Faculty

Yan Yao
Dr. Yan Yao, Fellow Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), Senior Member of NAI, IEEE
Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor
Office Location N324 Engineering Building 1
Phone 713-743-4432
Fax 713-743-5961
Email yyao4 [at] central.uh.edu
Publications
Education
B.S. Materials Science, Fudan University, (2000)
M.S. Materials Science, Fudan University, (2003)
Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering, Univ. of California, Los Angeles, (2008)
Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford University, (2010-2012)
Professional Experience
Professor (2020-Present), Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Associate Professor (2017- 2020), Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Assistant Professor (2012-2017), Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Postdoctoral Scholar (2010-2012), Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Senior Research Scientist (2008-2010), Polyera Corporation, Skokie, IL, USA
Research & Teaching Assistant (2003-2008), University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Classes
ECE5319/6306 Introduction to Nanotechnology
ECE6308 Advanced Batteries
ECE6397 Advanced Batteries II
ECE4335 Senior Design I
Awards & Honors
Fellow of Royal Chemical Society (UK), 2020
Cullen College of Engineering Professorship, 2020
Senior Member of National Academy of Inventors, 2020
Highly Cited Researchers List (Top 1% by citations), Clarivate Analytics, 2018
Senior Member, IEEE, 2019
Scialog Fellow, Research Corporation for Science Advancement, USA, 2017
Teaching Excellence Award, Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston, 2016
Junior Faculty Research Excellence Award, Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston, 2016
ARPA-E RANGE Award, Principal Investigator, Washington DC, USA, 2013
US Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award, Arlington, USA, 2013
Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, Oak Ridge Ass. Univ., USA, 2013
Robert A. Welch Endowed Professorship, TcSUH, 2012
Excellence in Graduate Polymer Science Research, American Chemical Society, USA, 2008
Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad, China, 2007
ICI Student Award Finalist in Applied Polymer Science, American Chemical Society, USA, 2007
Dissertation Year Fellowship, UCLA, USA, 2007
Editorial Boards
Nature Scientific Reports (2014-2018)
PLOS ONE (2018-present)
Research Interests

Advanced materials and devices for energy conversion and storage; magnesium and sodium batteries; organic and polymeric batteries; aqueous batteries for grid storage; solid state electrolytes and all-solid-state-batteries; computational modeling of battery microstructures.

Selected Publications

I am an author of >100 technical journal papers in top journals such as Nature Materials, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, Nano Letters, JACS, Nano Energy, etc.  See http://yaoyangroup.com/publications for the updated list.

Yanliang Liang, Yan Jing, Saman Gheytani, Kuan-Yi Lee, Ping Liu, Antonio Facchetti**, Yan Yao**, Universal quinone electrodes for long cycle life aqueous rechargeable batteries, Nature Materials 2017, DOI: 10.1038/nmat4919.

Hyun Deog Yoo, Yanliang Liang, Hui Dong, Junhao Lin, Hua Wang, Yisheng Liu, Lu Ma, Tianpin Wu, Yifei Li, Qiang Ru, Yan Jing, Qinyou An, Wu Zhou, Jinghua Guo, Jun Lu, Sokrates T. Pantelides, Xiaofeng Qian & Yan Yao**, Fast kinetics of magnesium monochloride cations in interlayer-expanded titanium disulfide for magnesium rechargeable batteries, Nature Communications 2017, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00431-9

Yanliang Liang, Zhihua Chen, Yan Jing, Yaoguang Rong, Antonio Facchetti*, and Yan Yao*, Heavily n-dopable π-conjugated redox polymers with ultrafast energy storage capability J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 4956-4959. 

Yanliang Liang,† Hyun Deog Yoo,† Yifei Li, Jing Shuai, Hector A. Calderon, Francisco Carlos Robles Hernandez, Lars C. Grabow, and Yan Yao* Interlayer-expanded molybdenum disulfide nanocomposites for electrochemical magnesium storage, Nano Lett. 2015, 15, 2194-2202.

Hyun Deog Yoo, Yanliang Liang, Yifei Li, and Yan Yao* High areal capacity hybrid magnesium−lithium-ion battery with 99.9% Coulombic efficiency for large-scale energy storage, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2015, 7, 7001-7007.

