News

Professor Duan is recognized as one of Clarivate Analytics' Highly Cited Researchers 2020
Dec 3, 2020
Four UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry faculty have been named on the annual Highly Cited Researchers™ 2020 list from Clarivate, placing them among world’s most influential scholars, based on citations.
UCLA-Led Research Shows Efficient and Inexpensive Fuel-Cells in Sight
Dec 3, 2020
A team of UCLA, Caltech and Ford Motor Company researchers has improved fuel-cell technologies to exceed the U.S. Department of Energy targets in efficiency, stability and power. No other reported fuel cells have reached all these milestones simultaneously.
Programmable electronics based on the reversible doping of 2-D semiconductors
Nov 12, 2020
Researchers at University of California, Los Angeles, have recently devised an approach that could enable the development of programmable devices made of 2-D semiconductors. This approach, presented in the paper published in Nature Electronics, leverages a superionic phase transition in silver iodide to tailor the carrier type within devices made of WSe₂ via a process called switchable ionic doping.
Black phosphorus composite makes a better battery
Nov 12, 2020
A new electrode material could make it possible to construct lithium-ion batteries with a high charging rate and storage capacity. If scaled up, the anode material developed by researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and colleagues in the US might be used to manufacture batteries with an energy density of more than 350 watt-hours per kilogram – enough for a typical electric vehicle (EV) to travel 600 miles on a single charge.
Professor Duan is recognized as one of Clarivate Analytics' Highly Cited Researchers 2019
Jan 15, 2020
Four UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry faculty are among the most influential scientists in their fields for 2019, as determined by Clarivate Analytics.

Those recognized are Professors Xiangfeng Duan, Richard Kaner, Kendall Houk, and Jeffrey Zink.
Using Electricity to Clean Silver Nanowires
Jan 15, 2020
Transparent electrical conductors are useful, e.g., in solar cells, sensors, displays, or smart windows. Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films are commonly used for such applications, but the material is brittle and can crack under mechanical stress. Thin films made from silver nanowires are a possible alternative as a flexible, transparent conductor. However, their conductivity is reduced by polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) ligands that are used during nanowire synthesis and remain on the surface.
Nanoporous graphene for desalination
Jan 15, 2020
Carbon nanotube reinforcement and template-based etching help scale up membranes.
Professor Duan has been named one of 31 National Finalists for 2019 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists.
Jun 6, 2019
Chosen from a pool of 343 nominated promising scientific researchers aged 42 years and younger from America’s top academic and research institutions, Duan is one of ten Physical Sciences & Engineering finalists. The finalists were selected based on their extraordinary accomplishments and their promise for the future.
Superinsulating aerogel received wide attention
Mar 30, 2019
The aerogel research published in Science recently has drawn broad attention and been widely reported.
Duan group article featured in Nature’s 150 Year anniversary collection
Mar 30, 2019
Titled “Van der Waals Integration Before and Beyond Two-dimensional Materials”, the article was published in the March 20, 2019 issue of the journal.

As a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry, Prof. Duan is also an Associate Editor for the journalNano Research. In 2018, Duan was named one of the most influential scientific researchers by Clarivate Analytics.
Superinsulating aerogel resists mechanical and thermal shocks
Feb 17, 2019
A new mechanically strong, double-pane ceramic aerogel made from hexagonal boron nitride that is resistant to high temperatures could be used in aerospace and industrial applications. The material, which boasts both a negative Poisson’s ratio and a negative thermal expansion coefficient, is very different to typical ceramic aerogels that are brittle and structurally degrade under thermal shocks.
Six UCLA professors named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Feb 17, 2019
Six faculty members from UCLA have been selected as 2018 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They are to be honored by the association for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.
Professor Xiangfeng Duan was recognized as Clarivate Analytics' Highly Cited Researchers 2018
Feb 17, 2019
Five UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry faculty are among the most influential scientists in their fields for 2018, as determined by Clarivate Analytics.
A new approach to prepare solution-processable 2-D semiconductors
Oct 15, 2018
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Texas at Austin, and Hunan University (China) have recently devised a new method of preparing highly uniform, solution-processable, phase-pure semiconducting nanosheets. Their approach, outlined in a paper published in Nature, involves the electrochemical intercalation of quaternary ammonium molecules into 2-D crystals, followed by a mild sonication and exfoliation process.
Duan group collaboration featured in ACS Central Science
Jul 16, 2018
The team reported on a new on-chip "tool" that helps to "see" & identify the key process that hinders the performance of catalyst used in fuel cells. The tool will help scientists find respective solutions more efficiently.

The work was led by Xiangfeng Duan, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and Yu Huang, a UCLA professor of materials science and engineering.

The lead author of the study is Mengning Ding (pictured right), a former UCLA CNSI postdoctoral fellow advised by Huang and Duan, now a professor of chemistry at Nanjing University, China. Other study authors are UCLA graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in Duan and Huang’s research groups and researchers from King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
Professors Xiangfeng Duan and Neil Garg have been named two of 31 National Finalists for the 2018 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists.
Jun 10, 2018
Chosen from a pool of 286 nominated promising scientific researchers aged 42 years and younger from America’s top academic and research institutions, Duan is one of 11 Physical Sciences & Engineering finalists and Garg is one of ten Chemistry finalists. The finalists were selected based on their extraordinary accomplishments and their promise for the future.

From www.chemistry.ucla.edu
Tiny defects in semiconductors created ‘speed bumps’ for electrons. UCLA researchers cleared the path
Jun 10, 2018
UCLA scientists and engineers have developed a new process for assembling semiconductor devices. The advance could lead to much more energy-efficient transistors for electronics and computer chips, diodes for solar cells and light-emitting diodes, and other semiconductor-based devices.

From newsroom.ucla.edu
30 UCLA faculty on list of ‘most cited’ influential scholars
May 1, 2018
Thirty UCLA faculty members are among the most influential researchers in their fields for 2017, as determined by Claritive Analytics. The organization compiled its 2017 Highly Cited Researchers list of more than 3,000 scientists from around the world whose studies were among the top 1 percent most referenced in studies from their field. (Read more about the rankings methodology.)

From http://newsroom.ucla.edu/
UCLA researchers develop a new class of two-dimensional materials
May 1, 2018
A research team led by UCLA scientists and engineers has developed a method to make new kinds of artificial “superlattices” — materials comprised of alternating layers of ultra-thin “two-dimensional” sheets, which are only one or a few atoms thick. Unlike current state-of-the art superlattices, in which alternating layers have similar atomic structures, and thus similar electronic properties, these alternating layers can have radically different structures, properties and functions, something not previously available.

From http://newsroom.ucla.edu
2D semiconductors could make negative conductance devices
Aug 28, 2017
Researchers in the US and Saudi Arabia are the first to have observed negative transconductance (NTC) inside multilayer molybdenum-disulphide (MoS2) transistors with optimized graphene/metal hybrid contacts. The NTC behaviour comes about thanks to competition between inter-layer charge transport and charge transport through a vertical potential barrier in the MoS2. This unique effect could be exploited for making frequency doublers and phase-shift keying circuits with only one multilayer transistor – something that would greatly simplify circuit design compared to conventional technology, says the team.

From nanotechweb.org