Zhiwei Li

Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

University of Maryland College Park

Research

The Li Research Group specializes in advancing controlled synthesis techniques and programmable assembly methods for nanostructured materials. Our research is dedicated to studying the fundamental physical properties of these materials and using nanoparticles and superstructures for cutting-edge applications in photonics, quantum engineering, and energy storage and conversion. By combining computational approaches—such as analytical modeling and coding—with materials chemistry and high- throughput methodologies, we aim to accelerate the synthesis, assembly, and discovery of innovative
nanocrystals.

Colloidal and solid-state synthesis: Developing methods for creating magnetic, metallic, and semiconductor nanomaterials.
Assembly of smart materials and quantum superstructures: Assembling nanostructured materials into superlattices and stimuli-responsive superstructures.
High-throughput materials discovery: Utilizing polymer pen lithography and artificial intelligence (AI) to conduct high-throughput synthesis and screening of nanomaterials for catalysis and photovoltaics.

Google Scholar

Join Our Team

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UMD

The University of Maryland College Park is one of the ten New Ivy League Colleges and Top Ten Public Universities by Forbes. Our research will focus on materials chemistry in the new chemistry building on the UMD campus.

For PhD student and postdoc opportunities, please email me at zlinano1@umd.edu

Join us at UMD

PI office:

1130 new wing 1 of the chemistry building

Contacts:

Please email me at zlinano1@umd.edu

Selected Publications

f21-bi02---science-advances-aaas.tmb-esize-225-.jpg

A magnetic assembly approach to chiral superstructures

Li, Z.; Fan, Q.; Ye, Z.; Wu, C.; Wang, Z.; Yin, Y.,
Science, 2023 380 (6652) 1384-1390.

(PDF), (Link), (Science Research Highlights)

Light-powered soft steam engines for self-adaptive oscillation and biomimetic swimming

Li, Z.; Myung, N., V.; Yin, Y.,

Science Robotics. 2021, 6 (61), eabi4523.

(PDF), (Link)

Coupling morphological and magnetic anisotropy for assembling tetragonal colloidal crystals
Li, Z.; Qian, C.; Xu, W.; Zhu, C.; Yin, Y.,
Sci. Adv. 2021, 7 (37), eabh1289.

(PDF), (Link)

Anisotropic light-emitting colloidal kagome superlattices

Li, Z.; Lim, Y,; Tanriover I,; Zhou, W.; Li, Y.; Zhang, Y.; Aydin, K.; Glotzer, S.; Mirkin, C. A.,

Sci. Adv. 2024, 10 (29), eadp3756.

(Link)

Coupling magnetic and plasmonic anisotropy in hybrid nanorods for mechanochromic responses

Li, Z.; Jin, J.; Yang, F.; Song, N.; Yin, Y.
Nat. Commun. 2020, 11 (1), 2883. (Highlighted in Nature Portfolio)

(PDF), (Link)

Creation and reconstruction of thermochromic Au nanorods with surface concavity
Li, Z.; Zhang, J.; Jin, J.; Yang, F.; Aleisa, R.; and Yin, Y.,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143 (38), 15791–15799.

(PDF), (Link)

Fast Fourier Transform-weighted Photoacoustic Imaging by In Vivo Magnetic Alignment of Hybrid Nanorods
Li, Z.; Meng, Z.; Tian, F.; Zhou, X.; Zhong, X.; Xiao, Y.; Chen, W.; Chen, Q.; Cheng, L.; Yang, M.; Liu, Z.; Yin, Y.
Nano Lett. 2022, 22 (13), 5158–5166.

(PDF), (Link)

Multicolor Photonic Pigments for Rotation‐Asymmetric Mechanochromic Devices
Li, Z.; Wang, X.; Han, L.; Zhu, C.; Xin, H.; Yin, Y.,
Adv. Mater. 2022, 34 (4), 2107398. (Frontispiece)

(PDF), (Link), (Frontispiece)

Colloidal self-assembly approaches to smart nanostructured materials
Li, Z.; Fan, Q.; and Yin, Y.,
Chem. Rev. 2021, 122 (5), 4976–5067. (Invited Review)

(PDF), (Link)