Group news
[August 2021]
Prof. Jiaxing Huang is now a Chair Professor of Materials at Westlake University, a new type of research university located in the city of Hangzhou, China. He is still connected to the Northwestern community through an Adjunct Professor position.
[January 2021] Best paper award from Research
Alane Lim, Chenlong Cui and Hee Dong Jang’s paper about self-healing coating has won a Best Paper Award from Research. A pleasant surprise, cheers!
[November 2020] Advance science, engineering, and innovation globally for the benefit of all people
Jiaxing is elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which is the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society that seeks to “advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people.” Cheers!
[November 2020] Highly cited researcher
Jiaxing has been named a “Highly Cited Researcher” for the 7th time since 2014 by Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics. Cheers to the good work done by all current and former group members.
[October 2020] Masks are not only PPE, they are more of PHE – public health equipment
Face mask aims to deactivate virus to protect others
[October 2020] Celebrating Outstanding Women in Chemistry
Former group member Yi-ge Zhou is featured in an “Outstanding Women in Chemistry” article in CCS Chemistry. Congratulations Prof. Zhou!
[October 2020] Making masks better at protecting others
A manuscript reporting “On-mask chemical modulation of respiratory droplets”, an idea proposed and shared in the April ACS Nano Perspective and a foundation of our NSF RAPID grant, is accepted by Matter. Haiyue, Hun and Yihan overcame the limit in resources and solved one problem after another with clever innovations. Very proud of your all!
[September 2020] Accounts of Materials Research
Jiaxing explains the idea of launching Accounts of Materials Research in this ACS Axial interview.
[August/September 2020] Pandemic research is mentioned in C&EN article
Our “essential” research activities during the pandemic are mentioned in this C&EN article, which is later republished in ACS Central Science. We thank the writer Ms. Dinsa Sachan for this informative piece to increase the awareness of mask wearing and mask-related research to the readers.
[July 2020] Are international students better prepared for COVID-19?
Graduate student Haiyue Huang is mentioned in University World News as example of how US international students are poised to play a significant role in fostering international collaboration and coordination to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
[June 2020] A new bridge and a new beginning
ACS launches Accounts of Materials Research in partnership with ShanghaiTech University. Jiaxing is appointed as the Founding Editor-in-Chief.
[June 2020] New Ryan Fellow
Graduate student Haiyue Huang is awarded a Ryan Fellowship in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Congratulations and well deserved!
[June 2020] Meet Dr. Hun Park
Hun is profiled in an article posted by IIN. Cheers!
[June 2020] Newly minted professors
Former postdoc Dr. Jun Gao has become a Professor at Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocessing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Congratulations!
Former PhD student Dr. Che-Ning Yeh has accepted an Assistant Professor position in National Tsinghua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Congratulations!
Soon-to-be former student Dr. Kevin Chiou has accepted an Assistant Professor position in National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Congratulations!
[June 2020] Surfactant-free solution processing of carbon nanotubes
Kevin’s paper is accepted by Matter! Congratulations!
[May 2020] “Team essential” keep the flame on.
Haiyue, Hun, Murat and Zhilong have been designated as “essential researchers” since the beginning of this pandemic, conducting materials research to address challenges in the COVID-19 pandemic. Their hard work has received warm encouragement from many, including caring members of the nearby communities.
Their story is mentioned in a few places, including the following from the NSF:
NSF research news: https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=300476&org=NSF&from=news
Podcast: https://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/mmg_disp.jsp?med_id=186402
Video: https://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/mmg_disp.jsp?med_id=186441
[May 2020] A history-making Hilliard “Zoomposium”
Jiaxing organized and chaired the 2020 MSE Hilliard Symposium via Zoom. The pandemic made us work remotely but the flame is bigger, with record-breaking number of attendees. Congratulations to the 15 presenters!
Many thanks to the great MSE team of staff, as well as 4 of our former students returning to help!
And congratulations to Kevin Chiou for winning a presentation award! Nicely done!
