


Nanoporous metal evolves from the selective dissolution of an alloy or a compound. The structure manifests physics of atomic-scale self-organization and promises new functionalities. (Check this perspective for what we know)
Batteries power electronics, cars, and even the electricity grid. We strive to understand how a battery fails so that we can better design it to last for thousands of cycles


A new material does not guarantee a useful property, but always leads to new, interesting structure-property relationships. We develop rigorous methods to characterize these relationships and to guide our use of the materials.
In-situ characterization of high-capacity electrodes to tackle stability issues.

Prof. Qing Chen holds a bachelor's degree in Polymer Science from Zhejiang University and a PhD in Materials Science from Arizona State University (Advisor: Karl Sieradzki). After being a postdoc at Harvard (Advisor: Mike Aziz), he joined the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Department of Chemistry at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).

PhD student

PhD student

PhD student (w/ Prof. Baoling Huang)

PhD student (w/ Prof. Chunyi Zhi @ CityU)

MPhil student

PhD student

PhD student
Group Alumni:
Zhien Wang - PhD student @ MIT
Wenqing Ruan - Faculty @ Shenzhen University
Guoyin Zhu - Faculty @ Nanjing University of Information Sci & Tech
Anson Tsang - PhD student @ Princeton
Yuan Xu - Postdoc @ Shenzhen University
Jiatao Mao - Scientist @ BYD
Congcheng Wang - Postdoc @ Georgia Tech
Yiting Zheng - Consultant @ Exponent
Shida Yang - Scientist @ CATL
Jie Li - Postdoc @ University of Stuttgart
Yunhe Zhao - Postdoc @ Miami University
Zhibin Yi - Scientist @ BYD
Kevin Chan - PhD student @ U Wisconsin Madison
Yang Li - Engineer @ GRST
Liangyu Li - Faculty @ Shanghai Jiaotong University
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Chen M. et al. Percolating Anode Microstructures Underpin the Choice of Electrolyte Composition for a Stable Alkaline Zn Battery. ACS Energy Letters (2025). >> view the article

Ma Y. et al. Super-Concentrated Alkali Hydroxide Electrolytes for Rechargeable Zn Batteries. Angew. Chemie (2025). >> view the article

Wang C. et al. Patterning the Pore Orientation of Nanoporous Metal via Self‐Organization in Flow Cells. Adv. Sci. (2024). >> view the article

Wang C. et al. The microstructural dependence of ionic transport in bi-continuous nanoporous metal. Acta Mater. (2024). >> view the article
