Education

Ph.D., University of South Carolina, 2015

B.S., Jilin University, 2010

Research

His research interests include heterogeneous catalysis, catalyst synthesis, and reaction kinetics. Rational catalyst design and synthesis include highly dispersed monometallic catalysts, structure-controlled bimetallic catalysts and mixed metal oxide catalysts. Current interests for catalyst evaluation are transformation of hydrocarbons to higher value chemicals using selective hydrogenation, selective oxidation/epoxidation, dehydrogenation and oxidative dehydrogenation as well as fuel-cell and electrochemical application.

Selected Publications 

• “An investigation on the role of Re as a promoter in Ag-Cs-Re/α-Al2O3 high-selectivity, ethylene epoxidation catalysts”, J. Catal. 322 (2015) 14-23, W. Diao, C.D. DiGiulio, M.T. Schaal, S. Ma, J.R. Monnier
• “Preparation and characterization of Pt-Ru bimetallic catalysts synthesized by electroless deposition methods”, ACS Catal. 5 (2015) 5123-5134, W. Diao, J.M.M. Tengco, J.R. Regalbuto, J.R. Monnier
• “Characterization of MoVTeNbOx catalysts during oxidation reaction using In situ/Operando techniques: a Review” – Catalysts 7.4 (2017) 109-123, S. Lwin, W. Diao, C. Baroi, A.M. Gaffney, R. R. Fushimi
• “The effect of the surface composition of Ru-Pt bimetallic catalysts for methanol oxidation”, Electrochim. Acta 195 (2016) 106-111, T.R. Garrick, W. Diao, J.M.M. Tengco, E.A. Stach, S.D. Senanayake, D.A. Chen, J.R. Monnier, J.W. Weidner
• “Pd-Ag/SiO2 bimetallic catalysts prepared by galvanic displacement for selective hydrogenation of acetylene in excess ethylene”, Catal. Sci. Technol. 5 (2015) 4123-4132, Y. Zhang, W. Diao, J.R. Monnier, C.T. Williams
• “Selective hydrogenation of acetylene in excess ethylene using Ag- and Au-Pd/SiO2 bimetallic catalysts prepared by electroless deposition”, Appl. Catal. A 469 (2014) 419-426, Y. Zhang, W. Diao, C.T. Williams, J.R. Monnier