STAFF PROFILE
Professor Adam Lee
Position:
Professor
College / Portfolio:
STEM College
School / Department:
STEM|School of Science
Email:
adam.lee2@rmit.edu.au
Campus:
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
- Lippi, R.,D'Angelo, A.,Li, C.,Wilson, K.,Lee. A., et al, . (2021). Unveiling the structural transitions during activation of a CO2 methanation catalyst Ru0/ZrO2 synthesised from a MOF precursor In: Catalysis Today, 368, 66 - 77
- 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
- Mehla, S.,Esmaiel Zadeh Kandjani, A.,Babarao, R.,Lee, A.,Periasamy, S.,Wilson, K.,Ramakrishna, S.,Bhargava, S. (2021). Porous crystalline frameworks for thermocatalytic CO2reduction: An emerging paradigm In: Energy and Environmental Science, 14, 320 - 352
- Arumugam, M.,Goh, C.,Zainal, Z.,Triwahyono, S.,Lee, A.,Wilson, K.,Taufiq-Yap, Y. (2021). Hierarchical hzsm-5 for catalytic cracking of oleic acid to biofuels In: Nanomaterials, 11, 1 - 11
- Shan, L.,Yan, J.,Wang, Y.,Ke, X.,Cai, J.,Yu, S.,Lee, A.,Gu, X.,Zhang, X. (2021). Aqueous-Phase Cellulose Hydrolysis over Zeolite HY Nanocrystals Grafted on Anatase Titania Nanofibers In: Catalysis Letters, 151, 1467 - 1476
- 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
- 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
Catalysis, Green Chemistry, Nanomaterials, Surface Science, Biofuels, Porous Solids, Synchrotron Radiation
6 PhD Current Supervisions
- Revolutionary upcycling of landfill waste into hydrogen, fuels & materials. Funded by: CRC-P Cooperative Research Centre Project (Bioelektra) from (2021 to 2023)
- Multifunctional Platform for Chemical Manufacturing and Energy Materials. Funded by: ARC Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) Grant from (2021 to 2022)
- Nanoengineered catalysts for valorisation of waste derived pyrolysis oil (administered by UQld). Funded by: ARC Linkage Project Grants 2019 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)