Dr. Yang Yang studied materials science & engineering and obtained his Ph.D. from Tsinghua University in 2010. From 2010 to 2012 he was supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship and worked with Prof. Dr. Patrik Schmuki at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. From 2012 to 2015 he was supported by the Peter M. & Ruth L. Nicholas Postdoctoral Fellowship and worked with Prof. Dr. James M. Tour at the Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Sci. & Tech., Rice University. Since 2015 he has been assistant professor at the NanoScience Technology Center and Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Central Florida. His current research interests cover nanostructured films, renewable energy generation and storage, solar energy harvesting, and smart/flexible electronics, with a particular focus on advanced materials and their electrochemical applications. Honors and Awards UCF-VPR Advancement of Early Career Researchers (AECR), 2018 Peter M. and Ruth L. Nicholas Fellowship, 2012 Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, 2010 Outstanding Graduate Student in Research (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University), 2009 Tsinghua-TOSHIBA Scholarship (First-Class Honor, Top 5%), 2008

The Yang group's research interests include surface and interface engineering of functional materials at the nano/atomic scale and their applications in renewable energy, sustainability, environmental science, and flexible electronics. At a fundamental level, we try to combine materials engineering, surface science, and electrochemistry into our research in designing new functional materials, studying interfacial interactions, and exploring localized physicochemical phenomena. We particularly want to transfer the fundamental knowledge of electrochemistry and photoelectrochemistry at the solid-gas-liquid interfaces gained from our basic research into device-level applications in many cutting-edge fields such as energy conversion and storage, solar energy harvesting, and decarbonization.

Ren, S., Gao, R. T.*, Yu, J., Yang, Y. Liu, X., Wu, L.*, and Wang, L.*, Enhanced Charge-carrier Dynamics and Efficient Photoelectrochemical Nitrate-to-Ammonia Conversion on Antimony Sulfide-based Photocathodes. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2024, e202409693. Zhang, W., Yu, A., Mao, H., Feng, G., Li, C., Wang, G., Chang, J., Halat, D., Li, Z.†, Yu, W., Shi, Y., Liu, S., Fox, D., Zhuang, H., Cai, A., Wu, B., Joshua, F., Martinez, J., Zhai, L., Gu, M., Shan, X., Reimer, J.*, Cui, Y.*, and Yang, Y.*, Dynamic Bubbling Balanced Proactive CO2 Capture and Reduction on a Triple-Phase Interface Nanoporous Electrocatalyst. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2024, Volume 146, 21335-21347. Gao, R. T., Yang, Y., Liu, X., Zhang, X., Wang, L.*, Wu, L.*, Unveiling the promotion of dual-metal-atom Ir-Fe pair sites on charge transfer for photoelectrochemical water splitting. Matter, 2024, Volume 7, 2278-2293. Yu, A., Liu, S., and Yang, Y.*, Recent advances in electrosynthesis of H2O2 via two-electron oxygen reduction reaction. Chemical Communications, 2024, Volume 60, 5232-5244 (Invited Review, ChemComm 60th Anniversary Collection). Zhang, F., He, B., Xin, Y., Zhu, T., Zhang, Y.*, Wang, S., Li, W., Yang, Y.*, and Tian, H.*, Emerging Chemistry for Wide-Temperature Sodium-Ion Batteries. Chemical Reviews, 2024, Volume 124, 4778-4821. Yu, J., Li, J., Gao, R. T.