Research Interests

Professor Alex Yip received his BE(Hon) in Chemical Engineering from UNSW (Australia) in 2003. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2009), studying heterogeneous catalysis. Professor Yip is the Principal Investigator of the Laboratory for Energy and Environmental Catalysis at the University of Canterbury. His research focuses on micro/mesoporous materials, particularly zeolites, and the conversion of biomass/syngas to useful chemicals and fuels. Combining state-of-the-art computational modeling and simulation with experimental works, his research targets synthesizing predefined zeolite structures by manipulating nucleation and crystallization. Yip’s research group is also interested in identifying mechanisms and pathways for important catalytic reactions relevant to sustainable energy. Professor Yip studies the relationship between the catalyst structure, including morphology, pore shape, spatial constraints, etc., and the selectivity of products produced from a reaction.

He has published over 95 papers in top international journals, such as JACS, Angew. Chem., J. Materials Chem. A, Chem. Mater., Chem. Eng. J., Green Chemistry and Nano Research, etc. He is currently an editorial board member of Adv. Powder Technol. and an associate editor of Frontiers in Catalysis: Heterogeneous Catalysis.