BIOGRAPHY

Wee-Jun ONG received his BEng and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Monash University. In 2016, he joined Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore as a Staff Scientist. He was an Assistant Professor at Xiamen University, Malaysia in 2018 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019. In 2019, he is a Visiting Scientist in Prof. Xinliang Feng’s group in the Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden at Technische Universität Dresden. He is a Visiting Professor in Prof. Joel Ager’s group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), USA from 2019 to 2020. His research interests focus on thermal catalysis, photocatalytic, photoelectrocatalytic and electrochemical energy conversion and environmental remediation (H2O splitting, CO2 reduction, N2 fixation and pollutant removal). In 2018, he was the Emerging Investigator in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A. From 2019 to 2020, he was listed as a Global Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics in the Cross-Field category. His citations are >9200 with an H-index of 40. Currently, he serves as Chief Editor of Frontiers in Nanotechnology, Associate Editor of Frontiers in Chemistry and Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, Guest Editor, Board Member of Materials Horizons, Chinese Journal of Catalysis, Langmuir, Scientific Reports, Nanotechnology and Nano Futures.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My Nanomaterials for Energy and Catalysis (NanoECats) group’s research direction includes:

• Nanomaterials with tunable structures and properties

• Two-dimensional (2D)-based nanostructures

• Carbon-based nanocomposites

• Artificial photosynthesis and solar fuel production  

• Energy conversion and storage

• Photocatalysis, electrocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis

• CO2 reduction to C1 and C2+ products

• H2O splitting to H2 and O2

• N2 fixation to NH3

• Simultaneous energy generation and environmental remediation  

• Waste plastic to fuel conversion

• Density functional theory (DFT) calculations

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

• Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering), School of Engineering, Monash University, Malaysia (2016)

• Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical Engineering with First Class Honours), School of Engineering, Monash University, Malaysia (2012)

WORKING EXPERIENCE  

• Visiting Professor, Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), USA (2019-2020)

• Visiting Scientist, Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden (2019)

• Staff Scientist, Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore (2016–2018)

• Visiting Scholar, Particles and Catalysis (PARTCAT) Research Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia (2015)

• Visiting Scholar, School of Chemistry, Monash University Clayton campus, Australia (2015)

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE / GRANTS

• Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) (2020–2023), Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) Malaysia [Status: Principal investigator]

  Project: Tailoring Band Structures in Graphitic Carbon Nitride: Elucidation of Charge Dynamics and Reaction Mechanisms for Improved Photocatalysis

• Xiamen University Malaysia Research Fund (XMUMRF) (2019-2021), Xiamen University Malaysia [Status: Principal investigator]

  Project: Two-dimensional graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)-based photo(electro)catalysts for energy conversion

• Merdeka Award Grant (2019), Petronas, Shell and ExxonMobil Malaysia [Status: Principal investigator]

  Project: Solar Energy Conversion and Energy Storage to Address the Seriousness of Energy Security and Environmental Issues by Mimicking the Ingenuity of Nature

• Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) (2018–2021), Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) Malaysia [Status: Co-investigator]

  Project: Elucidating Charge Dynamics in Carbon Quantum Dots-Based Nanocomposites in Photocatalysis for Environmental and Energy Applications  

• Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) (2013–2016), Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) Malaysia [Status: Co-investigator]

  Project: Understanding the roles of Pt and graphene on photocatalytic enhancement and surface reaction mechanism for the reduction of CO2 over Pt-TiO2-graphene nanocomposites

PUBLICATIONS

Please click HERE for more details.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

(A) Peer/Senior Reviewer

Nature Chemistry, Nature Sustainability, Nature Communications, Nature Protocols, Light: Science & Applications, Joule, Angewandte Chemie, ACS Nano, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, ACS Applied Nano Materials, ACS Energy Letters, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Materials, Advanced Materials Interfaces, Advanced Materials Technologies, Applied Catalysis A: General, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Applied Physics Letters, Carbon, Catalysis Science & Technology, Chemical Communications, 2D Materials, Chemical Engineering Journal, Chemistry: An Asian Journal, Chemistry: A European Journal, Energy & Environmental Science, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Journal of Materials Chemistry A/B/C, Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Nano Energy, Nanoscale, Nanoscale Horizons, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, Scientific Reports, Small, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, etc.

(B) Chief Editor, Associate Editor and Editorial Board Member

• Chief Editor of Frontiers in Nanotechnology

• Associate Editor of Frontiers in Chemistry

• Associate Editor of Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology

• Advisory Board Member of Materials Horizons

• Advisory Editor of Engineering Reports

• Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports

• Editorial Board Member of Nanotechnology

• Editorial Board Member of Nano Futures  

• Young Editorial Board Member of Chinese Journal of Catalysis

• Early Career Advisory Board of Langmuir

(C) Guest Editor of Special Issues

•  “Lead Guest Editor” for a Special Issue on ‘Nanoengineering of Carbonaceous Materials in Energy’ (2021) in Small

• “Lead Guest Editor” for a Special Issue on “100th Anniversary of Xiamen University” (2021) in Green Energy & Environment

• “Lead Guest Editor” for a Special Issue on ‘Advanced Nanomaterials for Energy Conversion and Storage’ (2020) in Nanoscale

