About

Yayuan Liu is a Russell Croft Faculty Scholar and assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with a secondary appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Her research group operates at the interface of chemical engineering, materials science, and electrochemistry to advance energy and environmental sustainability. Her work involves designing and synthesizing materials at the molecular and microscopic levels, developing novel electrochemical processes utilizing functional materials, and employing advanced characterization tools to link microscopic phenomena with macroscopic performance. Specific themes in her research include redox-active materials for carbon capture and utilization in electrosynthesis, molecularly precise electrochemical interfaces for water remediation and chemical manufacturing, and imaging platforms for visualizing electrochemical processes with high temporal, spatial, and chemical resolution. Liu earned her bachelor's degree in materials science and engineering from Nanyang Technological University in 2014, where she received the Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal for academic achievements. She completed her PhD at Stanford University in 2019 under the guidance of Professor Yi Cui, supported by the Stanford Graduate Fellowship. Following her doctoral studies, she conducted postdoctoral research at MIT with Professor T. Alan Hatton. Her contributions to the field have been recognized through multiple awards, including an NSF CAREER Award, a Packard Fellowship, a Beckman Young Investigator Award, and being named an Innovator Under 35 by MIT Technology Review. She was also named a 2026 Sloan Research Fellow.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Materials science
• Chemical engineering
• Organic chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Inorganic chemistry
• Composite material
• Engineering
• Engineering physics
• Physical chemistry
• Nuclear engineering
• Electrical engineering
• Automotive engineering

Selected publications

• Corrigendum to “Enhanced antitumor and anti-metastasis efficiency via combined treatment with CXCR4 antagonist and liposomal doxorubicin” [Journal of Controlled Release, Volume 196 (2014), Pages 324–331].

  Journal of Controlled Release · 2025-02-24

  erratumOpen access
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• Core–Shell Amorphous Carbon‐Coated CuZn Powder for Synergistic Protection of Zinc Anodes

  Advanced Energy Materials · 2025-06-17 · 10 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Abstract Aqueous Zn‐ion batteries are attractive for large‐scale energy storage due to their inherent safety and low cost. However, their practical application is hindered by the unstable Zn metal anode, caused by uncontrollable dendrite growth and severe hydrogen evolution reaction, which significantly shortens cycle life. In this study, amorphous carbon‐coated CuZn composite powders are synthesized using the tandem plasma‐enhanced powder synthesis method and employed as an interfacial regulator to protect Zn anodes. The dual‐phase CuZn alloy core, with its zincophilic nature, is complemented by an ultrathin amorphous carbon shell that repels unfavorable interfacial water molecules while maintaining efficient Zn‐ion transport. This synergistic core–shell structure effectively enhances cycling performance, especially at high rates, and the full cells demonstrate no obvious capacity decay after 1800 cycles. These findings offer valuable insights into practical interfacial design strategies for Zn stabilization in corrosive aqueous electrolytes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Disrupted intrinsic functional brain topology in patients with basal ganglia ischemic stroke

  Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery · 2025-11-25 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Background: Ischemic stroke affecting the basal ganglia disrupts motor, cognitive, and emotional functions, yet the underlying neural network mechanisms remain poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate alterations in brain network topology in patients with acute basal ganglia ischemic stroke (BGIS) through use of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and graph theory analysis (GTA). Methods: We constructed whole-brain functional networks and analyzed global and local topological properties in 82 patients with acute BGIS and compared them those in 83 healthy controls (HCs) using the Dosenbach atlas. Results: Both groups retained small-world attributes (Sigma >1). However, patients with BGIS exhibited significantly lower normalized clustering coefficient (Gamma, P=0.016), small-worldness (Sigma, P=0.021), and modularity (P=0.025), indicating disrupted local network organization. Local centrality analyses revealed significantly higher degree centrality (DC) (false-discovery rate-corrected Q <0.05), betweenness centrality (Q <0.05), and eigenvector centrality (Q <0.05) in the right precentral gyrus (a motor hub) in patients with BGIS. Conversely, lower centrality was observed in cognitive and emotional hubs, including the left ventral prefrontal cortex (Q <0.05 for DC, betweenness centrality, and eigenvector centrality) and the right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus (Q <0.05 for DC). Global efficiency and assortativity were preserved (P>0.05). No direct associations between these network alterations and clinical scales persistent in the multiple comparisons. Conclusions: This study identified a BGIS-induced reconfiguration of brain network topology, characterized by a tendency toward randomization, compensatory hyperconnectivity in motor regions, and impaired integration in cognitive networks. The findings indicated the right precentral gyrus to be a pivotal hub for poststroke recovery and offers novel insights into network-level mechanisms and potential targets for neuromodulatory interventions.

