Publications

2024

 

2023

 

2022

 

2021

 

2020

 

 

News

2024

NOV Dr. Yu delivered the award speech in Berlin for 2024 Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of The Year in Engineering & Technology! See Falling Walls Foundation, Forschung & Lehre (Germany)!

NOV Dr. Yu was awarded '2024 SDG World Young Scientist Award' at World Young Scientist Summit (WYSS)!

OCT Our work on "Colloidal liquid metals for sustainable device cooling" published in Nature Nanotechnology was featured in UT News, Texas Engineering News, TMI News, ME News, Austin Journal, HoodLine, Tech Xplore, Public Now, MSN.com, KnowRidge Science Report, Texas Energy Report, Power Electronics World, Hacker News, Data Center Dynamics, Reddit, ENERZINE, The University Network (TUN), WinFuture, BaxTel, MSN News, Tom's Hardware, PC Gamer, Yahoo! Tech, Tech Spot, HardZone.es, Professional Review, EcoInventors, Digital Trends, ZME Science, Extreme Tech, InkL, Patently Apple, Science Alert, Cloud Computing News,

SEP Gizmodo features our research work on "Oil spill cleanup tech" as TOP 10 Gizmodo Science Fair Winner!

SEP Falling Walls Foundation just announced Dr. Yu was selected as 2024 Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of The Year Winner in Engineering & Technology! See Texas Engineering News, Forschung & Lehre !

SEP Our research work on "Single-atom nanocages for electrocatalytic ammonia synthesis" was selected to feature in current Nature Reviews Materials

SEP BBC News features our research work on "Oil spill cleanup tech"!

SEP Farm World Magazine features our research on "Self-watering and self-fertilizing hydrogels for sustainable agriculture"! Women Love Tech,

AUG Dr. Yu was selected as 2024 Falling Walls Science Global Winner in Engineering & Technology catogery! See Texas Engineering News, UT ME News, TMI/MSE News.

AUG Texas Standard features our research on "Smart Soil Can Water and Feed Itself" (KUT Public Radio)! 

JUL Anthropocene Magazine features our research on "Self-watering and self-fertilizing hydrogels for sustainable agriculture" as 'A scientific leap towards smart soils'

JUL Our research on "Self-watering and self-fertilizing hydrogels for sustainable agriculture" published in ACS Materials Letter was highlighted by UT News, UT Discovery, Texas Engineering News, ME News, TMI NewsPhys.org, ScienMag, Bioengineer.org, ScienceDaily, New Atlas, The Brighter Side, Only Good News, WP Tech, Olhar Digital, Vietnam Agriculture, 163.com, G4Food, Farms.com, Yahoo!News, Seed Daily, Technology Networks, Earth.com, Knowledge Science, MSN.com, News Break, OtherWeb, Architexturez, Impact Lab, Wonderful Engineering, Boy Genius Report, Alberta WaterPortal, India TV Fosaac, MIT CAT Trends, AR15.com, Good Good News, Gate2 Biotech, Focus.pl, Bundle.app, TV5.tr, TechPedia, TNN Thailand, SiamPhone, Daily Geek, Mundo E-Tech, The Cool Down, MSN, Yahoo!, 

JUN Falling Walls selects Dr. Yu and our research on Solar-Powered Water Purification and Harvesting Techs among '2024 Falling Walls Science Breakthrough Award in Science and Technology'! 

JUN Texas Global features our work on water-harvesting gels as 'Breakthrough Tech for Water Access'! 

MAY Our research on "Biomass-based Sustainable Smart Windows" was selected to highlight by Association of American Universities (AAU)! 

APR Our research work on "Biomass-based Sustainable Smart Windows" was selected to feature in current April issue in PNAS

APR Our research work on "Biomass-based Sustainable Smart Windows" published in PNAS was highlighted by UT News, Texas Engineering News, ME News, TMI News, Austin Journal, Al Jazzeera, CEC News, Today Headline, Tech Xplore, Mirage News, Phys.Org, Physics Forum, PR Newswire, Life Science Network, Fresh Plaza, Science X, TiiSys.com, Morning News, KNowridge Science, Fresh Market,

APR Dr Yu was recently featured by People Magazine as Climate Warrior to Tackle Clean Water Challenges in their Earth Day Special

APR Dr. Yu was elected into 2023 Class of AAAS Fellows nationally! AAAS NewsScience News, UT News, Texas Engineering, Austin Journal, TMI News, ME News.

FEB Congrats to Chuxin Lei for winning the prestigious UT University Graduate Continuing Fellowship!

FEB Several of our research papers on hydrogels-based atmospheric water harvesting, self-watering soils, and solar water evaporation have been featured in "Celebrating 5Years of ACS Materials Letters' special collections

JAN Our research work on "Bio-Based Gel Filter for Sustainable Water Purification" published in Nature Sustainability was highlighted by UT News, Texas Engineering News, ME News, TMI NewsNature Sustainability Commun., KXANEurekAlert!, Science Daily, New AtlasThe Engineer (UK), The Debrief, Tech Xplore, Gizmag, ElectronicsForU, CompsMag, Phys.Org, Physics WorldMirage News, Life Technology, World Water News, Science X, Azo CleanTech, Technology NetworkWater Online, LabrootsEngineers Ireland, Industrial Intel, Knowridge Science, Link ResearcherSeed Daily, Verve Times, One News Page, Terra Daily, Eurasia ReviewOpen Access Government, South China Morning PostWhat's NewHoodLine, ScienMagTii News, Swift Telecast, BioEngineer.Org, DPA Magazine, Super Innovators, Inside Water, The PAW, Smart Water MagazineCrast.net, Filtration and Separation, Inquirer Technology, NetEASE (163.com)NanoER, X-MOL, Tencent.com (QQ), Zhihu.com, NetBig.top, Yahoo! News, SterliTech, AquaA, News Nation, BNN Breaking,

