Pioneering at an atomic level

Editor's note: China Daily is publishing a series illustrating the country's efforts to achieve its carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals

For award-winning academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Zhang Tao, scientific research involves two pursuits — making results available to be further developed to serve society, and making results available in academic papers for further study around the world.

Zhang, a researcher at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the CAS, specializes in the development of single-atom catalysis, the results of which when put to use at an industrial scale could bring about drastic reductions in carbon emissions.

Last year, Zhang was awarded the Physical Science Prize by the Future Science Prize, together with Li Yadong, for their groundbreaking contributions to the development and application of single-atom catalysis.

Although the term catalysis may sound unfamiliar to some, it is frequently encountered in daily life. For example, brewing alcohol is a typical catalytic process, where starch in grains is transformed into alcohol under the action of microorganisms, with the microorganisms acting as catalysts. Similarly, the process of making yogurt from milk is also a catalytic process.

"Catalysis is a core technology in the chemical industry, which can accelerate chemical reaction rates, and over 80 percent of chemical processes are related to catalytic technology," Zhang said. "Therefore, developing efficient catalysts and corresponding feasible synthetic methods is one of the most important research goals in the field of chemical engineering."

Many catalysts contain precious metals, and catalytic reactions occur on the surface of these metals.

Due to the scarcity and high cost of precious metal resources, enhancing the efficiency of precious metal atom utilization has become one of the core issues in catalyst preparation science.

"Gold is an inert metal that doesn't usually tarnish due to oxidation. In the 1980s, foreign experts discovered that when gold particle size is reduced to three to four nanometers, gold powder becomes highly active and can promote catalytic reactions, sparking a nanocatalysis trend," Zhang explained.

At that time, China had only just started its reform and opening-up.

Reflecting on his youth when he entered the realm of scientific research, Zhang recalled the enthusiasm for science sparked by writer Guo Moruo's speech "The Spring of Science" at the National Science Conference closing ceremony in 1978.

The motto "Master math, physics and chemistry, and you will be fearless wherever you go" became the rallying cry for many young people.