Prof. Xinhe Bao: Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Prof. Xinhe Bao was elected as an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently. Prof. Bao works in the fields of surface chemistry, fundamental and applied catalysis. He found that the subsurface oxygen enhances the catalytic performance of silver metal in selective oxidation reactions. A highly active and selective PtFe catalyst was invented for removing trace CO from H2 at low temperatures for fuel cell applications. Based on the finding of a synergetic confinement effect in carbon nanotube-encapsulated nanoparticles in catalysis, carbon nanotube-confined iron catalyst and carbon nanotube-confined rhodium-manganese catalyst were found to enhance significantly the catalytic efficiency in syngas conversion. Furthermore, he has been continuing working on ‘activation of methane’ for years. For example, a novel catalyst was recently developed for converting methane to methanol at 80 °C. Mo/MCM-22 was developed catalyzing direct conversion of methane to benzene and one-pass yield of benzene was greatly improved. He has won the second-class National Natural Science Award 2005 and Hongkong ‘Qiu Shi Distinguished Young Scholar Award’ 1996.