JAN Our research work on "Oil-Capturing Technology" published in Nature Sustainability was selected as Top 5 Research Breakthroughs in Texas Engineer

 

2023

DEC Two of our research works 'Smart Farming' and 'Oil-Capturing Tech' were selected as Top UT Research Stories in 2023!

DEC Our research works on Atmospheric Water Harvesting Technology is featured in the latest Water Outlook issue by Nature! Also See Texas Engineering, TMI News, ME News,

NOV Dr. Yu is ranked again as one of 2023 Top Highly Cited Researchers in both fields of Materials Science and Chemistry by Clarivate! Texas Engineering News, TMI News..

NOV Congrats to Prof. Gang Chen from MIT on discovery report in PNAS on photomolecular effect in solar water evaporation, which may help explain unique phenomena of various hydrogels in solar evaporation process! Physics World, MIT News..

SEP Our work "Breakthough Oil-Capturing Tech for Oil Spills Clean-up" published in Nature Sustainability was featured bNature Reviews Materials

SEP Congrats to our group member Weixin Guan for being selected for UT Graduate School's Student Features!

SEP Our work "Molecularly Engineered Hydrogels for Atmospheric Water Harvesting" was highlighted in Texas Water Resources Institute News!

SEP Our work "Molecularly Engineered Hydrogels for Atmospheric Water Harvesting" published in PNAS was highlighted bUT NewsDaily Texan, Texas Engineering, KXAN, IEEE Sprectrum, UT-ME News, TMI News, Science Daily, SciTech Daily, NewsBreak, Life Technology, TechXplore, EurekAlert!, FlipBoard, Petbyus, Phys.Org, Reddit, Tech TImes, Azo CleanTech, Electronics For U, OthweWeb, Eco Inventos, EnerZine, Science X, 4search.com, Tii SYS, Daily Science, ISP Today, Ocrepusculo, TDI Colombia, Crumpe, Physics Forum, Ground News, OPP.Today, CityLife, Verve Times, Substack, PPL Ware, Lab Manager, Technology Networks, Smart Water Magazine, Swift Telecast, SciencMag, BioEngineer, Today Headline, ORDO News, Water Journal (Korea), Ground Water Canada, ISTOE Independte (Brazil), Pressetext, Ardina News, Green Economy Agency (Italy), EZ-Publish (France), Citizen Side (France), Head Topics, X-MOL, COSMOS Mag, NeoZone, EcoWeb, LabRoots, Alberta Water, Illuminem, Science Springs, Futurity, Wired (Italy), Physics World, GreenMe (Italy), Giornale Social (Italy), Crast.net, iMedia, Lega Nerd, Earth.com, Water Online, Knowridge, Future Timeline, WorldTime Todays, Innovation Toronto, Engineers Ireland, New Indian Express, Science Times, Tecent News, cnBeta, Bao Can Tho (VN), Azad News Agency (ANA), Lab Worldwide, Correio Brazilienese, Inquirer Tech, Vigour Times, Yahoo!Tech, BNN Breaking, Tech Briefs,!

SEP Dr. Yu was invited to comment on recent exciting work "Solar Desalination System" by MIT team in MIT News, MIT Climate PortalBusiness Insider, SciTech Daily!

SEP Our work "Breakthough Oil-Capturing Tech for Oil Spills Clean-up" published in Nature Sustainability was highlighted by UT News, Texas Engineering, KXAN (NBC), FOX News, KVUE (ABC), UT ME, TMI News, Nature Sustainability, Compasmag, TechXplore, Phys.Org, Mirage News, Futurist, Austin Chronicle, Today Headline, Science X, Life Technology, YouTube, DPA Magazine, Energy Portal (EU), Tii News (Japan), ChinaTechNews, Able Science, Petbyus, Science Central, Ground News, Reddit, Engineers Forum, X-MOL, Tek Crispy, INF News, Engineers Outlook, Enerzine, WorldTime Todays, Research News, Knowridge Science, Global Spec, ZBR (Mexico),

SEP Our work "Smart Farming System Enabled by Gel Catalyst" is featured in ASME as "New Smart Farming System Minimizes Fertilizer Runoff"!

AUG Our work "Conductive Gel Membranes" and RSC Award News were featured in UT TMI Newsletter!

July Dr. Yu was selected to 2023 Class of Blavatnik National Awards Honorees! New York Academy of Sciences News, Texas Engineering, UT ME, TMI News,

JUN Our work "Smart Farming System Enabled by Gel Catalyst" published in PNAS was highlighted by UT News, Texas Innovation, UT Discoveries, The Daily Texan, Texas Engineering News, UT-ME News, TMI News, EurekAlert!Phys.OrgScience Daily, SCIENMAGLife TECH, Delicious Food, Water Online, Bioengineer.Org, MORNING AgClips, TERRA Daily, SEED Daily, Indian Education, Mirage News, Climate Change, Reddit, SemiEngineering, KnowridgeTech Target, World TimeTodays, Digital Iyidir, NanoER, AgroLink, StormWater Solutions, X-MOL, Anthropocene, The Cool Down, Yahoo! News, MSN News, HortiDaily, Foresight, Future of Agriculture!

