Meet our Early Career Advisory Board Members who work on environmental remediation and clean energy production
We announced our inaugural Early Career Advisory Board for RSC Applied Interfaces in September 2025. In this series of blog posts, we will be shining a spotlight on our new Early Career Advisory Board members and introducing them to you!
This week we are delighted to introduce Bo Weng, Chengbo Tian, Hiang Kwee Lee and Maria Gonzalez Martinez as members of our inaugural Early Career Advisory Board.
Bo Weng, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
ORCID: 0000-0001-8337-219X
Dr. Bo Weng is currently a professor at the Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Fuzhou University, China, in 2018. Following his doctorate, he pursued postdoctoral research at Xiamen University and KU Leuven, supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 under Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (Individual Fellowships) and the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO) Postdoctoral Fellowships. His research primarily focuses on photocatalysis and photo-assisted AOPs for environmental remediation. He has published 83 papers, with total citation times of over 5720 and an h-index of 38 (Google Scholar). As the first author or corresponding author, he have published 46 papers including Nature Review Clean Technology, Nature Communications, Angewandte Chemie, Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, Chem et al. He is invited to serve as the Editorial Board Member of NPJ Clean Water, Scientific Reports, Carbon Energy, Next-generation advisors of Chem, and Guest editor of Chem, Advanced Functional Materials, Carbon Energy et al.
“I am honored to join the Early Career Advisory Board of RSC Applied Interfaces. With my research focus on photocatalysis for solar energy conversion and environmental remediation, I hope to contribute to shaping the journal’s scope by highlighting emerging topics at the intersection of materials science and sustainability. I also look forward to fostering engagement within the early-career research community and supporting the development of high-quality, interdisciplinary content that reflects the evolving challenges and opportunities in interface-driven technologies.”
Chengbo Tian, Huaqiao University, China
ORCID: 0000-0002-8451-7829
Prof. Chengbo Tian received his Ph.D. degree in 2015 from Xiamen University under the supervision of Prof. Suyuan Xie. He subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Texas at El Paso and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. In 2019, he joined the faculty of Huaqiao University. His current research focuses on the coordination chemistry of fullerenes, functionalized fullerenes, and their applications in photovoltaic devices. He has authored more than 60 research articles in leading international journals, including Nature Photonics, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Advanced Materials. He also serves as a member of the Youth Editorial Board for several academic journals.
“I’m excited to join the Early Career Advisory Board of RSC Applied Interfaces and contribute to promoting cutting-edge research in carbon materials and photovoltaics.”
Hiang Kwee Lee, Nanyang Technological University
ORCID: 0000-0003-0823-4111
Dr. Hiang Kwee Lee is a Nanyang Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He leads a multidisciplinary research program that merges chemistry, nanotechnology, materials science, and in operando spectroscopy to design advanced nanocatalytic systems. His work develops strategies to concentrate energy, manipulate molecules, and design multifunctional interfaces, tackling pressing energy and environmental challenges. With a strong focus on sustainability, his research drives innovations in clean energy production, environmental remediation, and sustainable chemical manufacturing.
“I’m excited to join the RSC Applied Interfaces Early Career Advisory Board and contribute to shaping the journal’s growth. This is a unique opportunity to help advance cutting-edge interface research and foster collaborations that address global sustainability challenges.”
María González Martínez, RAPSODEE/IMT Mines Albi
ORCID: 0000-0001-7755-8983
Assistant professor at RAPSODEE Research Center, IMT Mines Albi (France), since 1/10/2019. Double Degree in Chemical Engineering (France/Spain, 2014) and PhD in Process and Environmental Engineering (France, 2018). Her research focuses on the production, characterization and use of bio-based catalysts and adsorbents for environmental applications related to the thermoconversion of bioresources and effluent treatment. She has supervised 6 PhD, 3 post-doctorates and 12 internships. She has published 22 scientific articles in international peer-reviewed journals, participated in a book chapter and presented her work at various national and international conferences. She has also presented her work at 3 scientific seminars as a guest researcher at Libera Università di Bolzano (Italy, 2024), Università di Trento (Italy, 2024) and Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” (Italy, 2025). She coordinates two regional (SFGP Grand-Sud-Ouest) and national (SFGP Jeunes Talents) scientific animation groups in France.
“I am honoured to be invited to join the Early Career Advisory Board of RSC Applied Interfaces. I look forward sharing my expertise on biosourced materials in catalysis and environmental remediation. Furthermore, I would like to contribute in enhancing exchanges in the scientific community as well as widespreading recent breakthroughs in the field of material’s properties and functionalities through RSC Applied Interfaces journal.”
Please join us in welcoming our new Early Career Advisory Board members to the journal community! See our full line-up of Early Career Advisory Board members here, and if you’re interested in the field of clean energy production, explore our sustainable development collection here. For recent updates in the field of remediation and clean energy production, explore some of our recent publications:
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RSC Applied Interfaces is a dedicated, interdisciplinary reference journal for cutting-edge research on the applications of surfaces and interfaces. In addition to the applied focus, work considered for publication in RSC Applied Interfaces is expected to be highly original and of top quality. The journal seeks to report major scientific advances beyond the state of the art, at the cutting edge of this interdisciplinary field. |