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 58(21), 6972-6976.
    DOI Scopus720 WoS613 Europe PMC61
    2019 Qin, M., Ren, W., Meng, J., Wang, X., Yao, X., Ke, Y., . . . Mai, L. (2019). Realizing Superior Prussian Blue Positive Electrode for Potassium Storage via Ultrathin Nanosheet Assembly. ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 7(13), 11564-11570.
    DOI Scopus94 WoS81
    2018 Ren, W., Liu, D., Sun, C., Yao, X., Tan, J., Wang, C., . . . Mai, L. (2018). Nonhierarchical Heterostructured Fe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf>/Mn<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> Porous Hollow Spheres for Enhanced Lithium Storage. Small, 14(26), 9 pages.
    DOI Scopus89 WoS80 Europe PMC6
    2018 Ren, W., Chen, X., & Zhao, C. (2018). Ultrafast Aqueous Potassium-Ion Batteries Cathode for Stable Intermittent Grid-Scale Energy Storage. Advanced Energy Materials, 8(24), 8 pages.
    DOI Scopus156 WoS132
    2018 Yao, X., Zhu, Z., Li, Q., Wang, X., Xu, X., Meng, J., . . . Mai, L. (2018). 3.0 v High Energy Density Symmetric Sodium-Ion Battery: Na<inf>4</inf>V<inf>2</inf>(PO<inf>4</inf>)<inf>3</inf>∥Na<inf>3</inf>V<inf>2</inf>(PO<inf>4</inf>)<inf>3</inf>. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 10(12), 10022-10028.
    DOI Scopus71 WoS67 Europe PMC3
    2017 Zhang, G., Xiong, T., Yan, M., Xu, Y., Ren, W., Xu, X., . . . Mai, L. (2017). In Operando Probing of Sodium-Incorporation in NASICON Nanomaterial: Asymmetric Reaction and Electrochemical Phase Diagram. Chemistry of Materials, 29(19), 8057-8064.
    DOI Scopus18 WoS16
    2017 Xu, X., Niu, C., Duan, M., Wang, X., Huang, L., Wang, J., . . . Mai, L. (2017). Alkaline earth metal vanadates as sodium-ion battery anodes. Nature Communications, 8(1), 11 pages.
    DOI Scopus133 WoS120 Europe PMC16
    2017 Ren, W., Qin, M., Zhu, Z., Yan, M., Li, Q., Zhang, L., . . . Mai, L. (2017). Activation of Sodium Storage Sites in Prussian Blue Analogues via Surface Etching. Nano Letters, 17(8), 4713-4718.
    DOI Scopus236 WoS208 Europe PMC17
    2017 Ren, W., Zhu, Z., An, Q., & Mai, L. (2017). Emerging Prototype Sodium-Ion Full Cells with Nanostructured Electrode Materials. Small, 13(23), 31 pages.
    DOI Scopus103 WoS103 Europe PMC7
    2017 Zhang, L., Zhao, K., Yu, R., Yan, M., Xu, W., Dong, Y., . . . Mai, L. (2017). Phosphorus Enhanced Intermolecular Interactions of SnO<inf>2</inf> and Graphene as an Ultrastable Lithium Battery Anode. Small, 13(20), 8 pages.
    DOI Scopus101 WoS90 Europe PMC6
    2017 Zhao, K., Wen, M., Dong, Y., Zhang, L., Yan, M., Xu, W., . . . Mai, L. (2017). Thermal Induced Strain Relaxation of 1D Iron Oxide for Solid Electrolyte Interphase Control and Lithium Storage Improvement. Advanced Energy Materials, 7(6), 10 pages.
    DOI Scopus77 WoS74
    2017 Ren, W., Li, S., Gao, L., Huang, S., Zhang, L., Qiang, C., . . . Zhi, K. (2017). Low-dose propranolol for infantile hemangioma of the head and neck: Analysis of 23 consecutive patients. PEDIATRICS INTERNATIONAL, 59(2), 213-217.
    DOI WoS6 Europe PMC4
    2016 Chen, C., Ren, W., Gao, L., Cheng, Z., Zhang, L., Li, S., & Zhi, P. K. -Q. (2016). Function of obturator prosthesis after maxillectomy and prosthetic obturator rehabilitation. BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGY, 82(2), 177-183.
    DOI WoS22 Europe PMC12
    2016 Yan, M., Zhao, L., Zhao, K., Wei, Q., An, Q., Zhang, G., . . . Mai, L. (2016). Cycling-Stable Cathodes: The Capturing of Ionized Oxygen in Sodium Vanadium Oxide Nanorods Cathodes under Operando Conditions (Adv. Funct. Mater. 36/2016). Advanced Functional Materials, 26(36), 6498.
    DOI
    2016 Ren, W., Yao, X., Niu, C., Zheng, Z., Zhao, K., An, Q., . . . Mai, L. (2016). Cathodic polarization suppressed sodium-ion full cell with a 3.3 V high-voltage. Nano Energy, 28, 216-223.
