Prof. Lianxi Zheng received his BEng degree on Electronic Engineering from Southeast University (China), and his Ph.D. on Physics from University of Hong Kong. He worked in Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow, CNT Technologies Inc. as a Research Scientist, Nanyang Technological University as an Assistant Professor, and now is a Full Professor at Khalifa University (UAE).
Prof. Zheng is working in the interdisciplinary fields of material sciences and nanotechnologies, with emphasis on low dimensional nanomaterials and their functional applications such as e-textile, smart sensors, nano-electronics, energy harvest & storage devices, nano-composites, artificial muscle, and photocatalysis. During his career, he has gained several awards, including 2 Nano 50 Award from NASA, and published more than 150 papers and some in high quality journals such as Nature Materials, Materials Today, Advanced Materials, Physical Review Letters etc.
Lightweight & Tough Functional Ceramics: This project will utilize an ultrafast high-temperature sintering technique to prepare ceramic materials with lightweight, high toughness, and ionic conduction functionality. The technique will be utilized to control the phase transformation and enhance the toughning mechanisms. Ultrafast high-temperature also allow the composition control of volatile element inside of ceramics, offering great flexibility in the design and fabrication of functional ceramics. Ionic conductive ceramics will be studied in this project to explore their application in solid-state batteries and ionic sensors.
Bifunctional Heterostructured Photocatalyst: Photocatalysis is recognized as a green technology that can effectively tackle the energy crisis and environmental problems. In principle, a photocatalytic system could produce green fuel (H2) and degrade the pollutants at the same time. However, the fast recombination of photogenerated charges in practical photocatalysts significantly affect their performance, and consequently the improvement of one reaction (pollutant degradation) is at the expense of another (H2 production). We construct Z-scheme photocatalysts from visible-responsive organic-inorganic hybrid materials to effectively separate photogenerated electrons and holes, and thus achieve a bi-functional hybrid photocatalyst for simultaneous environmental remediation and green energy production.
Energy Harvesting from Low-Temperature Heat: It is reported that over 60% of the energy provided is wasted as heat, and most of which exist as low-grade heat (below 230C). We develop thermal energy conversion materials/devices based on thermoelectric effect, thermogalvanic effect, Soret effect, and their synergistic interactions to convert the energy from heat to electricity, with a focus on flexible low dimensional materials, aiming at utlizing waste heat for a wide range of applications in wearable devices.
Nano-Memristor for Neuromorphic Applications: The development of cost-effective neuromorphic computation hardware with a low power consumption per synaptic event, comparable to the energy consumption of the human brain, is demanding new materials and innovative material designs. We develop nanomaterial based synaptic devices (nano-memristors) and study their synaptic properties with physical and chemical analytic tools. The analog switching exhibited by the device is analyzed by device flux, device charge, and charge-flux relation. The optimized pulse stimuli were used to emulate the brain functions like spike rate-dependent plasticity (SRDP), spike time-dependent plasticity (STDP), and learning and forgetting characteristics in the prepared synaptic device.
Flexible Triboelectric Nanogenerator: In a world increasingly reliant on technology, the need for efficient and sustainable power sources is more critical than ever. Traditional batteries often fall short, requiring frequent charging and contributing to environmental pollution. But what if we could generate electricity from the movements of our bodies? We has engineered a unique self-powered device called a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). By harnessing the power of our own movements, the TENG offers a practical solution to the challenges of powering small electronics and monitoring human health. With further research and development, it holds the potential to revolutionize not only the way we use energy but also our impact on the environment.
