STAFF PROFILE
Professor Adam Lee
Position:
Professor
College / Portfolio:
School of Science
School / Department:
Applied Chemistry and Environmental Sci
Phone:
99252623
Email:
adam.lee2@rmit.edu.au
Campus:
Melbourne City Campus
Contact me about:
Research supervision
Professor Lee was recently appointed Professor of Sustainable Chemistry at RMIT, having previously held a prestigious EPSRC Leadership Fellowship.
He has held Chair appointments at Cardiff, Warwick, Monash, and Aston universities and is one of the world's leading mid-career researchers in heterogeneous catalysis and green chemistry, targeting the rational design of nanoengineered materials for clean catalytic technologies, and the development of spectroscopic methods for molecular insight into surface reactions.
He was awarded the 2011 McBain Prize of the Society of Chemical Industry and 2012 Beilby Medal and Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry, has published >210 peer-reviewed articles and graduated >30 PhD and MSc students.
Professor Lee pioneered the application of time-resolved XPS for surface reactions, and the in situ surface analysis facility will underpin ongoing mechanistic studies into transition metal catalysed biomass valorisation, and semiconductor photocatalysts for solar fuels production and environmental depollution.
View Professor Lee's profile on Google Scholar and ResearchGate.
Current research activities
- Rational design and application of nanostructured catalysts for sustainable chemical processes.
- Operando spectroscopies for heterogeneous catalysts
- Biomass valorisation for biofuels (including biodiesel) and bio-derived platform chemicals
- Aerobic selective oxidation of alcohols
- Photocatalytic production of solar fuels (CO2 conversion and H2 production) and environmental remediation
- Bimetallic nanoparticles and thin films
- Combinatorial materials synthesis and high-throughput analysis
Major awards
- 2012 Beilby Medal and Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry, IM3 and SCI.
- 2011 McBain Medal of the Society of Chemical Industry and Royal Society of Chemistry.
- EPSRC Leadership Fellowship (2009-15)
- 2004 Fonda-Fasella Elettra Prize of the Italian National Synchrotron (2004).
- 2000 British Vacuum Council C R Burch Prize.
Key publications
- Single atom Cu(I) promoted mesoporous titanias for photocatalytic methyl orange depollution and H2 production. R. Trofimovaite, C.M.A. Parlett, S. Kumar, L. Frattini, M.A. Isaacs, K. Wilson, L. Olivi, B. Coulson, R.E. Douthwaite, A.F. Lee - Appl. Catal. B 2018, 232, 501, doi:10.1016/j.apcatb.2018.03.078
- Classical strong metal-support interactions between gold nanoparticles and titanium dioxide. H. Tang, Y. Su, B. Zhang, A.F. Lee, M.A. Isaacs, K. Wilson, Y. Ren, L. Li, J. Huang, M. Haruta, B. Qiao, X. Liu, C. Jin, D. Su, J. Wang*, T. Zhang - Science Adv. 2017, 3, e1700231, doi:10.1126/sciadv.1700231.
Academic
- PhD, University of Cambridge, 1995
- BA (Hons, 1st Class), University of Cambridge, 1992
Professional
- AFIChemE
- MRACI
- CChem FRSC
- Sekar, K.,Chuaicham, C.,Balijapalli, U.,Li, W.,Wilson, K.,Lee, A.,Sasaki, K. (2021). Surfactant- and template-free hydrothermal assembly of Cu2O visible light photocatalysts for trimethoprim degradation In: Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 284, 1 - 11
- An, N.,Ainembabazi, D.,Reid, C.,Samudrala, K.,Wilson, K.,Lee, A.,Voutchkova-Kostal, A. (2020). Microwave-Assisted Decarbonylation of Biomass-Derived Aldehydes using Pd-Doped Hydrotalcites In: ChemSusChem, 13, 312 - 320
- Wang, Y.,Arandiyan, H.,Bartlett, S.,Trunschke, A.,Sun, H.,Scott, J.,Lee, A.,Wilson, K.,Maschmeyer, T.,Schlogl, R.,Amal, R. (2020). Inducing synergy in bimetallic RhNi catalysts for CO2 methanation by galvanic replacement In: Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 277, 1 - 11
- Lippi, R.,D'Angelo, A.,Li, C.,Wilson, K.,Lee. A., et al, . (2020). (In Press) Unveiling the structural transitions during activation of a CO2 methanation catalyst Ru0/ZrO2 synthesised from a MOF precursor In: Catalysis Today, , 1 - 12
- Nallal, M.,Karthikeyan, S.,Park, K.,Sasaki, K.,Lee, A. (2020). Nanoscale Materials with Different Dimensions for Advanced Electrocatalysts In: Nanomaterials for Sustainable Energy and Environmental Remediation, Elsevier, Netherlands
- Shivhare, A.,Hunns, J.,Durndell, L.,Parlett, C.,Isaacs, M.,Lee, A.,Wilson, K. (2020). Metal�Acid Synergy: Hydrodeoxygenation of Anisole over Pt/Al-SBA-15 In: ChemSusChem, 13, 4945 - 4953
- Isaacs, M.,Parlett, C.,Robinson, N.,Lamb, A.,Deshetti, J.,Wilson, K.,Lee, A., et al, . (2020). A spatially orthogonal hierarchically porous acid�base catalyst for cascade and antagonistic reactions In: Nature Catalysis, 3, 921 - 931
- Lamb, A.,Lee, A.,Wilson, K. (2020). Recent advances in heterogeneous catalyst design for biorefining In: Australian Journal of Chemistry, 73, 832 - 852
- Negahdar, L.,Parlett, C.,Isaacs, M.,Beale, A.,Wilson, K.,Lee, A. (2020). Shining light on the solid-liquid interface: In situ/operando monitoring of surface catalysis In: Catalysis Science and Technology, 10, 5362 - 5385
- Zhang, X.,Wang, Y.,Cai, J.,Wilson, K.,Lee, A. (2020). Bio/hydrochar Sorbents for Environmental Remediation In: Energy and Environmental Materials, 3, 453 - 468
Catalysis, Green Chemistry, Nanomaterials, Surface Science, Biofuels, Porous Solids, Synchrotron Radiation
5 PhD Current Supervisions
- Multifunctional Platform for Chemical Manufacturing and Energy Materials. Funded by: ARC Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) Grant from (2021 to 2021)
- Revolutionary upcycling of landfill waste into hydrogen, fuels & materials. Funded by: CRC-P Cooperative Research Centre Project (Bioelektra) from (2021 to 2023)
- Aus. Std. Diesel from mixed plastics: Maximising recovery from waste. Funded by: Cooperative Research Centre Project (CRC-P) - NOR from (2020 to 2023)
- Spatially orthogonal multifunctional materials for catalytic cascades. Funded by: ARC Discovery Projects 2020 from (2020 to 2023)
- Bimetallic catalysts knowledge-based development for energy applications (BIKE) led by Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy. Funded by: Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions Innovative Training Networks from (2019 to 2021)