Directory

Qian Chen's directory photo.

Qian Chen

Associate Professor

Primary Affiliation

Artificial Intelligence for Materials

Affiliations

Status Part-time Faculty

Home Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Phone 244-7386

Email qchen20@illinois.edu

Address 3257 Beckman Institute, 405 North Mathews Avenue

  • Biography

    Qian Chen is currently an associate professor and Racheff Scholar in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. She did her postdoc with professor Paul Alivisatos at UC Berkeley under Miller Fellowship and joined the faculty of UIUC in 2015.  She is a member of the artificial intelligence for materials group, and the molecular science and engineering theme at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.

    Education

    • B.S., chemistry, Peking University, 2007

    • Ph.D., materials science and engineering, University of Wisconsin, 2012

  • Honors

    • 2022: Hanwha-Total Energies IUPAC Young Scientist Award

    • 2022: Dean's Award for Excellence In Research for Associate Professor, The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    • 2021: Racheff faculty Scholar, The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    • 2020: Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor, College of Engineering, UIUC (Feb.)

    • 2018: Unilever Award, Division of Colloid and Surface Science, American Chemical Society (Jun.)

    • 2018: The DURIP (Defense University Research Instrumentation Program) Award from department of defense (Apr.)

    • 2018: Sloan Research Fellow in Chemistry, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Feb.)

    • 2017: Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, Solid State and Materials Chemistry program, National Science Foundation (Nov.)

    • 2017: ACS Petroleum Research Foundation Doctoral New Researcher Award (Oct.)

    • 2016: Air Force's Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) Award, Biophysics Program, Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Oct.)

    • 2016: The SN 10 List of Scientists Making the Next Big Discoveries; Science News Magazine (one of the 10 early- and mid-career scientists, age 40 and under, selected among all science disciplines) (Sep.)

    • 2016: Distinguished Visiting Fellow, the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), United Kingdom (to a distinguished professor from an overseas academic centre of excellence for up to one month in UK university to build capacity and promote collaborations) (Aug.)

    • 2016: Forbes 30 under 30 Science List, Forbes Magazine (Jan.)

    • 2015: Victor LaMer Award, Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry, American Chemical Society (Jun.)

  • Research

    Research Areas:

    • Artificial Reconfigurable Materials: structural dynamics and functions

    • Structural Biophysics of Proteins: transformation mechanism studies via nanoscopic imaging

    Research Interests:

    • Materials for energy and the environment

    The research in Chen’s group focuses on imaging, understanding and engineering soft materials at the nanoscale, including systems such as colloidal self-assembly, protein transformation, advanced battery devices, metamaterials, and energy-efficient separation strategies. Her group has received awards based on their research work such Forbes 30 under 30 Science List (2016), AFOSR YIP award (2017), NSF CAREER award (2018), Sloan Research Fellow (2018), Unilever award in ACS (2018), Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research (2020&2022), the Hanwha-TotalEnergies IUPAC Young Scientist Award (2022), the Soft Matter lectureship (2023), the Provost's Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring (2024) and the Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award in MRS (2024).

