Xu Rong

Prof Xu Rong
Research Director for Engineering and Physical Sciences
Co-Director, Singapore Energy Centre
Professor, School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology

Cluster Director

Renewables & Low-Carbon Generation (Solar)
Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N)

Email: [email protected]
Phone: (+65) 6790 6731 / 6713
Office: N1.2-01-10

Dr. Rong Xu is a Professor in the School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology. She studied Chemical Engineering at the National University of Singapore. She received her Bachelor degree (1st Class) in 1998, Master degree in 2000 and Ph.D. degree in 2004 under the supervision of Professor Hua Chun Zeng. In the same year she joined Nanyang Technological University in Singapore as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2010. She served as Associate Chair (Research) during 2011-2014. Currently she is the Interim Chair of the School since 1 Jul 2017. 

Her research group has been actively involved in areas related to energy and environmental applications including solar fuel generation and water treatment. One of her research focuses is the development of nano-engineered particulate semiconductor photocatalysts, molecular complexes and hybrid systems for conversion of solar energy to chemical energy via photocatalytic water splitting and carbon dioxide reduction to hydrocarbons and oxygenates. Her group designs efficient inorganic co-catalysts and metal complex catalysts with appropriate interface with the photosensitizers to achieve efficient light absorption, charge separation and utilization. She has completed several projects in these areas as PI with a total value of more than S$5 million from funding agencies such as Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A-Star), Ministry of Education, National Environmental Agency. Currently her work is funded by National Research Foundation through the CREATE Programmes and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company. To date, she has published over 140 papers in top tier journals including Advanced Materials, Science Advances, Energy & Environmental Sciences, Journal of the American Chemical Society, ACS Nano, etc. She received Top-Cited Papers for 2010 and 2011 Award from Elsevier, New York, USA for her paper on supported cobalt oxide catalysts for water treatment published in Applied Catalysis B: Environmental. She is currently an Associate Editor the Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology.​

Research Interests

  • Photocatalysis for reduction of carbon dioxide and hydrogen production by splitting water using visible light. 
  • Heterogeneous catalysis for environmental applications. 
  • Organic-inorganic layered materials (LDHs) for pharmaceutical applications. 
  • Development of artificial cornea (nanoparticle/polymer composite). 
  • Antimicrobial membrane for water treatment (Silver in microfiltration membrane). 
  • Immobilization of enzymes on inorganic solid support as scalable and reusable biocatalysts.