Sung-Fu Hung Group

At the end of the year of Rabbit, we went to a Caiyuan Shanghai Restaurant.  The advisor prepared a fishing game. Each student strived their own Year-end-bonuses by getting more fishes and the luck for the year of Dragon. Happy Lunar New Year!!!

We congratulate Jian-Jie on winning Excellent Poster Prize for poster competition in 2024 Chemistry National Meeting.

We congratulate Hsin-Jung on winning Everlight Thesis Award in Green Chemistry and Honorable Mention in Chao-Ting Chang Inorganic Chemistry.

We congratulate Meng-Cheng on winning Merck Young Scientist Award.

We congratulate Meng-Cheng on Graduate Student Thesis Award - Outstanding, 2024.

We welcome graduate students Ming-Hsuan, Yu-Cheng, Ya-Ching, and Ching-Hsuan, and undergraduate students Fang-Yu, Zhen-Yuan, and Bo-Kai to join Hung's lab. Ming-Hsuan and Yu-Cheng have been done independent studies in Hung Lab. They have became familiar and experienced in the field of catalysis. We hope that they can see and learn different knowledge and technologies in Hung's lab. We also hope that they can find their independent study soon. 

In this year, we have recruited graduate students Ming-Hsuan, Yu-Cheng, Ya-Ching, and Ching-Hsuan, and undergraduate students Fang-Yu, Zhen-Yuan, and Bo-Kai to join Hung's lab. We held a welcome party at Zhu-Mei restaurant. We hope they had a good time at the night that belongs to them. We also hope they get used to Hung's lab and grab what they desire here.

Congratulate Ming-Hsuan, Yu-Cheng, Ya-Ching, and Ching-Hsuan on completing 26 hours​ VLSI training courses - Nano Metrology Technology and passing the examinations. We hope that they have learned knowledge regarding SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS, and AFM, and utilize what they learned to their researches.

We congratulate Chi Kang on the Gold Award and Jing-Ya on the Silver Award of Excellent Poster at the IEDMS and SNDCT 2024.

Prof. Hung published "Electroreduction of CO2 to methane with triazole molecular catalysts" as the corresponding author in Nature Energy 

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The following is the publication information:

Xu, Z.;† Lu, R.;† Lin, Z.-Y.;† Wu, W.; Tsai, H.-J.; Lu, Q.; Li, Y. C.; Hung, S.-F.;* Song, C.; Yu, J. C.; Wang, Z.;* Wang, Y.* Electroreduction of CO2 to Methane with Triazole Molecular Catalysts. Nature Energy 2024, 9, 1397-1406.

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https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-024-01645-0

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Abstract:

The electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction towards value-added fuel and feedstocks often relies on metal-based catalysts. Organic molecular catalysts, which are more acutely tunable than metal catalysts, are still unable to catalyse CO2 to hydrocarbons under industrially relevant current densities for long-term operation, and the catalytic mechanism is still elusive. Here we report 3,5-diamino-1,2,4-triazole-based membrane electrode assemblies for CO2-to-CH4 conversion with Faradaic efficiency of (52 ± 4)% and turnover frequency of 23,060 h−1 at 250 mA cm−2. Our mechanistic studies suggest that the CO2 reduction at the 3,5-diamino-1,2,4-triazole electrode proceeds through the intermediary *CO2–*COOH–*C(OH)2–*COH to produce CH4 due to the spatially distributed active sites and the suitable energy level of the molecular orbitals. A pilot system operated under a total current of 10 A (current density = 123 mA cm−2) for 10 h is able to produce CH4 at a rate of 23.0 mmol h−1

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We appreciate the students for celebrating Teacher's Day, the day belonging to Prof. Hung.

Prof. Hung published "Modulating Spin of Atomic Manganese Center for High-Performance Oxygen Reduction Reaction" as the corresponding author in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 

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The following is the publication information:

Zhang, J.; Li, F.; Liu, W.; Wang, Q.; Li, X.; Hung, S.-F.;* Yang, H.;* Liu, B.* Modulating Spin of Atomic Manganese Center for High-Performance Oxygen Reduction Reaction. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, 63, e202412245.

