About

Prof. Shu Hu is an Assistant Professor of Chemical & Environmental Engineering at Yale, known for his work on tunable coatings and membranes for efficient and stable semiconductor photochemistry. His research involves a deep understanding of coupled photophysics and photochemistry at semiconductor/liquid interfaces. Hu's group applies advanced techniques such as Scanning Nano-Electrochemical Microscopy, in situ optical spectroscopy, and multi-scale modeling to design efficient and selective conversion processes for fuels, plastics, and fertilizers using natural resources like sunlight, air, and seawater, as well as recovered resources. Beyond energy and sustainability, his research includes developing advanced semiconductor processing and packaging processes for computing and quantum optic devices. His lab aims to stimulate interdisciplinary inquiry, develop energy-efficient AI hardware, and build tools for understanding human cognition. The group is part of the Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering at Yale and is located at the Energy Sciences Institute at Yale West Campus.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Computer Science
• Physical chemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Engineering
• Photochemistry
• Electrical engineering
• Inorganic chemistry
• Physics
• Environmental chemistry
• Environmental science
• Mineralogy
• Chemical engineering
• Business
• Optics
• Process engineering
• Environmental economics
• Computational chemistry
• Optoelectronics
• Systems engineering

Selected publications

• Ultra-high Q alumina optical microresonators in the UV and blue bands

  Optics Express · 2023 · 18 citations

  • Materials science
  • Optoelectronics
  • Optics

  UV and visible photonics enable applications ranging from spectroscopic sensing to communication and quantum information processing. Photonics structures in these wavelength regimes, however, tend to experience higher loss than their IR counterpart. Particularly in the near-UV band, on-chip optical microresonators have not yet achieved a quality factor beyond 1 million. Here, we report ultra-low-loss photonic waveguides and resonators patterned from alumina thin films prepared by a highly scalable atomic layer deposition process. We demonstrate ultra high Q factor of 1.5×10 6 at 390 nm, a record value at UV bands, and 1.9×10 6 at 488.5 nm.

  DOI

• Photocatalytic CO₂ Reduction with Dissolved Carbonates and Near-Zero CO₂(aq) by Employing Long-Range Proton Transport

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2023 · 50 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Chemistry
  • Inorganic chemistry
  • Environmental chemistry

  .

  DOI

• The 2022 solar fuels roadmap

  Journal of Physics D Applied Physics · 2022 · 137 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Process engineering
  • Computer Science

  Abstract Renewable fuel generation is essential for a low carbon footprint economy. Thus, over the last five decades, a significant effort has been dedicated towards increasing the performance of solar fuels generating devices. Specifically, the solar to hydrogen efficiency of photoelectrochemical cells has progressed steadily towards its fundamental limit, and the faradaic efficiency towards valuable products in CO 2 reduction systems has increased dramatically. However, there are still numerous scientific and engineering challenges that must be overcame in order to turn solar fuels into a viable technology. At the electrode and device level, the conversion efficiency, stability and products selectivity must be increased significantly. Meanwhile, these performance metrics must be maintained when scaling up devices and systems while maintaining an acceptable cost and carbon footprint. This roadmap surveys different aspects of this endeavor: system benchmarking, device scaling, various approaches for photoelectrodes design, materials discovery, and catalysis. Each of the sections in the roadmap focuses on a single topic, discussing the state of the art, the key challenges and advancements required to meet them. The roadmap can be used as a guide for researchers and funding agencies highlighting the most pressing needs of the field.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Selective hydrogen peroxide conversion tailored by surface, interface, and device engineering

  Joule · 2021 · 252 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Nanotechnology
  • Materials science
  • Chemical engineering
  DOI

• <i>In Situ</i> Identification of Reaction Intermediates and Mechanistic Understandings of Methane Oxidation over Hematite: A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2020 · 157 citations

  • Chemistry
  • Photochemistry
  • Inorganic chemistry

  in gas-phase heterogeneous catalysis.

  DOI

Recent grants

• NSF-DFG Chem: Photocatalytic Organic Synthesis By High-Efficiency Planar Semiconductors

  NSF · $326k · 2021–2025

Frequent coauthors

• Nathan S. Lewis

  California Institute of Technology

  162 shared

• Jingwei Guo

  Chinese Academy of Sciences

  128 shared

• Baodong Gai

  88 shared

• Jinbo Liu

  75 shared

• Xianglong Cai

  Changchun University of Science and Technology

  69 shared

• Michael F. Lichterman

  California Institute of Technology

  67 shared

• Chengxiang Xiang

  California Institute of Technology

  62 shared

• Zhi Liu

  52 shared

Labs

• Photocatalysis and Reaction Engineering LabPI

Awards & honors

• ACS ENFL Emerging Researcher Award (2024)
• Brown & Williamson Chemistry Lectureship (2022)
• Future Chemical Engineering Scholar, Global Academy of Chine…
• DOE Early Career Award (2021)
• Fellow, International Association of Advanced Materials (202…

Similar researchers at Yale University

• Mark Gersteinh-217
• Liangbing Huh-172
• Akiko Iwasakih-145
• Alan Kazdinh-142
• Douglas L. Rothmanh-125