Biography

Shanwen Tao, Professor or Chemical Engineering & Sustainable Processes. One of the Warwick-Monash Research Alliance Professors jointly appointed by University of Warwick and Monash University. Before moved to University of Warwick, Tao studied and worked at University of Science & Technology of China (USTC), Materials Department, Risø National Laboratory of Denmark, School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews, Heriot-Watt University and University of Strathclyde.

Prof. Tao is Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). Tao is on the list of 'Stanford Universities global list recognising the top 2% of the world’s leading scientists'. Tao is No. 500 in the globally recognised 186,014 scientists in this area (within 0.27%) in area of Energy.

Tao has co-authored over 160 journal papers with H-index of 50, more than 11,000 citations (Google scholar data). Some of the papers has been published in highly ranked journals such as Nature Materials, Materials Today, Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Science, Energy Storage Materials, Energy & Environmental Science, Science Advance etc.

Research Interests

Tao has been active in developing new ionic/electronic conducting materials for electrochemical devices such as fuel cells, batteries and supercapacitors. Tao is also active in developing new electro-catalysts for electrolysis and electrochemical synthesis.

Since 2014, Tao is active in developing new catalysts for synthesis and cracking of ammonia. Tao is particularly interested in any new materials and technologies related to ammonia such as ammonia fuel cells, electrolysis of ammonia, ammonia synthesis through conventional Haber-Bosch process and the new electrochemical synthesis process and, cracking of ammonia for hydrogen production.

Tao’s group has developed a family of stable and activity ammonia synthesis catalysts which can tolerate high level of oxygenates such O₂, H₂O for the Haber-Bosch process. This type of catalyst is particularly useful for green ammonia synthesis to simplify the gas purification process, saving the cost. The new catalyst has competitive cost to the cheapest iron-based catalysts for the Haber-Bosch process with superior performance. International patents to different countries/regions have been filed. We are collaborating with world leading companies in ammonia synthesis catalysts to commercialise this family of catalysts.

Teaching Interests

Selected Publications

Some selected research articles published after 2016 are listed below:

