On December 8, 2022, the third academic symposium of the "Taihu Forum on Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality," established by Jiangnan University and the Photocatalysis Professional Committee of the Chinese Society of Imaging Science and Technology, was held at Jiangnan University. Professor Xinwen Guo from Dalian University of Technology and Professor Weiping Ding from Nanjing University were invited as speakers. Professor Yongfa Zhu, Vice President of the Chinese Society of Imaging Science and Technology and Director of the Photocatalysis Professional Committee from Tsinghua University, served as thechair. The symposium was held in a hybrid format (both online and offline), with centralized venues at the Lihu Campus and Yixing Graduate School. Professor Weifu Dong, Dean of the School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Professor Yuming Dong, Associate Dean,were in attendance,along with over 300 faculty members and students.

During the symposium, Professor Xinwen Guo delivered a keynote presentation titled“Catalytic Conversion of Carbon Dioxide into High Value-Added Chemicals.”Covering thermocatalysis, photocatalysis, and photothermal catalysis, the presentation comprehensivelyhighlightedrecent advancements and development prospects in fundamental and applied research, including thedynamic structural evolution of catalyst surfaces during CO₂ conversion,the directionalregulation ofactive phases and sites for CO₂ hydrogenation, andtheoptimization ofinterfaces and modulation ofelectronic structures for photocatalytic CO₂ conversion to chemicals such as ethanol. Professor Weiping Ding delivered a keynote presentation titled“Concepts and Explorations in Carbon Peak, Carbon Neutrality, and Mesocatalysis Research.”Starting from the perspective of mesocatalysis and adopting a narrative, story-driven approach, the presentation provided a detailed overview of recent advances, fundamental insights, and future prospects in both basic and applied research on mesocatalyst construction and mesocatalytic processes. Representative topics included CO₂ hydrogenation to ethanol, the selective oxidation of toluene to benzaldehyde, the one-step synthesis of p-aminophenol from nitrobenzene, as well as emerging directions in fuel cell catalysis technologies. The presentations, rich in content and highly innovative, stimulated active exchanges and discussions among attendees, who reported deriving significant benefit from the event.

Brief Introductions to the Speakers:

Xinwen Guo,Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Dalian University of Technology, currently servesas the Party Committee Secretary of the School of Chemical Engineering. He is the Principal Investigator of the Liaoning Province“Xing Liao Ying Cai”(兴辽英才)High-Level Innovation Team and leads the Key Technology Talent Team for Carbon Neutrality at the Ministry of Education's Frontier Science Center for Intelligent Material Chemical Engineering. He serves on the editorial boards ofChinese Journal of CatalysisandActa Petrolei Sinica (Petroleum Processing Section), Editor-in-Chief of the international journalFrontiers in Chemical Engineering, and editorial board member ofChemical Engineering & Technology. Hehas beenrecognized in the Liaoning Province“National Hundred, Thousand and Ten-Thousand Talent Project”(Hundred-Level), the Ministry of Education's Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET), and serves as Vice Chairman of the Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of Liaoning Province. His honors include the First Prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award, China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF) (2002, ranked 3rd); the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award (2003, ranked 3rd); the Youth Science and Technology Outstanding Contribution Award, China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF) (2008); the Second Prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award, China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF) (2014); the First and Second Prizes of the Liaoning Province Teaching Achievement Award (2018); and the First Prize of the Liaoning Province Science and Technology Progress Award (2019). He has applied for 30 invention patents, with 15 granted, and has published 493 SCI-indexed papers. His main research areas include new catalytic materials, zeolite catalysis, shape-selective catalysis, selective oxidation, catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide, and photocatalysis. He has led numerous projects, including National Key R&D Programs, Key Programs and General Programs of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and industry collaborations.

Weiping Ding,Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Nanjing University, currently servesas the Director of the Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of the Ministry of Education at Nanjing University. He received his Bachelor's and Doctoral degrees from the Department of Chemistry at Nanjing University. He has held visiting scholar or research positions at the Department of Physics at Nanjing University, the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Department of Chemistry at Harvard University. He serves on the editorial board of journals includingChinese Journal of Catalysis. He has led key projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and other research grants. In recent years, he has explored the field of“mesocatalysis,”achieving significant innovative results in selective hydrogenation, selective oxidation, bulk acid catalysis, fuel cell catalysts, and electrocatalysis, with ongoing efforts directed towards industrial application transfer.

Xinwen Guo delivering an academic presentation

Weiping Ding delivering an academic presentation

Faculty and students attending the offline session