    DOI Scopus99 WoS86
    2016 Yan, M., Zhao, L., Zhao, K., Wei, Q., An, Q., Zhang, G., . . . Mai, L. (2016). The Capturing of Ionized Oxygen in Sodium Vanadium Oxide Nanorods Cathodes under Operando Conditions. Advanced Functional Materials, 26(36), 6555-6562.
    DOI Scopus19 WoS19
    2016 Wei, Q., Xu, Y., Li, Q., Tan, S., Ren, W., An, Q., & Mai, L. (2016). Novel layered Li<inf>3</inf>V<inf>2</inf>(PO<inf>4</inf>)<inf>3</inf>/rGO&amp;C sheets as high-rate and long-life lithium ion battery cathodes. Chemical Communications, 52(56), 8730-8732.
    DOI Scopus27 WoS27 Europe PMC1
    2016 Ren, W., Zheng, Z., Xu, C., Niu, C., Wei, Q., An, Q., . . . Mai, L. (2016). Self-sacrificed synthesis of three-dimensional Na<inf>3</inf>V<inf>2</inf>(PO<inf>4</inf>)<inf>3</inf> nanofiber network for high-rate sodium-ion full batteries. Nano Energy, 25, 145-153.
    DOI Scopus233 WoS200
    2016 Zhang, L., Zhao, K., Luo, Y., Dong, Y., Xu, W., Yan, M., . . . Mai, L. (2016). Acetylene Black Induced Heterogeneous Growth of Macroporous CoV<inf>2</inf>O<inf>6</inf> Nanosheet for High-Rate Pseudocapacitive Lithium-Ion Battery Anode. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 8(11), 7139-7146.
    DOI Scopus83 WoS79 Europe PMC13
    2016 Yan, M., Zhang, G., Wei, Q., Tian, X., Zhao, K., An, Q., . . . Mai, L. (2016). In operando observation of temperature-dependent phase evolution in lithium-incorporation olivine cathode. Nano Energy, 22, 406-413.
    DOI Scopus32 WoS26
    2016 Wang, L., Hu, Z., Zhao, K., Luo, Y., Wei, Q., Tang, C., . . . Mai, L. (2016). Hollow spherical LiNi<sub>0.5</sub>Mn<sub>1.5</sub>O<sub>4</sub> built from polyhedra with high-rate performance via carbon nanotube modification. SCIENCE CHINA-MATERIALS, 59(2), 95-103.
    DOI WoS29
    2015 Ren, W., Zheng, Z., Luo, Y., Chen, W., Niu, C., Zhao, K., . . . Mai, L. (2015). An electrospun hierarchical LiV<inf>3</inf>O<inf>8</inf> nanowire-in-network for high-rate and long-life lithium batteries. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 3(39), 19850-19856.
    DOI Scopus61 WoS51
    2015 Niu, C., Meng, J., Wang, X., Han, C., Yan, M., Zhao, K., . . . Mai, L. (2015). General synthesis of complex nanotubes by gradient electrospinning and controlled pyrolysis. Nature Communications, 6(1), 9 pages.
    DOI Scopus383 WoS349 Europe PMC55
    2014 Ren, W. H., Zhao, K. N., Zheng, Z. P., & Mai, L. Q. (2014). Nanowire material and its application in electrochemical energy storage field. Gongneng Cailiao/Journal of Functional Materials, 45(12), 12010-12018.
    DOI Scopus1

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Principal Supervisor Electrochemical conversion of small molecules into value-added chemicals Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Kai Dong
    2024 Principal Supervisor A Novel Metal-based Catalyst for Highly Selective CO2 Electroreduction Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Qi Wei
    2024 Co-Supervisor Design of Cu-based catalysts for selective electroreduction of carbon dioxide to C2+ products. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Dehuang Zhuo
    2024 Co-Supervisor Fabrication of Cost-Effective High-Performance Oxygen Evolution Reaction Catalyst and Effective Catalyst Layer for Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Minqiu Lan

  • Other Supervision Activities
    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2023 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Design of novel catalysts for electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction. The University of Adelaide - Doctorate Full Time Jing Yang

  • Mentoring
    Date Topic Location Name
    2024 - 2027 Electrocatalysis for the synthesis of small moleculars School of Chemical Engineering Kai Dong
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