EMIT Lab

Research

Emergent Materials and Intelligent TEM (EMIT) Lab aims to advance the construction and characterization of chemically assembled materials with sophisticated structures and emergent properties. Our research interests revolve around three intertwined directions:

1. Chemically Assembled Emergent Materials: we design mesoscale hybrid / hierarchical materials with specific motifs and electronic structures, construct them through controllable self-assembly, and explore their applications in energy and quantum technologies.

2. Intelligent Characterization: we develop intelligent TEM (transmission electron microscopy) techniques, such as the combination of in situ liquid-cell TEM and computer vision analysis, to reveal the governing rule for hierarchical chemical assembly.

3. Artificial Intelligence: we employ AI techniques to help the design of hierarchical materials, predict their structures and properties, and develop intelligent structural recognition methods for analyzing complex characterization data (especially for in situ experiments).

TEAM

Principal Investigator

Dr. Yu Wang 王宇   |  
Professor, School of Emergent Soft Matter, South China University of Technology

Ph.D. Students

Yansong Jiang 姜岩松   |  
MSc from Jilin Univ
Nanocrystals and Applications

Xiang Zhou 周翔   |  
MSc from Shanxi Univ
TEM and Hybrid Materials

Master Students and Reseach Assistants

Panjing Zhang 张潘静   |  
BSc from East China Univ of Tech
Soft Robotics

Xuehai Huang 黄雪海   |  
BSc from Tiangong Univ
Artificial Intelligence and TEM

Kefan Yang 杨可凡   |  
BSc from Dalian Univ of Tech
Emergent Materials

Daiyue Sun 孙岱岳   |  
R.A. BSc from Georgia Tech
Artificial Intelligence for Soft Matter

Yingyao Li 李滢耀   |  
BSc from Guangzhou Univ
Emergent Materials

Huirong Liu 刘慧荣   |  
BSc from South China Univ of Tech
Emergent Materials

Zhenda He 何镇达   |  
School of Emergent Soft Matter 2021

Xinyi Pan 潘忻宜   |  
School of Emergent Soft Matter 2021

Wenxin Chang 常文馨   |  
School of Emergent Soft Matter 2021

Publications

[25] Y. Wang,# Z. Song,# J. Wan, S. Betzler, Y. Xie, C. Ophus, K. Bustillo, P. Ercius, L. Wang, and H. Zheng∗
Strong structural and electronic coupling in metavalent PbS moiré superlattices.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2022, 144, 23474.

[24] Z. Song,# Y. Wang,# H. Zheng, P. Narang,* and L. Wang*
Deep quantum-dot arrays in moiré superlattices of non-van der Waals materials.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2022, 144, 14657. 

[23] Q. Zhang,# Z. Song,# Y. Wang,# Y. Nie, J. Wan, K. Bustillo, P. Ercius, L. Wang, L. Sun, and H. Zheng*
Swap motion–directed twinning of nanocrystals.
Sci. Adv., 2022, 8, eabp9970.

[22] Y. Liu, Tong Liu, X. Yan, Q. Guo, H. Lei, Z. Huang, R. Zhang, Y. Wang, J. Wang, F. Liu, F. Bian, E.W. Meijer, T. Aida, M. Huang*, and Stephen Z.D. Cheng*
Expanding quasiperiodicity in soft matter: Supramolecular decagonal quasicrystals by binary giant molecule blends.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2022, 119, e2115304119.
 

Prior to joining SCUT (2021.08)

[21] J. Jiang, Y. Wang, L. Jin, C-H Hsu, S. Zhang, J. Mao, W. Yin, T. Li, B. Ni, Z. Su, J. Huang, C. Wesdemiotis, K. Yue, W. Zhang*, and S. Z. D. Cheng*.
Modularly constructed polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-based giant molecules for unconventional nanostructure fabrication.
ACS Appl. Nano Mater., 2020, 3, 2952.
 

