Topic: Three Decades of Nanomaterials Research: From Fundamental Studies to Applications

Lecturer: Prof. Xia Younan, a member of the National Academy of Engineering

Time: April 6, 2026, 19:30-21:00, UTC+8

Venue: Room 301, Conference Center, Mafangshan Campus

Organizer: Material Advantage WUT Chapter

Biography: Prof. Xia Younan is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University, with equally-split appointments in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Biomedical Engineering. His researches mainly focus on the controlled synthesis, structure and property control, and relevant mechanism study of nanomaterials. His group invented numerous nanomaterials with well-controlled properties for use in applications related to plasmonics, electronics, display, catalysis, energy conversion, controlled release, drug delivery, nanomedicine, and regenerative medicine. Notably, the silver nanowires invented by his group were commercialized for the manufacturing of flexible, transparent, and conductive coatings key to applications such as touchscreen display, flexible electronics, and photovoltaics. His technology on the alignment of electrospun nanofibers was commercially used for multiple clinical products in regenerative medicine. Xia has co-authored over 900 publications in peer-reviewed journals, together with a total citation of about 220,000 and an h-index of 224. He has been named a Top 10 Chemist and Materials Scientist based on the citation data. He has received many prestigious awards, including the Linus Pauling Medal (2024), ACS Award for Creative Invention (2023), MRS Medal (2017), ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials (2013), and NIH Director’s Pioneer Award (2006). He has been an Associate Editor of Nano Lett., and has served on the editorial board of journals including Chem. Rev., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., and Natl. Sci. Rev.

Abstract: Nanomaterials have found widespread use in a broad range of applications, including photonics, electronics, catalysis, energy conversion, sensing, imaging, and medicine. For almost three decades, my research group has been working diligently to develop chemical methods for the synthesis and fabrication of novel nanomaterials with well-controlled properties. Some of these nanomaterials have also been successfully commercialized. In this talk, I will briefly review my journey into this exciting field of research. Specifically, I want to illustrate how a simple idea driven by curiosity was able to enable a productive career for almost three decades. I will also discuss some of the recent developments, with a focus on the rational design and controlled synthesis of various types of nanomaterials for catalysis, fuel cell technology, drug delivery, and cancer theranostics. If time allows, I will discuss how to scale up the synthesis of these nanomaterials without losing control to produce samples with the quality, quantity, and reproducibility needed for a systematic study of their fundamental properties as a function of size, shape, and internal structure, and for the exploration.

Rewritten by: Mei Mengqi

Edited by: Li Huihui, Li Tiantian

Source: International School of Materials Science and Engineering