Ph.D., Associate Professor, Doctoral Supervisor, Master's Supervisor
Dr. Peike Cao received her Bachelor's degree (2015) and Ph.D. (2021) from Dalian University of Technology. She joined Professor Xie Quan's group (Environmental Chemistry & Technology Group) and conducted postdoctoral research from January 2022, and was then appointed Associate Professor.
Her research focuses on environmental electrochemical technologies for advanced treatment of industrial wastewater and resource recovery from wastewater with high salinity and complex ionic matrices. It will include pollutant removal, selective separation of valuable ions, and high-value conversion through several aspects of (1) design of high-performance materials for the electrocatalytic reactions such as oxygen reduction and chlorine evolution; (2) integration of electrocatalysis with advanced oxidation processes (e.g., electro-Fenton, Fenton-like systems); (3) mechanistic studies of electrocatalytic interfaces, combining theoretical calculations and in-situ electrochemical characterization to reveal dynamic interfacial reaction mechanisms; (4) studies on electrochemical reaction under high-salinity multi‑ion coexistence for high production selectivity and ion separation.
Dr. Cao has published nearly 40 peer-reviewed papers in journals including Nature Communications, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, and Environmental Science & Technology, etc., with 3 ESI Highly Cited Papers. He gained several fundings from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, and the Liaoning Provincial Doctoral Research Start-up Fund.
Selective Publications:
1. Peike Cao, Xuanchen Liu, Yanming Liu, Zihao Zhao, Shuo Chen, Hongtao Yu, Jingguang G. Chen*, Xie Quan*. Cation-tuned acidic electrified interface for hydrogen peroxide electrosynthesis with industrial-level current densities in natural seawater. Nature Communications. 2026, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-72026-2. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-72026-2
2. Peike Cao, Xie Quan*, X. Nie, K. Zhao, Y. Liu, S. Chen, H. Yu, Jingguang G. Chen*. Metal single-site catalyst design for electrocatalytic production of hydrogen peroxide at industrial-relevant currents, Nature Communications. 2023, 14(1): 172. (highly cited paper) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-35839-z
3. Peike Cao, Xueyang Zhao, Yanming Liu, Haiguang Zhang, Kun Zhao, Shuo Chen, Hongtao Yu, Fan Dong, Nathaniel N. Nichols, Jingguang G. Chen*, Xie Quan*. Highly Efficient Acidic Electrosynthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide at Industrial‐Level Current Densities Promoted by 4. Alkali Metal Cations. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2024, e202406452. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202406452
4. Peike Cao, Xie Quan*, Kun Zhao, Shuo Chen, Hongtao Yu, Yan Su. High-Efficiency Electrocatalysis of Molecular Oxygen towards Hydroxyl Radicals Enabled by Atomically Dispersed Iron Catalyst, Environmental Science & Technology. 2020, 54, 19, 12662-12672. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.0c03614
5. Peike Cao, Xie Quan*, Kun Zhao, Xueyang Zhao, Shuo Chen, Hongtao Yu. Durable and selective electrochemical H2O2 synthesis under large current enabled by the cathode with highly hydrophobic three-phase architecture. ACS Catalysis. 2021, 11: 13797-13808. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscatal.1c03236
6. Peike Cao, Xie Quan*, Kun Zhao, Shuo Chen, Hongtao Yu, Junfeng Niu. Selective electrochemical H2O2 generation and activation on a bifunctional catalyst for heterogeneous electro-Fenton catalysis. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 2020, 382:121102. (highly cited paper) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389419310568
7. Kaixuan Wang, Peike Cao*, Xin Qin, Shuo Chen, Hongtao Yu, Xie Quan. Electro-Fenton process with scalable modified carbonaceous electrode material processed by direct calcination for refractory organic pollutant degradation. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2023, 470: 144104. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1385894723028358