JUN Our collaborative work "Sustainable urea electrosynthesis" was awarded 2023 RSC Materials Chemistry Horizon Prize! Texas Engineering News, TMI News, ME News.

JUN Our work "Water-Capturing Gels" was selected as one of Top Research+Breakthroughs by 2023 Texas Engineers Magazine!

JUN Our work "Cationic Defects Enabled Water Oxidation Catalysts" was highlighted in ChemistryViews, Angew Chemie's Science and Learning!

JUN Congrats to both Wen Shi and Chuxin Lei, for being awarded UT's Harry and Rubye Gaston Graduate Scholarship and George J. Heuer Endowed Graduate Fellowship!

MAY Our work "IonoGel Membranes" published in Nature Synthesis was highlighted by UT News, ME News, TMI News, Phys.Org, EurekAlert!, Science DailyAZOM, COSMOS Mag, Food Manufacture, Knowledia, Interesting Engineering, Design Today, Materials Today, Mirage News, X-MOL, WordPress, Science Hub, Whats New, NanoER.netTencent, Blikk, Verve Times, Innovation Report, Scientific Russia, Inceptive Mind, Science Springs, Research AeTher, ElectroPages, Swift Telecast,

MAY Dr. Yu was invited by Boston Globe to comment on a recent interesting work on Air-Gen Energy Harvesting from Humidity.

MAY Congrats to Nancy Guo, our group alumni now postdoc at MIT, for being selected as 2023 ACS PMSE Future Faculty Awardee!

APR UT Energy Institute awarded a Strategic Energy Research Grant to Dr. Yu's led team with Liu and Warner groups on electrochemical CO2 reduction technology!

APR Our work "Water-Capturing Gels" was among Top 25 Chemistry and Materials Sciences Articles of 2022 by Nature Communications!

APR Dr. Yu was invited featured in inaugural UT Presidential Research Impact Award video.

MAR Zhengyu was invited to comment on a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) news piece. Congrats!

MAR Our work "Water-Capturing Gels" was featured in our annual Texas Mechanical Engineer Magazine 2023!

MAR Our work in Chem "Supramolecular interactions enabled ion-conductive membranes" was featured in the journal Matter!

FEB Our work "Water-Capturing Gels" was highlighted in Texas Global Report, and featured as Cover in TMI Annual Newsletter!

FEB Congrats to Weixin Guan for winning the prestigious UT Graduate School Continuing Fellowship!

FEB Congrats to John Calderon for winning the MSE graduate student poster award!

JAN Our "Electrocatalytic Urea Synthesis" work published in Nature Sustainability has been featured in Nature's series 'Emerging Technologies for Sustainability'!

JAN Our research work on "Water-Capturing Gels" was selected as Top Research Breakthroughs in Texas Engineer 2022-2023

 

2022

DEC Engineering Girl features our work on hydrogel breakthrough for clean water technology in "Engineering Solutions Towards Sustainable Water Access for All"!

DEC Dr. Yu was invited to serve Guest Editor for Materials Horizons and Nanoscale Horizons on topic of "New horizons in materials for energy conversion, electronics and optics"! RSC Blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn.

NOV Our graduate Youhong (Nancy) Guo was selected among 2023 Forbes list of “30 under 30” in Science! UT TMI news,

NOV Austin American-Statesman features our work "Fast-Charging Thick Battery Electrodes"!

NOV Dr. Yu was invited to serve Guest Editor for Batteries & Supercaps on topic of "Aqueous Electrolyte Batteries"!

OCT Our work 'Fast-Charging Thick Battery Electrodes' was featured by The Daily Texan! Business Insider features as "Tackling The Biggest Challenges Facing EV Adoption".

OCT Dr. Yu was invited to deliver the prestigious Viskanta Lecture at Purdue University

OCT Our former PhD student Youhong (Nancy) was selected to 2022 Stanford University ME Rising Stars Workshop! 

SEP Our work on 'Vertically Assembled Thick Battery Electrodes' was highlighted in UT News! CSE News, ME News, TMI News. This PNAS work was also featured by: FOX News, New AtlasTexasDaily, Daily TexanNews Austin, TechXplore, Business NewsScienceDaily, Verve Times, News Place, Flip Board, Innovate News, InceptiveMindTrend Radar, Green Car Congress163.com, CnBeta, SmarTech, NewsBeezer, Austonia, Battery News, Knowledia, Tech Network, Test Coches, World Energy, Advanced Batteries Research, StockStar, SINA.com, AZO Mater., NewsBreak, EurekAlert!, TweakTown, AirQuality News, JournalBreak, Head Topics, Electronics Online, ElectronicsForu, EleTimes, News Azi, BioEngineer, Clean Technica, Mining, Tom.com, SOHU.com, TopTek News, Lab Manager, Indian Education, BullFrag, Mater. Today, Yahoo.com, BuzzEV News, Assembly Mag,

SEP Our former PhD Youhong (Nancy) was selected to 2022 MIT ChemE Rising Stars Workshop! 