  • 2024

    • 4D-STEM Mapping of Nanocrystal Reaction Dynamics and Heterogeneity in a Graphene Liquid Cell Chang Liu, Oliver Lin, Saran Pidaparthy, Haoyang Ni, Zhiheng Lyu, Jian-Min Zuo and Qian Chen Nano Lett. (2024)
    • Beyond nothingness in the formation and functional relevance of voids in polymer films Falon C. Kalutantirige, Jinlong He, Lehan Yao, Stephen Cotty, Shan Zhou, John W. Smith, Emad Tajkhorshid, Charles M. Schroeder, Jeffrey S. Moore, Hyosung An, Xiao Su, Ying Li and Qian Chen Nature Communications 15, 2852(2024)
    • Electron videography of a lipid–protein tango John W. Smith, Lauren N. Carnevale, Aditi Das, Qian Chen Science Advances 10(16) 2024
    • Highly Ordered Eutectic Mesostructures via Template-Directed Solidification within Thermally Engineered Templates Sung Bum Kang, Guanglong Huang, Gaurav Singhal, Dajie Xie, Daniel H. Hsieh, Youngmun Lee, Ashish A. Kulkarni, John W. Smith, Qian Chen, Katsuyo Thornton, Sanjiv Sinha, Paul V. Braun Advanced Materials (2024): 2308720
    • Nanoparticle self-assemblies with modern complexity Qian Chen and Xin Zhang MRS Bulletin 1-9
    • Neuronal innervation regulates the secretion of neurotrophic myokines and exosomes from skeletal muscle Kai-Yu Huang, Gaurav Upadhyay, Yujin Ahn, Masayoshoi Sakakura, Gelson J. Pagan-Diaz, Younghak Cho, Amanda C. Weiss, Chen Huang, Jennifer W. Mitchell, Jiahui Li, Yanqi Tan, Yu-Heng Deng, Austin Ellis-Mohr, Zhi Dou, Xiaotain Zhang, Sehong Kang, Qian Chen, Jonathan V. Sweedler, Sung Gap Im, Rashid Bashir, Hee Jung Chung, Gabriel Popescu, Martha U. Gillette, Mattia Gazzola and Hyunjoon Kong
    • No ground truth needed: unsupervised sinogram inpainting for nanoparticle electron tomography (UsiNet) to correct missing wedges Lehan Yao, Zhiheng Lyu, Jiahui Li and Qian Chen npj Computational Materials volume 10, Article number: 28 (2024)
    • Structure of alpha-synuclein fibrils derived from human Lewy body dementia tissue Dhruva D. Dhavale, AlexanderM. Barclay, Collin G. Borcik, Katherine Basore, Deborah A. Berthold, Isabelle R. Gordon, Jialu Liu, Moses H. Milchberg, Jennifer Y. O’Shea, Michael J. Rau, Zachary Smith, Soumyo Sen, Brock Summers, John Smith, Owen A. Warmuth, Richard J. Perrin, Joel S. Perlmutter, Qian Chen, James A. J. Fitzpatrick, Charles D. Schwieters, Emad Tajkhorshid, Chad M. Rienstra and Paul T. Kotzbauer
    • Tunable magnetic confinement effect in a magnetic superlattice of graphene Onur Tosun, Preetha Sarkar, Chang Qian, Matthew Gilbert, Qian Chen & Nadya Mason npj 2D materials and applications 8, 32(2024)

    2023

    • A smart coating with integrated physical antimicrobial and strain-mapping functionalities for orthopedic implants Yi Zhang, Jinsong Cui, Kuan-Yu Chen, Shanny Hsuan Kuo, Jaishree Sharma, Rimsha Bhatta, Zheng Liu, Austin Ellis-Mohr, Fufei An, Jiahui Li, Qian Chen, Kari D. Foss, Hua Wang, Yumeng Li, Annette M. Mccoy, Gee W. Lau, Qing Cao Science Advances 9, eadg7397 (2023)