Qinyou An, Fangyu Xiong, Qiulong Wei, Jinzhi Sheng, Liang He, Dongling Ma, Yan Yao,* and Liqiang Mai*,  Nanoflake-assembled hierarchical Na3V2(PO4)3/C microflowers: superior Li storage performance and insertion/extraction mechanism, Adv. Energy. Mater. 2015, 1401963.

Qinyou An, Yifei Li, Hyun Deog Yoo, Shuo Chen, Qiang Ru, Liqiang Mai*, and Yan Yao*, Graphene decorated vanadium oxide nanowire aerogel for long-cycle-life magnesium battery cathodes, Nano Energy 2015, 18, 265-272.

Saman Gheytani, Yanlaing Liang, Yan Jing, Jeff Xu, and Yan Yao*, Chromate conversion coated aluminium as light-weight and corrosion-resistant current collector for aqueous lithium-ion batteries, Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2015, DOI: 10.1039/C5TA07366A.

Mohammad M. Tavakoli, Kwong-Hoi Tsui, Siu-Fung Leung, Qianpeng Zhang, Jin He, Yan Yao, Dongdong Li, and Zhiyong Fan*, Fabrication of efficient planar perovskite solar cells using a one-step chemical vapor deposition method, ACS Nano 2015, 9, 10287-10295.

Yaoguang Rong, Zhongjia Tang, Yufeng Zhao, Xin Zhong, Swaminathan Venkatesan, Harrison Graham, Matthew Patton, Yan Jing, Arnold M. Guloy* and Yan Yao*, Solvent engineering towards controlled grain growth in perovskite planar heterojunction solar cells Nanoscale 2015, 7, 10595-10599.

Yifei Li, Yanliang Liang, Francisco C. Robles Hernandez, Hyun Deog Yoo, Qinyou An, Yan Yao*, Enhancing sodium-ion battery performance with interlayer-expanded MoS2–PEO nanocomposites Nano Energy 2015, 15, 453-461.

Jingjing Fan, Yifei Li, Hang N. Nguyen, Yan Yao* and Debora F. Rodrigues*, Toxicity of exfoliated-MoS2 and annealed exfoliated-MoS2 towards planktonic cells, biofilms, and mammalian cells in the presence of electron donor, Environmental Science: Nano 2015, 2, 370-379.

Mohammad M. Tavakoli, Leilei Gu, Yuan Gao, Claas Reckmeier, Jin He, Andrey L. Rogach, Yan Yao, Zhiyong Fan*, Fabrication of efficient planar perovskite solar cells using a one-step chemical vapor deposition method, Scientific Reports 2015, 5, 14083.

Zelang Jian, Mingbo Zheng, Yanliang Liang, Xiaoxue Zhang, Saman Gheytani, Yucheng Lan, Yi Shi, Yan Yao* Li3VO4 Anchored Graphene Nanosheets for Long-Life and High-Rate Lithium-Ion Batteries, Chem. Comm., 2015, 51, 229-231.

Dan Sun, Yifan Jiang, Haiyan Wang*, Yan Yao, Guoqing Xu, Kejian He, Suqin Liu, Yougen Tang, Younian Liu, Xiaobing Huang, Advanced aqueous rechargeable lithium battery using nanoparticulate LiTi2(PO4)3/C as a superior anode, Scientific Reports 2015, 5, 10733. 

Zelang Jian, Wenze Han, Yanliang Liang, Yucheng Lan, Zheng Fang, Yongsheng Hu, Yan Yao, * Carbon-Coated RhombohedralLi3V2(PO4)3 as Novel Electrode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries: Electrochemical Performance and Storage Mechanism, Journal of Material Chemistry A, 2014, 2, 20231-20236.

Jiabo Zeng, Fusheng Zhao, Ji Qi, Yifei Li, Chien-Hung Li, Yan Yao, T. Randall Lee, and Wei-Chuan Shih* Internal and external morphology-dependent plasmonic resonance in monolithic nanoporous gold nanoparticles, RSC Advances, 2014, 4, 36682-36688. 

Qingfeng Lin, Hongtao Huang, Yan Jing, Huiying Fu, Paichun Chang, Dongdong Li,* Yan Yao*, and Zhiyong Fan*, Flexible photovoltaic technologies, Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 2014, 2, 1233-1247. 

