Dan Ren

The group of electrochemistry and Raman spectroscopy (GEARS), led by Dr. Dan Ren in Xi'an Jiaotong University, aims at pushing the boundaries of our understanding on the electrochemical process as well as resolving technological problems related to electrochemical engineering. The major research interest is to develop efficient systems for electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals. The group, with the size of around 10 researchers and students, is especially interested in investigating the dynamic electrochemical process at the catalytic interfaces by employing multiple in situ techniques for probing the interface. 

（Photo taken in June 2026）

• Chenglong  Wang, Shengzhou Xu, Hexing Yang, Wangjiang Gao, Chunjing Ran & Dan  Ren*. Cation Effect on the Dynamics of Intermediates in Electroreduction  of Carbon Dioxide in Acids. ACS Catal. 15, 15372-15386 (2025).

• Yafei Yao^#, Shengzhou Xu^#, Hangyu Bu^#, Wen Yan, Zhe Zheng, Dan Ren* & Ming Ma*. Unraveling the Impact of Common-Ion Effect on Acidic CO₂ Electroreduction via Exploring Local pH Variation. ACS Catal. 15, 12114-12122 (2025).

• Wangjiang Gao, Chenglong Wang, Hexing Yang, Chunjing Ran, Shengzhou Xu & Dan Ren*. Modulating CO₂/H₂O Ratio at Hydrophobic Catalytic Interface Promotes C-C Coupling in Acidic CO₂ Electroreduction. Adv. Funct. Mater. 35, e09314 (2025).

• Shengzhou  Xu, Chenglong Wang, Chunjing Ran, Hexing Yang, Wangjiang Gao, Bitao  Dong*, Yuhang Liu & Dan Ren*. Tuning Intermediate Binding Enables  Selective Electroreduction of Carbon Dioxide to Carbon Monoxide on a  Copper-Indium Catalyst. Chem. Sci. 16, 8661-8672 (2025).

• Zi-Hao Zhao & Dan Ren*. Unravelling  the Effect of Crystal Facet of Derived-Copper Catalysts on the  Electroreducction of Carbon Dioxide under Unified Mass Transport  Condition. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 64, e202415590 (2025).

• Meng Xia, Linfeng Pan, Yongpeng Liu, Jing Gao, Jun Li, Mounir Mensi, Kevin Sivula, Shaik M. Zakeeruddin, Dan Ren* & Michael Grätzel*. Efficient Cu₂O Photocathode for Aqueous Photoelectrochemical CO₂ Reduction to Formate and Syngas. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 145, 27939-27949 (2023).

• Jing Gao, Alimohammad Bahmanpour, Oliver Kröcher, Shaik M. Zakeeruddin, Dan Ren* & Michael Grätzel*. Electrochemical Synthesis of Propylene from Carbon Dioxide on Copper Nanocrystals. Nat. Chem. 15, 705-713 (2023).

• Honglei Wang^#, Yunfei Jiao^#, Bing Wu, Dong Wang*, Yueqi Hu, Fei Liang, Chen Shen*, Andrea Knauer, Dan Ren*, Hongguang Wang*, Peter A van Aken, Hongbin Zhang, Michael Grätzel, Zdenek Sofer & Peter Schaaf. Exfoliated 2D Layered and Nonlayered Metal Phosphorous Trichalcogenides Nanosheets as Promising Electrocatalysts for CO₂ Reduction. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 62, e202217253 (2023).

1. NSFC Fund (General Project), National Natural Science Foundation of China, CNY 500,000 (01/2027-12/2030)      
   

2. Fundamental Research Funding for Central Universities, Xi'an Jiaotong University, CNY 80,000 (10/2024-09/2025)      

3. NSFC Young Scientists Fund, National Natural Science Foundation of China, CNY 300,000 (01/2025-12/2027)

4. Young Talent Program (Phase 2), Xi'an Jiaotong University, CNY 1,000,000 (01/2024-12/2029)

5. NSFC Excellent Young Scientists (Overseas) Fund, National Natural Science Foundation of China, CNY 1,000,000 (01/2024-12/2026)

6. Fundamental Research Funding for Central Universities, Xi'an Jiaotong University, CNY 80,000 (07/2022-06/2024)      

7. Qinchuangyuan Talent Program, Shaanxi Provincial Department of Science & Technology, CNY 370,000 (07/2022-06/2025)

8. Public Research Funding, Key Laboratory of AEMC (MOE), CNY 30,000 (06/2022-05/2024)

9. Young Talent Program, Xi'an Jiaotong University, CNY 1,000,000 (01/2022-12/2027)

10. Solar-Bio Fuels Grant, Gebert Ruf Stiftung, CHF 287,000 (03/2020-11/2022)