Susanna Vance, Development Editor – RSC Applied Interfaces Blog

Author Archive

Introducing Bruna Rego de Vasconcelos and Linqin Mu to our Early Career Advisory Board

25 Mar 2026

Meet our Early Career Advisory Board Members who work on energy storage and E-fuels

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 Bruna Rego de Vasconcelos and Linqin Mu as members of our inaugural Early Career Advisory Board.

Bruna Rego de Vasconcelos, Université de Sherbrooke, Canada

ORCID: 0000-0002-8328-0399

Bruna Rego de Vasconcelos is an Associate Professor at the Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), Director of the Biomass Technology Laboratory, and Chief Technology Officer at Secant Fuel. She holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil) and a PhD in Process and Environmental Engineering from the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines d’Albi-Carmaux (France).

With a diverse academic and industrial background spanning Brazil, France, Belgium, and Quebec, Dr. Vasconcelos has over a decade of experience collaborating with industry partners to develop and scale up innovative solutions for converting greenhouse gases into low-carbon energy vectors.

Her research focuses on the development and integration of Power-to-X technologies for the production of e-fuels. She also conducts life cycle and techno-economic assessments to support the advancement, scale-up and commercialization of these emerging technologies.

“Thrilled to join the RSC Applied Interfaces Early Career Advisory Board. I’m eager to support the journal’s mission to advance cutting-edge research in applied surface and interface science, fostering innovation and delivering solutions to global challenges.”

Linqin Mu, Arizona State University, United States

ORCID: 0000-0003-4421-4820

Linqin Mu is an Assistant Professor in the School of Engineering for Matter, Transport and Energy at Arizona State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Physics from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2016 and subsequently conducted Postdoctoral researcher at Virginia Tech. Her research leverages advanced electrochemical diagnostics and synchrotron-based techniques to guide the design of low-cost, high-performance materials for energy storage and mineral recovery. Dr. Mu has made significant contributions to understanding the degradation mechanisms of battery materials across multiple length scales, resulting in over 50 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals such as Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Advanced Energy Materials, Nano Letters, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Chemistry of Materials, and Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

‘I am actively engaged in peer review for scientific journals and am committed to supporting the research community. I also advocate for and nominate emerging young investigators for recognition and opportunities.’

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, explore our collection of articles here. For recent updates in the field of energy storage, explore some of our recent publications:

Novel fast synthesis route for α-MgAgSb thermoelectric materials

Synergy or interference? The effect of electrolyte additives and formation protocols combined in sodium-ion batteries

Magnetic-field-induced enhanced electrochemical energy storage performance of nickel cobalt phosphide

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.

Comments Off on Introducing Bruna Rego de Vasconcelos and Linqin Mu to our Early Career Advisory Board

Introducing Bo Weng, Chengbo Tian, Hiang Kwee Lee and Maria Gonzalez Martinez to our Early Career Advisory Board

24 Mar 2026

Meet our Early Career Advisory Board Members who work on environmental remediation and clean energy production

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:

Dictating the CuO : Cu(OH)2 ratio and microstructural evolution by varying the temperature of anodization of Cu for the OER-masking GOR

Bifunctional Pd sites on Pd4/Co3O4 nanowires for high selectivity of pyrazine electrocatalytic hydrogenation with water as the hydrogen source

Interfacial synergy between biogenic silica and reduced graphene oxide: experimental and theoretical insights into cationic pollutant adsorption

Comments Off on Introducing Bo Weng, Chengbo Tian, Hiang Kwee Lee and Maria Gonzalez Martinez to our Early Career Advisory Board

Introducing Julien Lorenz, Matteo Monai and Jie Ju to our Early Career Advisory Board

23 Mar 2026

Meet our Early Career Advisory Board Members who work on interfaces in catalysis and surface engineering

This week we are delighted to introduce Julien Lorenz, Matteo Monai and Jie Ju as members of our inaugural Early Career Advisory Board.

Julian Lorenz, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, Oldenburg

ORCID: 0000-0002-9936-7667

Julian Lorenz is a research associate at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics and deputy team leader of a research group in Oldenburg, Germany. Dr Lorenz received his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, where he also completed his PhD in collaboration with the DLR institute on new electrochemical in situ techniques based on scanning electrochemical microscopy to investigate reactive sites on transition metal oxide catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction. Afterwards, he continued as research associate at the DLR institute and became deputy team leader. In this role, he independently supervises students and leads various research projects.

Dr Lorenz has expertise in materials development for various electrocatalytic reactions in energy conversion technologies, in electrode engineering for fuel cell and water electrolysis, and in scanning probe techniques. His research interests include the characterization of electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution and reduction reaction, the evaluation for alkaline water electrolysis and fuel cell technologies as well as catalyst development for the nitrogen reduction reaction in electrochemical ammonia synthesis. The development of materials for the ammonia oxidation reaction is also being researched.

“Interfacial processes are at the heart of a wide range of electrochemical processes. Their investigation and the optimisation of interfaces in real electrochemical devices enable the development of energy conversion technologies and thus the solution of societal challenges. I look forward to contributing to the RSC Applied Interfaces area of expertise to highlight this research and the further development of the journal.”

Read Julien’s work published in RSC Applied Interfaces here!

Matteo Monai, Utrecht University, the Netherlands

ORCID: 0000-0001-6945-4391

Matteo Monai is an Assistant Professor in the Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis research group at Utrecht University since 2021. He received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Trieste (Italy) in 2017. He was a visiting student at UPenn (USA) in 2016, and a postdoc at Utrecht University (2017-2021). Matteo has received the Robert Karl Grasselli Award (2020), the Eni Young Researcher of the Year Award (2019) and the Adolfo Parmaliana Award (2017), for his research in heterogeneous catalysis. As an assistant professor at Utrecht University, he aims to understand how to develop better catalysts by tweaking their structure both directly and using external stimuli, with a focus on nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts for small molecules activation (e.g. CO2 hydrogenation, dry methane reforming).

“I am excited to share great science, support fellow scientists, and help shape a journal that listens to its community.”

Jie Ju, Henan University, China

ORCID: 0000-0001-8931-3270

Prof. Dr. Jie Ju received her B.S. degree from Jilin University and Ph.D. degree from Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She finished her postdoctoral training in Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Tufts University. She is currently a full professor at Henan University, China. Her research focuses on materials for water-energy nexus, encompassing the development of novel mechanisms for creating liquid super-absorbing and superspreading materials, solar desalination, evaporative heat dissipation, evaporative electricity generation, and zero-energy fog harvesting.

“I am truly honored to be appointed to the Early Career Advisory Board of RSC Applied Interfaces. Drawing on my research expertise in dynamic liquid superwettability at interfaces, I am eager to contribute to the journal’s goal of highlighting innovative work spanning surface engineering, materials design, and applications involving wettability phenomena.”

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 catalytic interfaces, explore our collection of articles here. For recent updates in the field of catalytic interfaces, explore some of our recent publications:

Framework-stabilized metal nanostructures for next-generation photocatalysis

Dual-function catalysis: linking photo- and electrocatalytic behavior in In2O3/TiO2 composites

Electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol: role of thorium (Th) doping in MoSe2

Constructing an efficient NiCu single-atom alloy towards acetylene semi-hydrogenation

Comments Off on Introducing Julien Lorenz, Matteo Monai and Jie Ju to our Early Career Advisory Board

RSC Applied Interfaces Blog