SEP Science Friday features our recent work on water harvesting gels in podcast 'Pulling Water From Thin Air'! Also at NPR Podcasts.

SEP Texas Global features our work on water harvesting gels as 'Water-Collecting Gel Films Help Hydrate a Thirsty Globe'! 

SEP Chemistry Views (Europe) profiles our research group’s recent work on water harvesting gels in themed story 'Capturing Water from the Atmosphere'! Also see SciTech Europa!

AUG Texas Monthly Magazine features our research group’s recent works on water harvesting gels!

AUG Our review 'Emerging Chemistries for Flow Batteries' was featured as Cover in Nature Rev. Chem.!

AUG Our review 'Emerging Chemistries for Flow Batteries' was featured in Nature Collection Series 'Sustainable Chemistry'!

JUN Our work 'Gel Film Fresh Water Harvester' was featured in World Economic Forum 'Groundbreaking Gel Produces Drinking Water from Dry Air'!

JUN Advanced Science News featured our recent work 'Nanostructured Moisture-Absorbing GEL' in Science In Pictures Series!

JUN Our work 'Gel Film Fresh Water Harvester' was highlighted as one of TOP Innovative Atmospheric Water Generators by ASME!

JUN Our work on 'Gel Film Fresh Water Harvester' was highlighted in UTEXAS Newsletter! It's featured as "The 5 Coolest Things on Earth" by GE.

JUN Dr. Yu was selected to 2022 Class of Blavatnik National Awards Honorees! NYAS, UT News, ME News,

MAY Our work on 'Gel Film Drinking Water Harvester' was highlighted in KXAN, UT NewsDaily Texan, CSE NewsUT Energy Bulletin, MSE News, ME News, ScienceDailyWeather Channel, Phys.Org, New AtlasYahoo!, Futurity, FAST Company, Water Online, SciTech Daily, Science Times, Tech NetworksEurekAlert!, MirageNewsCNBC News, ScienMag, National Geographic, Gizmodo, Bioengineer, Smart Water, Nanowerk, FlipBoard, News Today, News9, Verve Times, 6Parks, Interesting Engineering, WaterWorld, COSMOS, AZO Mater., List23, TimetoTimes, Educacions, Nature World, Science Blog, Core77, Head Topics, Alert Breaking, Optic Flux, WQP Mag, Biz News, Hindi News, News Buzz, Planet Water, Reddit, MSN, TechNews, WDC TV, India Education, Galaxy Reporters, NoticiasNet, ASPE, FISM TV, WorldHealth.Net, Diario Popular, El Confidential, Naked Science, Nanotech World, One NewsPage, TechCodex, EU Mail24, Optimist Daily, Flash News, Rinnovabili.it, La Vanguafdia, TVN, BGR, News Beezer, News Founded, American Reporters, HiTech, Techno Pixel, Darik News, KnowAsiak, HeroMag, El Espanol, Time Bulletin, DaytoNews, 6Park News, Industry Update, News Central, ZME Science, Nation World, ABP Live, Knowridge, Daily Post (Korean), SCI-News, GoodNews Network, Extreme Tech, Knowledia, NewsofCanada, THEN24, WEAT Texas, Materials Today, Newz.DK, Youthistaan, UK Time News, List23, Focus Tech, DailyNews369, Water Journal (Korean), NewsNation, iHeart, Brazil Posts, Technology Shout, Make Water Famous, inHabitat, Crast.Net, FutureZone, WaterShapes, iNews, BTLV (France), Core77, OneWater, INF News, NuestroClima, NeozOne, WarpNews,

APR Dr. Yu was elected into 2022 Class of MRS FellowsUT News, ME News, MSE News!

MAR Our work 'Urea ElectroCatalytic Synthesis' in Nature Sustainability, was featured in story "Fertilizing The Future" of '2022 Texas Mechanical Engineer'

FEB Our work 'Polyzwitterionic Hydrogel Water Harvester' was featured in story of 'Freshwater from Thin Air' in Angewandte Chemie, Science DailyPhys.Org, ChemEuropeEurekAlert!Chemistry Views, Water World, NewAtlasAzo CleanTechNanowerk, Europa Press, Chemie.de, Free News, Head TopicsChannel969, NewsBeezer, Knowledia, LexologyGenius Interactive, 6JET,

JAN Dr. Yu was honored with the prestigious Norman Hackerman Award from The Welch Foundation. UT NewsDaily Texan, CSE NewsME News, MSE News!

JAN Our work 'hydrogel tablets to purify water' was featured in AdvMater Editorial ‘Opening the Doors to Advanced Materials in 2022'!

JAN Our work 'Single-Atom ElectroCatalysts' in Nature Catalysis, was featured in story of 'The Rise of Hydrogen' in Texas Engineer Magazine

 

2021

DEC Our work 'hydrogel tablets to purify water' was highlighted by World Economic Forum!

DEC Our work 'hydrogel tablets to purify water' was selected as TOP 10 UT Research Highlights in 2021

DEC Our work 'hydrogel tablets to purify water' was featured by UT President's Office's year-end message to UT Community. Happy Holidays!

DEC Congrats to Xiao Zhang for being selected for MRS Outstanding Graduate Student Gold Award! TMI News.

NOV Dr. Yu was ranked 2021 Top Highly Cited Researcher in both Materials Science and Chemistry by Clarivate. UT News, Engineering News, TMI News!

