He was elected Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013. He is a Member of The World Academy of Sciences as well as an International Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He coined the new concept "Single-Atom Catalysis" in 2011, advancing the understanding of heterogeneous catalysis from micro/nano scale to single-atom scale. He discovered a new catalytic process from cellulose to ethylene glycol, opening up a new avenue for biomass conversion.