• “Lead Guest Editor” for a Special Issue on ‘Nanomaterials for Light-Driven Reactions’ (2020) in Solar RRL

• “Lead Guest Editor” for a Special Issue on ‘Artificial Photosynthesis: Harnessing Materials and Interfaces for Sustainable Fuels’ (2019) in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

• “Lead Guest Editor” for a Special Issue on ‘Renewable Energy’ (2018) in Chemistry – A European Journal

•  “Lead Guest Editor” for a Thematic Series on ‘Energy Conversion, Storage and Environmental Remediation Using Nanomaterials’ (2017) in Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology

• “Lead Guest Editor” for a Focus Collection on ‘CO2 Reduction’ (2017) in Nanotechnology  

• “Lead Guest Editor” for a Special Issue on ‘Artificial photosynthesis: Mimicking nature for renewable energy production’ (2017) in Particle & Particle Systems Characterization

(D) Conference Committee Member

• Conference Chairman for the 1st International Conference on Energy Materials (ICEM) at Xiamen University Malaysia (5–8 November 2021)

• Committee member for the 4th World Congress and Expo on Nanotechnology and Materials Science 2017 in Barcelona, Spain (5–7 April 2017)

• Co-chair of Energy and Environment Symposium under Optofluidics 2017 conference in Singapore (25–28 July 2017)

• Scientific/technical committee member of Advanced Engineering Colloquium 2017 in Monash University, Malaysia (27 November 2017)

• Scientific/technical committee member of Symposium on Nanomaterials for Environmental Purification and Energy Conversion (SNEPEC) in Sapporo, Japan (20–21 February 2018)

• Scientific committee member of the Chinese Symposium on Photocatalytic Materials in Wuhan, China (26–29 July 2018)

• Co-chair and scientific committee member of the 8th International Multidisciplinary Conference on Optofluidics 2018 (IMCO 2018) in Shanghai, China (5–8 August 2018)

(E) Others

• Grant panel of reviewer for European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant 2018

• Grant panel of reviewer for Excellence in Africa-Junior Faculty Development (EXAF-JPD) Program 2020

• IPT Evaluation Panel for Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) national grant: Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) 2020

• PhD Thesis Examiner: Edith Cowan University (2020)

HONORS/AWARDS

• Global Highly Cited Researcher 2020 in the field of “Cross-Field” by Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science)

• Young Chemists 2020 by Chemistry – A European Journal (Wiley-VCH)

• Global Highly Cited Researcher 2019 in the field of “Cross-Field” by Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science)

• National Outstanding Educator/Reviewer Award in the field of Nanotechnology by Ministry of Higher Education (2019)

• Winner for the “69th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting 2019” dedicated to Physics nominated by the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings (Germany) and Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM)

• Publons Peer Review Awards – Top 1% of reviewers in the Materials Science discipline (2019)

• Publons Peer Review Awards – Top 1% of reviewers in the Chemistry discipline (2019)

• Publons Peer Review Awards – Top 1% of reviewers in the Cross-Field discipline (2019)

• “Merdeka Award Grant” funded by the Petronas, Shell and ExxonMobil (2018)

• “Green Talent Award” by German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (2018)

• Emerging Investigators – Journal of Materials Chemistry A (JMCA) (Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry, RSC) (2018)

• Winner for “Young Chemical Engineer in Research Award” (IChemE Malaysia) (2018)

• Highly Commended for “Young Chemical Engineer in Research Award” (IChemE Global) (2018)

• Finalist for the 69th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting dedicated to Physics nominated by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) (2018)

• “Top Paper Award” for Nano Research article by the Editorial Board of Nano Research and Tsinghua University Press (2018)

• Publons Peer Review Awards – Top 1% of reviewers in the Materials Science discipline (2018)

• Publons Peer Review Awards – Top 1% of reviewers in the Chemistry discipline (2018)

• Publons Peer Review Awards – Top 10 reviewers for ‘Nanotechnology’ journal (2018)

• Postdoctoral Researchers’ Networking Fellowship (Postdoc-NeT 2017), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Germany (September 2017)

• Highly Commended (3rd place) for “Young Chemical Engineer in Research Award” (IChemE Global) (2017)

• Winner for “Young Chemical Engineer in Research Award” (IChemE Singapore) (2017)

• Finalist for “Young Chemical Engineer in Research Award” (IChemE Malaysia) (2016)

• “Top Paper Award” for Nano Research article by the Editorial Board of Nano Research and Tsinghua University Press (2016)

• Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal Award, Monash University Australia (2016)

• Endeavour Research Fellowship Award, Australian Government Department of Education (2015)

• David Trimm Catalysis Award, University of New South Wales (UNSW) (2015)  

• Excellence Scholarship Award, Monash University (2014–2015)

• Global Scholar Award, Monash University (2015)

• 6th Asia-Pacific Congress on Catalysis (APCAT-6) Grants and Fellowship, Catalysis Society of Taiwan (2013)  

• Best Graduate Award of Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical), Monash University (2012)

• Merit Final Year Project (FYP) Award, Monash University (2012)

• Dean’s Honour List, Monash University (2009–2012)