Research

Postdoc Projects:

[1] Crystallographical design of electrodes for highly reversible electro-plating/stripping in grid-scale aqueous batteries, advisors: Dr. Yi Cui and Dr. Steven Chu

Contributions:

• Electrodeposition Process Development: Successfully developed a controlled epitaxial electrodeposition method to grow single-crystal metal on a single-crystal anode in an aqueous electrolyte, optimizing deposition parameters such as pH, ion concentration, and applied potential.
• Electrochemical Characterization: Conducted cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to analyze the deposition kinetics, phase purity, and interfacial properties of the epitaxial layers.Structural & Morphological Analysis: Performed X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) to confirm crystallinity, film uniformity, and defect formation mechanisms.
• Battery Integration & Performance Testing: Explored the application of epitaxial metal electrodes in aqueous battery systems, investigating their electrochemical cycling stability, charge transfer kinetics, and potential advantages over polycrystalline counterparts.
• Mechanistic Insights & Theoretical Modeling: Assisted in developing a nucleation and growth model to explain the role of epitaxial interfaces in enhancing metal deposition uniformity and reducing dendrite formation.

Related papers: Nano Letters

Ph.D. projects:

[1] Spectrally engineered radiative cooling textiles, advisor: Dr. Po-Chun Hsu (UChicago)

Contribution:

• Material Selection & Fabrication: Assisted in identifying suitable polymer compositions and fabrication techniques to achieve broadband mid-infrared (MIR) emissivity while maintaining visible transparency and wearability.
• Optical & Thermal Characterization: Conducted spectroscopic and thermal measurements to validate the textiles’ radiative cooling performance under various environmental conditions.
• Heat Transfer Modeling: Developed computational models to simulate heat dissipation and cooling efficiency in real-world scenarios.
• Experimental Validation: Led or assisted in outdoor field tests to demonstrate passive cooling capabilities compared to conventional fabrics.

Related papers: Science

[2] Adaptive solar heater and radiative cooler (ASHARC) for all-season thermoregulation, advisor: Dr. Po-Chun Hsu (UChicago)

Contribution:

• Design and fabricate the ultra-wideband transparent conductive electrode with polyethylene film, monolayer graphene and photolithographed gold microgrid.
• Study the fundamental electrochemistry of reversible metal electrodeposition and design the proper electrolyte.
• Use in-depth characterization tools (SEM, TEM, XPS and XRD) to reveal the morphology of the deposited metals on graphene, which deepens the understanding on the electrodeposition and optical tuning.
• Fabricate a electrochromic device that can reversibly tune the solar and mid-IR optical properties with the largest contrast in the field for thermoregulation.
• Design and build an indoor environmental chamber and an outdoor radiative cooling and solar heating power measurement system by PID-controlled Peltier device and home-made thermal insulation.
• Established a rigorous computational approach in finite element method to investigate optical properties of the deposited metal nanostructures.

Related papers: Nature Sustainability, ACS Energy Letters, Nature Communication

[3] Deep learning assist computational design of vascularized fast charging batteries, advisor: Dr. Po-Chun Hsu (UChicago)

Contributions:

• Theoretically derived the current distribution and tortuosity of the porous electrode by solving the Nernst-Planck equation and using the equivalent circuit theory.
• Building up a finite element model for vascularized battery with massive geometric and electrochemical parameters cluster sweeping.
• Demonstrated the deep-learning-assisted forward prediction and inverse design of the optimal electrode porous structure under different practical scenarios (max capacity, energy density, power density …).

Related papers: Advanced Energy Materials

Collaborative project:

[1] A scalable microstructure photonic coating fabricated by roll-to-roll “defects” for daytime sub-ambient passive radiation cooling, with Prof. Jong Eun Ryu (NCSU)

Contribution: Outdoor radiative cooling power measurement and building energy saving numerical simulation.

[2] Continuous, Nondestructive Detection of Microorganism Growth at Buried Interfaces with Vascularized Polymers, with Prof. Caitlin Howell (U. of Maine)

Contribution: Finite element study on the transport of nutrients in the vascularized channels.

Related papers: ACS Applied Bio Materials

[3] 1D photonic design by needle optimization algorithm of porous dielectrics for radiative cooling, with Elena Shevchenko (Argonne National Lab)

Undergraduate research:

[1] Variable thermal conductivity induced by the phase-transition of shape memory alloy for temperature-adaptive thermal switch, advisor: Dr. Bolin Liao (UCSB), 07/2018 – 09/2018

[2] Shape memory alloy for adaptive smart window, advisor: Dr. Bolin Liao (UCSB), 07/2018 – 09/2018

[3] Air-solid-liquid interfaced by gas diffusion electrode for efficient water-splitting reaction, advisor: Dr. Qu-Quan Wang (WHU), 01/2018 – 10/2018

Related papers: Nanoscale

[4] Numerical study of solar thermochemical water-splitting reaction enhanced by hydrogen permeation membrane, advisor: Dr. Xuejiao Hu (WHU), 05/2018 – 12/2018

Related papers: arXiv