*, Yang, Y., and Wang, L.*, Improving NiFe Electrocatalysts through Fluorination-driven Rearrangements for Neutral Water Electrolysis. Small, 2024, Volume 20, 2310642. Guo, F., Bai, J., Gao, R. T.*, Su, K., Yang, Y., Liu, X., Wu, L.*, and Wang, L.*, Enhanced Charge Transfer via Heterogeneous Doping Promotes Hematite Photoelectrodes for Efficient Solar H2O2 Synthesis. ACS Catalysis, 2024, Volume 14, 4369-4378. Yu, A., Liu, S., Zhang, W., and Yang, Y.*, Molten Salt Electrolytic CO2-Derived Carbon-Based Nanomaterials for Energy Storage and Electrocatalysis: A Review. ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2024, DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.4c00010 (Invited Review). Chen, H., Gao, R. T.*, Chen, H., Yang, Y.*, Wu, L., and Wang, L.*, Ruthenium And Silver Synergetic Regulation NiFe LDH Boosting Long‐Duration Industrial Seawater Electrolysis. Advanced Functional Materials, 2024, Volume 34, 2315674. Yu, A., Huang, Q., Gao, S., Xu, T., Zhang, W., Joshi, N., Peng, P.*, Yang, Y.*, and Li, F.F.*, Fullerene-metalloporphyrin co-crystal as efficient ORR electrocatalyst precursor for Zn-air batteries. Carbon Future, 2024, Volume 1, 9200009 (Invited Research Article). Chen, H., Yu, J., Liu, L., Gao, R. T.*, Gao, Z., Yang, Y., Chen, Z., Zhan, S., Liu, X., Zhang, X., Dong, H., Wu, L.*, and Wang, L.*, Modulating Pt-N/O bonds on Co-doped WO3 for acid electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution with over 2000h operation. Advanced Energy Materials, 2024, Volume 14, 2303635. Ren, S., Liu, L.*, Meng, F., Liu, Y., Xie, Y., Sun, H., Yang, Y.*, Yan, H., and Wang, F., Heteroatom-doped Carbon Attached to Ultra-fine Fe-NiCoP as High-Performance Oxygen Electrocatalyst for Zn-air Batteries. Energy Storage Materials, 2024, Volume 65, 103086 (Invited Research Article). Yu, A., Zhang, W., Nimanyu, J., and Yang, Y.*, Recent Advances in Anode Design for Mild Aqueous Zn-ion Batteries. Energy Storage Materials, 2024, Volume 64, 103075 (Invited Review). Liu, H.*, Yang, Y., Tian, N., You, C.*, and Yang, Y.*, Foam-structured carbon materials and composites for electromagnetic interference shielding: design principles and structural evolution. Carbon, 2024, Volume 217, 118608. Stoll, S., Zhang, W., Yang, Y., Gil, K., and Lee, W. H.*, Photodegradation of MC-LR using a novel Au-decorated Ni metal-organic framework (Au/Ni-MOF). Chemosphere, 2023, Volume 344, 140404. Yu, A., Zhao, Y., Zhang, W., Yang, W., Zhu, L., Peng, P.*, Li, F. F.*, and Yang, Y.*, Bi-directional electrolytic reduction of CO2 to mesoporous carbons with regulated structure and surface functional groups for Zn-ion capacitors. Advanced Functional Materials, 2024, Volume 34, 2309666. Chang, J., and Yang, Y.*, Advancements in Seawater Electrolysis: Progressing from Fundamental Research to Applied Electrolyzer Application. Renewables, 2023, Volume 1, 415-454 (Invited Review). He, B., Zhang, F., Xin, Y.*, Xu, C., Hu, X., Wu, X., Yang, Y.*, and Tian, H.*, Halogen Chemistry of Solid Electrolytes for All-Solid-State Batteries and Beyond. Nature Reviews Chemistry, 2023, Volume 7, 826-842. Gao, R. T., Liu, L., Li, Y., Yang, Y., He, J., Liu, X., Zhang, X., Wang, L.*, Wu, L.*, Ru-P pair sites boost charge transport in hematite photoanodes for exceeding 1% solar water splitting. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 2023, Volume 120, e2300493120. Yu, A., Joshi, N., Zhang, W., and Yang, Y.