NOV Our 'Hydrogel tablet to purify water' work is highlighted UT EngineeringUT Energy Institute, and as AZOM Thought Leaders.

NOV Our invited review 'Polymers for Solar Water Purification' work is featured as J. Polymer Sci. Breakthroughs.

OCT Our invited review on 'single-atom catalysts for ammonia electrosynthesis' is featured by American Institute of Physics (AIP) SciLight

OCT Our work on 'hydrogel tablet to purify water' is featured in UT News! Daily TexanPhys.Org, ScienceDaily, The Economist, AxiosKXAN, New AtlasUT Research, UT EngineeringME News, TMI News, EI News, KnowRidgeFlipBoard, Florida News, NewsBreak, RemoNews, YouTube, Canada News, CPYNews, ScienMag, American Online, News Founded, NewsRobin, Tech Explorist, NewsBeezer, News18, SencyNews, Australia Online, Public-Republic, XNewsNet, AzoMaterials, StudyFinds, Mashable, OlharDigit, USA News, News24-France, DailyAdvent, Smart Water, Scientific Frontline, National Wizz, NewZealand Online, News-Medical, AlwafaNews, IMP News, Reddit, EurasiaReview, ENN, Water News, TechNews, Nanowerk, WION, Knowledia, India Now, World Industrial, NewsPost, DailyBest, The Week (India), Futurity, India Education, WaterWorld, Science Cafe, HackPosts, Upcoming Engineer, ResearchNews, Nach Welt, ZME Science, FunTiTech, MCU Times, CNbeta, NewsBust, Fry Electronics, 6Park News, KNews (UK), ScienceTimes (Korea)Correio Brazil, Inovacao BrazilRinnovabili (Italy), Trends der Zukunft (Germany)CW39 Houston, SEEbiz, News247, MyZakerCalifornia18, 163.comGeekWeek, Tom's Hardware, NewsTral, OSEL, Clare People, FuturoProssimo, CanalTech (Brazil), VIDI.hr, NanotechSolutionsEngineering360, TeluguStop, Ruetir, MiddleEast-in-24, IndiansGulf, Better Parent, Glory News, Eco Inventos, ALterima, PSN, Wonderful Engineering, DailyGeek, SpotMedia, NewsVOT, DailyClipper, Daily Best, Medical Progress, News Rondonia, California NewsTimes, SciTech Daily, LA People, News Binding, SingTaoFree Think, VnExpress, InsideHook, Pulola, BrinkWire, EnviroTec, WorldBreakingNews, WarpNews, United Business Journal (UBJ),

SEP "Materials Innovation for Healthcare and Sustainability" Webinar by ACS Materials Letters, celebrates two years' journal publication on transformative materials research

AUG Our research group is highlighted by the Welch Foundation! Thanks for continuous generous support from Welch.

JUL Our work on 'Hydrogels for Solar Vapor Generation' is one of Most Cited 2018-2019 Articles in Nature Nanotech! Our work on 'Ni-Co-A Holey Nanosheets for Hydrogen Evolution' is one of 'Most Cited 2018-2019 Articles' in JACS!

JUL Our work 'Inter-site Effect Single-Atom Catalysts for Oxygen Electroreduction' is published in Nature Catalysis, and featured by UT News, UT ResearchME NewsTMI NewsNature Chemistry community, EurekAlert, ScienceDaily, WorldNews, NewsLocker, FuelCellsworks, SciTechDaily, Industry Update, SINA, cnBEta, NewsBreak, NanoTech Now, TopNews, NewEnergy,

JUL Our work 'Electrocatalytic Urea Synthesis with Nitrate and Carbon Dioxide' is featured by UT News, ScienceDailyME News, TMI NewsNewsBreak, EurekAlert!, Phys.OrgNature Sustainability, US DOE4state.News, MirageNews, ScienMag, BBC-edition, Azom, FlipBoard, Seed Daily, CleanTech, India Education, Florida News, Farms, MyDroll, iNews, NewFood Mag, HortiDaily, NewsNation, StatNano, AZOLifeScience, SciTech, INF news, BNN Network!

JUL Futurist recently features our Self-Watering Soil work as 'The Breakthrough in Agriculture in The Past Century'

JUL Congrats to Nancy, Xingyi, and Zhiwei for thesis defenses in past summer and spring. We have three new outstanding doctors now this year! 

JUN Dr. Yu is selected as one of 2021 honorees for the prestigious Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientist! UT News, NewsWise, EurekAlert, NYASWorld Journal, NewsCentral, TMI,

JUN Our SMAG-enabled water harvesting technology was named 'Top 7 Innovations for Water Access' by Borgen Project

MAY Our Perspective 'Conductive Polymer Hydrogels based Sensor Technologies' was featured as one of Most Popular Materials/Chemistry Papers by Royal Society of Chemistry.

MAY Dr. Yu was awarded the IAAM Medal Award 2021 for significant contributions in nanoscience & nanotechnology.

APR C&EN recently features our hydrogel works on both SMAG and Self-Watering Soil! Also featured by Interesting EngineeringWonderful Engineering.

APR Congrats to Zhiwei Fang for being selected for MRS Outstanding Graduate Student Award! See MRS, UT ME News.

