News

01.16.2025, Lei was invited to attend the forum held by the Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC) and gave a lecture on Advanced Surface Manufacturing.

01.03.2025, Our first VRFB paper entitled “Localized acoustic streaming-mediated efficiency enhancement for vanadium redox flow battery“ was published in the Journal of Energy Storage. Congratulations to Ping and the co-authors!

12.09.2024, Our first review paper entitled “Beyond Smoothness: The Art of Surface Texturing Battling against Friction“ was published in the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing. Congratulations to Qianhao, Xuanyao, Yayong, and the co-authors!

11.19.2024, Our work entitled “Surface Acoustic Waves-Enabled Shielding Fluid Layers Inhibit Bacterial Adhesion“ was published in Langmuir. Congratulations to Zhiyuan, Zhongyu, and the co-authors!

10.27.2024, Our work entitled “Tailoring Dynamic Chains of Cross-Linked PDMS to Hinder Oil Penetration“ was published in Advanced Materials Technologies. Congratulations to Ruonan and the co-authors!

10.26.2024, Congratulations to our Ph.D. student, Yunlong Han, who obtained the ICPE2024 Outstanding Paper Award at The 20th International Conference on Precision Engineering, Sendai, Japan.

10.09.2024, Our work entitled “SAW-driven directional clearance of bacteria on submerged surfaces“ was published in Chemical Engineering Journal. Congratulations to Zhiyuan and the co-authors!

07.22.2024, Our first MD simulation work entitled “Comparative Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Wetting on Liquid-like Surfaces“ was published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry. Congratulations to Lizhong and the co-authors!

06.14.2024, Congratulations Ping, Lizhong, Zhenghua, Yayong, and Peng for your graduation! Wish all the best to you after graduation!

04.25.2024, Our work entitled “Cryo-FIB machining of group III-V semiconductors suppresses surface nanodroplets“ was published in CIRP Annals-ManufacturingTechnology. Congratulations to Yi and the co-authors!

12.13.2023, Our work entitled “Direct 3D printing functional surfaces stacked with microstructured filaments“ was published in Additive Manufacturing. Congratulations to Yunlong and the co-authors!

11.01. 2023, Our group received an industrial grant to create durable anti-finger print coatings. Congratulations!

10.25. 2023, Our group received an industrial grant to fabricate high-effiency flow batteries. Congratulations!

09.05. 2023, the group members were invited to visit the company of Wontai Power in Shanghai.

08.19. 2023, Lei attended the 2nd Membrane Science and Functional Materials Conference as an invited speaker for the 20th-anniversary celebration of MSFM Lab. The culture of MSFM has benefited the members for life, hearty congratulations to Prof. Liangyin Chu and all the group members.

08.03. 2023, Lei presented the recent works entitled "Advanced Surface Manufacturing Toward Wetting Process Intensification: From Molecular Design to Potential Applications" as an invited speaker at the Yingxingqing Forum of China Chemical Society!

08.01. 2023, Lei was invited to give an presentation entitled "Advanced Surface Manufacturing Toward Wetting Process Intensification" at the Young Scholars Forum of Thermophysical Multiphase Flow and New Energy of China Engineering!

07.22. 2023, Our work entitled “Effect of Refresh Time on XeF2 Gas‑assisted FIB Milling of GaAs“ was published in Nanomanufacturing and Metrology. Congratulations to Lei and the co-authors!

Efect of Refresh Time on XeF2 Gas‑assisted FIB Milling of GaAs.jpg

07.20. 2023, Do you have any suggestions to the lab? Come to join us! Our 2nd OpenTalkDay (OTDay), initiated in 2022, was successfully held. It provides a platform for everyone to communicate comprehensively, which is believed to make the team a better place.

07.19. 2023, Our work entitled “Disregarded Free Chains Affect Bacterial Adhesion on Cross-Linked Polydimethylsiloxane Surfaces“ was published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Congratulations to Kunwen and the co-authors!

06.20. 2023, Congratulations Qiancheng, Lei, Jin, Kunwen, and Zhongyu for your graduation! Wish all the best to you after graduation!

05.14. 2023, We successfully hosted the 3rd ISNM Symposium on Advanced Manufacturing—Micro, Nano, Atomic, and Close-to-Atomic Scale on May 13th, 2023 in Dalian. The outstanding presentations delivered by every attendee truly exemplified inventive concepts. And it’s my great honor to give an invited presentation on "Advanced Surface Manufacturing for Wetting Process Intensification." We eagerly anticipate meeting you all again in Dalian next year!

01.06. 2023, The 2022 Annual Research Group Award ceremony was held successfully, congratulations to the winners, and thanks all for the great works done in the past year! Let's do it again in 2023 only bigger and better!

11.08. 2022, Mr. Ploeger (CEO) of Dalian KWD Innovation Automotive Parts LLC (DKIA) and his colleagues visited our group and Lei introduced the project progress for the cooperation between DUT and DKIA.

