Biography

• Boya Professor, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University

• Chang Jiang Professor, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University (2013-now)

• Professor, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University (2002-now)

• Distinguished Visiting Professor, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo (2016-2019)

• Visiting associate professor, Department of Chemistry, Duke University (1999-2001)

• Associate professor, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University (1995-2001)

• Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry, Peking University (1993)

• M.S. in Inorganic Chemistry, Shandong University (1990)

• B.S. in Chemistry, Shandong University (1987)

Teaching

General Chemistry (2001-)

Fundamental Chemistry (2016-)

Research Interest

Prof. Yan Li’s research group is interested in developing strategies and techniques for controlled preparation, band structure and property modulation, and high-resolution characterization of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). She also pays much attention to the potential applications of CNT-based materials in the fields of nanoelectronics, energy source, and biomedicine.

Honors & Awards

The Second Prize of  The State Natural Science Award , The State Council of the People's Republic of China (2021)

Chinese Chemical Society – Evonik Chemical Innovation Award Distinguished Scientist (2018)

The First Prize (Natural Science) of  Outstanding Achievement Award for Scientific Research in Institutes of Higher Education , Ministry of Education (2017)

National Excellent Researcher Award, China Association of Science and Technology (2016)

First Class Science and Technology Award, China Association for Instrumental Analysis (2015)

Top Ten Best Supervisor (for graduate education) in Peking University (2015)

Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) (2014)

Chang Jiang Professor, Ministry of Education (2013)

Famous Teacher of Beijing (2013)

National Science Foundation of China Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (2011)

Top Ten Best Teacher (for undergraduate education) in Peking University (2008)

Young Talent for the New Century, Ministry of Education (2004)

Service

Deputy editor, ACS Nano (2025.1-)

Advisory Board, ACS Central Science (2025.1-),

Advisory Board, Chemical Society Reviews (2019-),

Advisory Board, Carbon (2017-),

Associate editor, ACS Nano (2016.8-2024.12)

Advisory Board, Materials Horizons (2016-),

Associate editor, Journal of materials Chemistry A (2013-2016)

Editorial board, Nano Research (2014-)

MRS Award Nomination Subcommittee (2017, 2022)

Secretory general, ECS Nano Division (2022-)

Vice director, Division of Inorganic Chemistry, Chinese Chemical Society (2018-)

Steering Committee of Nanotube Conferences (SCNC) (2013-)

Selected Publications

1. Yan Li*, Gilles Georges*. "Three Decades of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Research: Envisioning the Next Breakthrough Applications"  ACS Nano 2023, 17 (20), 19471–19473.

2. Yitan Li, Amir A. Pahlavan*, Yuguang Chen, Song Liu, Yan Li*, Howard A. Stone*, Steve Granick* "Oil-on-water droplets faceted and stabilized by vortex halos in the subphase."  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2023, 120 (4), e2214657120.

3. Xue Zhao, Sida Sun, Feng Yang*, Yan Li*. "Atomic-Scale Evidence of Catalyst Evolution for the Structure-Controlled Growth of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes."  Accounts of Chemical Research 2022, 55 (23), 3334–3344.

4. Feng Yang, Haofei Zhao, Ruoming Li, Qidong Liu, Xinrui Zhang, Xuedong Bai, Rongming Wang*, Yan Li*. "Growth modes of single-walled carbon nanotubes on catalysts"  Science Advances 2022, 8, eabq0794.

5. Yuguang Chen, Min Lyu, Zeyao Zhang*, Feng Yang, Yan Li*. "Controlled Preparation of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes as Materials for Electronics."  ACS Central Science 2022, 8 (11), 1490–1505.

6.  Xusheng Yang, Tianhui Liu, Ruoming Li, Xiaoxin Yang, Min Lyu, Li Fang, Lei Zhang, Kun Wang, Anquan Zhu, Luyao Zhang, Chenguang Qiu, Yuan-Zhu Zhang, Xiao Wang,* Lian-Mao Peng, Feng Yang,* and Yan Li* "Host−Guest Molecular Interaction Enabled Separation of Large-Diameter Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes"  Journal of the American Chemical Society 2021, 143 (27), 10120-10130.

7. Feng Yang, Meng Wang, Daqi Zhang, Juan Yang, Ming Zheng*, Yan Li*. "Chirality Pure Carbon Nanotubes: Growth, Sorting, and Characterization."  Chemical Reviews 2020, 120 (5), 2693-2758.

8. Feng Yang, Haofei Zhao, Xiaowei Wang, Xu Liu, Qidong Liu, Xiyan Liu, Chuanhong Jin, Rongming Wang, Yan Li*. Atomic Scale Stability of Tungsten-Cobalt Intermetallic Nanocrystals in Reactive Environment at High Temperature.  Journal of the American Chemical Society 2019, 141 (14), 5871-5879.

9. Min Lyu, Brendan Meany, Juan Yang*, Yan Li*, and Ming Zheng*. "Toward Complete Resolution of DNA/Carbon Nanotube Hybrids by Aqueous Two-Phase Systems."  Journal of the American Chemical Society 2019, 141 (51), 20177-20186.

10. Yitan Li, Hao Wang*, Henglu Xu, Shiting Wu, Xuemei Li, Jiapeng Yu, Chaoyu Huang, Zeyao Zhang, Hao Sun, Lu Han, Meihui Li, Anyuan Cao, Zhenhai Pan, Yan Li*. "Material patterning on substrates by manipulation of fluidic behavior."  National Science Review 2019, 6, 1-9.