Prof. Yuning Li

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, QNC 5614, 200 University Ave

West, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada; Tel: 1-519-888-4567 ext. 31105; E-mail: yuning.li@uwaterloo.ca

Education

Ph.D. (Materials Science), Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), Japan, 1999

M.Sc. (Polymer Materials), Dalian University of Technology, China, 1988 B.Sc. (Polymer Materials), Dalian University of Technology, China, 1985

Current Academic Position

Professor and Associate Chair of Graduate Studies, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada 

Other Affiliations

2017– Member, Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology (CBB), University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
2010– Member, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN), University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
2011– Member, Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE), University of Waterloo, Waterloo,

Canada
2011– Member, Institute for Polymer Research (IPR), University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
2011– Cross-appointment, Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada

 

Previous Positions Held

2017-present Full Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada

2010–2017 Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
2008–2010 Senior Scientist, Institute of Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore
2003–2008 Member of Research Staff, Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC), Mississauga, Canada
2002–2003 NSERC Visiting Fellow, ICPET, National Research Council Canada (NRC), Ottawa, Canada
1999–2001 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Canada
1993–1997 Production Engineer, Toyo Textiles Industries, Inc., Kanazawa, Japan
1990–1993 Lecturer, Department of Polymer Materials, Dalian University of Technology, China
1988–1990 Assistant Lecturer, Department of Polymer Materials, Dalian University of Technology, China

 

Teaching and Supervising Activities

ChE102: Chemistry for Engineers (undergraduate core course)

ChE241: Materials Science and Engineering (Chemical Engineering undergraduate core course)

ChE330: Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics (Chemical Engineering undergraduate core course) ChE745: Research Topics in Polymer Science and Engineering: Synthetic methods for pi-conjugated polymers (Chemical Engineering graduate reading course)

NE125: Introduction to Materials Science and Engineering (Nanotechnology undergraduate core course)

NE499: Materials for printed electronics: Special Topics in Nanostructured Materials (Nanotechnology undergraduate elective course)

 

Memberships and Professional Service

Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) (2015–)

Association of Professional Engineers Ontario (2015–)

Editorial Board Member, AIMS Environmental Science (2013–)

Editorial Board Member, Scientific Canadian (2013–)

Associate Editor, Materials Focus (2012–)

Advisory Board Member of Organic Photonics and Photovoltaics (2012 –)

Guest Co-Editor for a special issue on “Nano-Engineered Materials for Energy and Environmental

Applications” for the Journal of Nanoengineering and Nanomanufacturing (JNAN) (2011)

Member of Editorial Board, Advances in Nanoparticles (2013–)

American Chemical Society (1999–)

Materials Research Society (2001–)

Chemical Institute of Canada (2000–)

Reviewing >10 research articles per year requested by peer reviewed journals (e.g., Science, JACS, Adv. Mater., Energy Environ. Sci., Chem. Commun., Macromolecules, etc.)

 

Awards and Certifications

Faculty of Engineering Distinguished Performance Award, University of Waterloo (2016)

Engineering Research Excellence Award, University of Waterloo (2015)

Professional Engineer, Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) (2015–)

Inclusion in the Marquis Who’s Who in the World (2014)

Inclusion in the Marquis Who’s Who in the World (2013)

Inclusion in the Academic Keys Who’s Who in Engineering Higher Education (WWEHE) (2013)

The NJC (National Junior College) Partners Award for “Commendable services which contributed to the holistic development of the students”, Singapore (2010)

Design for Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (2007)

Co-recipient of the 3rd Annual NASA Nanotech Briefs Nano 50 Awards for Printed Organic Electronics in the Technologies category (technology breakthroughs that have, or are expected to have, a significant impact in one or more application areas) (2007)

Appreciation Award for “Development of next generation organic semiconductors”, Xerox Corp. (2005)

Co-recipient of the 2nd Runner Up in Materials Category of “The Best and the Brightest New Technology for

2004” for the development of “Plastic integrated circuits, which could be produced at much lower cost than their silicon counterparts” by the Wall Street Journal (2004)

Achievement Award for “Developing printable silver nanoparticles”, Xerox Corp. (2004)

Special Recognition Award for “Advancing the materials technology for printed electronic research”, Xerox

Corp. (2004)

Appreciation Award for “Development of printable conductive nanoparticles”, Xerox Corp. (2003) Visiting Fellowships in Canadian Government Laboratories (VF), NSERC, Canada (2002–2003)

Graduation with Distinction, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan (1999)

The Rotary Yoneyama Foundation Doctoral Scholarship, Japan (1999–2000)

Doctoral Scholarship, The Association of International Education, Japan (1997–1999)

 

Current Research Interests

Design and molecular engineering of polymer materials and nanomaterials for electronic/electrical electronics

  • Organic Thin Film Transistors (OTFTs)
  • Polymer bulk-heterojunction photovoltaics (OPV)
  • Small molecule-based OPV
  • Dye-sensitized Solar Cells (DSC)
  • Perovskite solar cells
  • Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs)
  • Chemical/biosensors and photo-detectors
  • Organic photodetectors
  • Lithium and other batteries

Low temperature-processable conductive inks

  • Metal nanoparticle inks for printing highly conductive features on plastic substrates
  • Solution processable transparent conductors to replace expensive Indium-Tin-Oxide (ITO)  Conductive polymers
  • Carbon-based nanomaterials

Design, fabrication and characterization of organic electronics

  • OTFTs and their logic circuits for e-paper, displays, sensors, etc.
  • Organic solar cells
  • Organic photo, chemical and biological sensors
  • Lithium and other batteries

 

Research and scholarly achievements

Table 1 Summary of research and scholarly achievements as of August 11, 2017

Published/accepted refereed journal articles 135
Book chapters 2
Refereed conference proceedings 12
Citations/H-index (Thomas Reuters’ Web of Science) ~6475/42
Citations/H-index (Elsevier’s Scopus) ~6682/42
Citations/H-index (Google Scholar) ~8874/45
Patents filed 124
U.S. patents granted 74