
Associate Professor Yan Jiao
Deputy Head
School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials
Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD, but is currently at capacity - email supervisor to discuss availability.
The goal of my life is to increase public awareness of clean energy, by generating impactful research by using molecular modelling to design energy materials.
I received my PhD from the School of Chemical Engineering at The University of Queensland (UQ) in October 2012. After graduation, I joined the University of Adelaide as a Research Fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering (now the School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials). I was appointed as Senior Lecturer in 2019 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021. I was recognised as one of the 40 Rising Stars by The Australian based on research performance, and received Young Tall Poppy Award in 2020. I am a College of Experts for the Australian Research Council (https://www.arc.gov.au/about-arc/arc-profile/arc-committees/arc-college-experts).
My research expertise is molecular modelling, the development of computational electrochemistry, and the design of energy materials by computation methods. I have published more than 90 papers in journals including Nature Energy, Nature Communications, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Energy & Environmental Science. My research publications have collectively received more than 20,000 citations, with an h-index of 55. I am a Highly Cited Researcher as recognized by Clarivate Analytics. I have received more than $1M funding support, including an Australian Research Council supported Future Fellowship to develop catalyst materials for future fuels by advanced computation techniques.
Scholarship Opportunities
Scholarship supported by ARC FT190100636 - Develop Catalyst Materials for Future Fuels by Operando Computation (for HDR students)
CMEC Scholarship (for HDR students)
Research Expertise
My research interest is molecular modelling, the development of computational electrochemistry, and the design of energy materials by computation methods.
Background. Australia has a natural endowment of sunshine and prevailing wind. It is now standing at the forefront of transitioning to renewable energy supported economy. South Australia is currently leading the country with more than 50% of the electricity generated from renewable energy. The rapid expansion of generated renewable electricity can lead to short-term and long-term benefits for our society, such as reducing million tons of CO2 emission, solving the energy crisis, and potentially creating huge revenues for Australia on the energy market (billions of dollars). The current bottleneck is the conversion and storage of renewable electricity, where the development of catalyst materials is the most critical. My research aims to solve this problem by molecular modelling. This powerful approach can tell if and why a type of material is suitable for a specific reaction and design better materials different from the normal trial-and-error materials discovery process. Using hydrogen/carbon/nitrogen/battery as energy carriers and renewable energy as input, I am researching better catalyst materials that can produce and utilise clean fuels that do not pollute our planet.
Methodology. The specific methodology I use to discover and engineer these catalyst materials is molecular modelling on high-performance computers (HPC). I build atom-by-atom models of these catalyst materials. I investigate the energetics of the reaction pathway for generating these fuels. Based on a fundamental understanding of the reaction mechanisms, I design new catalyst materials to produce more fuels from the same amount of renewable electricity. I collaborate with researchers doing experiments extensively: I build the models based on experimental observations and predicts better catalyst materials for experimental researchers to validate. I am also developing computational electrochemistry theory to more accurately model the energy conversion process and design more reliable catalyst materials.
Publication Summary
The results from A/Prof Jiao's research were published in top tier journals, such as Nature Energy, Nature Communications, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Energy and Environmental Science, and Chemical Society Reviews. So far, she has published 80+ journal papers and a book chapter, which have collectively attracted more than 20,000 citations (h-index of 51). She is a Highly Cited Researcher (1 in 1,000 global scientists and social scientists whose papers have demonstrated significant citation impact during the last decade) for two consecutive years.
Awards
- 2019-2021 Highly Cited Researcher (Chemistry) by Clarivate Analytics (Impact of Hi-Ci).
- 2021 Women of the Year Finalist, The Advertiser-Sunday Mail
- 2020 Young Tall Poppy Science Award
- 2019 Australian Research Council Future Fellow Award
- 2019 Rising Star by the Australian (ECMS News here)
- 2018 University of Adelaide Beacon Fellow
- 2015 Women’s Research Excellence Award – Early Career, UoA
- 2012 Dean's Award for Research Higher Degree Excellence, UQ
Media
- 2022 International Women’s Day highlight: https://ecms.adelaide.edu.au/news/list/2022/02/16/the-lure-of-beauty-and-purpose-in-physics
- Featured on Create Digital, powered by Engineers Australia: https://www.createdigital.org.au/dr-yan-jiao-modelling-clean-energy-future/
- UoA Global Engagement highlight: https://www.adelaide.edu.au/global-engagement/news/list/2020/09/22/international-research-yan-jiao
- Humans of NCI (National Computing Infrastructure; best Australian high performance computer) https://nci.org.au/research/people/dr-yan-jiao
- THE DISCOVERY POD - Episode 6: Renewable Energy
- Chemistry World promotion of our research work: Reaction confined between copper nanopyramids transforms carbon dioxide into ethylene glycol.
Research Presentations
- CCE-2021. Theoretical Considerations on the Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction Activity of Transition Metal Single-Atom Catalysts. https://vimeo.com/531224842
- Research Cloud - presentation in Mandarin. Design Electrocatalysts for Clean Energy Conversions – A Theoretical Consideration. https://www.bilibili.com/s/video/BV1gb4y1D7jF
Recommended Reading
- Turning the Tide for Academic Women in STEM: A Postpandemic Vision for Supporting Female Scientists. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.1c09686 (Note from Yan: I didn't write this perspective, but I strongly support the recommendations set out in this perspective. I received tremendous support and mentorship during my career development. That support and mentorship mean a lot to me and I would like to advocate for the community to show provide more opportunities, mentorship and support to young female researchers.)