[April 2020] A call for physical scientists and engineers
Haiyue led a Perspective paper in ACS Nano, reporting some hypothese, new ideas and research needs in physical sciences and engineering to address the challenges in mitigating the spread of infectious respiratory diseases. We are grateful for the incredible passion and generosity of our 9 biomedical and clinical coauthors from China, and the support from NSF RAPID from DMR.
[February 2020] Free-floating electrocatalysts outperform tethered ones
Yi-Ge’s CCS Chemistry paper is featured in C&E News. Cheers!
[February 2020] FQM for weak-quencher sheets
Zhizhi’s paper is published in Small Methods. FQM can now image essentially all 2D sheets including graphene-based sheets, TMDCs, clays, oxides and potentially many others Cheers!
And a shout-out to the city of Wuhan in the acknowledgement, stay strong!
[February 2020] Fluidized Electrocatalysis
Yi-Ge’s paper is featured on the cover of CCS Chemistry. We thank the editorial team for their outstanding author service. Cheers!
[December 2019] Working with minions: A Perspective on bio-nanomanufacturing of functional materials
“There is plenty of room for collaboration between the non-despicable humans and minions“
– Matter, 2019, 1, 1430
[December 2019] MCF symposium and “Be Bold” panel discussion
We hosted a group of distinguished guests and speakers at Northwestern at the 4th Materials Chemistry Frontiers International Symposium.
Speakers also interacted with Northwestern students to talk about being bold in STEM.
[November 2019] Highly cited researcher
We have been included in the list of “Highly Cited Researchers” since 2014 by Thomson Reuters / Clarivate Analytics. Cheers!
[August 2019] Stronger Graphene Oxide ‘Paper’ Made with Weaker Units
Lily and Hun’s paper is published in Nature Communications and featured in the MRS Bulletin. A fruitful collaboration with Profs. SonBinh Nguyen, Horacio Espinosa and Tae Hee Han. Cheers!
[April 2019] New group members
New postdoc Dr. Zhilong Yu and undergraduate researcher Isabel Nygard join the lab. Welcome!
[February 2019] A nod to Shakespeare
Self-healing coating work is highlighted in Chemical and Engineering News!
[January 2019] Self-healing coating for metal protection
Oil thickened by light weight capsules form stable coatings to protect metal surface from corrosive environment, even those with complex geometries, and can rapidly self-heal when scratched. Congratulations to Alane, Chenlong and Dr. Hee Dong Jang from KIGAM for years of hard work to realize this concept!
Also see: Fluid-inspired material self-heals before your eyes (with video)
[January 2019] A dough state of graphene oxide
The dough state completes the GO-water continuum, facilitates storage and transportation, exhibits super extensibility, can be molded, cut, and connected to form arbitrary shapes, makes compliant graphene support for electrocatalysis, and turns into dense glassy GO solid and “bulk graphenic glass” with new properties. Congratulations to Che-Ning, Haiyue and Alane (cheers to the all girl team)! Years of hard work, finally turning these concepts into reality. A big shout out to Ren-Huai and Prof. Chun-Hu Chen visiting from NSYSU, Kao-Hsiung, Taiwan for the first successful collaboration!
0.8 g of GO, in the form of a dough (left) and dispersion (right, 2 mg/ml). Credit: Haiyue Huang
Also see: ‘GO dough’ makes graphene easy to shape and mold
[September 2018] Xuan becomes Dr. Dou
Xuan successfully completed his thesis. Congratulations, Dr. Dou!
[September 2018] Graphene oxide fiber work accepted in Science Advances
Collaborative work with Prof. Tae Hee Han from Hanyang University accepted in Science Advances. Cheers!
[September 2018] Welcoming new members
Prof. Chunhu Chen and his student Ren-Huai Jhang join the lab from National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan. Welcome!
[September 2018] Five Chem papers that made an impact
Graphene hair dye paper selected as one of the five Chem papers that made an impact. Cheers!
[July/August 2018] Collaboration results in new publications
New publications in ACS Nano and Chem, cheers!