[20] Y. Wang,† X. Peng,† A. Abelson, P. Xiao, C. Qian, L. Yu, C. Ophus, P. Ercius, L-W. Wang, M. Law, and H. Zheng*.
Dynamic deformability of individual PbSe nanocrystals during superlattice phase transitions.
Sci. Adv., 2019, 5, eaaw5623
Highlighted by Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

[19] H. L. Zhang,† Y. Wang,† H. Zhang,† X. Liu,† A. Lee, Q. Huang, F. Wang J. Chao, H. Liu, J. Li, J. Shi, X. Zuo, L. Wang, L. Wang, X. Y. Cao, C. Bustamante, Z. Q. Tian*, and C. H. Fan*.
Programming chain-growth co-polymerization of DNA hairpin tiles for in-vitro hierarchical supramolecular organization.
Nat. Commun., 2019, 10, 1006
 

[18] Y. Wang,† Y. Sun,† P. Shi, X. Lin, P. Zhang, H. Fang, P. Peng, Z. Q. Tian, and X. Cao*.
Chaperone-like chiral cages for catalyzing enantioselective supramolecular polymerization.
Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 8076
Selected as Front Cover, Editor’s Pick of the Week, and 2019 Chemical Science HOT Article Collection.
Highlighted by RSC news as “Coaching catalysis”.

[17] Y. Wang, X. Peng, A. Abelson, B. Zhang, P. Ercius, L-W. Wang, M. Law, and H. Zheng*.
Atomic-resolution in situ observation of the necking phenomenon during oriented attachment of PbSe nanocrystals
Nano Res., 2019, 12, 2549
 

[16] Z. Su, C. Hsu, Z. Gong, X. Feng, J. Huang, R. Zhang, Y. Wang, J. Mao, C. Wesdemiotis, T. Li, S. Seifert, W. Zhang, T. Aida, M. Huang*, and S. Z.D. Cheng*.
Identification of a Frank–Kasper Z phase from shape amphiphile self-assembly.
Nat. Chem., 2019, 11, 899.
 

[15] R. Lu, X. Yan, L. Zhu, L. Yang, H. Qu, X. Wang, M. Luo, Y. Wang, R. Chen, X. Wang, Y. Lan, J. Pei, W. Weng, H. Xia, and X. Cao*.
Unveiling how intramolecular stacking modes of covalently linked dimers dictate photoswitching properties.
Nat. Commun., 2019, 10, 5480.
 

[14] Q. Zhang, G. Gao, Y. Shen, X. Peng, J. Shangguan, Y. Wang, H. Dong, K. Bustillo, L. Wang, L. Sun, and H. Zheng*.
Anomalous shape evolution of Ag₂O₂ nanocrystals modulated by surface adsorbates during electron beam etching.
Nano Lett., 2019, 19, 591.
 

[13] X. X. Peng, A. Abelson, Y. Wang, C. Qian, J. Shangguan, Q. Zhang, L. Yu, Z. W. Yin, W. Zheng, K. C. Bustillo, X. Guo, H. G. Liao, S. G. Sun, M. Law, and H. M. Zheng*.
In situ TEM study of the degradation of PbSe nanocrystals in air.
Chem. Mater., 2019, 31, 190.
 

[12] Y. Wang,† H. X. Fang,† I. Tranca, H. Qu, X. C. Wang, A. J. Markvoort*, Z. Q. Tian, and X. Y. Cao*.
Elucidation of the origin of chiral amplification in discrete molecular polyhedra.
Nat. Commun., 2018, 9, 488 

[11] Z. A. Nan, Y. Wang*, Z. X. Chen, S. F. Yuan, Z. Q. Tian, and Q. M. Wang*.
Catalyzed assembly of hollow silver-sulfide cluster through self-releasable anion template.
Commun. Chem. 2018, 1, 99.
 

