Abstract

Dr. Che conducted extensive experimental research during her master’s and doctoral studies, addressing critical scientific challenges in dual-carbon research fields. She proposed a novel concept of “plane heterostructural nanosheets” for rapidly separating photogenerated carriers within two-dimensional (2D) planes to overcome the issues of insufficient driving force for carrier migration and sluggish reaction kinetics in photocatalytic water splitting. By precisely designing new 2D π-conjugated in-plane heterostructure energy materials and employing advanced synchrotron spectroscopy techniques, she unveiled the role of local electric fields in accelerating charge separation. This work, published as the first author in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), has garnered over 700 citations and was recognized as an ESI Highly Cited Paper for two consecutive years. During her postdoctoral tenure under the guidance of Prof. Jong-Beom Baek at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea, Dr. Che broadened her research to encompass the design of low-dimensional condensed materials for energy conversion applications and implemented corresponding X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) techniques using synchrotron radiation. Her studies span photocatalytic catalysis from H₂ and H₂O₂ production, CO₂ fixation, and organic molecule conversion.

This presentation focuses on the atomic-scale design and construction of low-dimensional heterogeneous model catalysts. It systematically investigates catalytic reaction kinetics using in situ spectroscopy and time-resolved techniques. The goal is to provide theoretical insights and material foundations for energy catalytic conversions