Research and Teaching

Research

Project 1: Synthesis, characterization, and properties of endohedral fullerenes

Endohedral fullerenes are a novel class of nanocarbons featured by atoms, ions or clusters loaded inside a hollow carbon cage. We are seeking to synthesize unique clusterfullerenes such as Sc3N@C82 and VSc2N@C80, with the aim of expanding the endohedral fullerene family and understanding their formation mechanisms.

Project 2: Preparation of nanocarbon hybrids

Covalent hybrid architectures have the great potential to combine the unique properties of each building blocks and are of particular interest for high-tech applications. In this line, a set of multifunctional inter-carbon hybrids with tunable bonding manners were efficiently prepared such as empty fullerene-endohedral fullerene, (endohedral) fullerene-carbon nanotube, and fullerene-graphene hybrids.

Project 3: Precision chemistry of graphene towards nanoelectronics

Exploring the tailor-made physical/chemical properties is at the forefront of graphene research, and covalent molecular engineering represents a rather promising solution for this purpose bearing several unique advantages compared to the traditional methods like graphene dimension regulation (GNRs). This rising-star has evolved into an exciting branch of graphene. In this context, two versatile scenarios including mask-assisted reductive functionalization and laser-writing strategies were developed for the covalent 2D-patterning of graphene, providing a vast array of highly integrated, well-structured hierarchical graphene architectures. Additionally, the established patterning techniques were combined with post-functionalization approaches to achieve the more promising 3D-patterning of graphene. These well-defined architectures are rather promising for cutting-edge applications such as FET,  detectors, and sensors.

Teaching:

• Organic Chemistry [CM-OC-WS]
• Supramolecular Chemistry