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Fan research lab is directed by Dr. Zheng Fan and located in the Department of Engineering Technology at the University of Houston. Fan research lab mainly focuses on developing automated in situ techniques to multi-dimensional characterize fundamental mechanisms of interfacial reactions in solid-state lithium metal batteries. These investigations enable the exploration of sheet-type solid-state cells and provide valuable insights into the batch fabrication of solid-state batteries using 3D slurry printing techniques. These efforts contribute significantly to understanding and enhancing the performance of next-generation solid-state electrochemical energy devices.
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08/2024 [Research] Research paper “Manipulating Hardness to Construct Favorable Electrode Microstructures for All-Solid-State Batteries” collaborate with Dr. Yan Yao’s group is published in Advanced Energy Materials.
03/2024 [Research] Research paper “Healable and conductive sulfur iodide for solid-state Li–S batteries” collaborate with Dr. Ping Liu’s group from UCSD is published in Nature.
03/2024 [Fund] Underwrite Laboratory (UL) Research Institutes sponsored Fan research group a project to study the 3D printing of solid-state batteries.
01/2024 [Fund] UH Energy Transition Institute and Shell sponsored Fan research group a project to study the synthesize of battery grade carbon from petcoke.
01/2024 [People] Sanam Milapati joined Fan research group as a new Ph.D. student. Welcome!
11/2023 [Outreach] Dr. Zheng Fan gave an invited talk to the K-12 students in Pearland High School.
11/2023 [Outreach] Dr. Zheng Fan visited Sharpstown International High School.
10/2023 [Research] Chaoshan Wu’s research paper “Impact of fabrication methods on binder distribution and charge transport in composite cathodes of all-solid-state batteries” collaborate with Dr. Yan Yao’s group is published in Materials Futures.
09/2023 [Research] Fei Wang’s research paper “Engineering microcracks in MWCNT/elastomer bilayers for high-performance stretchable sensor development” is published in Nanotechnology.
08/2023 [Research] Research paper “Taming Metal–Solid Electrolyte Interface Instability via Metal Strain Hardening” collaborate with Dr. Yan Yao’s group is published in Advanced Energy Materials.
07/2023 [Research] Chaoshan Wu’s conference paper “In situ Observation of Lithium Stripping and Plating Process in an Open-cell All-solid-state Lithium Metal Battery” is published in Microscopy and Microanalysis 2023.
07/2023 [Outreach] 2023 NSF Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program was completed in UH, organized by Drs. Zheng Fan and Weihang Zhu.
06/2023 [People] Congratulations to Chaoshan Wu for successfully defending his Ph.D. dissertation on Solid-State Batteries!
06/2023 [Research] Samprash Risal’s review paper “Silver-carbon interlayers in anode-free solid-state lithium metal batteries: Current development, interfacial issues, and instability challenges” is published in Carbon.
05/2023 [Research] Chaoshan Wu’s research paper “Understanding the Chemomechanical Function of the Silver–Carbon Interlayer in Sheet-type All-Solid-State Lithium–Metal Batteries” is published in Nano Letters.
05/2023 [Research] Research paper “Progressive and instantaneous nature of lithium nucleation discovered by dynamic and operando imaging” collaborate with Dr. Xiaonan Shan’s group is published in Science Advances.
05/2023 [Award] Congratulations to Chaoshan Wu on winning the 3rd Prizes in the 58th TcSUH Student Research Symposium!
05/2023 [People] Congratulations to Fei Wang (co-advised with Dr. Li Sun) for successfully defending his Ph.D. dissertation on CNT strain sensor!
05/2023 [Fund] UH Energy Transition Institute and Shell sponsored Fan research group a project to study clean energy materials.
04/2023 [Service] Dr. Zheng Fan is invited to service as guest editor for the Special Issue: Advances in All Solid-State Lithium Metal Battery in Batteries.
04/2023 [Fund] DoE Seedling Program sponsored Fan research group a project to study solid-state batteries.