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https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202412245

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Abstract:

Single atom catalysts (SACs) are promising non-precious catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Unfortunately, the ORR SACs usually suffer from unsatisfactory activity and in particular poor stability. Herein, we report atomically dispersed manganese (Mn) embedded on nitrogen and sulfur co-doped graphene as an efficient and robust electrocatalyst for ORR in alkaline electrolyte, realizing a half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.883V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) with negligible activity degradation after 40,000 cyclic voltammetry (CV) cycles in 0.1M KOH. Introducing sulfur(S) to form Mn-S coordination changes the spin state of single Mn atom from high-spin to low-spin, verified by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and magnetic susceptibility measurements as well as density functional theory (DFT) calculations, which effectively optimizes the oxygen intermediates adsorption over the single Mn atomic sites and thus greatly improves the ORR activity.

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We congratulate Kang-Shun on winning Lam Research Outstanding Science Scholarship.

We congratulate Kang-Shun on winning Excellent Oral Award and Yu-Chun on winning Best Poster Award of Excellent Poster at International Conference on Green Electrochemical Technologies 2024.

Jing-Ya, Chi Kang, and Shuo-Peng won the Judges’ Award of Wah Lee Materials Competition in the Materials Research Society, Taiwan, 2024.

We congratulate Prof. Hung on winning Highly Cited Researcher of Chemistry

Prof. Hung published "A Library of Seed@High-Entropy-Alloy Core–shell Nanocrystals With Controlled Facets for Catalysis." as the corresponding author in Advanced Materials. 

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The following is the publication information:

Hsiao, Y.-C.; Wu, C.-Y.; Lee, C.-H.; Huang, W.-Y.; Thang, H. V.; Chi, C.-C.; Zeng, W.-J.; Gao, J.-Q.; Lin, C.-Y.; Lin, J.-T.; Gardner, A. M.; Jang, H.; Juang, R.-H.; Liu, Y.-H.; Mekhemer, I. M. A.; Lu, M.-Y.; Lu, Y.-R.; Chou, H.-H.; Kuo, C.-H.; Zhou, S.; Hsu, L.-C.;* Chen, H.-Y. T.; Cowan, A. J.;* Hung, S.-F.;* Yeh, J.-W.;* Yang, T.-H.* A Library of Seed@High-Entropy-Alloy Core–shell Nanocrystals With Controlled Facets for Catalysis. Adv. Mater. 2025, 37, 2411464.

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https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202411464

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Abstract:

High-entropy-alloy (HEA) nanocrystals hold immense potential for catalysis, offering virtually unlimited alloy combinations through the inclusion of at least five constituent elements in varying ratios. However, general and effective strategies for synthesizing libraries of HEA nanocrystals with controlled surface atomic structures remain scarce. In this study, a transferable strategy for developing a library of facet-controlled seed@HEA nanocrystals through seed-mediated growth is presented. The synthesis of seed@HEA core–shell nanocrystals incorporating up to ten different metallic elements, with control over the number of solid-solution HEA atomic layers is demonstrated. Epitaxial HEA growth on nanocrystal seeds with low-index and high-index facets leads to the formation of seed@HEA catalyst library with composition- and facet-dependent catalytic activities in both electrocatalysis and photocatalysis. In situ synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy and density-functional theory calculations are employed to identify surface active sites of the HEA, rationalizing the high level of catalytic activities achieved. This work enables facet engineering in the multi-elemental chemical space and unveils the critical needs for their future development toward catalysis.

We held a Christmas party at a local restaurant at Hsinchu, which offers delicious Taiwanese delicacies. We also had a gift-exchange game. All of them showed the creativity to prepare gorgeous gift. After taking a hearty meal, we played a link game. We had a wonderful time in this Christmas party.