APR Dr. Yu was featured in Wall Street Journal on 'lithium-ion battery and How Lithium Became a Hot Commodity'. See WSJ, Daily Telegraph, The Chronicle, News.com, YouTubeThe Australian, Flipboard, Yahoo!, Herald Sun,

APR Our work 'Organic Eutectic Electrolytes for Flow Batteries' was featured by Materials Views.

APR Dr. Yu gave an invited COE Distinguished Lecture at NMSU Engineering. Thanks for the invite!

MAR Dr. Yu was awarded the prestigious TMS Brimacombe Medalist Award for outstanding mid-career scientists with sustained excellence and achievements in materials science! UT NewsME News, TMI News.

MAR Our work 'Super Moisture Absorbent Gels' was featured by Alcalde, the official publication of Texas Exes!

MAR Our work 'Self-Watering Soil' was featured as The Most Talked-About Chemistry Papers in 2020 by ACS!

MAR Congrats to our former undergrad researcher Daniel Liao for being awarded NSF GRFP!

MAR Our work 'Polyeutectic Electrolytes' was featured as EES HOT Article!

MAR Congrats to Nancy Guo for winning the MSE Graduate Student Poster Award.

FEB Our work on 'solar-powered moisture harvester' selected as one of highlight stories 'Texas Impact'

FEB Congrats to Xuelin Guo for winning the prestigious UT-GS Continuing Fellowship!

FEB Dr. Yu gave an award lecture on 'energy hydrogels' for 2021 TAMEST O'Donnell Award in Engineering

JAN Dr. Yu was selected for the prestigious TAMEST 2021 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award! UT News, UT-ENGRUT-ME, TMI NewsTAMESTYoutube, EurekAlertFrance News, ScienMag, Daily Advent, News Locker, BioEngineer, AzoNano, StatNano.

JAN Our Self-Watering Soils research in ACS Mater Lett is featured in Science News! TechCodex.

JAN Our electrocatalytic NRR nanoreactor paper in Angew. Chem. was featured in Chemistry Views.

JAN Our work 'Super Moisture Absorbent Gels for Sustainable Agriculture' has recently been featured by Greenhouse CanadaThe Western ProducerEcoInventosWorld Industrial ReporteriGrowLeapsMag, Good Men Project, Potatoes News,

 

2020

DEC Our work on Liquid-Metal based Sodium Batteries is featured as DEC cover in ACS Central Science!

DEC Congrats to Youhong for winning the prestigious MRS Outstanding Graduate Students Award! TMI News.

NOV We are awarded a DARPA project for developing atmospheric water extraction technologies, with partner teams of MIT and Caltech! See UT News, UT Research Showcase, ME News, TMI News.

NOV Our work 'Self-Watering Soil' is featured by BNN Bloomberg, as in Dr. Yu' interview of 'self-watering soil for the future of farming'.

NOV Our work 'Self-watering Soil' is selected as one of Top Five Coolest Things On Earth by GE News!

NOV The Daily Texan features our 'Self-Watering Soil' work! UT Energy Institute features our work in November Bulletin.

NOV Congrats to Jiwoong and Leyuan, both have successfully defended their thesis. Dr. Bae and Dr. Zhang!

NOV Dr. Yu is ranked as Top Highly Cited Researchers by Web of Science again in 2020. See TMI News.

NOV Our work on BiNi nano-alloys for electrocatalytic NRR was accepted in Angew. Chem. as VIP paper.

NOV Our recent work on Filler's dimensionality effect for scalable battery systems was featured in American Institute of Physics (AIP), Phys.OrgNewsWise, EurekAlert, ScienceDaily, Rocket NewsDE24, FlipBoard, 15min News, WUWT, BioEngineer, PV Magazine, Press Reader, Space Daily, OilPrice.com, FocusTechnica, ScienMag, Online EV, TradeTicker, Finanz Nachrichten, ID TechEx, Moore News, Read01, OfWeek, EE World, SciTech Daily, List.Solar, Finanz.dk, Amazing Researchs, News Delay, California NewsTimes, Alkhaleej Today, Chemie.de, Kousix.com, WirtSchaftsblatt, ESdeLatino, Chem Europe, NewsBeezer, BlogDady, Quimica.es, China Auto, Gasgoo, SINA, NewsOTime, MyZaker, Shangshiny, WCENN, 111yg, Recode, Geek News, UpsApp, HengNan, Afinance.cn, Mining.com, EcoNews, IDC311, Solarify.eu, Graphene Council, UGOLINI, SINA.cn, StatNano, Energy Journal,

