About

Haotian Wang is an Associate Professor and the Principle Investigator of the Wang Group at Rice University. His research focuses on chemical engineering and materials science, with a particular emphasis on energy and chemical engineering applications. The group investigates innovative solutions in these fields, contributing to advancements in sustainable energy and chemical processes. Professor Wang's background includes a PhD, and he leads a diverse team comprising postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, undergraduate students, and visiting scholars. His group is actively engaged in cutting-edge research, as evidenced by recent awards and fellowships received by group members. The group's work is recognized within the scientific community, and Professor Wang's leadership continues to drive forward progress in chemical and materials engineering.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Organic chemistry
• Chemistry
• Inorganic chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Chemical engineering
• Physical chemistry
• Engineering
• Biochemical engineering
• Computer Science
• Environmental science
• Environmental engineering
• Combinatorial chemistry
• Process engineering
• Environmental chemistry
• Nuclear engineering

Selected publications

• A Deep Learning-Enhanced EIS Online Monitoring Framework Based on Sparse DC-DC Measurements for Vehicular Fuel Cell Systems

  IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification · 2026-01-01

  article

  Fast online access to fuel cell impedance is important for health diagnosis and fine-grained management, yet existing onboard methods still struggle to balance update rate and measurement fidelity. This paper presents a hybrid monitoring framework that combines sparse physical calibration from a production DC-DC converter with continuous virtual estimation. A six-phase interleaved DC-DC converter injects dual-frequency excitation at 10 Hz and 1 kHz and, with synchronous Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) extraction under integer-period sampling, provides physically grounded impedance references while keeping current ripple below 1%. Between calibration instants, a compact recurrent estimator, FR-LSTM-lite, infers impedance continuously from electrochemistry-guided inputs. Structured pruning and 8-bit quantization reduce the model to a form suitable for automotive microcontrollers. Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) and 140-kW bench tests show inference latency below 1 ms and impedance error no greater than 1.5%, delivering milliohm-level monitoring without extra hardware or sustained excitation. Together, these capabilities make milliohm-resolution impedance available in real time on production hardware, opening a practical path toward impedance-feedback fuel cell control.

  PublisherDOI

• Design of a steam thermal ablation system for liver tumors and its efficacy evaluation based on fluorescence imaging

  Minimally Invasive Therapy & Allied Technologies · 2026-05-14

  article

  BACKGROUND: At present, traditional minimally invasive thermal ablation technologies are all derived from electromagnetic radiation energy generated by high-frequency, high-energy physical sources. Consequently, they all share common issues, such as poor conformability, carbonization, difficulty controlling temperature, and electromagnetic radiation. METHODS: This paper proposes a steam thermal ablation (STA) technology that utilizes the internal energy of saturated steam to replace traditional electromagnetic radiation-based energy sources. Using a self-built, minimally invasive steam thermal ablation precision treatment system for liver tumors and a steam ablation needle designed via COMSOL simulation, ex vivo pig liver experiments were conducted. Based on STA characteristics, a real-time monitoring scheme for the ablation boundary has been proposed using fluorescence imaging. RESULTS: The results of STA are characterized by a maximal ablation axis ratio (short diameter/long diameter) and the absence of carbonization. The fluorescence-based monitoring effectively eliminated artifacts and radiation constraints typical of ultrasound or CT-guided procedures. CONCLUSIONS: Steam thermal ablation (STA) technology offers a novel thermal ablation method, featuring good conformability and no carbonization. Combined with real-time fluorescence imaging monitoring, it provides a feasible solution for the limitations of traditional minimally invasive thermal ablation techniques.