[10] X. C. Wang, P. X. Peng, W. Xuan, Y. Wang, Y. B. Zhuang, Z. Q. Tian, and X. C. Cao*.
Narcissistic chiral self-sorting of molecular face-rotating polyhedra.
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2018, 16, 34.
 

[9] H. Qu, Y. Wang*, Z. H. Li, X. C. Wang, H. X. Fang, Z. Q. Tian, and X. Y. Cao*.
Molecular face-rotating cube with emergent chiral and fluorescence properties.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2017, 139, 18142.

[8] Y. Wang, H. X. Fang, W. Zhang, Y. B. Zhuang, Z. Q. Tian, and X. Y. Cao*.
Interconversion of molecular face-rotating polyhedra through turning inside out.
Chem. Commun., 2017, 53, 8956
 

[7] Y. Wang, Y. B. Sun, X. B. Ding, J. H. Liang, X. Y. Cao, and Z. Q. Tian*.
A combined electro- and photo-chemical approach to repeatedly fabricate 2D molecular assemblies.
Electrochim. Acta., 2017, 246, 823.
 

[6] Z. W. Lin, J. Sun, Y.B. Zhou, Y. Wang, H. Xu, X. Yang, H. Su, H.G. Cui, T. Aida, W. Zhang*, and S. Z.D. Cheng*.
A noncrystallization approach toward uniform thylakoids-like 2D “nano-coins” and their grana-like 3D suprastructures.
J. Am. Soc. Chem., 2017, 139, 5883.
 

[5] X. C. Wang,† Y. Wang,† H. Y. Yang, H. X. Fang, R. X. Chen, Y. B. Sun, N. F. Zheng, K. Tan, X. Lu, Z. Q. Tian, and X. Y. Cao*.
Assembled molecular face-rotating polyhedra to transfer chirality from two to three dimensions.
Nat. Commun., 2016, 7, 12469.
 

[4] L. Q. Xie, T. Y. Zhang, L. Chen, N. Guo, Y. Wang, G. K. Liu, J. R. Wang, J. Z. Zhou, J. W. Yan, Y. X. Zhao, B. W. Mao*, and Z. Q. Tian.
Organic–inorganic interactions of single crystalline organolead halide perovskites studied by Raman spectroscopy.
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016, 18, 18112.
 

[3] H. X. Lin, L. Chen, D. Y. Liu, Z. C. Lei, Y. Wang, X. S. Zheng, B. Ren, Z. X. Xie, Galen D. Stucky*, and Z. Q. Tian*.
Constructing two-dimensional nanoparticle arrays on layered materials inspired by atomic epitaxial growth.
J. Am. Soc. Chem., 2015, 137, 2828.
 

[2] Y. Wang, H. X. Lin, L. Chen, S. Y. Ding, Z. C. Lei, D. Y. Liu, X. Y. Cao*, H. J. Liang, Y. B. Jiang, and Z. Q. Tian*.
What molecular assembly can learn from catalytic chemistry.
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2014, 43, 399.
 

[1] Y. Wang, H. X. Lin, S. Y. Ding, D. Y. Liu, L. Chen, Z. C. Lei, F. R. Fan, and Z. Q. Tian*.
Some thoughts about controllable assembly (I) — From catalysis to catassembly.
关于可控组装的一些思考(一)——从催化到催组装
Sci. Sin. Chim., 2012, 4, 525; 中国科学:化学, 2012, 4, 525.

Funding

Positions

Postdoctoral Researcher
We are always looking for talented postdoctoral fellows interested in our integrated research field. All postdocs receive internationally competitive financial support packages and superior benefits from local governments. Please contact EMIT Lab PI with your cover letter, CV, and representative publications. 

Graduate Students
We have vacancies for both Ph.D. students and Master students. You can contact EMIT Lab PI even before getting your postgraduate recommendation or entrance examination.

Undergraduate Students
Undergraduates are welcome to join our group meeting, and we have some interesting projects suitable for you! Just shoot us an email or come to the office directly!

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