From left to right:

Hao Jing, Yunlong Han, Qianhao Xiao, Lei Zhang, Jining Sun, Robert. H.P. Ploeger, Yin Wang, Han Jiang, Zhongfeng Lin, Jingmin Li, Zhaodong Jia

10.21. 2022, Lei attended the G60 forum held by the Shanghai Songjiang District government and introduced the research focus of the group to the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd (COMAC).

09.23. 2022, Lei attended the YOUTH SYMPOSIUM OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF NANOMANUFACTURING ON PRECISION MEASUREMENT (2022 ISNM) held in Chongqing, China.

09.14. 2022, Our group received a grant from the Young Scientist Fund of National Nature Science Foundation of China to explore the molecular mechanism for long-range self-propulsion droplets. Congratulations!

06.18. 2022, the Student Training Series in our lab: " Updating Literatures In Your Area"

06.09. 2022, Lei was invited to give a keynote presentation entitled "Advanced Surface & Interface Process Intensification" at the DUT academic forum.

05.24. 2022, Lei was invited to visit Dalian Schnellecke innovation Auto Parts Co., Ltd., for project cooperation.

05.23. 2022, Lei was invited to give a keynote presentation entitled "Super-repellent surfaces to extreme wetting liquids: from molecular design to potential applications" at the DUT-TU 25th Aniversary Symposium.

01.20. 2022, Lei visited Ningbo Research Institute, the Dalian University of Technology located in Zhejiang Province in China for a project investigation.

Prior to DUT

12.24. 2021, a PCT Application entitled "A Semiliquid Surface with Liquid and Solid Repellence" was Granted.

10.11. 2021, I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining the faculty @ Dalian University of Technology (DUT) in the ME department as an Associate Professor in November 2021! The interdisciplinary research of my will focus on Advanced Surface & Interface Process Intensification (ASIPI), which aims to bring transformational efficiency enhancements in interfacial processes for a sustainable environment & energy. Can’t wait to hit the ground running in this exciting new chapter of my career at DUT. Stay tuned for group openings in 2022! Particularly, I am grateful to my mentors @Sichuan University @The University of Texas at Dallas @Nuclear Power Institute Of China, @Dow, friends, and family from bottom of my heart, whose support, patience, and love over the years inspire me to continue to pursue my scientific dream.

11.16. 2021, Any sustainable solutions to undesired icing? Welcome to check out our paper "Sustainable icephobicity on durable quasi-liquid surface"that comes out today in Chemical Engineering Journal. We report a flexible polymer coating that presents sustainably low adhesion strength to bulk ice. Such a durable de-icing surface shows the potential to reduce ice accretion on solar panels, power lines, and vehicles in ice-prone regions. Congratulations to Jyotirmoy Sarma and the team!

12.01. 2021, Glad to see that my patent entitled “A Method for Fabrication of Thermo-Responsive Cell Culture Container has entered the final stage of achievement transformation led by Dachuan Heyi Bio-Company. The relevant products will be applied to the market of smart cell culture! Congratulations to Chuan and the team!

03.27. 2021, our new paper "Hydrophilic slippery surface enabled coarsening effect for rapid water harvesting" was published in Cell Reports Physical Science. Check it out! [Featured in ScienceDaily, UTD News, Phys.org, AAAS, and more]

05.28. 2021, our new paper "Novel Multifunctional Stimuli-Responsive Nanoparticles for Synergetic Chemo−Photothermal Therapy of Tumors" was published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Check it out! Congratulations to Dr. Xingqun Pu.

01.21. 2021, our new paper "Gradient Quasi-Liquid Surface Enabled Self-Propulsion of Highly Wetting Liquids" was published in Advanced Functional Materials. Check it out! Thank you all for your contributions! [Featured in Advanced Sci News]

08.13. 2020, so excited to announce that my research logo was designed and came out after three months conception and revision! Especially, I would like to thank my friends Haiping Wang, Zhenqiang Shi, and my wife Jenny for their patient assistance on artistic thought and drawing. BTW, my two-month-old baby Aurora provided her footprint in this logo without any hesitation! Thankful for that!

01.21. 2020, my research homepage was launched!

04.14. 2020, Congratulations to UTDesign Team 953 for their wonderful Formal Design Presentation on "Design and Manufacture Surface Coating to Remove Ice on Wind Turbines". So proud to be your Technical Manager in the last two semesters! Wish all the best to team members after graduation! From left to right: Luis Puente, Logan Williamson, Ian Meneses, Adam Boissevain, Teresa De Alba, J Sebastian Arrangoiz.

06.01. 2020, so glad to see that two of my Ph.D. projects have been commercialized by a company from China (Sichuan Zongmu Technology Co. LTD). The startup company aims at the market of smart cell culture containers. It has now signed cooperation agreements with Kelun Pharmaceutical co., LTD and Kanghong Pharmaceutical Co., LTD and got the initial investment of $300, 000 from the two pharmaceutical companies. So proud to be the Technical Director during this commercialization process! Wish all the best to the startup company! Link: heyibio.com