  PublisherDOI

• Energy-efficient indirect (bi)carbonate electroreduction in a porous solid electrolyte reactor

  Nature Sustainability · 2026-01-07 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• MetaIndux-PLC: A Control Logic-Guided LLM for PLC code generation in industrial control systems

  Applied Soft Computing · 2025-08-07 · 5 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• READ: Real-time and Efficient Asynchronous Diffusion for Audio-driven Talking Head Generation

  ArXiv.org · 2025-08-05

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The introduction of diffusion models has brought significant advances to the field of audio-driven talking head generation. However, the extremely slow inference speed severely limits the practical implementation of diffusion-based talking head generation models. In this study, we propose READ, a real-time diffusion-transformer-based talking head generation framework. Our approach first learns a spatiotemporal highly compressed video latent space via a temporal VAE, significantly reducing the token count to accelerate generation. To achieve better audio-visual alignment within this compressed latent space, a pre-trained Speech Autoencoder (SpeechAE) is proposed to generate temporally compressed speech latent codes corresponding to the video latent space. These latent representations are then modeled by a carefully designed Audio-to-Video Diffusion Transformer (A2V-DiT) backbone for efficient talking head synthesis. Furthermore, to ensure temporal consistency and accelerated inference in extended generation, we propose a novel asynchronous noise scheduler (ANS) for both the training and inference processes of our framework. The ANS leverages asynchronous add-noise and asynchronous motion-guided generation in the latent space, ensuring consistency in generated video clips. Experimental results demonstrate that READ outperforms state-of-the-art methods by generating competitive talking head videos with significantly reduced runtime, achieving an optimal balance between quality and speed while maintaining robust metric stability in long-time generation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• HeroCS: Cooperative Courier Scheduling for Heterogeneous Tasks in Last-Mile Delivery

  IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing · 2025-12-15

  article

  In last-mile delivery, efficient courier scheduling for heterogeneous tasks (i.e., delivery, pick-up, and customer expansion tasks) simultaneously benefits customers, couriers, and the platform. Existing scheduling methods for heterogeneous tasks neglect long-term optimization or are based on simple agent mobility settings. In this work, we focus on a scenario with varying task characteristics compared to existing studies and explore reinforcement learning for courier scheduling in last-mile delivery, considering fine-grained courier mobility. It is challenging due to: i) the large state and action space; ii) the courier cooperation under asynchronous decision-making caused by various task service times and courier travel times between location pairs; and iii) the multi-objective optimization under the dynamic environment. Therefore, we propose a heterogeneous task-aware cooperative courier scheduling system, <monospace xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">HeroCS</monospace>, to improve courier working efficiency and fairness in last-mile delivery. Specifically, we first design a distance-constrained courier modeling module to generate the single courier scheduling decisions, where a distance-aware top-<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math></inline-formula> action pruning scheme is proposed to reduce state representation and action space. Then, a cooperative scheduling learning module is explored for optimizing courier cooperation. A status-aware action masking scheme is designed to solve asynchronous decision-making in model training. We also design a hybrid reward function to optimize various objectives adaptively. Extensive evaluation with real-world data from one of the largest logistics companies in China demonstrates that compared to state-of-the-art methods, <monospace xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">HeroCS</monospace> improves the task completion rate by up to 40.7% and reduces courier unfairness by up to 83.3%.

  PublisherDOI

• Dual‐mode reversible photoluminescence tuning in rare‐earth doped scheelite thin films via mechanical strain

  Journal of the American Ceramic Society · 2025-12-14

  article

  Abstract Flexible optoelectronic technology has shown great application prospects in various fields. The appealing aspect of this technology lies in the reversible regulation of the luminescent properties of materials through external stimuli. Epitaxial CaWO 4 :Er 3 ⁺/mica heterostructures fabricated by van der Waals epitaxy exhibit record photoluminescence modulation under mechanical strain. Under an in‐plane compressive strain of −0.15%, a unprecedented photoluminescence enhancement of Δ I / I = 1286% is realized, accompanied by a strain‐photoluminescence efficiency of ΔI/I·Δε −1 = 6429. This all‐inorganic platform enables dual‐mode optical responses (intensity modulation and color shift), outperforming in sensitivity. Our approach establishes a universal paradigm for strain‐engineered luminescent films, enabling flexible displays with dynamic spectral control under stress.

