Meet the researcher

Huijun Zhao

Professor and Director of the Centre for Clean Environment and Energy
Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University

Project Leader of the UWSRA Water Quality Monitoring Technology and Information Collection System project

Professor Huijun Zhao is a chemist with specialist expertise in nanomaterials photocatalysis, electrochemistry and analytical chemistry. His current research focuses on development of field-based online water quality monitoring systems for wastewater source control and recycling water quality management, as well as functional nanomaterials for solar energy conversion and storage. Professor Zhao has been the chief investigator on projects attracting grants of more than A$8.5 million since 2002. He has published over 100 papers in refereed journals and registered over 50 patents. Professor Zhao came to Australia from China in 1988, initially working at the University of Wollongong then the University of Western Sydney before joining Griffith University in 1997.

Q. How did your career path bring you to Australia?
A. From 1982 to 1988, I was an associate lecturer then lecturer at North-eastern University in China. In 1988, I was selected by the Chinese government as a talented young academic to be sent overseas for further training. I was lucky enough to be selected to study in Australia as an exchange lecturer. I took a scholarship and did a PhD here, as China did not have PhD programs in Chemistry at the time.

Q. Your background is in analytical chemistry. How did you become involved in research into water quality information management?
A. Research funding and end-users’ needs have been the main drivers for me to get into water research. Functional nanomaterials became a hot topic of research in the late 1990s. In early 2000 when we were investigating the photoelectrocatalytic degradation properties of nanostructured titanium dioxide I quickly realised that such a principle could be further developed into a new chemical oxygen demand (COD) detection method for rapid determination of organic pollutants. Current standard COD methods take about two hours and use highly toxic, corrosive and expensive chemical reagents. We developed a nanotechnology-base method, PeCODTM, which requires no calibration or toxic reagent and is capable of determination within 30 seconds to five minutes.

Q. How is your research contributing to Australia’s future water security?
A. Every day we use water and generate wastewater. If we can safely reutilise the wastewater we generate, then purified recycled water will become a reliable water source to dramatically improve the security of water supply. Our Water Quality Information Collection System project is developing a technological tool capable of providing an early warning for water grid managers to enable them to rapidly respond to an incident and better manage any risks.

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