{"id":19230,"date":"2026-01-13T10:05:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T02:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/?post_type=nus-news&p=19230"},"modified":"2026-01-13T10:44:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T02:44:50","slug":"asst-prof-xianbiao-fu-selected-as-finalist-of-the-prestigious-dream-chemistry-award","status":"publish","type":"nus-news","link":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/news\/asst-prof-xianbiao-fu-selected-as-finalist-of-the-prestigious-dream-chemistry-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Asst Prof Xianbiao Fu selected as finalist of the prestigious Dream Chemistry Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

Assistant Professor Xianbiao Fu<\/a> from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering has been selected as a finalist for the Dream Chemistry Award 2025, a highly competitive and internationally recognised distinction that honours early-career scientists with exceptional scientific vision and transformative potential in chemistry. The recognition consisted of a commemorative diploma and EUR 1000.<\/p>\n

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Assistant Professor Xianbiao Fu (centre) receiving the Dream Chemistry Award Top 5 Prize, pictured with members of the award committee and organisers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Dream Chemistry Award is jointly established by the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IOCB Prague) and the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS). Notably, some previous winners and finalists have been drawn from the world\u2019s leading research universities, such as MIT, Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard. This positions the Dream Chemistry Award at a comparable benchmarking level to other globally recognised early-career distinctions, underscoring its strong academic standing and high selectivity.<\/p>\n

Dr. Fu was recognised for his research vision entitled \u201cElectrochemical N2<\/sub> Activation for Sustainable Ammonia Synthesis: Enabling the Agriculture-to-Energy Transition.\u201d The project aims to develop fundamentally new electrochemical routes for nitrogen activation and ammonia production powered by renewable electricity. By enabling decentralised, low-carbon, and on-demand ammonia synthesis, this research seeks to redefine ammonia not only as a fertiliser for sustainable agriculture but also as a carbon-free energy carrier bridging chemical manufacturing and renewable energy systems.<\/p>\n

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Roadmap of ammonia as an energy carrier for energy storage and conversion. The roadmap illustrates how ammonia integrates renewable energy, synthesis, storage, and utilisation into a coherent pathway for low-carbon energy conversion.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis project represents my long-term chemistry dream,\u201d said Dr Fu. \u201cBy reimagining ammonia synthesis through electrochemistry, I aim to create a platform that simultaneously supports sustainable food production and enables large-scale renewable energy storage and transport.\u201d This vision closely aligns with a recent review article from the Catalysis and Electrosynthesis Group, led by Assistant Professor Fu, on ammonia as a renewable energy carrier from synthesis to utilisation, published in Nature Reviews Clean Technology<\/a>. Together, this international recognition highlights the growing visibility of Assistant Professor Fu\u2019s research and reflects NUS MSE\u2019s continued engagement in research on sustainable electrosynthesis, green ammonia synthesis, and low-carbon energy-related catalysis.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Assistant Professor Xianbiao Fu from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering has been selected as a finalist for the Dream Chemistry Award 2025, a highly competitive and internationally recognised distinction that honours early-career scientists with exceptional scientific vision and transformative potential in chemistry. The recognition consisted of a commemorative diploma and EUR 1000. The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":19231,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"news_category":[36],"class_list":["post-19230","nus-news","type-nus-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/19230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/nus-news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/19230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19237,"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/19230\/revisions\/19237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_category?post=19230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}