[June 2018] A big surprise from students in MSE 337 (Fall 2017)
A heart-warming surprise from students in MSE 337 from Fall. Thanks, and very proud of you all!
[May 2018] Che-Ning becomes Dr. Yeh
Che-Ning successfully defended her thesis. Congratulations, Dr. Yeh!
[May 2018] Breakthrough in solution processing of carbon nanotubes
Kevin’s paper has been accepted by PNAS. Hard work has finally paid off, congratulations! Also thanks to Segi and Jay for their earlier contributions.
[May 2018] Hilliard Award for Yakira Mirabito
Yakira has won the 2018 Hilliard Award for Leadership, Scholarship and Service. Congratulations on this well deserved award!
[May 2018] Summer URG for Shannon Kollasch
Shannon’s proposal has won her the highly competitive Summer Undergraduate Research Grant, supported by the Alumnae of Northwestern University. Congratulations!
[April 2018] Graphene hair dye paper on Chem cover, cheers!
[March 2018] Multifunctional graphene hair dye
New paper published in Chem and received broad press coverage. Cheers!
An a shout out to the brilliant science writers, correspondents, presenters that report on this story. The interactions have been very fun and inspirational!
Chong thanks the Oversea Study Program of the Guangzhou Elite Project for supporting his visit to Northwestern University.
Lingye thanks her parents for supporting her education at Northwestern through the NU-SJTU dual master program.
Kevin thanks the National Science Foundation for a Graduate Research Fellowship.
Jiaxing thanks Dr. Shaorong Liu (i.e., Ms. Huang) for paying for the various cosmetic materials and beauty supplies that initiated the work.
We also thank Alane for helpful discussions and editing of the manuscript.
(Photo taken with Pixel 2)
[March 2018] Wechat coverage of “cut and paste”
The team is featured in an article posted in the Forum of Macromolecule Science Frontiers. Cheers!
[March 2018] Wei, way to go!
Wei Hao (SJTU-NU dual MS program) and Kevin Chiou’s paper about solar distillation is accepted by Nanoscale. Way to go!
[March 2018] Inside front cover in MCF
Jun, Andrew and Kalyan’s paper is selected for the inside front cover of MCF. Cheers!
[February 2018] Nanowerk spotlight
Jun, Andrew and Kalyan’s paper is highlighted in a story published in Nanowerk.com. Thank you, and cheers!
[January 2018] Kirigami nanofluidics
Jun, Andrew and Kalyan’s paper is accepted by Materials Chemistry Frontiers (MCF). Congratulations!
[January 2018] 3D architectures, by cut and paste
Chong, Che-Ning, Jesus and Wendy’s paper is accepted by Advanced Materials. Congratulations!
[January 2018] Paper balls on the cover of Joule
Collaboration with Jiayan results in a paper in Joule. See paper balls on the cover!
[November 2017] Highly cited researcher
We are included in the list of “Highly Cited Researchers” again by Clarivate Analytics. Cheers!
[November 2017] Crumple or not to crumple?
Andrew’s story challenging earlier results about graphene oxide’s configurations in water, first drafted >6 years ago, is finally published in ACS Omega with open access. Cheers!
[October 2017] Yige becomes Professor Zhou
Yige starts her new position as Professor of Chemistry at Hunan University. Congratulations, Prof. Zhou!
[October 2017] Xiaojiao becomes Professor Zhu
Xiaojiao returns to USTC to defense her PhD thesis, and accepts a position as Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Anhui University. Congratulations, Prof. Zhu!
[September 2017] Commentary on graphene coatings
After nearly one year’s review, Chenlong and Alane’s Commentary piece on the hypothesis, problems and potential solutions regarding anti-corrosion applications of graphene coatings is published in Nature Nanotechnology. Cheers!
[More 2017 happenings]
- PhD students Haiyue Huang and Sarah Schlossberg join the group. Welcome!
- Visiting Student Ga-Young Kim joins the group from Kyushu University, Japan. Welcome!
- Visiting Prof. Bruce Shih-Hsun Chen joins the group from National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. Welcome!
