Post-doctoral fellow Mingxin Liu wins prestigious 2019 IUPAC-Zhejiang NHU International Award for Advancements in Green Chemistry

The IUPAC-Zhejiang NHU International Award for Advancements in Green Chemistry is a collaborative award established to encourage young and experienced chemists, and to emphasize the importance of advancements in Green Chemistry and the value of sciences to human progress. Mingxin is one of the 3 awardees in the junior category

Mingxin Liu received his PhD from McGill University under the NSERC-CREATE Program in Green Chemistry. His research aims to develop cutting-edge reactions that minimizes waste in chemical processes while delivers the clean product efficiently, as on the development of unprecedented aldehyde oxidation and reduction reactions to eliminate the high energy cost and excessive waste: he designed powerful yet robust silver and copper catalysts that enable clean and facile aldehyde oxidation and reduction reactions in water and air. Mingxin Liu has also contributed in the development of converting biomass into value-added products and achieving 1,2-diol cleavage into carbonyls. During his postdoctoral research, he developed a highly efficient photocatalytic nitrogen fixation in water catalyzed by gallium nitride, which efficiently activates nitrogen by chemisorption and minimizes charge-hole recombination. He also developed a one-step photo-driven conversion of methanol to ethanol using semiconductor nanowire.

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