    • Biofeedstock-induced metal corrosion: Reactions between carbon steel and triacylglycerol-based solutions at elevated temperature Deborah Liu, Samyukta Shrivastav, Soheil Daraydel, Nathan Levandovsky, Hyosung An, Siddhesh Shevade, Qian Chen, Jessica A. Krogstad, Daniel V. Krogstad* Corrosion Science, 216, 111088 (2023)
    • Correlative mapping of electrolyte-dependent microstructural development in cathode materials Wenxiang Chen, Saran Pidaparthy, Xun Zhan, Chu-yun Hwang, Zhichu Tang, Jian-Min Zuo, Qian Chen Microscopy and Microanalysis 29 (S1), 1277 (2023)
    • Direct Imaging of Patch-Clasping and Relaxation in Robust and Flexible Nanoparticle Assemblies Ahyoung Kim, Kireeti Akkunuri, Chang Qian, Lehan Yao, Kai Sun, Zi Chen, Thi Vo, Qian Chen ACS Nano (2023)
    • Electron Tomography and Machine Learning for Understanding the Highly Ordered Structure of Leafhopper Brochosomes Gabriel R. Burks, Lehan Yao, Falon C. Kalutantirige, Kyle J. Gray, Elizabeth Bello, Shreyas Rajagopalan, Shreyas Rajagopalan, Sarah B. Bialik, Jeffrey E. Barrick, Marianne Alleyne, Qian Chen, Charles M. Schroeder Biomacromolecules 24, 190–200 (2023)
    • In-situ imaging of nucleation and growth of superlattices from nanoscale colloidal nanoparticles Zuochen Wang, Chang Liu, and Qian Chen Journal of Crystal Growth, 601, pp 126955 (2023)
    • Introduction: Anisotropic Nanomaterials Younan Xia, Qian Chen, Uri Banin Chemical Reviews, 123, 3328 (2023)
    • Metabolic tagging of extracellular vesicles and development of enhanced extracellular vesicle based cancer vaccines Rimsha Bhatta, Joonsu Han, Yusheng Liu, Yang Bo, David Lee, Jiadiao Zhou,Yueji Wang, Erik Russell Nelson, Qian Chen, Xiaojia Shelly Zhang, Wael Hassaneen, Hua Wang Nature Communications 14, 8047 (2023)
    • Nanoparticle assembly and oriented attachment: Correlating controlling factors to the resulting structures Dongsheng Li*, Qian Chen, Jaehun Chun, Kristen Fichthorn, James De Yoreo, Haimei Zheng Chemical Reviews, 123 (6), 3127–3159 (2023)
    • Porous liquid metal-elastomer composites with high leakage resistance and antimicrobial property for skin-interfaced bioelectronics Yadong Xu, Yajuan Su, Xianchen Xu, Brian Arends, Ganggang Zhao, Daniel N. Ackerman, Henry Huang, St. Patrick Reid, Joshua L. Santarpia, Chansong Kim, Zehua Chen, Sana Mahmoud, Yun Ling, Alexander Brown, Qian Chen, Guoliang Huang, Jingwei Xie, and Zheng Yan Science Advances 9 (1) (2023)
    • Synthesis and emergent properties of structurally complex materials with nonrandom disorder Xiaokang Wang, Jiahui Li, Qian Chen Matter 6, 2555 (2023)
    • Unravelling crystal growth of nanoparticles Binbin Luo, Ziwei Wang,?Tine Curk, Garrett Watson, Chang Liu, Ahyoung Kim, Zihao Ou, Erik Luijten and Qian Chen Nature Nanotechnology, 18, pages 589–595 (2023)

