Education

Jan. 2013 – May 2016: Ph.D. in Engineering, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada. Advisor: Prof. Jingli Luo; research on solid oxide fuel cells and electrolysis cells.

Sept. 2009 – Jul. 2012: M.Sc. in Science, Department of Chemistry, Xiamen University, China. Advisors: Prof. Chuanjing Huang and Prof. Huilin Wan; research on selective oxidation of light alkanes.

Sept. 2005 – Jul. 2009: B.Sc. in Science, Department of Chemistry, Xiamen University, China.

Job Experience

Aug. 2025 – present: Professor, College of Energy, Xiamen University.

Dec. 2019 – Jul. 2025: Associate Professor, College of Energy, Xiamen University.

Aug. 2016 – Nov. 2019: Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, USA. Advisor: Prof. Shriram Ramanathan; research on the growth and applications of strongly correlated perovskite oxide thin films.

Teaching

Recipient of the First Prize and Best Design Award in the Xiamen University English Teaching Competition.

Recognized as an Excellent Supervisor under Xiamen University's Dezhen program.

Research

Dr. Sun's research focuses on electrocatalysis, heterogeneous catalysis, environmental catalyst development, process coupling design, and mechanistic studies in catalysis. His work is closely related to oxide materials, surface/interface chemistry, and energy conversion technologies.

He is supported by the Nanqiang Outstanding Young Talents Program and has led projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Fujian Provincial Natural Science Foundation, Guangdong Natural Science Foundation, and Shenzhen Natural Science Foundation.

Selected honors include the Fujian Provincial Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars, Nanoscale Emerging Young Investigator (2022), Chongben Technology Leading Talent of Jiangsu Province (2021), Fujian Provincial Introduced High-Level Talent / Xiamen High-Level Talent Category B (2021), and the Mitacs Globalink Research Award (2015).

He serves as a Youth Editorial Board Member of Chinese Chemical Letters. Representative publications have appeared in Nature Communications, Journal of the American Chemical Society, ACS Catalysis, Advanced Functional Materials, Nature Catalysis, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Nano Letters.

Publications

Y. Sun*, et al., Nature Communications, 2025，16，2868

Y. Sun*, et al., JACS, 2025，147，1，462-472 (invited cover)

Y. Sun*, et al., ACS Catalysis, 2025,15, 20560-20572

Y. Sun*, et al., Nature Communications, 2024, 15，6301

Y. Sun*, et al., ACS Catalysis, 2024, 14: 4523-4535

Y. Sun*, et al., Advanced Functional Materials, 2024, 2409605

Y. Sun*, et al., ACS Catalysis, 2023, 13, 7, 5007–5019

Y. Sun*, et al., Advanced Functional Materials, 2022, 2112157.

Y. Sun*, et al., Nature Catalysis, 2020, 3, 609-610.

Y. Sun, et al., PNAS, 2018，115，201805029.

Y. Sun, et al., ACS Catalysis, 2016, 6(4): 2710-2714

Y. Sun, et al., Nano Letters, 2016, 16, 5303-5309.