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2021 - ongoing Associate Professor The University of Adelaide 2020 - ongoing Future Fellow University of Adelaide 2020 - 2021 Director of Research, School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials University of Adelaide 2019 - ongoing Theme Leader, Functional Materials, Faculty of ECMS The University of Adelaide 2019 - 2021 Senior Lecturer University of Adelaide 2018 - ongoing Deputy Director, Centre for Materials in Energy and Catalysis The University of Adelaide 2018 - 2018 Beacon Research Fellow University of Adelaide 2012 - 2017 Postdoctoral Researcher University of Adelaide -
Awards and Achievements
Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount 2020 Award Highly Cited Researcher (Chemistry) Clarivate Analytics Australia 2015 Award Women's Research Excellence Awards Early Career, The University of Adelaide 2013 Award Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad 2013 Award Dean's Award for Research Higher Degree Excellence, The University of Queensland 2012 Award Graduate School International Travel Award, The University of Queensland 2009 Scholarship UQIRTA, The University of Queensland 2009 Scholarship School of Engineering Scholarship, The University of Queensland -
Language Competencies
Language Competency Chinese (Mandarin) Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title 2009 - 2012 The University of Queensland Australia PhD 2001 - 2005 Ocean University of China China BSc -
Research Interests
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Journals
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Book Chapters
Year Citation 2013 Jiao, Y., Hankel, M., Du, A., & Smith, S. (2013). Porous Graphene and Nanomeshes. In D. -E. Jiang, & Z. Chen (Eds.), Graphene Chemistry: Theoretical Perspectives (pp. 129-151). Chichester: Wiley.
Scopus2 -
Conference Papers
Year Citation 2011 Jiao, Y., Du, A., Zhu, Z., Rudolph, V., Lu, G., & Smith, S. (2011). A density functional theory study on CO<inf>2</inf> capture and activation by graphene-like boron nitride with boron vacancy. In Catalysis Today Vol. 175 (pp. 271-275). Beijing, PEOPLES R CHINA: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV.
Scopus74 WoS72 -
Conference Items
Year Citation 2014 Qiao, S. Z., Zheng, Y., & Jiao, Y. (2014). Co-doped graphene metal-free electrocatalysts for key energy conversion processes. Poster session presented at the meeting of ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. San Francisco, CA: AMER CHEMICAL SOC.
- FT190100636. Develop Catalyst Materials for Future Fuels by Operando Computation. 2020-2023
- DP190103472. Design of Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen-Free Ammonia Production under Ambient Conditions. ARC - Discovery Projects. 2019 - 2021
- FND000164. Density Functional Theory aided material design for solar-fuel generation, University of Adelaide - Research Fellowships Scheme. 2018
- ENG 1003 Programming (MATLAB/Excel)
- CHEM ENG 7102 Computation for Materials Engineering
- CHEM ENG 1011 Introduction to Process Modelling
- CHEM ENG 3026 Unit Operation
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Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2022 Principal Supervisor Molecular Modelling of Electro-/Photo-catalytic CO2 Reduction by Metastable Phase Nanomaterials Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Haifeng Shen 2022 Principal Supervisor Electrode/electrolyte Interphase Engineerings for Advanced Aqueous Zinc-ion Batteries Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Yilong Zhu 2022 Co-Supervisor Synthesising high bandgap metal oxides using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), capable of producing highly efficient, low power consumption power electronic devices and LEDs. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Yong Cheow Lim 2021 Co-Supervisor iPhD Project: Upscaling Atomic Layer Etching from the Bench to Full Fabrication Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Xiting Zhou 2021 Principal Supervisor Design Electrocatalyst Materials for Synthetic Fuel/Chemical Production by Molecular Modelling Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Yiran Jiao 2021 Principal Supervisor Design of Nanostructured Electrocatalysts for Facile C-N Coupling by Molecular Modeling Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Ling Chen 2021 Principal Supervisor Design of Semiconductor Based Photo-/Electro-Catalyst Materials for Water Splitting Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Sijia Fu 2021 Principal Supervisor Design Electrocatalysts for Clean Energy Conversion Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Lin Jiang 2021 Co-Supervisor Rational Design and Preparation of Advanced Photocatalysts for Solar Fuels Production Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Mahmoud Adel Hamza Elsayed Gharib 2021 Co-Supervisor Atomic-level design and synthesis of photocatalysts for energy application Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Meijun Guo 2017 Principal Supervisor Computational Study and Experiments of Nanoscale Metal-Organic Frameworks as Drug Carrier for Brain Diseases Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Yechuan Zhang -
Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2019 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Design of g-C3N4 Based Electrocatalysts for CO2 Reduction to Ethylene by Molecular Modelling Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Miss Sijia Fu 2018 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Hepatitis B core (HBc) virus like particle (VLP) as a platform for innovation of chimeric adjuvant-free VLP vaccines targeting oncoviruses Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Bingyang Zhang 2017 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Computational Design of Catalysts for Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution and Nitrogen Reduction Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Xin Liu 2017 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Directing Selectivity of Carbon Dioxide Reduction Reaction via Heteroatom Doping Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Xing Zhi 2017 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Advanced Nano-Array Catalysts for Electrochemical Energy Conversion Reactions Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Jinlong Liu 2017 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Synthesis of Advanced Electrocatalysts via the Ampoule Method for Water Electrolysis Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Yongqiang Zhao
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