Recently, Professor Wang Min of the School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation at NEU, together with Professor Zhu Yongfa of Tsinghua University and Associate Professor Ren Wei of the University of Adelaide, achieved a major breakthrough in research on advanced oxidation for treating emerging pollutants. The related findings were published in the internationally renowned journal Nature Communications under the title "Selective radical pathways on defect-engineered electrophilic biochar for sustainable water purification." The School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation at NEU is the first‑completing institution; doctoral student Hu Ying of NEU and Ren Wei of the University of Adelaide are the co-first authors; and Professor Wang Min, Professor Zhu Yongfa, and Associate Professor Ren Wei are the co-corresponding authors.

Figure 1. Preparation and structural characterization of the corn-straw-derived biochar catalyst

Figure 2. PAA activation and reaction mechanism