Wei Fan

About

Wei Fan is a professor at UMass Amherst whose research group focuses on the development and study of zeolite catalysts and nanoporous materials, particularly for applications in biomass conversion and sustainable chemistry. His work involves understanding the crystallization mechanisms of zeolites, including the rapid crystallization with controllable defects, and the synthesis of extra-large-pore zeolites. Fan's research also explores catalytic processes such as selective C–C bond cleavage of oxidized lignin under mild aqueous conditions and high-efficiency methane oxidation using bimetallic Pd–Ce catalysts confined in zeolites. His group employs data science and Monte Carlo simulations to investigate zeolite structures and crystallization kinetics, contributing to the fundamental understanding of these materials. Wei Fan has been recognized for his teaching excellence and research achievements, receiving awards such as the College of Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award and the Barbara H. and Joseph I. Goldstein Outstanding Junior Faculty Award. His collaborative work with other research groups has led to significant publications in high-impact journals, advancing the field of catalysis and materials chemistry.

Research topics

• Organic chemistry
• Chemistry
• Chemical engineering
• Materials science
• Crystallography
• Computer Security
• Computer Science
• Composite material
• Agronomy
• Optics

Selected publications

• Catalytic conversion network for lignocellulosic biomass valorization: a panoramic view

  Industrial Chemistry and Materials · 2023 · 165 citations

  The catalytic conversion networks for lignocellulose valorization including reaction routes, reaction types and key steps are comprehensively reviewed. The issues that need to be addressed for large-scale application are proposed.

  DOI

• A stable aluminosilicate zeolite with intersecting three-dimensional extra-large pores

  Science · 2021 · 163 citations

  Zeolites are crystalline porous materials with important industrial applications, including uses in catalytic and adsorption-separation processes. Access into and out of their inner confined space, where adsorption and reactions occur, is limited by their pore apertures. Stable multidimensional zeolites with larger pores able to process larger molecules are in demand in the fine chemical industry and for the oil processing on which the world still relies for fuels. Currently known extra-large-po…

  DOI

• A 3D extra-large-pore zeolite enabled by 1D-to-3D topotactic condensation of a chain silicate

  Science · 2023 · 158 citations

  Zeolites are microporous silicates with a large variety of applications as catalysts, adsorbents, and cation exchangers. Stable silica-based zeolites with increased porosity are in demand to allow adsorption and processing of large molecules but challenge our synthetic ability. We report a new, highly stable pure silica zeolite called ZEO-3, which has a multidimensional, interconnected system of extra-large pores open through windows made by 16 and 14 silicate tetrahedra, the least dense polymor…

  DOI

• Identifying Order and Disorder in Double Four-Membered Rings via Raman Spectroscopy during Crystallization of LTA Zeolite

  Chemistry of Materials · 2021 · 18 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Fluoride (F–) has been essential for the synthesis of low-defect siliceous zeolites. It has been hypothesized that F– balances the positive charges from organic structure-directing agents (OSDAs) and stabilizes key building units during zeolite crystallization such as the double four-membered ring (D4R). However, due to the lack of characterization techniques for investigating medium-range structures, including rings and cages formed during zeolite crystallization, the roles of F– in stabilizing…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Titrating Controlled Defects into Si-LTA Zeolite Crystals Using Multiple Organic Structure-Directing Agents

  Chemistry of Materials · 2022 · 17 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Controlling defects in zeolites is crucial for tuning their adsorption and catalytic properties. We have performed an integrated zeolite synthesis, spectroscopy, and density functional theory study to test the limit of F– as a charge-balancing agent that mitigates defects in siliceous zeolites. We focused on the synthesis of siliceous zeolite LTA at 150 °C with 1,2-dimethyl-3-(4-methylbenzyl) imidazolium as the primary organic structure-directing agent (OSDA) and tetramethyl ammonium (TMA) as th…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Paul J. Dauenhauer

  University of Minnesota System

  109 shared

• Dionisios G. Vlachos

  60 shared

• Chun‐Chih Chang

  57 shared

• Michael Tsapatsis

  56 shared

• Tatsuya Okubo

  The University of Tokyo

  47 shared

• Hong Je Cho

  45 shared

• Vivek Vattipalli

  BASF (United States)

  31 shared

• Paul Dornath

  Amherst College

  31 shared

Labs

• Fan's group at UMassAmherstPI

Education

• Ph.D., Chemical System Engineering

  The University of Tokyo

  2007

• B.S., Materials Science and Engineering

  University of Science and Technology of China

  2000

Awards & honors

• 2020 Ed Price Endowed Professor
• 2019 Invitational Fellowships (Short Term), Japan Society fo…
• 2018-2022 Chutian Scholar Fellowships (Visiting Professor),…
• 2016 Barbara H. and Joseph I. Goldstein Outstanding Junior F…
• 2016 Outstanding College of Engineering Teaching Award, UMas…

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