*, Advances in ORR, OER, and HER of Fullerenes and Derivatives: From DFT Calculations to Experimental Identification. Advanced Sensor and Energy Materials, 2023, Volume 2, 100061 (Invited Review). Chang, J., and Yang, Y.*, Recent advances in zinc-air batteries: self-standing inorganic nanoporous metal film as air cathodes. Chemical Communications, 2023, Volume 59, 5823-5838 (Invited Review). Chang, J., Wang, G., Chang, X., Yang, Z., Wang, H., Li, B., Zhang, W., Kovarik, L., Du, Y., Orlovskaya, N., Xu, B., Wang, G., and Yang, Y.*, Interface synergism and engineering of Pd/Co@N-C for direct ethanol fuel cells. Nature Communications, 2023, Volume 14, 1346. Chang, J., Wang, G., Li, C., He, Y., Zhu, Y., Zhang, W., Sajid, M., Kara, A., Gu, M., and Yang, Y.*, Rational design of septenary high-entropy alloy for direct ethanol fuel cells. Joule, 2023, Volume 7, 597-602. Tian, H., Feng, G., Wang, Q., Li, Z., Zhang, W., Lucero, M., Feng, Z., Wang, Z., Zhang, Y., Zhen, C., Gu, M.*, Shan, X.*, and Yang, Y.*, Three-dimensional Zn-based alloys for dendrite-free aqueous Zn battery in dual-cation electrolytes. Nature Communications, 2022, Volume 13, 7922. Zhang, W., Chang, J., and Yang, Y.*, Strong precious metal-metal oxide interaction for oxygen reduction reaction: a strategy for efficient catalyst design. SusMat, 2023, Volume 3, 2-20 (Invited Review). Xu, W., Zhang, W., Sun, Z., Guo, L., Xie, L., Li, C., Feng, Y., Liang, Q., Yang, Y.*, and Sun, H.*, Bell-shaped RuFe/Ni5P4 for efficient urea-assisted electrolytic hydrogen production. Sustainable Energy & Fuels, 2022, Volume 6, 4153-4159. Hu, Z., Ai, Y., Xu, W., Zhang, X., Sun, Z., Guo, L., Guo, R., Wang, Y., Ding, K., Sun, H.*, Hu, J.*, Liang, Q.*, and Yang, Y.*, Iron catalyzed cascade construction of molybdenum carbide heterointerfaces for understanding hydrogen evolution. Small, 2022, Volume 18, 2200439. Zhang, W., Chang, J., Wang, G., Li, Z., Wang, M., Zhu, Y., Li, B., Zhou, H., Wang, G., Gu, M., Feng, Z.*, and Yang, Y.*, Surface oxygenation induced strong interaction between Pd catalyst and functional support for zinc-air batteries. Energy & Environmental Science, 2022, Volume 15, 1573-1584. Sun, Z., Xu, W., Guo, L., Han, Q., Gao, J., Wang, J., Feng, Y., Li, C., Liang, Q.*, Sun, H.*, and Yang, Y.*, Organophosphine ligand derived sandwich-structural electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction. Journal of Energy Chemistry, 2022, Volume 70, 74-83. Chang, J., Wang, G., Zhang, W., and Yang, Y.*, Atomically dispersed catalysts for small molecule electrooxidation in direct liquid fuel cells. Journal of Energy Chemistry, 2022, Volume 68, 439-453 (Invited Review). Feng, G., Guo, J., Tian, H., Li, Z., Shi, Y., Li, X., Yang, X., Mayerich, D.*, Yang, Y.*, and Shan, X.*, Probe the Localized Electrochemical Environment Effects and Electrode Reaction Dynamics for Metal Batteries using in-situ 3D Microscopy. Advanced Energy Materials, 2022, Volume 12, 2103484. Chang, J., Wang, G., Wang, M., Wang, Q., Li, B., Zhou, H., Zhu, Y., Zhang, W., Omer, M., Orlovskaya, N., Ma, Q., Gu, M.*, Feng, Z.*, Wang, G.*, and Yang, Y.*, Improving Pd-N-C fuel cell electrocatalysts through fluorination-driven rearrangements of local coordination environment. Nature Energy, 2021, Volume 6, 1144-1153 (Highlighted by Nature Energy News & Views). Yao, Z., Wu, Z., Hu, M., Alzaim, S., Young, J., Dong, J., Chang, J., Zhuang, H., Benchafia, E. M., Yang, Y. Li, J., Iqbal, Z., and Wang, X.