NOV Recent work 'Super Moisture Absorbent Gels for Sustainable Agriculture' is featured by BloombergWorld Economic Forum, Daily TexanUT News, Texas EngineeringABC News, KXAN AustinEurekalert!, ScienceDaily, EcoTropical, BrightSurf, ManiacGeek, Engineers Ireland, TechnologyTimes, BioEngineer, AustraliaOnline, OneNews, LivDose, ScienMag, MirageNews, Press Aggregate, NewsBreak, PressReleasePointin.gr, Futurity, E&T, AZO Life Sciences, Seed Daily, Phys.org, Eurasia Review, Science Blog, SpaceForce, KnowLedia, FlipBoard, Better Parent, CRWE World, Zenith News, WorldPro News, Daily Ripple, ClimateChange, Gadget Stack, SeedQuest, Europapress, Repubblica.it, AmazingResearchs, BotanicalCart, Notimerica, Innovation Toronto, Newsdelay, Infobae, FantasyMundo, VN Explorer, SciTechDaily, Laboratory Equipment, Webnoviny.sk, Food News&Views, Agenparl.eu, Word Disk, New Atlas, RevistaPlaneta, Khoahoc.tv, Guancha.cn, Modern Farmer, diariodia.es, punjab times, TMI News, Science Bulletin, TerraDaily, The Scotfree, World Industry, GistTree, ReallyGood.com, Blueberries, Medium.com, NCYT, PortalFruticola, Anthropocene, Revolution Green, weirdnews, Cambio16, iagua.es, AgroLink.br, Bohemia.cu, HortiDaily, Focus Technica, Newsvoice, voda-portal.sk, Indian Bureau, Tempo, Seed World, AgroNews.gr, The Nation, NatureSpeaks, Cotripal.br, agrositio.ar, InfoBae, Cannabis-Mag, PlayTech.ro, Planeta, Clarin, Successful Green, OGN Daily, UNTV News, The Counter, Optimist Daily, Fyberus, SmallTech, NewsVoice, Reddit, WorldToday, Scientic Ecology, LabNews, AlgeriaNext, Spider'sWeb, Irrigacao, Al Jazeera, NyTeknik, Water Online, Science Bulletin, EcoInventos, TDI Colombia, Nuadox, The Texas, btlv.fr, tintuc.vn, NetNews.vn, ResearchNews, Knowledge Area, FunVerde.br, Wis Farmer, CzechSight.cz, Interesting Engineering, 306doc, Ekolist.cz, VnExpress, OnPasture, ONB.it, EcoFerma.co, eTeknoFuture Farming, TillageMag, Warp News, NZ Food, Smart Brief, SmartWater, HiTech.au, Granthshara, NewsLocker, KTAB News, CW39, HortiBiz, Groundwater Canana, Impact Lab, Environmental Tech, KTSM.com, Quota Media, Voleng, MD Tech, Warp Institute, Successful Green, On Pasture, Potatoes NewsEarthWiseTencent (China), Technology Times Pakistan, The Packer, Farm Journal, Greenhouse Canada, The Western Producer, EcoInventos, World Industrial Reporter, iGrow, LeapsMag, Global Food Summit, The GardenChemistry&Industry (C&I)!

OCT Our work on electrocatalytic NRR nanoreactor was accepted in Angew. Chem. as a VIP paper.

OCT Dr. Yu was invited to comment on recent exciting work published by MIT team on dual-stage water harvesting: MIT NewsScienceBlog, Technology.

SEP Our recent work in JACS on 'Aqueous Al-Ion Batteryis featured by Science Magazine.

SEP Our recent work in JACS on 'Aqueous Al-Ion Batteryis selected as one of Featured Covers in Sept.

SEP Recent work in Nature Mater on 'In Situ Magnetometry Probing Transition Metal Oxides' is highlighted by Nature Energy, Science Bulletin.

SEP Recent work on 'In Situ Magnetometry Probing Transition Metal Oxides' is featured by UT News, ScienceDaily, TechXplore, EurekAlert!, SciTechDaily, UT Engineering, TMI NewsPhys.OrgScienceMag, DesignNewsChemEuropeAZOMTechReview (Italy), EnergyAsiaAustralian News, SlashGear, BioEngineer, KnowRidgeFlipBoard, eScience NewsPV MagKnowledia, Newsbeezer, SINASOHU, NewsNowTechRoom, List Solar, News Break, SmallTechNews, Zaker, YoutubeGreatNews, FocusTechnica, Texas Electric, Texas EnergyXOER, CRWE World, NorthAustin NewsElecFans, 365NewsPerthNews, VaajuConnecticutNews, CleanTechnicaCHEMIE.deNewEnergyByte ClicksKimDeyir, Quimica.Es15minuteNews, FijiNewsNewZealand NewsMirageNews, DCYT, NoypiGeeks, RedditLabEquipment, ScienceXGasGoo, Fayhoo, PCOnline, OilPrice.com, EEworld, WhoTrades, EastMoney, MetroWorldNews, cnBeta, OFweek, Investment Watch, ECW, Moore.live, Finanz.dk, cnPower, WhoTrades, LotGainProAngrez, BESTmag(UK), HiMAX, New Energy&Fuel, TopNews.

AUG Our recent review in ChemReviews 'Hydrogels for Energy-Water Nexus' is selected as one of Featured Covers in AUG

AUG Our work 'Azobenzene-Based Nonaqueous Redox Flow Battery' is featured by UT Engineering, ME News, TMI News

JULY Our latest ChemRev article summarizes many important works on 'Hydrogels for Energy-Water Nexus', and is Most Read Articles in Chem. Rev.

JULY Congrats to Leyuan for winning the prestigious MRS Outstanding Graduate Students Award Silver!

 

 

Featured Stories

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Dr. Yu has been again ranked among 2024 Top Highly Cited Researchers in both Materials Science & Chemistry fields!

Dr. Yu was awarded '2024 SDG World Young Scientist Award' at World Young Scientist Summit (WYSS)!

Dr. Yu gave the award presentation for Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year 2024!

New Thermal Interface Material Could Cool Down Energy-Hungry Data CentersUT News

Our work on oil spill cleanup tech was selected as 2024 Gizmodo Science Fair Winner!

Our research on oil spill cleanup technology was featured in BBC News!

