The research of “Electrochemical Sensitive Properties of Active Sites of Nanomaterials with Special Surface Physicochemical Properties” won the first prize of the CAIA 2018 award.

The study team is led by Prof. HUANG Xingjiu in Institute of Intelligent Machines (IIM), Hefei Institutes of Physical Science.

In the past five years, combined with experimental electrochemistry, theoretical calculation, and large scientific synchrotron radiation devices, the research team has focused on the scientific problems of using nanomaterials to detect heavy metal pollutants, such as enhanced electrochemical performance, interference and so on.

From 2014 to 2018, 42 SCI papers have been published in Adv. Mater., ACS Nano, Anal. Chem., Adv. Sci., Small etc. and 11 of them are included in Anal. Chem.

They innovatively proposed a method for constructing an electrochemical sensing interface using the crystal plane and crystal phase characteristics of nanomaterials. The sensitive mechanism for enhancing electrochemical performance is clarified at the atomic level.

In addition, they established the structure-activity relationship between the active sites of defective metal oxide nanomaterials and electrochemical sensing mechanism, and the defects of metal oxide nanomaterials and different surface valence states were revealed. Moreover, a new viewpoint of “electron induced interference effect” was proposed.

They also developed a novel analytical method for the combination of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and electrochemistry, which solves the problem of interference of coexisting ions in electrochemical analysis methods and achieves in-situ accurate analysis of contaminants in complex backgrounds.

These findings support theoretical and technical basis for designing and constructing nano-electrochemical sensor components and developing water quality monitoring instruments.