  PublisherDOI

• The Next 25 Years of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology: A <i>Nano Letters</i> Roadmap

  Nano Letters · 2025-08-27 · 8 citations

  editorialOpen access

  Recommendations2 025 marks the 25th anniversary of Nano Letters, and to celebrate this milestone, our editorial team has put together a Roadmap for the next 25 years.Nanoscience and nanotechnology have come a long way since the first journals dedicated exclusively to nanoscale concepts were founded.In this prospective piece, we have identified 7 macroscale themes broken down into 16 key topical areas and speculated about their strategic, developmental, and translational milestones.We have tried to be specific and quantitative regarding examples highlighted without being overly prescriptive.We have also done our best to propose big-picture and high-risk breakthroughs that will require integrated disciplinary expertise, significant resource investments, and decades-long time horizons for realization.We hope that you are as optimistic and excited about the future of nanoscience as we are and that this Roadmap can be an aspirational and functional guidepost for our community.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• High-Pressure Electrochemical CO ₂ Capture and Reduction to Formic Acid

  ACS Energy Letters · 2025-10-14 · 5 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Direct supply of dilute CO2 sources to an electrochemical porous solid electrolyte (PSE) reactor enables simultaneous CO2 capture and conversion. However, its catalytic performance is significantly limited under ambient pressure due to low CO2 surface coverage and mass transport constraints. Here, we demonstrate a high-pressure CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) of a dilute stream in a PSE reactor, achieving markedly enhanced formic acid selectivity. Pressurizing a 5 mol % CO2 gas stream to 10 atm led to a Faradaic efficiency for formic acid (FEHCOOH) of up to 81.0% at 100 mA cm–2, compared to only 47.8% under ambient conditions. By balancing the liquid pressure within the PSE layer with the cathode gas pressure, we minimized the transmembrane pressure differential, enabling stable operation for 90 h at 20 atm. In addition, high-pressure operation shifted the cathode-membrane interfacial pH from a carbonate-dominated regime toward bicarbonate, thereby improving the electron efficiency of the simultaneous carbon capture process by up to 57.0% during the conversion process.

  PublisherDOI

• Failure mechanisms in PEM water electrolyzers

  Carbon Future · 2025-11-11

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The failure of anode catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers poses a significant barrier to their commercial deployment. In PEM electrolyzers, anode catalysts typically degrade due to the extremely oxidative environment and low local pH at the anode. Under these harsh conditions, catalysts may dissolve into the electrolyte, detach from the membrane, or become contaminated by impurities. These degradation processes are interconnected and complex, rather than isolated issues. Consequently, improving catalyst materials alone has only a limited impact on the overall system performance. In this perspective, we systematically review the causes of anode catalyst failure and their effects on PEM electrolyzer stability. We pay special attention to the limitations of current approaches, including material shortcomings, changes in electrode structure, and gaps in system-level strategies. A thorough understanding of these challenges is crucial. Achieving a stable anode for acidic OER requires deep insight into the failure mechanisms under real PEM operating conditions. By integrating advances in catalyst design, electrochemical characterization, engineering solutions, and data-driven methods, we can address these limitations effectively. This comprehensive approach is essential to accelerate development and enable widespread adoption of PEM electrolyzers.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• EFRI DCheM: Electrifying CO2 From Point Sources into Pure Liquid Fuels

  NSF · $2.0M · 2020–2024

Frequent coauthors

• Yi Cui

  Stanford University

  64 shared

• Kun Jiang

  Shanghai Jiao Tong University

  30 shared

• Peng Zhu

  Zhengzhou University

  30 shared

• Chuan Xia

  University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

  21 shared

• Yongfeng Hu

  Sinopec (China)

  21 shared

• Tingting Zheng

  University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

  20 shared

• Po‐Chun Hsu

  University of Chicago

  18 shared

• Ming Zheng

  17 shared

Labs

• The Wang GroupPI

  The website for Wang research group at Rice University

Education

• PhD, Applied Physics

  Stanford University

  2016

• BS, Physics

  University of Science and Technology of China

  2011

Awards & honors

• Rowland Fellowship (2016)
• 2021 Sloan Fellow
• 2020 Packard Fellow
• 2019 CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar
• 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30