Zhe WANG 王哲
Associate Professor (tenured) of Atmospheric Chemistry
Division of Environment and Sustainability
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Email: z.wang@ust.hk
Welcome to Wang’s Research Group on Atmospheric Chemistry
Photochemical smog and haze are the two major regional air pollution problems in many developed and developing regions. Although the problem has long been recognized, the sources and formation mechanisms of air pollution are more complex than previously understood and significant knowledge gaps still exist. Dr. Wang’s research is trying to understand the complicated air pollution matrix via field monitoring, lab experiments, and modeling approaches, and to conduct cutting-edge fundamental research on atmospheric chemistry.
Dr. Wang’s research aims to improve the knowledge of the sources, speciation, and oxidation process of the VOCs, and further evaluate the roles of different oxidation mechanism (e.g., various radicals, gas/multi-phase reactions, etc.) in O3 and SOA formation. Meanwhile, his research also tries to investigate the interactions among clouds, gasses, and aerosols, and evaluate the role of the heterogeneous and multiphase chemical processes in atmospheric chemistry and air quality.
We are inviting potential students to apply for Mphil/PhD for the 2026 Fall and 2027 Spring intake.
Postdoc Fellow position is open all year round.
News
2026
- 2026 Aug – Congratulations to Hui Lirong on the paper, Photochemistry and Ozone Pollution at Coastal and Marine Sites in the Pearl River Estuary, South China, accepted by Atmospheric Environment.
- 2026 July – Congratulations to Feng Xin on the GC-PTR paper, Photochemical Impacts from Resolving Isomers and Interference Biases in PTR-ToF-MS Measurements of Atmospheric VOCs, published on Environmental Science and Technology.
- 2026 July – Congratulations to Zhong Jiali on the NPs paper, Characterizing the Source and Formation of Gaseous Nitrated Phenolic Compounds in Urban Shanghai, published on JGR-Atmosphere.
- 2026 June – Congratulations to Dr. Zheng Yan and Dr. Ted Koenig for the award of the GRF funds.
- 2026 May – Congratulations to Prof. Wang for the award of RGC Overseas Research Fellowship.
- 2026 Jan – International Young Scientist Workshop on Atmospheric Environment IYSAE 2026 was organized by the group and concluded with Great Success. Link.
- 2026 Jan – Congratulations to the team for the award of ECF fund.
- 2026 Jan – Congratulations to Dr. Yi Chen on the sulfuric acid paper, Ambient measurements and improved statistical proxies for gaseous sulfuric acid in coastal Hong Kong, published on npj Clean Air.
2025
- 2025 Dec – Congratulations to Dr. Lirong Hui on the OVOCs paper, The critical role of oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) in shaping photochemical O3 chemistry and control strategy in a subtropical coastal environment accepted byAtmospheric Chemistry & Physcis.
- 2025 Nov – Congratulations to Dr. Xueying Liu on the VOC-O3 modeling paper, Abundance of volatile organic compounds and their role in ozone pollution management: Evidence from multi-platform observations and model representations during the 2021–2022 field campaign in Hong Kong published onAtmospheric Chemistry & Physcis.
- 2025 Aug – Congratulations to Hunter LAM and Rachel Yan, for passing their Mphil Thesis Exam. Congrats to Hunter and Rachel.
- 2025 July – Congratulations to Chen Yi on the G-P NPs paper, Complex gas-particle partitioning of nitro-phenolic compounds: field-based insights and determination of apparent activity coefficientpublished onnpj Climate and Atmospheric Science.
- 2025 June – Congratulations to Hui Lirong, for passing the PhD Thesis Exam. Congrats to Dr. Hui.
- 2025 May – Congratulations to Chen Yao on the OVOC paper, Photochemical impacts of atmospheric carbonyl compounds on ozone formation and radical chemistry in urban Shanghaipublished onEnvironmental Pollution. – Link.
- 2025 May – Prof. Wang was invited to serve as aGuest Editor forScience Bulletin (IF:18.8) and an Associate EditorforAtmospheric Environment(IF:4.2).
- 2025 April – Congratulations to Xu Yang, for passing the PhD Thesis Exam. Congrats to Dr. Xu.
- 2025 Jan – Congratulations to Xu Yang on the OVOC paper, Characterizing Sources and Health Risks of Airborne Carbonyl Compounds in a Subtropical Coastal Atmosphere in South Chinapublished onEnvironmental Pollution. – Link.
- 2025 Jan – Congratulations to Feng Xin, for passing the PhD Qualification Exam.
2024
- 2024 Nov – Congratulations to the team for the award of the NSFC-RGC JRS fund.
- 2024 Sep – Congratulations to Prof. Wang and the team for BB-Cl paper published in National Science Review: Significant chlorine emissions from biomass burning affect the long-term atmospheric chemistry in Asia.
News about the BB-Cl findings on the HKUST AIS website and Eeurekalert Science News. - 2024 Aug – Congratulations to Kelvin Weiyi HE, for passing the Mphil Thesis Exam.
- 2024 July – Congratulations to Penggang, for passing the PhD Thesis Exam. Congrats to Dr. Zheng.
- 2024 June – Congratulations to the team for the award of the GRF fund.
- 2024 June – Congratulations to Dr. Chen Yi for the award of the GRF fund.
