Director：Licheng Sun

The Center of Artificial Photosynthesis for Solar Fuels at Westlake University (CAP for Solar Fuels @Westlake) is a newly established research center dedicated to overcoming the challenges associated with solar energy utilization and storage. The director of the center is Prof. Licheng SUN, a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an academician of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), an expert in the field of artificial photosynthesis, and a chair professor of physical chemistry in the School of Science at Westlake University.

The researches in CAP for Solar Fuels @ Westlake mainly focus on the design of the state-of-the-art catalysts and devices to achieve efficient water splitting for hydrogen production, solar-driven CO₂ and N₂ reductions to produce fuels, ammonia and value-added chemicals, water as oxygen and hydrogen sources for solar-driven oxidation and reduction of organic substrates to prepare fine chemicals, the coupling of new generation solar cells and key catalysts/electrodes, the development of novel light-harvesting semiconductor materials and photoanodes/photocathodes, unraveling water oxidation mechanism on natural photosynthesis oxygen-releasing enzyme and artificial intelligence aided material design. The mission of CAP for Solar Fuels @ Westlake is to provide multiple-scale understandings of chemical processes at complex solid-gas, gas-liquid and solid-liquid interfaces, and eventually design the state-of-the-art materials to achieve high-efficient solar energy conversion for renewable fuels and value-added chemicals.