Recently, the Angewandte Chemie International Edition (applied chemistry in English) has published two research articles by first author Liao Fenglin, a Ph.D candidate at Wuhan University’s College of Chemical and Molecule Science. The research was jointly carried out by Professor Zeng Shizhi and WHU Associate Professor Hong Xinlin’s research group. Zeng Shizhi holds an endowed chair as a professor at WHU and is additionally a professor of Oxford University and a Changjiang Scholar.

The articles published by the group discuss electronic modulation of a copper/zinc oxide catalyst by a heterojunction for selective hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to methanol. According to the published articles, “For the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide, a marked increase in the methanol selectivity was observed when the reaction was catalyzed by Cu/rod-shaped ZnO/CdSe with heterojunction structure. Diffusion reflectance, photoluminescence, and ESR spectroscopies clearly indicated an increase in the electron density because of the incorporation of CdSe in the core–shell morphology of Cu/rod-shaped ZnO.” The research can greatly contribute to solving the existing problems in energy and environmental protection.

In 2011, Liao Fenglin, first author of the articles, was sponsored by China Scholarship Council (CSC) to studyat Oxford with Professor Zeng Shizhi’s research group in pursuit of a joint doctoral degree.