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Administrative data

Xile Hu

xile.hu@epfl.ch http://lsci.epfl.ch

EPFL SB ISIC LSCI
BCH 3305 (Batochime UNIL)
Av. F.-A. Forel 2
1015 Lausanne

Xile Hu was born in 1978 in Putian, southeastern China. He entered the Peking University in Beijing in 1996. Besides learning too little chemistry, his biggest regret in the college was not able to correct his southern accent in Mandarin. After graduated from PKU, he went to the United States and began his doctoral studies at the University of California, San Diego. In December 2004, he finished with a Ph.D. in chemistry and some fond memories of the beautiful city of San Diego. He then moved to the Los Angeles area and become a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology. There he enjoyed numerous stimulating scientific (and other) discussions with friends and colleagues. He also made plenty of friends outside the campus and was a frequent in many local Chinese restaurants. In 2007, after two pleasant visits to Switzerland, he decided to move across the continent one more time and join the faculty of the école Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He now directs the Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Catalysis and is interested in developing chemistry for synthesis, energy and sustainability.

Awards

Robert K. Grasselli Award for Catalysis

European Federation of Catalysis Societies (EFCATS)

2023

IUPAC-Zhejiang NHU International Award for Green Chemistry

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)

2023

Swiss Green & Sustainable Chemistry Award

2021

Homogeneous Catalysis Award

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

2019

2016 Bau Family Award in Inorganic Chemistry

2016

2017 Organic Letters Outstanding Publication of the Year Lectureship Award from the

American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Organic Chemistry and Organic Letters

2017

Tajima Prize

International Society of Electrochemistry

2017

National Latsis Prize

Latsis foundation

2017

Werner Prize

Swiss Chemical Society

2010

Member, Academia Europaea

2020

Fellow, European Academy of Sciences

2019

Resonate Award for Sustainability Science,

Caltech

2018

Young Research Award

European Federation of Catalysis Societies

2015

Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry

2014

European Medal for Bio-Inorganic Chemistry

2014

Organometallics Young Investigator Fellowship

American Chemical Society

2014

Rising Star, International Conference on Coordination Chemistry

2014

Chemical Society Reviews Emerging Investigator Lectureship

Royal Society of Chemistry

2013

Member of the Young Academy of Europe

2012

Extraordinary Young Scientist, World Economic Forum

2012

International Catalysis Award

International Association of Catalysis Societies

2020

Teaching & PhD

PhD Students

Ai-Lin Chan, Fangqi Di, Lasha Khutsishvili, Enora L'Hostis, Pardis Naderasli, Jiaming Tian, Ji Hee Yun

Past EPFL PhD Students

Murat Alkan (2020), Lichen Bai (2021), Guido Barzanò (2020), Gerald Bauer (2015), Nadia Yasmina Ben Sayed (2026), Jan Breitenfeld (2013), Ivan Buslov (2016), Miyeon Chang (2026), Albert Claude Jean-Pierre Daubry (2022), Thomas Clément Di Franco (2016), Laurent Liardet (2019), Runze Mao (2020), Simona Mazza (2015), Daniel Andreas Merki (2012), Carlos Gilberto Morales Guio (2016), Aliki Moysiadou (2020), Weiyan Ni (2021), Yeonji Oh (2015), Pablo Marcelo Perez Garcia (2015), Marten Leendert Ploeger (2020), Céline Jasmin Prange (2023), Peng Ren (2012), Ariana Serban (2026), Lucas-Alexandre Stern (2017), Oleg Vechorkin (2011), Heron Vrubel (2013), Xingyu Wu (2023), Xiangli Yi (2021), Fedor Zhurkin (2017)

Courses

Catalysis for energy storage

CH-421

This course covers the fundamental and applied aspects of electrocatalysis related to renewable energy conversion and storage. The focus is on catalysis for hydrogen evolution, oxygen evolution, and CO2 reduction reactions. Both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts are discussed.

Catalyst design for synthesis

CH-422

This course on homogeneous catalysis provide a detailed understanding of how these catalysts work at a mechanistic level and give examples of catalyst design for important reactions (hydrogenation, olefin metathesis, cross-coupling).

Frontiers in Sustainable Chemical Synthesis

CH-629

The students will become familiar with the most recent progress in sustainable synthetic chemistry, covering a broad rang of topics such as catalysis, heterocyclic chemistry, stereoselective synthesis and new synthetic tools.

Preparative chemistry II

CH-329

Advanced chemistry laboratory Admission to the TP is conditional on the successful completion of 2 of the 3 courses: CH-222 Coordination chemistry, CH-223 Organometallic chemistry, CH-233 Fonctions et réactions organiques