The Center of Artificial Photosynthesis for Solar Fuels at Westlake University is a university-level research center established in March 2020. It was founded by Dr. Licheng Sun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an expert in artificial photosynthesis, and a Chair Professor of Chemistry in the School of Science at Westlake University. The center focuses on anion exchange membrane water electrolysis for hydrogen production and beyond. The research fields include the design of efficient catalysts for water splitting to produce hydrogen, the integration and application of key devices, photoelectrochemically-driven CO₂ reduction to produce clean fuels, photoelectrochemically-driven oxidation and reduction of organic substrates using water as an oxygen and hydrogen source for fine chemical synthesis, the development of key coupling technologies for novel solar cells and related catalysts/electrodes, the development of new light-harvesting semiconductor materials and photoanodes/photocathodes, the elucidation of the water oxidation mechanism of the oxygen-evolving complex in natural photosynthesis, and intelligent material design. The center aims to optimize catalyst performance at multiple aspects such as molecular and material levels, understand complex solid-liquid, solid-gas, and gas-liquid interfacial phenomenon, regulate charge separation and transport, and design novel materials and catalytic systems to achieve efficient solar energy conversion and the preparation of renewable green fuels and high-value chemicals.
Under the leadership of the center director Professor Licheng Sun, the center has 5 Principal Investigators (PIs), 1 Associate Researcher, 14 Assistant Researchers, 18 Postdoctoral Fellows, 39 Doctoral Students, 1 Center Engineer, 4 Administrative Assistants, 8 Research Assistants, 2 Visiting Scholars, and 3 Undergraduate Students (as of December 2025). The center consists of the following laboratories: the Solar Fuels and Solar Cells Laboratory headed by Professor Licheng Sun, the Surface Coordination Chemistry and Energy Catalysis Laboratory headed by Professor Lele Duan, the Molecular Catalysis and Molecular Materials Laboratory headed by Professor Biaobiao Zhang, the Theoretical Catalysis and Intelligent Material Design Laboratory headed by Professor Tao Wang, and the Time-Resolved Spectroscopy and Photoelectrochemistry Laboratory headed by Professor Wenxing Yang. The research fields of all teams in the center are concentrated on the "AEM-WE and Beyond".