- Visiting Prof. Hongfei Cheng joins the group from China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing). Welcome!
- Kevin Chiou passed his qualifier exam. Cheers!
- Alane Lim passed her qualifier exam. Cheers!
- Prof. Huang completed his 3 year service as the Chair of Graduate Admission. Back to full time research and teaching!
- SJTU-NU joint MS student Lingye Zhou completed her MS course and submitted a paper on her research at Northwestern. Well done!
- SJTU-NU joint MS student Wei Hao submitted a paper on his research at Northwestern. Well done!
- Lily Mao successfully defended her thesis. Congratulations, Dr. Mao!
- Andrew Koltonow successfully defended his thesis. Congratulations, Dr. Koltonow!
[February 2017] Northwestern Engineering students awarded for class projects
A story about Daniel Hickox-Young and Luke Prestowitz’s “PolySketch Pen“.
[February 2017] Victor becomes Prof. Souza
Dr. Victor Hugo Rodrigues de Souza completes his postdoc stay and accepts the position as Associate Professor at the Faculty of Sciences and Technologies (FACET) in Federal University of Grande Dourado (UFGD), Brazil. Congratulations, Professor Souza!
[February 2017] MSE 337 students invited to NSF-KAUST conference
Daniel Hickox-Young and Luke Prestowitz’s DIY project in MSE 337 “Polysketch Pen” has won the DIY Electronics Innovation Contest at the NSF-KAUST conference. It also won them a trip to attend the conference in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Very well done, and very proud of you and other brilliants young minds in 337!
[January 2017] Humboldt Prize
Jiaxing is awarded the Humboldt Research Award. Wir freuen uns auf die Zusammenarbeit mit Wissenschaftlern in Deutschland!
[December 2016] Dr. Tao becomes Prof. Tao
Dr. Ying Tao completes her postdoc stay and starts her position as Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering in Tianjin University, China. Congratulations, Professor Tao!
[December 2016] PhD defense
Deepti successfully defended her thesis. Congratulations, Dr. Krishan!
[November 2016] Highly cited researcher
Jiaxing has been named a “Highly Cited Researchers” in Chemistry again by Thompson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics. Cheers!
[September 2016] APCI fellowship for Xuan
Xuan is awarded the Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (APCI) graduate fellowship. Cheers!
[August 2016] Alex goes to Apple
Congratulations!
[August 2016] Most cited researcher in materials science and engineering
Northwestern tops the list of most cited researchers in materials science and engineering based on Elsevier’s Scopus data. We are included in the list. Cheers!
[March 2016] 2D nanofluidics
Andrew’s Perspective article is published in Science, highlighting the hypotheses of 2D nanofluidics and progresses since Kaylan’s 2012 JACS paper. Cheers!
[February 2016] PNAS cover: Crumpled paper balls on a surface
Xuan’s paper is featured on the cover of PNAS, and featured in Chemical and Engineering News and Fortune.com. We thank Felice Frankel for helping to design the cover. Cheers!
[January 2016] PhD defense
Alex successfully defended his thesis. Congratulations!
[December 2015] ECS award for former PhD student
Jiayan Luo (PhD 2013, currently Professor of Chemical Engineering at Tianjin University) is going to receive the 2016 SES Research Nanocarbon Young Investigator Award from the Electrochemical Society, for his past and current work on nanocarbon. Congratulations!
[December 2015] MRS awards for current and former group members
Che-Ning received MRS Graduate Student Gold Award at Boston. Well done and congratulations!
Former undergraduate researcher Zhibo Zhao (currently in MIT) also received a Best Poster Award. Congratulations!
[December 2015] Highly cited researcher in chemistry
Jiaxing has been named a “Highly Cited Researcher” in Chemistry again by Thompson Reuters. Cheers!
[September 2015] Women in Nanoscience
Former visiting scholar Dr. Huali Nie is featured in an article on the website of Women in Nanoscience for her work in the group regarding electrospray assisted LB assembly. Cheers!