Research

1. Near-infrared (NIR) photothermal conversion

As a new type of energy conversion, photothermal conversion has been widely used in seawater desalination, efficient sterilization, directional catalysis and non-invasive phototherapy. Our group is devoted to developing a series of novel materials or devices to enhance photothermal conversion efficiency effectively. We expect these photothermal conversion materials and devices could be available on the applications of energy conversion, steam generation, localized heating and controllable CO₂ capture, release and conversion.

2. Liquid electronics

To meet the rapid development of wearable and implatable electronics, new materials based on ultra-thermo-sensitive fluids have been developed to fulfill diversified functional requirements, including excellent deformability, fast self-healing behavior, and facile functional doping and being doped capability. Taking advantage of these fantastic properties, our group has developed a series of function-specific flexible electronics based on fluidic sensing materials, which have great potential for health monitoring and implatable devices.

3. Tuning amphiphilicity for controllable emulsion

The thermodynamic instability problem in double emulsion has severely obstructed the development from laboratory studies to practical applications. This problem occurs particularly during the emulsification process (pre-emulsion process) and the solvent evaporation process (post-emulsion process), challenging the controllable fabrication of the double emulsion and emulsion-templated particles. Based on the concept of tuning amphiphilicity, we successfully fabricated the double emulsion and emulsion-templated particles in a controllable manner through manipulating the phase inversion behavior and phase separation behavior, and finally obtained the one-step double emulsion and anisotropic particles with high application value.