Photocatalysis driven by solar energy has proven to be a promising technology in addressing the challenges faced by mankind, such as energy crisis and environmental pollution. However, the practical application of photocatalysis is still limited by its intrinsic factors, such as photocatalysts’ light response, and the recombination of photogenerated charge carriers. From this prospect, many efforts have been invested, aiming to break through the bottleneck of photocatalysis for practical applications. One strategy we employed is “Defect Engineering”. By means of defect engineering with nanostructured semiconductor photocatalytic materials, we explored the effects of defect microstructure regulation on the polarization piezoelectric properties, photo absorption range, photogenerated carrier behavior, adsorption and activation ability of target molecules, and photocatalytic reaction pathways at typical perovskite composite oxides and carbon nitride, with the purpose of eventually improving their photocatalytic performance in energy and environmental application prospects. The correlation between defect microstructure and photocatalytic/multi-field catalytic activity was revealed. For example, full spectrum response of Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ was developed through defect engineering, and it exhibits excellent photocatalytic conversion activity in removing air pollutant NO under irradiation of broad wavelength range of light, up to near infrared (850 nm). In addition, the manipulation of defect microstructures can significantly improve the polarization and piezoelectric properties of materials, thereby improving the efficiency of multi-field catalytic degradation of antibiotics; the synergistic effect can increase the efficiency of antibiotics’ degradation by more than 7 folds. Furthermore, we extended our “Defect Engineering” strategy to photocatalytic synthesis of NH₃ and H₂O₂, and photo-thermal catalysis for selective conversion of CO₂ and plastics etc. Our work shows that defect engineering plays a vital role in photocatalysis, but its precise control and mechanistic understanding are still challenging.

Prof. Wang is an elected Member of European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is also an elected Fellow of European Academy of Sciences, acting as an officer of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Division of the academy. He has been named on the list of the “World’s Top 2% Scientists” since 2020 (ranked top 45 in Physical Chemistry in 2025), ScholarGPS Top 0.05% Scholar-Prior 5 Years (overall, and #21 in Environmental Science, #44 in Catalysis). In addition, he is a recipient of several prestigious awards, including Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate), and Advanced Materials Laureate etc. Prof. Wang is serving on multiple editorial and scientific advisory boards, e.g., Associate Editor for Applied Catalysis B: Environment and Energy (IF 21.1).