The article entitled "Synthesis of Cu₂O Nanocrystals from Cubic to Rhombic Dodecahedral Structures and Their Comparative Photocatalytic Activity" from Prof. Hsuan-Yi Huang and his research team at the Department of Chemistry of NTHU was published in theJournal of the American Chemical Society and the News & Viewsin Nature on February 2, 2012.

In Prof. Huang's research a new series of Cu₂O nanocrystals with systematic shape evolution of cubic to edge, corner-truncated octahedral and rhombic dodecahedral structures were synthesized. An aqueous mixture was prepared to enable the particle shape evolution of nanocrystals at room temperature in the time range of one hour with simple adjustment of the reductant. Prof. Huang stated that the preparation of Cu₂O nanocrystals in rhombic dodecahedra was difficult, only two existing articles have discussed on this topic. The cube exposing {100} facets and the rhombic dodecahedra exposing {110} facets could be used to investigate comparative photocatalytic activity.

Prof. Huang further explained that rhombic dodecahedra exhibited exceptional photocatalytic activity toward fast and complete photodegradation of methyl orange, however, the cube had only slight photodegradative properties. Furthermore, previous studies had revealed that the octahedral exposing {111} facets had photodegradative properties, but did not perform well. The results of Prof. Huang's research will assist scientists in obtaining better materials for electronic or photocatalytic activity, and produce better molecule catalysts to improve synthesis performance. These nanocrystals with systematic shape evolutions have great potential to be used in specific catalytic applications and such technique can also be used effectively in the field of medicine, energy, or other aspects of life. Prof. Huang's lab is excited that their works were reported by Nature and has received high visibility among the international scientific community.

Prof. Huang joined the faculty of NTHU in 2002, and he was recently awarded with the "2011 NSC Outstanding Research Award." He had also received "Ta-You Wu Memorial Award," "Academia Sinica Research Award for Junior Research Investigators," and "The Chemical Society of Japan Award for Young Asian Researchers," Moreover, Prof. Huang was ranked at the third place in the "Thomson Reuters Top 100 Materials Scientists, 2000-2010," which was the highest among Asian scientists ranked.