Pu-Xian Gao

Professor

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

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Education

• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-2007
• Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005

Research Focus

• Synthesis, discovery and manipulation of novel hierarchical nanostructures of materials systems such as metal oxides, II-VI and III-V semiconductors
• Transport properties of hierarchical nanostructures
• Nanostructures growth theory involving the Vapor-solid (VS) process, Vapor-Liquid-Solid (VLS) process and low-temperature solution chemistry
• Hierachical nanostructures for energy and environment-related applications
• Nanoscale sensors and actuators for chemical and biological detection applications
• Micro(nano)-electromechanical system (MEMS and NEMS); Micro(nano)-fluidics and bio-fluidics

Awards

• United Technologies Corporation Professorship in Engineering Innovation, University of Connecticut, 2015
• Honoree, Boston Patent Law Association’s Invented Here! Event, patent #8,704,210 entitled Boundary-Modulated Nanoparticle Junctions and a Method for Manufacture Thereof. Boston, MA, 2014
• Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship, 2013
• Outstanding Faculty Award, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Connecticut, 2013
• Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Beijing University, 2012
• Certificate of Appreciation for valuable contribution and dedicated service in peer review of manuscripts submitted to ACS journals, 2011
• New Faculty Grant, ACS-Petroleum Research Funds, 2008
• Junior Faculty Summer Fellow, UConn, 2008
• Honda Initiation Grant Award, 2007
• Best Ph.D. Thesis Award, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Tech, 2005
• Advanced Publication Award, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Tech, 2005 and 2006
• Featured on cover of 5-year Report on the US National Nanotechnology Initiative for invented ZnO nanowire-nanoribbon junction arrays, 2005
• Initial Research Award, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Tech, 2005

Publications

Z. Ren, Z. Wu, W. Song, W. Xiao, Y.B. Guo, J. Ding, S.L. Suib, & P.X. Gao, “Low Temperature Propane Oxidation over Co3O4 based Nano-array Catalysts: Ni Dopant Effect, Reaction Mechanism and Structural Stability,” Appl. Catal. B, 2016, 180, 150-160.

S. Wang, Z. Ren, Y. Guo, P-X. Gao, “One-Dimensional Nanostructure-Enhanced Catalysis”, in Encyclopedia of Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry, edited by Timothy P. Hanusa, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK, 2015, ISBN 978-1-118-70328-1, 387-415.

S. Wang, Z. Ren, W.Q. Song, Y.B. Guo, S.L. Suib, P.X. Gao, “ZnO/Perovskite core-shell nanorod array based monolithic catalysts with enhanced propane oxidation and material utilization efficiency at low temperature,” Catalysis Today, 2015, 549-555.

Z. Ren, Y.B. Guo, P.X. Gao, “Nano-array based monolithic catalysts: Concept, Rational Materials Design and Tunable Catalytic Performance,” Catalysis Today, 2015, 258(2), 441-453.

Y.B. Guo, Z. Ren, W. Xiao, and P.X. Gao, “Nano-array Catalysts for Sustainable Energy and Environmental Applications,” Chapter 12, Catalysis by Materials with Well-Defined Structures – 1st Edition, edited by Z.L. Wu, S. Overbury, Elsevier, 2014, ISBN: 9780128012178, 339-370. (invited)

X.C. Sun, H.J. Lin, H.Y. Gao, and P.X. Gao, Y. Lei, “Bimodular high temperature planar oxygen gas sensor,” Frontiers in Green and Environmental Chemistry, 2014, 2, 57. (invited article)

Z. Ren, V. Botu, S. Wang, Y. Meng, W. Song, Y.B. Guo, R. Ramprasad, S.L. Suib, and P.X. Gao, “Monolithically Integrated Spinel MxCo3-xO4 (M=Co, Ni and Zn) Nano-Array Catalysts: Scalable Synthesis and Cations Manipulation for Low Temperature Catalytic CH4 and CO Oxidation,” Angewandte Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53(28), 7223–7227.

Z. Ren, and P.X. Gao, “A Review of Helical Nanostructures: Growth Theories, Synthesis Strategies and Properties,” Nanoscale 2014, 6 (16), 9366 – 9400. (invited feature article)

C.H. Liu, H.Y. Chen, Z. Ren, S. Dardona, M. Piech, H.Y. Gao, and P.X. Gao, “Controlled Synthesis and Structure Tunability of Photocatalytically Active Mesoporous Metal-based Stannate Nanostructures,” Appl. Surf. Sci. 2014, 296, 53-60.

C.H. Liu, R. Roeder, L. Zhang, Z. Ren, H. Chen, Z. Zhang, C. Ronning and P.X. Gao, “Highly efficient visible-light driven photocatalysts: a case of zinc stannate based nanocrystal assemblies,” J. Mater. Chem. A, 2014, 2 (12), 4157-4167. (Cover)