Articles/Book Chapters

Y. Yang, Y. Yao, G. Li, Routes toward Efficient Polymer Solar Cells, in Organic Electronics: Materials, Physics, Processing and Device Applications, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 319-358 (2010). Editor Franky So.

Patent/Patent Applications
[1] JP Patent 5,588,559, Pyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrrole semiconducting compounds and devices incorporating same, issued on 9/10/2014.
[2] EP Patent 2432817, Conjugated polymers and their use in optoelectronic devices, issued on 2/11/2015
[3] CN Patent 102439059, Conjugated polymers and their use in optoelectronic devices, issued on 6/11/2014
[4] US Patent 8,748,739, Conjugated polymers and their use in optoelectronic devices, issued on 6/10/2014
[5] US Patent 8,598,450, Conjugated polymers and their use in optoelectronic devices, issued on 12/3/2013
[6] US Patent 8,598,449, Conjugated polymers and their use in optoelectronic devices, issued on 12/3/2013
[7] US Patent 8,598,448, Pyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrrole semiconducting compounds and devices incorporating same, issued on 12/3/2013.
[8] US Patent 8,334,456, Conjugated polymers and their use in optoelectronic devices, issued on 12/18/2012.
[9] Yan Yao, Yanliang Liang, Non-lithium metal ion battery electrode materials architecture, US Application 2014/037502.
[10] Yan Yao, Yanliang Liang, Aqueous energy storage devices with organic electrode materials, US Application 2014/033652.
[11] Yan Yao, Yanliang Liang, Rechargeable Alkaline Battery Using Organic Materials as a Negative Electrode, US Application14/825,802, August 13, 2015.
[12] Yan Yao, Yanliang Liang, Rechargeable Lead Acid Batteries Using Polymer Negative Electrodes, US Provisional 62/165,377, May 22, 2015.
[13] Yan Yao, Hyun Deog Yoo, Method of Activating Two-Dimensional Materials for Multivalent-Ion Intercalation Battery Electrodes, US Provisional 62/181873, June 19, 2015.
Presentations
Invited Talk, Nanostructure Design for Efficient Energy Devices, Workshop on Materials Science and Materials Chemistry for Energy, Beijing, China, 9/16-18/2012.
Invited Talk, High Energy Density Silicon Anodes for Lithium-ion Batteries: Combining Hollow Nanospheres with Conductive Polymer Binder, 245th ACS National Meeting, Division of Energy and Fuels, New Orleans, LA, 4/7-11/2013.
Invited Talk, Nanostructure Engineering of Layered Metal Chalcogenides for Magnesium Battery Cathode, TMS Meeting, San Diego, CA, USA, 2/20/2014.
Invited Talk, Atomic-Level Manipulation of Magnesium Ion Intercalation Materials for High-Density Energy Storage, 2014 Electrochemical Conference on Energy & the Environment, Shanghai, China, 3/13/2014.
Invited Talk, Modification of Magnesium Ion Cathode and Electrolyte for Mg Rechargeable Batteries, ECS Meeting, Orlando, FL, USA 5/15/2014.
Contributed talk: Tailoring Lithium-intercalation Host Structure for Rechargeable Magnesium Ion Cathodes, ACS Meeting, San 
Francisco, CA, USA, 8/12/2014.
Invited talk, Modification of Magnesium Ion Cathode and Electrolyte for Mg Rechargeable Batteries, TMS Meeting, Orlando, FL, USA, 3/16/2015.
Invited talk, Rational Nanostructure Design for Efficient Mg Rechargeable Batteries, The 10th Sino-US Nano Forum, Wuhan University of Technology, China, 6/26/2015.
Contributed talk, Heavily n-Dopable π-Conjugated Redox Polymers with Ultrafast Energy Storage Capability, MRS Meeting, Boston, MA, 12/2/2015
Invited talk in symposium of “Interplay of Structure & Transport Properties in Materials for Energy Applications”, Rational Nanostructure Design for High Performance Mg Rechargeable Batteries, ACS Meeting, San Diego, 3/2016
Invited talk in symposium of “ACS Award for Creative Invention: Symposium in honor of Antonio Facchetti”, Heavily n-Dopable π-Conjugated Redox Polymers for Ultrafast Energy Storage, ACS Meeting, San Diego, 3/2016