  PublisherDOI

• Exploring the potential landscape of chemical engineering science

  Nature Chemical Engineering · 2025-01-28 · 1 citations

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• Biomineralization of Heavy Metals by Microbial Induced Phosphate Precipitation: Mechanisms and Research Advances

  Water Air & Soil Pollution · 2025-12-18 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Liquid-phase carbonization strategy to recycle waste PET into defect-rich hard carbon for ultralong cycle life sodium-ion battery

  Nano Research · 2025-07-25 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Hard carbon (HC) is widely regarded as one of the most promising anode materials for commercial sodium-ion batteries due to its excellent electrochemical performance and cost-effectiveness. Although organic polymers offer compositional homogeneity and structural tunability as HC precursors, their high raw material costs and uncontrollable carbonization processes limit large-scale applications. Here, we introduce a liquid-phase carbonization strategy to recycle waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into porous micro/nanostructured HC enriched with intrinsic carbon defects (LHC-3, LHC = liquid-phase-prepared hard carbon). These carbon defects and the morphological structures were modulated by bubbles generated from the decomposition of PET in the presence of N,N’-dimethylformamide and zinc acetate. The synergistic effects between intrinsic carbon defects and micro/nanostructure endow LHC-3 anode with high specific capacity (355 mAh·g⁻¹ at 0.1 A·g⁻¹), superfast charging capability (132.6 mAh·g⁻¹ input within 13 s of charging), and ultralong cycling stability (100,000 stable cycles at 50 A·g⁻¹). The sodium storage mechanism of LHC-3 anode was investigated by <i>ex-situ</i> Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and ion diffusion kinetics analysis. Theoretical calculations indicate that intrinsic carbon defects with non-zero curvature structure in LHC-3 enhance its ability to accommodate more Na⁺. These findings are expected to have broader applications in energy storage and waste management.

  PublisherDOI

• Materials advancements in electrochemically mediated carbon capture

  Current Opinion in Electrochemistry · 2025-03-10 · 2 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Lead and cadmium adsorption by Phanerochaete chrysosporium under the protection of phosphorus-containing biochar: Effects and mechanisms

  Journal of environmental chemical engineering · 2025-05-28 · 6 citations

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• Multifunctional Binding Interface Drives Near‐Unity CO Selectivity in Acidic CO₂ Electrolysis

  Angewandte Chemie · 2025-09-04

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Abstract The electrocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) reduction is challenged by the parasitic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) especially in acidic media. Here, we elaborate that redox‐active isoindigo, acting as a multifunctional co‐catalyst, can pre‐activate CO 2 ‐bound intermediates and suppress HER upon the synergistic effects of Lewis acid‐base adduct formation, intramolecular hydrogen‐bond interaction, and interfacial water structure modulation. Modifying a silver catalyst with isoindigo substantially decreases the energy barrier for CO 2 ‐to‐*COOH conversion, which is regarded as the potential‐limiting step of carbon monoxide production. Accordingly, superior catalytic performances are obtained at pH 2, where Faradaic efficiencies surpass 99% at industrial‐relevant current densities. Moreover, we find that assembling an additional polyamine‐coated layer in front of gas flow channels improves CO 2 transport to the catalyst layer, optimizing the trade‐off of conversion and selectivity at low flow rates.

  PublisherDOI

• A high-throughput experimentation platform for data-driven discovery in electrochemistry

  Science Advances · 2025-04-04 · 36 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Automating electrochemical analyses combined with artificial intelligence is poised to accelerate discoveries in renewable energy sciences and technologies. This study presents an automated high-throughput electrochemical characterization (AHTech) platform as a cost-effective and versatile tool for rapidly assessing liquid analytes. The Python-controlled platform combines a liquid handling robot, potentiostat, and customizable microelectrode bundles for diverse, reproducible electrochemical measurements in microtiter plates, minimizing chemical consumption and manual effort. To showcase the capability of AHTech, we screened a library of 180 small molecules as electrolyte additives for aqueous zinc metal batteries, generating data for training machine learning models to predict Coulombic efficiencies. Key molecular features governing additive performance were elucidated using Shapley Additive exPlanations and Spearman’s correlation, pinpointing high-performance candidates like cis -4-hydroxy- d -proline, which achieved an average Coulombic efficiency of 99.52% over 200 cycles. The workflow established herein is highly adaptable, offering a powerful framework for accelerating the exploration and optimization of extensive chemical spaces across diverse energy storage and conversion fields.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• CAREER: Electrochemically Mediated Carbon Dioxide Separation via Non-Aqueous Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer

  NSF · $516k · 2023–2028

Frequent coauthors

• Yi Cui

  Stanford University

  104 shared

• Dingchang Lin

  Johns Hopkins University

  39 shared

• Qin He

  Xiamen University

  28 shared

• Zhirong Zhang

  Sichuan University

  24 shared

• Huile Gao

  Sichuan University

  24 shared

• Yan‐Kai Tzeng

  19 shared

• Steven Chu

  Stanford University

  19 shared

• Rodney C. Ewing

  18 shared

Awards & honors

• Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal for academic achievements
• Stanford Graduate Fellowship
• NSF CAREER Award
• Packard Fellowship
• Beckman Young Investigator Award