Peidong Yang
Peidong Yang | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1971 China |
| Occupation(s) | Chemist, materials scientist, entrepreneur, professor |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Known for | Semiconductor nanowires, nanolaser, synthetic biophotonic leaf, nanowire transistor architecture |
| Notable work | "Room-Temperature Ultraviolet Nanowire Nanolasers" (Science, 2001) |
Peidong Yang (Chinese: 杨培东; born 1971) is a Chinese-American expert in chemistry, materials science, and entrepreneurship. He currently holds the S.K. and Angela Chan Distinguished Professorship of Energy and serves as a Professor in both Chemistry and Materials Science at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley). Additionally, he is a Senior Faculty Scientist within the Materials and Chemical Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, leads the California Research Alliance by BASF as its Director, and directs the Kavli Energy Nanoscience Institute at UC Berkeley.
The research led by Peidong Yang centers on semiconductor nanowires along with various nanostructures, investigating their electronic, optical, and catalytic behaviors. He has previously held leadership roles such as Department Head at the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) and Deputy Director of the Center for Integrated Nanomechanical Systems (COINS). His professional affiliations include membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he is a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Yang's pioneering work in nanotechnology encompasses the creation of the first nanowire-based nanolaser in 2001, the design of a sub-5 nm gate-all-around (GAA) nanowire transistor architecture in 2005, and the introduction of the inaugural synthetic biophotonic leaf in 2015.
In recognition of his innovative contributions, Yang was named a MacArthur Genius Fellow in 2015 and delivered a presentation at the White House Frontier Conference in 2016. He also holds an Executive Editor position at the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Education
Yang obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1993. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University in 1997 under the mentorship of Charles M. Lieber. Following this, from 1997 to 1999, he completed postdoctoral research with Galen D. Stucky at University of California, Santa Barbara before joining UC Berkeley as an assistant professor in chemistry.
Career
During his graduate studies in Lieber’s laboratory in the early 1990s, Yang pioneered using single-crystalline oxide nanowires as pinning centers to improve critical current density in high-temperature superconductors, an advancement that catalyzed worldwide research into nanowires.
Yang is renowned for his work on semiconductor nanowire synthesis and analysis, having co-authored over 400 peer-reviewed publications. His influential 2001 Science article titled "Room-Temperature Ultraviolet Nanowire Nanolasers" has been cited more than 11,000 times. In 2010, Thomson Reuters recognized him as the leading materials scientist and placed him among the top ten chemists of that decade based on citation impact. Furthermore, he was honored as a Clarivate Citation Laureate in Physics in 2014 for his fundamental contributions to semiconductor nanowire science.
In 2005, Yang introduced a novel sub-5 nm gate-all-around nanowire field-effect transistor architecture that demonstrated exceptional subthreshold characteristics and energy efficiency. That same year, his team showcased ionic nanofluidic circuits capable of electrically controlled ion transport, advancing technologies related to desalination and salinity gradient energy conversion.
Building upon theoretical predictions by Mildred Dresselhaus regarding enhanced thermoelectric properties through nanowires, Yang together with Arun Majumdar experimentally validated size-dependent thermal conductivity effects in silicon nanowires. He further revealed that silicon nanowires with rough surfaces around 50 nm diameter could reduce thermal conductivity by a factor of 100, achieving a thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) near 0.6 at ambient temperature—a breakthrough commercialized by Alphabet Energy for applications such as waste heat recovery and greenhouse gas mitigation.
In 2015, Yang’s group engineered a synthetic biophotonic "leaf" by integrating semiconducting nanowires with Sporomusa ovata bacteria to convert CO2 and water into valuable chemicals like butanol powered by sunlight—representing the first fully integrated solar-driven chemical synthesis system from CO2. Advancing this work in 2024, he developed an improved design enabling bias-free CO2 fixation under red light with elevated current density, facilitating continuous operation independent of direct solar input.
As co-leader of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), Yang played a key role in establishing this energy innovation hub focused on creating materials that convert sunlight into fuels.
He coined the term "Liquid Sunlight" to describe chemical energy stored within solar-derived chemical bonds—a concept embraced by national research programs worldwide including the U.S. Department of Energy’s Liquid Sunlight Alliance (LiSA).
Business ventures
Yang played a key role in establishing Alphabet Energy alongside Matthew L. Scullin and served as an original member of the scientific advisory board at Nanosys. The nanowire innovations developed by Nanosys were acquired in 2013 by OneD Battery Sciences. OneD Materials now manufactures silicon nanowires on an industrial scale for battery producers, utilizing an expanded chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system to create nanowire-based composite materials capable of delivering anode capacities of 340 MWh.
Since 1999, Yang has secured multiple patents covering essential nanowire technologies aimed at energy solutions, including US Patents Nos. 9,881,999; 7,569,941; 7,569,847; 6,996,147; 6,882,051; 5,897,945; and 7,834,264.
Awards and honors
- 1999 – Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation
- 2000 – 3M Untenured Faculty Award, 3M
- 2001 – Sloan Research Fellowship, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- 2001 – CAREER Award, National Science Foundation (NSF)
- 2001 – Hellman Family Faculty Award, UC Berkeley
- 2002 – Beckman Young Investigators Award, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation
- 2003 – Recognized as one of the Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review
- 2004 – Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award
- 2004 – DuPont Young Professor Award, DuPont
- 2004 – Julius Springer Prize, Springer
- 2004 – Outstanding Young Investigator Award, Materials Research Society
- 2005 – ACS Award in Pure Chemistry, American Chemical Society (ACS)
- 2007 – Alan T. Waterman Award, NSF
- 2008 – Scientific American 50 Award, Scientific American
- 2008 – Miller Research Professorship, Miller Institute
- 2015 – MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, MacArthur Foundation
- 2016 – Elected Member of the NAS
- 2016 – Invited Speaker at the White House Frontier Conference
- 2016 – Distinguished Visiting Fellowship awarded by the Royal Academy of Engineering
- 2020 – Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
- 2020 – Recipient of the Global Energy Prize, The Global Energy Association
- 2021 – Foreign Membership granted by CAS
- 2023 – Elected Member of the European Academy of Engineering
Personal life
Yang resides with his wife Mei and their daughter Rachel.