Faculty
Feng Yang received his B.S. in chemistry from Shandong University in 2011 and Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry under Prof. Yan Li from Peking University in 2017. He subsequently held the National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents Fellowship and worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Yan Li’s group, Peking University until October 2019. Then he joined the faculty of Southern University of Science and Technology as an Assistant Professor/PI and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2022.
Dr. Yang leads a research group that primarily concerned with the synthetic and materials chemistry within carbon nanotubes, structure-controlled growth of carbon nanotubes, and studies of dynamic evolutions of nanomaterials at atomic scale by in-situ environmental TEM. His research has so far resulted in more than 70 peer-reviewed publications on Nature, Nature Synthesis, Science Advances, Chem. Rev., Acc. Chem. Res., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem., Adv. Mater., CCS Chem. etc. The work reported on Nature was selected by ACS C&EN as “Top 10 Chemistry Research of 2014”. He received awards including Premier Award for SUSTech Teaching Competition for Young Teachers (2023), Excellent Young Scientists Fund from NSFC (2022), Guangdong Pearl River Talent Plan (2022), National Natural Science Award (the 2nd Grade, 2/5, 2021), Top 10 Innovation Award for National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents Fellowship (2020), Natural Science Award of Chinese Ministry of Education (the 1st Grade, 2/7, 2018), Iijima Prize of Japan Fullerene-Nanotube-Graphene Society (2018), NT18-Best Young Scientist Award (2018), Honorable Mention for IUPAC Award for Young Chemists (2017), and National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents Fellowship (2017). He serves as an Advisory Board member of “The International Conference on the Science and Applications of Nanotubes and Low-Dimensional Materials” (NT conference) and works as a Young Editorial Board member of Nano Research and Chinese Chemical Letters.
Research Area: Carbon nanomaterials chemistry; In situ environmental electron microscopy
1. M. Song#, B. Zhao#, B. Li, K. Wang, Y. Jiang, G. Jia, X. Zhao, B. Yu, Y.-L. Li*, F. Yang*. Synthesis of single-unit-cell thin perovskites by liquid-phase confined assembly for high-performance ultrastable X-ray detectors. Nature Synthesis 2025, 10.1038/s44160-025-00785-9. (News & Views by Nature Synthesis)
2. X. Zhao, K. Wang, B. Li, Q. Xiao, M. Song, W. Wang, L.Y. Zhang, F. Yao, B. Yu, Y.B. Li, X. Wang, S. Guo*, C. Jin, J. He, F. Yang*. Growth of Atomically Thin Metastable β Tungsten in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes for Stable One-Dimensional Ferromagnets. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2025, 147, 7028.
3. H. Liu#, Y. Zhang#, L.Y. Zhang#, X. Mu#, L. Zhang, S. Zhu, K. Wang, B. Yu, Y. Jiang, J. Zhou*, F. Yang*. Unveiling Atomic-Scaled Local Chemical Order of High-Entropy Intermetallic Catalyst for Alkyl Substitution Dependent Alkyne Semi-Hydrogenation. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2024, 146, 20193.
4. X. Zhao#, K. Wang#, G. Yang#, X. Wang, C. Qiu, J. Huang, Y. Long, X. Yang, B. Yu, G. Jia, F. Yang*. Sorting of Cluster Confined Metallic Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes for Fabricating Atomically Vacant Uranium Oxide. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2023, 145, 25242. (Front Cover)
5. K. Wang#, G. Xia#, T. Liu#, Y. Yun, W. Wang, K. Cao, F. Yao, X. Zhao, B. Yu, Y.G. Wang*, C. Jin, J. He, Y. Li, F. Yang*. Anisotropic Growth of One-Dimensional Carbides in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes with Strong Interaction for Catalysis. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2023, 145, 12760. (Front Cover)
6. K. Wang#, L. Wang#, Z. Yao#, L. Zhang#, L.Y. Zhang, X. Yang, Y.B. Li, Y.G. Wang*, Y. Li, F. Yang*. Kinetic Diffusion-Controlled Synthesis of Twinned Intermetallic Nanocrystals for CO-Resistant Catalysis. Science Advances 2022, 8, eabo4599.
7. X. Zhao, S. Sun, F. Yang*, Y. Li*. Atomic-Scaled Evidence of Catalyst Evolution for Structure-Controlled Growth of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes. Accounts of Chemical Research 2022, 55, 3334.
8. X.S. Yang, T. Liu, R. Li, X. Yang, M. Lyu, L. Fang, L. Zhang, K. Wang, A. Zhu, L.Y. Zhang, C. Qiu, Y.-Z. Zhang, X. Wang*, L.-M. Peng, F. Yang*, Y. Li*. Host-Guest Molecular Interaction Enabled Separation of Large-Diameter Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2021, 143, 10120. (Front Cover)
9. F. Yang, H. Zhao, R. Li, Q. Liu, X. Zhang, X. Bai, R.M. Wang*, Y. Li*. Growth Modes of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes on Catalysts. Science Advances 2022, 8, eabq0794.
10. F. Yang#, H. Zhao#, W. Wang, Q. Liu, X. Liu, Y. Hu, X. Zhang, S. Zhu, D. He, Y. Xu, J. He, R. Wang*, Y. Li*. Carbon-Involved Near-Surface Evolution of Cobalt Catalyst during Reaction: An in situ Study. CCS Chemistry 2021, 3, 154.
11. F. Yang, M. Wang, D. Zhang, J. Yang, M. Zheng*, Y. Li*. Chirality Pure Carbon Nanotubes: Growth, Sorting, and Characterization. Chemical Reviews 2020, 20, 2693. (Front Cover, ESI top citation)
12. F. Yang, H. Zhao, X. Wang, X. Liu, Q. Liu, X. Liu, C. Jin, R. Wang, Y. Li*. Atomic Scale Stability of Tungsten-Cobalt Intermetallic Nanocrystals in Reactive Environment at High Temperature. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2019, 141, 5871.
13. F. Yang, X. Wang, M. Li, X. Liu, X. Zhao, D. Zhang, Y. Zhang, J. Yang, Y. Li*. Templated synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes with specific structure. Accounts of Chemical Research 2016, 49, 606.
14. F. Yang, X. Wang, D. Zhang, K. Qi, J. Yang, Z. Xu, M. Li, X. Zhao, X. Bai, Y. Li*. Growing zigzag (16,0) carbon nanotubes with structure-defined catalysts. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2015, 137, 8688.
15. F. Yang, X. Wang, D. Zhang, J. Yang, D. Luo, Z.-W. Xu, J. Wei, J.-Q. Wang, Z. Xu, F. Peng, X. Li, R. Li, Y.-L. Li, M. Li, X. Bai, F. Ding, Y. Li*. Chirality-specific growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes on solid alloy catalysts. Nature 2014, 510, 522. (ESI top citation)