Dr Yu is named 2024 Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of The Year Winner in Engineering and Technology!

Self-watering, self-fertilizing soil could be available to farmers in the future - Texas Standard

Smart Soil Can Water and Feed Itself - UT News

How Potatoes, Corn and Beans Led to Smart Windows Breakthrough - UT News

Dr. Yu Featured Scientist for Climate Warriors by People Magazine!

Dr. Yu elected into 2023 Class of AAAS Fellows nationally!

Weixin Guan was featured by UTexas Graduate School!

Bottled water contains tiny pieces of plastic; this system may prevent you from drinking itKXAN

Injectable Water Filtration System Could Improve Access to Clean Drinking Water - UT News.

Two of our research works 'Smart Farming' and ‘Oil-Capturing Tech’ were selected as TOP UT Research Stories in 2023!

Our group research is featured in Nature: Fresh water from thin air!

Dr. Yu has been consistently ranked among Top Highly Cited Researchers in both Materials Science & Chemistry by Clarivate!

UT researchers work to transform ambient air into clean water - The Daily Texan

Hot Summer Air Turns Into Drinking Water With New Gel Device - UT News

Black goop clean up: how special gel and paint roller tech could help - KXAN

UT researchers improve oil spill clean up with ten-times improvement - FOX News

Oil-Capturing Technology Offers 10x Improvement Cleaning Up Hazardous Spills - UT News

UTexas Research interviewed Dr. Yu!

Dr. Yu selected as 2023 Blavatnik National Awards Honoree!

Smart Farming Platform Improves Crop Yields, Minimizes Pollution - UT News.

Milk Reaction Inspires New Way to Make Highly Conductive Gel Films - UT News.

Dr. Yu was invited featured in inaugural UT Presidential Research Impact Award video!

Nancy Guo was selected among 2023 Forbes list of “30 under 30” in Science!

Our work on Water-Collecting Gels  was highlighted in Texas Global Report!

Our work on Water Capturing Gel was featured in TMI Annual Newsletter!

UT Researchers Develop Electrode to Improve Range, Charging Time of Electric Vehicles - Austin American-Statesman

Magnetic Field Helps Thick Battery Electrodes Tackle Electric Vehicle Challenges - UT News

Texas Monthly Magazine Features Our UT Research Group! - Texas Monthly

Groundbreaking Gels Produce Drinking Water from Dry Air - World Economic Forum

Dr. Yu selected as 2022 Blavatnik National Awards Honoree! UT News.

Low-Cost Gel Film Can Pluck Drinking Water From Desert Air - UT News.

Dr. Yu elected into 2022 Class of MRS Fellows! - UT News.

Dr. Yu selected for the prestigious Norman Hackerman Award from Welch Foundation!

Our hydrogel tablet work featured as Top 10 UT Research Highlights 2021 - UT News.

These little tablets can disinfect river water in 1 hour! - World Economic Forum

Zhiwei and Xiao both won MRS Outstanding Graduate Student Award - UT News.

UT discovery could help get clean water to millions around the world - KXAN.

Hydrogel Tablet Can Purify a Liter of River Water in an Hour - UT News.

Breathing New Life Into Fuel Cells - UT News.

New Method Makes Vital Fertilizer Element in a More Sustainable Way - UT News.

Dr. Yu is selected as 2021 Blavatnik National Awards Honoree for Young Scientist!

Dr. Yu was selected for TAMEST 2021 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award!

The world needs water. These materials take it from the air - C&EN.

How self-watering soil can drive the future of farming - BNN Bloomberg Video.

This new soil can water plants all by itself - World Economic Forum.

Nancy and Leyuan both won MRS Graduate Student Award - TMI & ME News.

  

Self-Watering Soil Could Transform Farming - UT News.

Decades-Old Mystery of Lithium-Ion Battery Storage Solved - UT News.

Widely Available Organic Material Could Give Batteries a Boost for Storing Renewable Energy - UT News.

New Room-Temperature Liquid-Metal Battery Could Be the Path to Powering the Future - UT News.

Dr. Yu was awarded 'Polymer International -IUPAC Award for Creativity in Applied Polymer Science'! - IUPAC News.

Hydrogels for Solar Water Purification and Water Harvesting - Longhorns Network TV.

Turning Air into Drinking Water - UT News.

New Solar Technology could Produce Clean Drinking Water for Millions in Need - Science News.

Solar-Powered Moisture Harvester Collects and Cleans Water from Air - UTexas News.UTNews AWH

IUPAC selects Dr. Yu to represent Element V as ‘Periodic Table of Young Chemists’.IUPAC Yu

 Dr. Yu was selected for the prestigious Nano Letters Young Investigator Award!

Yu ACS 3278 NL LEA Winner

Engineers develop method of using sun to clean drinking water - The Daily Texan.

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Tech developed at UT-Austin help purify water during natural disasters - Houston Chronicle.

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Prof. Yu received 2017 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award!

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Ye Shi and Yu Ding won MRS Graduate Student Awards: Gold and Silver!

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Prof. Yu was honored as Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)!

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Dr. Yu was selected as one of 2016 Sloan Research Fellows! 

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Future humanoid robots may end up using UTexas creation to self-heal - Fox News.

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UT research leads to revolutionary ‘self-healing’ gel for electronics-Austin Statesman.

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MIT Tech Review named Dr. Yu among the world’s Top Innovators under Age35 (TR-35). 

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