- 2024 June – Prof. Wang was elected to be a Council Member of the Hong Kong Society of Mass Spectrometry.
- 2024 May – Congratulations to Zheng Penggang to receive the Best Poster Award in 7RAQM conference.
- 2024 April – Congratulations to the team for the award of the ECF fund.
- 2024 April – Prof. Wang was elected to be Deputy Secretary-General & Standing Member of the Ozone Pollution Control Professional Committee of Chinese Society of Environmental Science.
- 2024 Jan – Congratulations to Meng Ying, for passing the Mphil Thesis Exam.
2023
- 2023 Oct – Congratulations to Xu Yang on the review paper, Monitoring techniques of airborne carbonyl compounds: principles, performance and challenges published onTrends in Analytical Chemistry.
- 2023 Oct – Congratulations to Feng Xin on the paper, Investigation of the multi-year trend of surface ozone and ozone-precursor relationship in Hong Kong published on Atmospheric Environment.
- 2023 July – Congratulations to Hui Lirong on the paper, Abundant oxygenated volatile organic compounds and their contribution to photochemical pollution in subtropical Hong Kong published onEnvironmental Pollution.
- 2023 June – Congratulations to the team for the award of the GRF grant funded by RGC.
- 2023 June – Congratulations to Prof. Wang Z. on getting tenured and promoted to Associate Professor.
- 2023 June – Congratulations to Xu Yang on the new publication, Development of an enhanced method for atmospheric carbonyls and characterizing their roles in photochemistry in subtropical Hong Kong, onScience of The Total Environment. – Link
- 2023 May – Congratulations to Penggang on the new publication, Molecular Characterization of Oxygenated Organic Molecules and Their Dominating Roles in Particle Growth in Hong Kong, on Environmental Science & Technology. – Link
- 2023 April – Congratulations to Dr. Chen Yi on the promotion to Research Assistant Professor.
2022 and before
- 2022 Dec – Congratulations to Guo Jia on the new publication, Evolution of Ozone Pollution in China: What Track Will It Follow?, on Environmental Science & Technology. – Link
- 2022 Dec – Congratulations to Prof. Wang, who was honored in the 4th HKUST Faculty Recognition Ceremony. Link 1. Link 2
- 2022 Dec – Prof. Wang serves as a Guest Editor for a special issue on Atmospheric Environment, entitled “Empowering China’s Greater Bay Area towards cleaner and healthier air: from Science to Policy“. Call for papers until 31 Mar 2023.
- 2022 Dec – Prof Wang attended the AGU Fall Meeting in Chicago and gave a talk on “Formation and impacts of oxygenated organic vapors observed at a coastal background site in South China”.
- 2022 Nov – Prof Wang, as one of the Convenors, co-organized a Session on Atmospheric Complex Pollution in GBA at the 28th Conference of China Atmospheric Environment Science and Technology.
Several group members made oral presentations at the conference. - 2022 Sep – Joint Government and Academia efforts to Study and Develop Science-based Regional Ozone and Photochemical Smog Control Strategies
More media reports:
Shenzhen TV: https://zbgat.scms.sztv.com.cn/zbgat/APPlm/APPsylm/78991462.shtml
Guangzhou TV: https://hcs.gztv.com/application/fcinformation/mobile/?t=ArticleDetail350780#/ArticleDetail/350780/undefined
HK01, 星島日報網 - 2022 Aug – Congratulations to Xu Yang and Hui Lirong, for passing their PQE (Seminar link1, link2).
- 2022 Aug – Congratulations to Feng Xin, for passing the Mphil Thesis Exam.
- 2022 June – Congratulations to the team for the award of the GRF grant funded by RGC.
- 2022 June – Congratulations to Chen Yi on the new publication, Effect of NO2 on nocturnal chemistry of isoprene: gaseous oxygenated products and secondary organic aerosol formation, in Science of the Total Environment. – Link
- 2022 May – News about the OOMs findings on the HKUST website and Eeurekalert Science News.
The findings were reported by a lot of science media, including Science Daily, Nature World News – Climate Change, Verve Times, World News, Eurasia Review, Mirage News, Phys.org, etc. - 2022 Apr – Congratulations to Prof. Wang and Penggang for the first OOMs paper published in Nature Geoscience: Secondary organic aerosol formed by condensing anthropogenic vapours over China’s megacities.
- 2022 Mar – Prof. Wang was invited to join the Advisory Board of Environmental Science: Advances, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
- 2022 Feb – Congratulations to Penggang for passing his PQE (seminar link)
- 2022 Feb – Welcome Jiali Zhong and Ying Meng to join the group in 2022 spring term.
- 2021 Sep – HKUST Collaborates with HKSAR Government on Solving Regional Ozone Pollution in Greater Bay Area
創新同行：飛天捕VOC 相機捕噪音 - 2021 Sep/Oct – IPO news on the NSFC EYS Scheme
- 2021 Aug – 優秀青年科學基金項目（港澳）【教科訊息】鼓勵攻關突破 開展基礎科研 22港學者獲優秀青年科學基金項目
- Call for papers
Atmospheric Geochemistry: A special issue endorsed by IGAC China Working Group and IAGC China Working Group
Special Issue “Heterogeneous and Multiphase Chemistry in the Atmosphere” on Frontiers in Environmental Science: Link
Special Issue “Photochemical Air Pollution in Urban Regions” on Atmosphere: Link