1. Mengfei Zhang, Georgina Jeerh, Peimiao Zou, Rong Lan, Mingtai Wang, Huanting Wang, ShanwenTao, Recent development of perovskite oxide-based electrocatalysts and their applications in low to intermediate temperature electrochemical devices, Materials Today, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mattod.2021.05.004
2. John Humphreys, Rong Lan, Shigang Chen, Marc Walker, Yisong Han and ShanwenTao, Cation doped cerium oxynitride with anion vacancies for Fe-based catalyst with improved activity and oxygenate tolerance for efficient synthesis of ammonia, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 285 (2021) 119843.
3. Shigang Chen, Pan Sun, John Humphreys, Peimiao Zou, Mengfei Zhang, Georgina Jeerh & ShanwenTao, Acetate-based ‘oversaturated gel electrolyte’ enabling highly stable aqueous Zn-MnO₂ battery, Energy Storage Materials, 42 (2021) 240 – 251.
4. Shigang Chen, Pan Sun, Boyao Sun, John Humphreys, Peimiao Zou, Kui Xie and Shanwen Tao, Nitrate-based ‘oversaturated gel electrolyte’ for high-voltage and high-stability aqueous lithium batteries, Energy Storage Materials, 37 (2021) 598 - 608.
5. Mengfei Zhang, Hao Li, Xiuyun Duan, Peimiao Zou, Georgina Jeerh, Boyao Sun, Shigang Chen, John Humphreys, Marc Walker, Kui Xie, and Shanwen Tao*, An Efficient Symmetric Electrolyzer Based On Bifunctional Perovskite Catalyst for Ammonia Electrolysis, Advanced Science, 2021, 2101299. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202101299
6. Georgina Jeerh, Mengfei Zhang and Shanwen Tao, Recent progress in ammonia fuel cells and their potential applications, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 9 (2021) 727-752.
7. Shigang Chen, Pan Sun, John Humphreys, Peimiao Zou, Mengfei Zhang, Georgina Jeerh, Boyao Sun, and Shanwen Tao*, N,N‑Dimethylacetamide-Diluted Nitrate Electrolyte for Aqueous Zn//LiMn₂O₄ Hybrid Ion Batteries, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 13 (2021) 46634-46643.
8. John Humphreys, Rong Lan and Shanwen Tao, Development and recent progress on ammonia synthesis catalysts for Haber-Bosch process, Advanced Energy & Sustainability Research, 2 (2021) 2000043.
9. Shigang Chen, Rong Lan, John Humphreys and Shanwen Tao, Salt-concentrated acetate electrolytes for a high voltage aqueous Zn/MnO₂ battery, Energy Storage Materials, 28 (2020) 205 – 215.
10. John Humphreys, Rong Lan, Shigang Chen and Shanwen Tao, Improved stability and activity of Fe-based catalysts through strong metal support interactions due to extrinsic oxygen vacancies in Ce_0.8Sm_0.2O_2-δ for the efficient synthesis of ammonia, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 8 (2020) 16676–16689.
11. Mengfei Zhang, Peimiao Zou, Georgina Jeerh, Shigang Chen, Jane Shields, Huanting Wang and Shanwen Tao, Electricity generation from ammonia in landfill leachate by an alkaline membrane fuel cell based on precious-metal-free electrodes, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 8 (2020) 12817−12824
12. Shigang Chen, Rong Lan, John Humphreys and Shanwen Tao*, Perchlorate Based “Oversaturated Gel Electrolyte” for an Aqueous Rechargeable Hybrid Zn−Li Battery, ACS Applied Energy Materials, 3 (2020) 2526-2536.
13. Shigang Chen, Rong Lan, John Humphreys and Shanwen Tao, Effect of cation size on alkali acetate-based ‘water-in-bisalt’ electrolyte and its application in aqueous rechargeable lithium battery, Applied Materials Today, 20 (2020) 100728.
14. Peimiao Zou, Shigang Chen, Rong Lan and Shanwen Tao, Investigation of new perovskite oxide SrCo_0.8Cu_0.1Nb_0.1O_3-δ as cathode for room temperature direct ammonia fuel cells, ChemSusChem, 12 (2019) 2788-2794.
15. Sivaprakash Sengodan; Rong Lan, John Humphreys, Dongwei Du, Wei Xu, Huanting Wang, Shanwen Tao, Advances in reforming and partial oxidation of hydrocarbons for hydrogen production and fuel cell applications, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 82 (2018) 761-780.
16. Wei Xu, Dongwei Du, Rong Lan, John Humphreys, David N. Miller, Marc Walker, Zucheng Wu, John T.S. Irvine and Shanwen Tao*, Electrodeposited NiCu bimetal on carbon paper as stable non-noble anode for efficient electrooxidation of ammonia, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 237 (2018) 1101-1109.
17. Wei Xu, Rong Lan, Dongwei Du, John Humphreys, Marc Walker, Zucheng Wu, Huanting Wang and Shanwen Tao, Directly growing hierarchical nickel-copper hydroxide nanowires on carbon fibre cloth for efficient electrooxidation of ammonia, Applied Catalysis B Environmental, 218 (2017) 470-479.
18. Ibrahim A. Amar, Rong Lan, John Humphreys and Shanwen Tao, Electrochemical synthesis of ammonia from wet nitrogen via a dual-chamber reactor using La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3-δ-Ce_0.8Gd_0.18Ca_0.02O_2-δ composite cathode, Catalysis Today, 286 (2017) 51-56.
19. Rong Land and Shanwen Tao*, A simple high performance matrix-free biomass molten carbonate fuel cell without CO2 recirculation, Science Advances, 2 (2016) e1600772.
20. Wei Xu, Zucheng Wu and Shanwen Tao, Recent progress in electrocatalysts with mesoporous structures for application in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 4 (2016) 16272–16287.
21. Dongwei Du, Rong Lan, Wei Xu, Richard Beanland, Huanting Wang and Shanwen Tao*, Preparation of a hybrid Cu₂O/CuMoO₄ nanosheet electrode for high-performance asymmetric supercapacitors, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 4 (2016) 17749–17756.

Projects and Grants