*, Rational synthesis of polymeric nitrogen N8- with UV irradiation and its ORR mechanism study with in situ SHINERS. ACS Catalysis, 2021, Volume 11, 13034-13040. Chang, J., Ko, T., Je, M., Chung, H., Han, S., Shawkat, M., Wang, M., Park, S., Yu, S., Bae, T., Moon, M., Oh, K., Choi, H., Yang, Y.*, and Jung, Y.*, Layer Orientation-Engineered Two-Dimensional Platinum Ditelluride for High-Performance Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells. ACS Energy Letters, 2021, Volume 6, 3481-3487. Li, Z., Wang, Q., Bai, X., Wang, M., Yang, Z., Du, Y., Sterbinsky, G., Wu, D., Yang, Z., Tian, H., Pan, F., Gu, M.*, Liu, Y.*, Feng, Z.*, and Yang, Y.*, Doping-modulated Strain Control of Bifunctional Electrocatalysis for Rechargeable Zinc-air Batteries. Energy & Environmental Science, 2021, Volume 14, 5035-5043. Wang, G., Chang, J., Koul, S., Kushima, A., and Yang, Y.*, CO2 Bubble-Assisted Pt Exposure in PtFeNi Porous Film for High-Performance Zinc-Air Battery. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2021, Volume 143, 11595-11601 (Featured Front Cover). Zhou, L., Hyer, H., Chang, J., Mehta, A., Huynh, T., Yang, Y., and Sohn, Y.*, Microstructure, Mechanical Performance, and Corrosion Behavior of Additively Manufactured Aluminum Alloy 5083 with 0.7 and 1.0 wt.% Zr Addition. Materials Science & Engineering A, 2021, Volume 823, 141679. Zhang, X., Wang, Y., Ju, N., Ai, Y., Liu, Y., Liang, J., Hu, Z., Guo, R., Xu, W., Zhang, W., Qi, Y., Niu, D.*, Liang, Q., Sun, H.*, and Yang, Y.*, Ultimate Resourcization of Waste: Crab Shell Derived Biochar for Antimony Removal and Sequential Utilization as Anode for Li-ion Battery. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2021, Volume 9, 8813-8823. Zhang, X., Xie, N., Guo, Y., Niu, D.*, Sun, H.*, and Yang, Y.*, Insights into Adsorptive Removal of Antimony Contaminants: Functional Materials, Evaluation and Prospective. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2021, Volume 418, 126345. Chang, J., Wang, G., and Yang, Y.*, Recent advances in electrode design for rechargeable zinc-air batteries. Small Science, 2021, Volume 1, 2100044 (Invited Review). Xu, W., Chang, J., Cheng, Y., Liu, H., Li, J., Ai, Y., Hu, Z., Zhang, X., Wang, Y., Liang, Q., Yang, Y.*, and Sun, H.*, A Multi-step Induced Strategy to Fabricate Core-Shell Pt-Ni Alloy as Symmetric Electrocatalysts for Overall Water Splitting. Nano Research, 2022, Volume 15, 965-971. Chang, J., Wang, G., Yang, Z., Li, B., Wang, Q., Kuliiev, R., Orlovskaya, N., Gu, M.*, Du, Y., Wang, G.*, and Yang, Y.*, Dual-doping and synergism towards high-performance seawater electrolysis. Advanced Materials, 2021, Volume 33, 2101425. Zhang, Z., Calderon, J., Fahad, S., Ju, L., Antony, D. X., Yang, Y. Kushima, A., Zhai, L.*, Polymer Derived Ceramic Nanoparticle/Edge Functionalized Graphene Oxide Composites for Lithium Ion Storage. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2021, Volume 13, 9794-9803. Tian, H., Li, Z., Feng, G., Yang, Z., Fox, D., Wang, M., Zhou, H., Zhai, L., Kushima, A., Du, Y., Feng, Z.*, Shan, X.*, and Yang, Y.*, Stable, High-performance, Dendrite-free, Seawater-based Aqueous Batteries. Nature Communications, 2021, Volume 12, 237 (Featured Article in Editors’ Highlights). Pan, F., Li, Z., Yang, Z., Ma, Q., Wang, M., Wang, H., Olszta, M., Wang, G., Feng, Z., Du, Y., and Yang, Y.*, Porous FeCo Glassy Alloy as Bifunctional Support for High-Performance Zn-Air Battery. Advanced Energy Materials, 2020, Volume 10, 2002204. Liu, H.