Light and heat are two ubiquitous energy forms that are distinct but also closely correlated to each other. As the sunlight emitted from its 5500K surface is extremely useful for us to generate high-grade energy, its radiation is governed by the same physics as our human body thermal radiation at 300K. The fundamental materials science and thermal engineering of light-heat conversions are the keys to achieve better efficiency, higher power density, and other desirable properties for various applications in energy and personal health.

Research projects:

  • Electrochemical dynamic metasurfaces for light- and heat-management
  • Electrochromic conductive polymers: structure-property study and co-design of photonics and materials science
  • Reversible metal electrodeposition: energy storage and plasmonics
  • Radiative cooling textiles
  • Infrared-active plasmonic nanoparticles
  • Carbon capture nanofibers

Highlighted in Science

Wearable variable-emittance (WeaVE) device mentioned as a Research Highlight in Nature.

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Moisture-responsive actuator for multimodal adaptive personal thermal management.

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Adaptive solar-heater and radiative-cooler (A-SHARC) mentioned in New Atlas, TechXplore, and WRAL.

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Tunable surface emissivity for Smart buildings.

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Neural networks utilized to optimize porous internal structure of Lithium-ion battery (LIB) electrodes.

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Vascular ENabled Advanced (VENA) electrodes for fast charging Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for Electric Vehicles (EVs).

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Thermal imaging of cotton, IR-reflective (heating), and IR-transparent (cooling) textiles.

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Electrochemistry: Electrochromic window, Electrocatalysis, Photoelectrochemical reactions, and more.

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Nanoporous polyethylene can freely transmit thermal radiation and cool down the human body.

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Nanofibers and Nanowires

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