Dr Xiangdong Yao
Research Fellow
ARC Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials
Level 5
AIBN Building No. 75
Corner College and Cooper Roads
The University of Queensland
St Lucia Qld 4072
p: 61 7 3346 3812
f
: 61 7 3365 6074
e: x.yao@uq.edu.au
Research focus
Dr Xiangdong Yao’s research focuses on materials design and development, computational modeling, and syntheses of materials and nanostructures for clean and sustainable energy, hydrogen storage, and energy catalysis applications and light metals technology. Theoretically, cellular automata and finite element simulations, molecular dynamics, and ab initio density functional theory are deployed for fundamental understanding, while practically materials are synthesised and tailored by mechanochemical alloying, self-assembly, and surface chemistry methods.
Brief bio
2007, Senior Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials, The University of Queensland, Australia
2007, Senior Research Fellow, School of Engineering, James Cook University, Australia
2006, ARC Postdoctoral Fellow (Industry), School of Engineering, James Cook University, Australia
2005, JCU Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Engineering, James Cook University, Australia
2003, Research Officer, ARC Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials, The University of Queensland, Australia
Current projects
Nanostructured magnesium composites for high-efficient hydrogen storage
Composite nanostructures: storing hydrogen for practical applications
An integrated system for hydrogen-assist electricity generation from solar energy
Atomic diffusion in light metal compounds
Collaborations
Professor Huiming Cheng, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Professor Sean Smith, Computational Centre for Molecular Science, The University of Queensland, Australia
Professor Chengzhong Yu, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, China
Professor Z. Xiao Guo, Department of Chemistry, University College London, UK
Professor Dongyuan Zhao, Advanced Materials Lab, Fudan University, China
Professor Craig Jensen, Department of Chemistry, University of Hawaii, USA
Selected publications
X. Yao, Z. H. Zhu, G. Q. Lu, H. M. Cheng, Modeling of hydrogen diffusion in magnesium hydrides, J. Mater. Res., 2008, 23(2), 336
X. Yao, C. Z. Wu, A. J. Du, J. Zou, Z. H. Zhu, P. Wang, H. M. Cheng, S. C. Smith, G. Q. Lu, Metallic and carbon nanotubes-catalysed coupling of hydrogenation in magnesium, J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2007, 129, 15650.
A. J. Du, S. Smith, X. Yao, G. Q. Lu, Hydrogen spillover mechanism on Pd-doped Mg Surface revealed by ab initio density functional calculation, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2007, 129, 10201.
X. Yao, C. Z. Wu, A. J. Du, G. Q. Lu, H. M. Cheng, S. C. Smith, J. Zou, Y. He, Mg-based nanocomposites with high capacity and fast kinetics for hydrogen storage, J. Phys. Chem. B, 2006, 110, 11697.
X. Yao, C. Z. Wu, H. Wang, H. M. Cheng, G. Q. Lu, Effects of carbon nanotubes and metal catalysts on hydrogen storage in Mg-based nanocomposites, J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol., 2006, 6, 494.
X. Yao, Modeling and Experimental Study of the Interface Morphology and Growth Kinetics for Fibrous Growth of Eutectics, J. Mater. Res., 2006, 21, 3009.
X. Yao, On the solute coupling at the moving solid/liquid interface during equiaxed solidification, Appl. Phys. Lett., 2006, 89, 071903.
A. J. Du, S. Smith, X. Yao, G. Q. Lu, The role of Ti as a catalyst for the dissociation of hydrogen on a Mg(0001) surface, J. Phys. Chem. B, 2005, 109, 18037.
C. Z Wu, P. Wang, X. Yao, C. Liu, G. Q. Lu, H. M. Cheng, Effect of SWNTs and metallic catalysts on hydrogen absorption/desorption performance of MgH2, J. Phys. Chem. B, 2005, 109, 22217.
X. Yao, J. H. Zhang, Z. Y. Zhang, N. R. Zhao, Y. A. Li, H. R. Guan, Z. Q. Hu, Effects of Minor elements on microstructure and properties in a directionally solidified cobalt-base superalloy, Acta Metall. Sinica, 31, 1995.
Professional associations
American Chemistry Society
American Materials Research Society
Chinese Materials Research Society
Recent Visibilites
Editorial Boards : Open Applied Mathematics Journal
Conference Chairs: Nonlinear Dynamics and Numerical Simulation in Materials, in 2007insd, Shanghai, China; Symposium on Self-Assembly nanoparticles and Nanoporous Materials, March 2008, Brisbane, Australia.
Guest Professors: East China Jiaotong University; Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology.
Fellowships: Overseas Travel Fellowship, ARCNN, 2007; Invited Senior Fellowship, Shenyang National Lab for Materials Science, 2007; ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship (I), 2005; JCU Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2005.
Invited Speakers: 5 in International Conferences and 10 in research institutions.
Currents student projects
High-Microporosity Carbon and Carbon / Metal-Hydride Composites for Hydrogen Storage (Tao Lu, PhD candidate)
Catalytic mechanism of nanocarbon supported metallic catalysts on hydrogen storage in magnesium (Yi Jia, Research Master)
Student projects available
Templated nanostructures for hydrogen storage
Composite nanostructures for hydrogen storage
Controlled decomposition of ammonia boraine by nano-confinement
Viable hydrogen generation from formic acid with Ru-based nanocatalysts
Synthesis and photocatalytic application of zinc oxide nanostructures