    2022

    • 4D-STEM mapping of nanoscale structural ordering in cathode materials Wenxiang Chen, Xun Zhan, Reliant Yuan, Saran Pidaparthy, Zhichu Tang, Jian-Min Zuo, Qian Chen Microscopy and Microanalysis, 28(S1), 2608 (2022)
    • Beyond Snowflakes: Heterogeneity in Nanomaterials Qian Chen Nano Letter, 22 (1), pp 3-5 (2022)
    • Chiral Assemblies of Pinwheel Superlattices on Substrates Shan Zhou, Jiahui Li, Jun Lu, Haihua Liu, Ji-Young Kim, Ahyoung Kim, Lehan Yao, Chang Liu, Chang Qian, Zachary D. Hood, Xiaoying Lin, Wenxiang Chen, Thomas E. Gage, Ilke Arslan, Alex Travesset, Kai Sun, Nicholas A. Kotov, and Qian Chen Nature, 612, pages 259–265 (2022)
    • Chiral emergence in multistep hierarchical assembly of achiral conjugated polymers Kyung Sun Park, Zhengyuan Xue, Bijal B. Patel, Hyosung An, Justin J. Kwok, Prapti Kafle, Qian Chen, Diwakar Shukla and Ying Diao Nature Communications, 13, 2738 (2022)
    • Electrochemical generation of birnessite MnO2 nanoflowers for intercalation of Mg2+ ions Cheng Zhang, Xun Zhan, Talha Al-Zoubi, Yanling Ma, Pei-Chieh Shih, Fangfang Wang, Wenxiang Chen, Saran Pidaparthy, Ryan M Stephens, Qian Chen, Jian-Min Zuo, Hong Yang Nano Energy, 102, 107696 (2022)
    • Engineering Particle Size for Multivalent Ion Intercalation: Implications for Ion Battery Systems Wenxiang Chen, Zhichu Tang, and Qian Chen ACS Applied Nano Materials, 5 (5), 5983–5992 (2022)
    • Formation and impact of nanoscopic oriented phase domains in electrochemical crystalline electrodes Wenxiang Chen, Xun Zhan, Renliang Yuan, Saran Pidaparthy, Adrian Xiao Bin Yong, Hyosung An, Zhichu Tang, Kaijun Yin, Arghya Patra, Heonjae Jeong, Cheng Zhang, Kim Ta, Zachary W. Riedel, Ryan M. Stephens, Daniel P. Shoemaker, Hong Yang, Andrew A. Gewirth, Paul V. Braun, Elif Ertekin, Jian-Min Zuo, and Qian Chen Nature Materials, 22, pages 92–99 (2022)
    • Laser-scribed conductive, photoactive transition metal oxide on soft elastomers for Janus on-skin electronics and soft actuators Ganggang Zhao, Yun Ling, Yajuan Su, Zanyu Chen, Cherian J Mathai, Ogheneobarome Emeje, Alexander Brown, Dinesh Reddy Alla, Jie Huang, Chansong Kim, Qian Chen, Xiaoqing He, David Stalla, Yadong Xu, Zehua Chen, Pai-Yen Chen, Shubhra Gangopadhyay, Jingwei Xie, Zheng Yan Science Advances, 8 (25), abp9734 (2022)
    • Machine learning based tracking of single nanoparticle vibrations from a projected 3D moiré lattice Chang Liu, Lehan Yao, Qian Chen Microscopy and Microanalysis, 28(S1), 94 (2022)
    • Mechanism and Performance Relevance of Nanomorphogenesis in Polyamide Films Revealed by Quantitative 3D Imaging and Machine Learning Hyosung An, John W. Smith, Bingqiang Ji, Stephen Cotty, Shan Zhou, Lehan Yao, Falon C. Kalutantirige, Wenxiang Chen, Zihao Ou, Xiao Su, Jie Feng, and Qian Chen Science Advances, 8 (8), eabk188 (2022)
    • Quantifying structural heterogeneity in individual CsPbBr3 quantum dot superlattices Daniel E Clark, Victoria A Lumsargis, Daria D Blach, Kuixin Zhu, Alexander J Shumski, Lehan Yao, Qian Chen, Libai Huang, Christina W Li Chemistry of Materials , 34, 10200 (2022)
    • Seeking regularity from irregularity: Unveiling the synthesis?nanomorphology relationships of heterogeneous nanomaterials using unsupervised machine learning Lehan Yao, Hyosung An, Shan Zhou, Ahyoung Kim, Erik Luijten, and Qian Chen Nanoscale, 14, 16479 (2022)
    • Self-assembly of repetitive segment and random segment polymer architectures Hao Yu, Falon C Kalutantirige, Lehan Yao, Charles M Schroeder, Qian Chen, and Jeffrey S Moore ACS Macro Letters, 11 (12), 1366–1372 (2022)
    • Size-Dependent Reaction Mechanism of ?-MnO2 Particles as Cathodes in Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries Zhichu Tang, Wenxiang Chen, Zhiheng Lyu, and Qian Chen Energy Material Advances, 2022, 9765710 (2022)
    • Structural characterization of gold nanoparticles using liquid-phase 4D-STEM Oliver Lin, Chang Liu, Wenxiang Chen, Jian-Min Zuo, Qian Chen Microscopy and Microanalysis, 28(S1), 1860 (2022)
    • Symmetry-breaking in patch formation on triangular gold nanoparticles by asymmetric polymer grafting Ahyoung Kim, Thi Vo, Hyosung An, Progna Banerjee, Lehan Yao, Shan Zhou, Chansong Kim, Delia J. Milliron, Sharon C. Glotzer,* and Qian Chen Nature Communications, 13, 6774 (2022)
    • The role of solid solutions in iron phosphate-based electrodes for selective electrochemical lithium extraction Gangbin Yan, George Kim, Renliang Yuan, Eli Hoenig, Fengyuan Shi, Wenxiang Chen, Yu Han, Qian Chen, Jian-Min Zuo, Wei Chen, Chong Liu Nature Communications, 13, 4579 (2022)

