PhD student of DICP, GUO Xiaoqiang, Received the Best Oral Presentation Award at the 11th International Symposium on Carbon for Catalysis

At the 11th International Symposium on Carbon for Catalysis in Beijing, PhD student, GUO Xiaoqiang, received the Best Oral Presentation Award for his talk titled “Design of Carbon-based Catalysts for Acetylene Hydrochlorination.” The award was set up to recognize early-career researchers and students with quality and innovation research, and clarity in the presentation.

The International Symposium on Carbon for Catalysis is a leading conference in carbon materials and catalysis. The event focused on nanocarbon materials—such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, and 3D composites—for catalytic applications. Topics ranged from heterogeneous and photoelectrocatalysis to environmental and energy chemistry, alongside advanced characterization and synthesis methods. This symposium brought together about 300 researchers from 20 countries and regions to exchange the latest advances and explore future directions in the field.

In his presentation, GUO Xiaoqiang outlined our group’s work on carbon-based meta-free catalysts for acetylene hydrochlorination (Nat Commun 2014, 5, 3688. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 2017, 210, 116-120). He gave a detailed report about a new breakthrough with the development of a mercury-free BN-confined Nanographene catalyst, which was recently published at (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2025, 147, 47109−47116). This material exhibited a high activity and stability for vinyl chloride synthesis from acetylene. The presentation was well‑received, sparking a lively discussion among attendees.

PhD student, GUO Xiaqiang (the second from the left), was awarded the Best Oral Presentation Award.