Professor Do-hwan Kim (Division of Science Education, College of Education) received the 2022 Ipjae (入齋) Physical Chemistry Award conferred by the Korean Chemical Society in recognition of his contributions to the advancement of physical chemistry in Korea.

This award is presented by the Korean Chemical Society, which has approximately 7,000 members, to individuals who have contributed to the development of the related academic field through outstanding research achievements in physical chemistry.

Professor Kim graduated from the Department of Chemistry at KAIST and earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the same graduate school. He joined Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) as a faculty member in 2015 and has continued research on the physicochemical properties and applications of energy materials, new materials, and semiconductors.

Over the past two years, he has demonstrated outstanding research achievements, publishing one paper in the top-tier journal Advanced Energy Materials (IF 29.36), four papers in Applied Catalysis B: Environmental (IF 19.5), three papers in Advanced Functional Materials (IF 18.8), and four papers in Nano Energy (IF 17.88), among others.

In particular, the paper titled ‘Novel CuMo-oxynitride@NG core-shell nanohybrid as highly-efficient multifunctional catalysts for rechargeable zinc-air batteries and overall water splitting,’ published last year in Nano Energy, has attracted significant attention. It is an important paper that developed a world-class electrocatalyst for water splitting through computational design and used quantum chemistry to elucidate the fundamental origins contributing to its performance.

Following this award, Professor Kim gave a commemorative lecture titled “Computational Design of the Active Catalyst for Water Splitting and Energy Storage Materials” at the awards ceremony held on April 15, attracting attention from researchers in the field.

Professor Do-hwan Kim said, “I am pleased to receive this prestigious award for my research in the semiconductor and energy fields, which can strengthen our country’s national competitiveness,” adding, “I will continue to strive to be a researcher whose work benefits humanity.”