    2021

    • Direct imaging on the deformation and sintering of polymeric particles at the nanoscale by liquid-phase TEM Chang Liu, Zihao Ou, Qian Chen* Microscopy and Microanalysis, 27 (S1), 2630 (2021)
    • Enabling Low-dose Liquid-phase TEM with Advanced Signal Processing, Machine Learning, and Molecular Simulation John W. Smith, and Qian Chen* Microscopy and Microanalysis, 27 (S1), pp 1314-1315 (2021)
    • Formation and surface melting of nanoparticle superlattices in a solution Ahyoung Kim, Chang Liu, Erik Luijten and Qian Chen* Microscopy and Microanalysis, 27 (S1), pp 1244-1245 (2021)
    • Integrating machine learning with liquid-phase TEM imaging to study nanoscale crystallization and macromolecular heterogeneity Chang Qian, Lehan Yao, Chang Liu, John W. Smith and Qian Chen Microscopy and Microanalysis, 27 (S2), pp 37-38 (2021)
    • Near quantitative synthesis of urea macrocycles enabled by bulky N-substituent Yingfeng Yang, Hanze Ying, Zhixia Li, Jiang Wang, Yingying Chen, Binbin Luo, Danielle L. Gray, Andrew Ferguson, Qian Chen, Y. Z and Jianjun Cheng Nature Communications, 12, 1572 (2021)
    • Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations to Understand Electron Beam Interactions with Macromolecules in Liquid-phase Transmission Electron Microscopy John W. Smith, Chang Liu, and Qian Chen Microscopy and Microanalysis, 27 (S1), pp 2892-2893 (2021)

    2020

    • “Colloid–Atom Duality” in the Assembly Dynamics of Concave Gold Nanoarrows Chang Liu, Zihao Ou, Fucheng Guo, Binbin Luo, Wenxiang Chen, Limin Qi, and Qian Chen Journal of the American Chemical Society, 142 (27), pp 11669-11673 (2020)
    • Charting the quantitative relationship between two-dimensional morphology parameters of polyamide membranes and synthesis conditions Hyosung An, John W. Smith, Wenxiang Chen, Zihao Ou and Qian Chen Molecular Systems Design and Engineering, 5, pp 102-109 (2020)
    • Imaging how thermal capillary waves and anisotropic interfacial stiffness shape nanoparticle supracrystals Zihao Ou, Lehan Yao, Hyosung An, Bonan Shen and Qian Chen Nature Communications, 11, 4555 (2020)
    • Interfacial crystallization under DNA control Chang Liu, and Qian Chen Nature Materials, 19, pp 704–705 (2020)
    • Kinetic pathways of crystallization at the nanoscale Zihao Ou, Ziwei Wang, Binbin Luo, Erik Luijten, and Qian Chen Nature Materials, 19, pp 450–455 (2020)
    • Liquid-phase Electron Microscopy Imaging of Cellular and Biomolecular Systems John W. Smith and Qian Chen Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 8, pp 8490-8506 (2020)
    • Machine Learning to Reveal Nanoparticle Dynamics from Liquid-Phase TEM Videos Lehan Yao, Zihao Ou, Binbin Luo, Cong Xu, and Qian Chen ACS Central Science, 6 (8), pp 1421-1430 (2020)
    • Mechanistic insight into gold nanorod transformation in nanoscale confinement of ZIF-8 Cheongwon Bae, Jaedeok Lee, Lehan Yao, Suhyeon Park, Yeonju Lee, Jieun Lee, Qian Chen and Juyeong Kim Nano Research, 14, pp 66–73 (2020)
    • Monolithic mtesla-level magnetic induction by self-rolled-up membrane technology Wen Huang, Zhendong Yang, Mark D. Kraman, Qingyi Wang, Zihao Ou, Miguel Muñoz Rojo, Ananth Saran Yalamarthy, Victoria Chen, Feifei Lian, Jimmy H. Ni, Siyu Liu, Haotian Yu, Lei Sang, Julian Michaels, Dane J. Sievers, J. Gary Eden, Paul V. Braun, Qian Chen, Songbin Gong, Debbie G. Senesky, Eric Pop and Xiuling Li Science Advances, 6 (3), eaay4508 (2020)
    • Nanoscale Cinematography of Soft Matter System under Liquid-Phase TEM Zihao Ou, Chang Liu, Lehan Yao, and Qian Chen Accounts of Materials Research, 1 (1), pp 41–52 (2020)
    • Nucleation, growth, and superlattice formation of nanocrystals observed in liquid cell transmission electron microscopy Qian Chen, Jong Min Yuk, Matthew R. Hauwiller, Jungjae Park, Kyun Seong Dae, Jae Sung Kim and A. Paul Alivisatos MRS Bulletin, 45 (9), pp 713-726 (2020)
    • Polymer-Peptide Conjugates Convert Amyloid into Protein Nanobundles through Fragmentation and Lateral Association John W. Smith, Xing Jiang, Hyosung An, Alexander M. Barclay, Giuseppe Licari, Emad Tajkhorshid, