Shu Hu

The Hu lab studies light-driven catalysis in flow and reacting media for energy-efficient conversion or selective chemical synthesis. We co-design catalysts and reactors for sustainable photochemistry with high atom efficiency in utilizing reactant or resource streams.

Practical applications include the synthesis of H₂, CO, C₂H₄, and small molecule chemicals from light by using water, CO₂ from the air, and dissolved inorganic carbon from the ocean.

We develop potential-sensing photo-Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy to understand the coupled photophysics and photochemistry at semiconductor/liquid interfaces and investigate nanoscale electrochemical cells where reductive and oxidative reactions are in nanoscale proximity.  

The materials and reactor discovery are accelerated through autonomous labs, multi-physics modeling, and spectroscopic probing.

Our research group at Yale investigates non-equilibrium, light-driven catalysis processes that couple with chemical transport in practical reactors.

In doing so, we understand photocatalyst operation, design novel coat-protected photocatalysts, and demonstrate efficient, stable, and cost-effective chemical devices.

We are currently investigating the following areas:

• Semiconductor photoelectrochemistry
• Functional coatings
• Cascade catalysis under molecular flux
• Energy-efficient AI hardware

• ACS ENFL Emerging Researcher Award (2024)
• Brown & Williamson Chemistry Lectureship (2022)
• Future Chemical Engineering Scholar, Global Academy of Chinese Chemical Engineers (2022)
• DOE Early Career Award (2021)
• Fellow, International Association of Advanced Materials (2021)
• Scialog Fellow, Negative Emissions Science (2020)
• Journal of Materials Chemistry Emerging Young Investigator (2018)
• Gold Award, Materials Research Society (2011)
• TMS Ross N. Tucker Memorial Award (2011)

For a full list, visit Prof. Hu's Google Scholar profile.

• Solar-driven selective conversion of millimolar dissolved carbon to fuels with molecular flux generation, B. Liu, Z. Qian, X. Shi, H. Su, W. Zhang, A. Kludze, Y. Zheng, C. He, R. Yanagi, and S. Hu,* Nature Communications, 16, 1558 (2025). doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-56106-3.
• Electrothermal Synthesis of Commodity Chemicals: Recent Advances, Remaining Challenges, and New Opportunities, Q. Dong,* S. Hu,* L. Hu, Nature Chemical Engineering 1, 680–690 (2024). doi: 10.1038/s44286-024-00134-1
• Where Atomically Precise Catalysts, Optoelectronic Devices, and Quantum Information Technology Intersect: Atomic Layer Deposition of Ternary Materials, D. Solanki, C. He, Y. Lim, R., Yanagi, S. Hu, Chemistry of Materials, 36, 3, 1013–1024 (2024).
• A General Interfacial-Energetics-Tuning Strategy for Enhanced Artificial Photosynthesis, T. Liu, Z. Pan, K. Kato, J.-J. M. Vequizo, R. Yanagi, X. Zheng, W. Yu, A. Yamakata, B. Chen, S. Hu, K. Katayama, and C. Chu, Nature Communications, 13, 7783 (2023).
• Biocement from the Ocean: Hybrid Microbial-Electrochemical Mineralization of CO₂, A. Kludze, D. Solanki, M. Lejeune, R. Yanagi; M. Ishii, N. Raychaudhuri, P. Anastas, N. Boyle, S. Hu, iScience, 25(10), 1055156 (2022). doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105156.
• Tuning Intermediate Bands of Protective Coatings to Reach the Bulk-Recombination Limit of Stable Water-Oxidation GaP Photoanodes, X. Shen, T. Zhao, H. Su, M. Yang, J. Chen, Y. Liu, J. Li, R. Yanagi, D. Solanki, and S. Hu, Advanced Energy Materials, 12, 220314 (2022). doi: 10.1002/aenm.202201314.
• Emerging Dual-Functional 2D Transition Metal Oxides for Carbon Capture and Utilization: A Review, L. Yang, J. Heinlein, C. Hua, R. Gao, S. Hu, L. Pfefferle, Y. He, Fuel, 324 (B15), 124706 (2022). doi: 10.1016/j.fuel.2022.124706. doi: 10.1016/j.fuel.2022.124706.
• Charge Separation in Photocatalysts: Mechanisms, Physical Parameters, and Design Principles, R. Yanagi, T. Zhao, D. Solanki, Z. Pan, and S. Hu, ACS Energy Letters, 7, 432–452 (2022). doi: 10.1021/acsenergylett.1c02516.
• A Coating Strategy to Achieve Effective Local Charge Separation for Photocatalytic Coevolution, T. Zhao, R. Yanagi, Y. Xu, Y. He, Y. Song, M. Yang, and S. Hu, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, 16, 119(7) e2023552118 (2021). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2023552118.
• Selective Two-Electron Hydrogen Peroxide Conversion Tailored by Surface, Interface, and Device Engineering, J. Tang, D. Solanki, T. Zhao, and S. Hu, Joule, 6, 1432–1461 (2021). doi: 10.1016/j.joule.2021.04.012.
• In situ Identification of Reaction Intermediates and Mechanistic Understandings of Methane Oxidation over Hematite: A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study, Y. He, F. Guo, K. Yang, J. Heinlein, S. Bamonte, J. Fee, S. Hu, S. Suib, G. Haller, V. Batista, L. Pfefferle, Journal of American Chemical Society, 142, 40, 17119–30 (2020). doi: 10.1021/jacs.0c07179.
• Stable CdTe Photoanodes with Energetics Matching to Coating Intermediate Band, Xiangyan Chen, Xin Shen, Shaohua Shen, Matthew O. Reese, and Shu Hu, ACS Energy Letters, 5, 1865 (2020). doi: 10.1021/acsenergylett.0c00603.
• RGB Arrays for Micro-LED Applications Using Nanoporous GaN Embedded With Quantum Dots, Jin-Ho Kang, Bingjun Li, Tianshuo Zhao, Muhammad Ali Johar, Chien-Chung Lin, Yen-Hsiang Fang, Wei-Hung Kuo, Kai-Ling Liang, Shu Hu, Sang-Wan Ryu, and Jung Han, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 12, 27, 30890–30895(2020). doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c00839.
• Mutually-dependent kinetics and energetics of photocatalyst/ co-catalyst/two-redox liquid junctions, Zhenhua Pan, Yanagi Rito, Q. Wang, X. Shen, Q. Zhu, Y. Xue, J. A. Rohr, Takashi Hisatomi, Kazunari Domen, and Shu Hu, Energy & Environmental Science, 13, 162–173 (2019). doi: 10.1039/C9EE02910A
• Membrane-Less Photoelectrochemical Devices for H₂O₂ Production Enabled by Selective Water Oxidation to H₂O₂, S. Hu, Sustainable Energy & Fuels, 3, 101–114 (2019) doi: 10.1039/C8SE00329G.
• Controlled TiO₂ Growth on Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration Membranes by Atomic Layer Deposition: Mechanisms and Potential Applications, X. Zhou, Y.-Y. Zhao, S.-R. Kim, M. Elimelech, S. Hu, J. Kim, Environmental Science & Technology, 52(24), 14311–14320 (2018). doi: 10.1021/acs.est.8b03967
• Stable Water Oxidation In Acid Using Manganese-Modified TiO₂ Protective Coatings, G. Siddiqi, Z. Luo, Y. Xie, Z. Pan, Q. Zhu, J. A. Röhr, J. J. Cha, S. Hu, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 10, 18805–18815 (2018). doi: 10.1021/acsami.8b05323
• Amorphous TiO₂ Coatings Stabilize Si, GaAs and GaP Photoanodes for Efficient Water Oxidation, S. Hu, M. R. Shaner, J. A. Beardslee, M. Lichterman, B. S. Brunschwig, N. S. Lewis, Science, 344, 1005–1009 (2014). doi: 10.1126/science.1251428
• Twin-Free GaAs Nanosheets by Selective Area Growth: Implications for Defect-Free Nanostructures, C.-Y. Chi, C.-C. Chang, S. Hu, T.-W. Yeh, S. B., Cronin, and P. D. Dapkus, Nano Letters, 13 (6), 2506 – 2515 (2013). doi: 10.1021/nl400561j
• Optical, Electrical, and Solar Energy-Conversion Properties of Gallium Arsenide Nanowire-Array Photoanodes, S. Hu, C.-Y. Chi, K. Fountaine, M. Q. Yao, H. A. Atwater, P. D. Dapkus, N. S. Lewis, and C. Zhou, Energy & Environmental Science, 6, 1879–1890 (2013). doi: 10.1039/C3EE40243F