03/2023 [Award] Congratulations to Fei Wang on winning the Best Student Poster Award in the 28th SNAME Offshore Symposium!
03/2023 [Outreach] Dr. Zheng Fan gave an invited talk to the K-12 students in Cypress Lakes High School.
01/2023 [Research] Research paper “High-Spatial-Resolution Quantitative Chemomechanical Mapping of Organic Composite Cathodes for Sulfide-Based Solid-State Batteries” collaborate with Dr. Jun Lou’s group is published in ACS Energy Letters.
11/2022 [Honor] Dr. Zheng Fan is named 2021 University of Houston 50-in-5 Scholar.
11/2022 [Outreach] Dr. Zheng Fan gave an invited talk to the K-12 students in Foster High School.
12/2022 [Research] Review paper “Interfaces in Sulfide Solid Electrolyte-Based All-Solid-State Lithium Batteries: Characterization, Mechanism and Strategy” collaborate with Dr. Jun Zhang is published in Electrochemical Energy Reviews.
07/2022 [Outreach] 2022 NSF Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program was completed in UH, organized by Drs. Zheng Fan and Weihang Zhu.
02/2022 [Outreach] Dr. Zheng Fan gave an invited vision talk to the K-12 students in Needville High School.
12/2021 [Service] Dr. Zheng Fan services as organizer for the Session: Nano Energy of IEEE NMDC 2021.
12/2021 [Research] Fei Wang’s conference paper “High Performance Microcrack-based MWCNT-rubber Strain Sensor” is published in IEEE NMDC 2021.
12/2021 [Honor] Dr. Zheng Fan is named 2020 University of Houston 50-in-5 Scholar.
09/2021 [Research] Chaoshan Wu’s review paper “Current status and future directions of all-solid-state batteries with lithium metal anodes, sulfide electrolytes, and layered transition metal oxide cathodes” is published in Nano Energy.
08/2021 [Service] Dr. Zheng Fan is invited to service as guest editor for the Methods Collection: In situ electrochemistry in JoVE.
07/2021 [Outreach] 2021 NSF Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program was completed in UH, organized by Drs. Zheng Fan and Weihang Zhu.
05/2021 [Research] Research paper “On the quality of tape-cast thin films of sulfide electrolytes for solid-state batteries” collaborate with Dr. Yan Yao’s group is published in Materials Today Physics.
03/2021 [Outreach] Dr. Zheng Fan gave an invited vision talk to the UH STEM Zone.
03/2021 [Honor] Dr. Zheng Fan is named 2019 University of Houston 50-in-5 Scholar.
12/2020 [Research] Research paper “High-energy all-solid-state organic–lithium batteries based on ceramic electrolytes” collaborate with Dr. Yan Yao’s group is published in ACS Energy Letters.
09/2020 [Research] Research paper “Probing photoelectrical transport in lead halide perovskites with van der Waals contacts” is published in Nature Nanotechnology.
06/2020 [Honor] Dr. Zheng Fan elevated to IEEE Senior Member!
10/2019 [Fund] DoE VTO sponsored Fan research group a project to multi-dimensional diagnosis solid-state batteries [News].
08/2019 [Research] Dr. Zheng Fan’s research paper “In situ transmission electron microscopy for energy materials and devices” is published in Advanced Materials.
07/2019 [Research] Dr. Zheng Fan gave an invited talk on in situ electrochemistry investigations in IEEE Nano 2019.
07/2019 [Service] Dr. Zheng Fan services as Technical Committees for IEEE Nano 2019.
07/2019 [Research] Akshay Kakar’s conference paper “In situ observations of interfacial evolutions in solid-state lithium battery with sulfide-based solid electrolyte” is published in IEEE Nano 2019.
07/2019 [Research] Research paper “Laser-sculptured ultrathin transition metal carbide layers for energy storage and energy harvesting applications” is published in Nature Communications.
01/2019 [Research] Research paper “Ultrathin wavy Rh nanowires as highly effective electrocatalysts for methanol oxidation reaction with ultrahigh ECSA” is published in Nano Research.