Zhongyao Zhang was born in 1994 in Hebei, China. He received his Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from Tianjin University, China, in 2016, and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA, in 2022. Prof. David Flaherty (currently at Georgia Tech) supervised his doctoral research. From 2022 to 2023, he served as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, under the supervision of Prof. Enrique Iglesia. He returned to China in 2024 and joined Shenzhen University as a research associate. Since July 2025, he has been a faculty member in the School of Chemical Engineering at East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST).

My research centers on catalytic processes (e.g., dehydrogenation, aldol condensation, oxygen reduction, hydrogen evolution) for energy conversion and low-carbon technologies, employing reaction kinetics, in situ spectroscopy, and theoretical simulations. A key feature of our work is the use of microkinetic modeling and related tools to map complex reaction networks, identify key intermediates and rate-determining steps, and elucidate the enthalpic and entropic influences on transition states.

Selected Publications

1        Zhongyao Zhang*, Wenshuo Hu*, Experimental and kinetic treatments of reaction rates influenced by deactivation during alkane dehydrogenation on dispersed metal nanoparticles, Mol. Catal. 2026, 589, 115606 (invited perspective).

2           Zhongyao Zhang, Sai Chen, Trenton Otto, and Enrique Iglesia*, Elementary Steps, Site Requirements, and Support Effects in Methylcyclohexane Dehydrogenation Reactions on Dispersed Pd Nanoparticles,ACS Catal. 2025, 15, 676.

3           Zhongyao Zhang, Matthew A. Jacobson, and David W. Flaherty*, Titanosilicate Topology Governs Aldol Condensation Product Distributions and Reaction Networks, J. Catal. 2025, 446, 116072.

4           Zhongyao Zhang^†, Feiting Zhang^†, Zhongxin Song*, and Lei Zhang*, Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Pyridinic Nitrogen Functionalized Carbon: Active Site Quantification and Effects of Lewis Basicity,ACS Catal. 2025, 15, 296.

5           Sai Chen^†, Zhongyao Zhang^†, Trenton Otto, Enrique Iglesia*, Elementary steps and bifunctional scavenging pathways in methylcyclohexane dehydrogenation reactions on dispersed Pt nanoparticles, J. Catal. 2025, 452,116072.

6           Zhongyao Zhang^†, Claudia E. Berdugo-Diaz^†, Daniel T. Bregante, Hongbo Zhang, and David W. Flaherty*, Aldol Condensation and Esterification over Ti-Substituted *BEA Zeolite: Mechanisms and Effects of Pore Hydrophobicity, ACS Catal. 2022, 12, 1481.