Introduction

The research activities of our group are mainly concentrated on two aspects. One is the synthesis and assembly of catalytic materials with controlled particle size and morphology in nano-scales, involving both metal and metal oxides. Another target is to use these catalytic materials for chemical reactions that are potentially significant for energy conversion and environmental protection, such as hydrogen production from renewable and fossil resources, methane activation, catalytic conversion of methanol, DME and ethanol, and oxidation of light oxygenates. The aim is to integrate the two aspects for establishing the structure-reactivity relationship which is the core of heterogeneous catalysis.