*, Wu, S., Tian, N., Yan, F., You, C., and Yang, Y.*, Carbon foams: 3D porous carbon materials holding immense potential. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2020, Volume 8, 23699 - 23723. Li, Z., Niu, W., Yang, Z., Kara, A., Wang, Q., Wang, M., Gu, M.*, Feng, Z.*, Du, Y.*, and Yang, Y.*, Boosting Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution: Dominating Role of Interior Modification in Surface Electrocatalysis. Energy & Environmental Science, 2020, Volume 13, 3110 - 3118. Wang, G., Aubin, M., Mehta, A., Tian, H., Chang, J., Kushima, A., Sohn, Y., and Yang, Y.*, Stabilization of Sn Anode through Structural Reconstruction of Cu-Sn Intermetallic Coating Layer. Advanced Materials, 2020, Volume 32, 2003684. Shi, L., Ren, X., Wang, Q., Li, Y., Ichihara, F., Zhang, H., Izumi, Y., Ren, L., Zhou, W., Yang, Y., and Ye, J.*, Stabilizing atomically dispersed catalytic sites on tellurium nanosheets with strong metal-support interaction boosts photocatalysis. Small, 2020, Volume 16, 2002356. Pan, F., and Yang, Y.*, Designing CO2 Reduction Electrode Materials by Morphology and Interface Engineering. Energy & Environmental Science, 2020, Volume 13, 2275-2309. Ju, L., Wang, G., Liang, K., Wang, M., Sterbinsky, G.E., Feng, Z.*, and Yang, Y.*, Significantly improved cyclability of conversion-type transition metal oxyfluoride cathodes by homologous passivation layer reconstruction. Advanced Energy Materials, 2020, Volume 10, 1903333. Yang, Y.*, A mini-review: Emerging All-Solid-State Energy Storage Electrode Materials for Flexible Devices. Nanoscale, 2020, Volume 12, 3560-3573 (Hot Article 2020). Shi, L., Li, Z., Ju, L., Pena, A.C., Orlovskaya, N., Zhou, H., and Yang, Y.*, Promoted Nitrogen Photofixation over Periodic WS2@TiO2 Nanoporous Film. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2020, Volume 8, 1059-1065. Li, Z., Niu, W., Yang, Z., Zaman, N., Samarakoon, W., Wang, M., Kara, A., Lucero, M., Vyas, M.V., Cao, H., Zhou, H., Sterbinsky, G.E., Feng, Z.*, Du, Y.*, and Yang, Y.*, Stabilizing Atomic Pt with Trapped Interstitial F in Alloyed PtCo Nanosheets for High-Performance Zinc-Air Batteries. Energy & Environmental Science, 2020, Volume 13, 884-895. Zhang, J., Ai, Y., Wu, J., Zhang, D., Wang, Y., Feng, Z., Sun, H.*, Liang, Q., Sun, T.*, and Yang, Y.*, Nickel-Catalyzed Synthesis of Three-Dimensional Edge-Curled Graphene for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries. Advanced Functional Materials, 2020, Volume 30, 1904645. Chang, J., Wang, G., Belharsa, A., Ge, J.*, Xing, W., and Yang, Y.*, Stable Fe2P2S6 Nanocrystal Catalyst for High-Efficiency Water Electrolysis. Small Methods, 2020, Volume 4, 1900632. Wang, G., Yang, Z., Du, Y., and Yang, Y.*, Programmable Exposure of Pt Active Facets for Efficient Oxygen Reduction. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2019, Volume 58, 15848-15854. Liang, K., Pakhira, S., Yang, Z., Nijamudheen, A., Ju, L., Wang, M., Aguirre-Velez, C.I., Sterbinsky, G.E., Du, Y., Feng, Z.*, Mendoza-Cortes, J.*, and Yang, Y.*, S-Doped MoP Nanoporous Layer Towards High-Efficiency Hydrogen Evolution in pH-Universal Electrolyte. ACS Catalysis, 2019, 9, 651-659. Guo, L., Zhong, C., Shi, L., Ju, L., Wang, X., Yang, D., Bi, K.*, Hao, Y.*, and Yang, Y.*, Phase and Defect Engineering of MoS2 Stabilized in Periodic TiO2 Nanoporous Film for Enhanced Solar Water Splitting. Advanced Optical Materials, 2019, 7, 1801403.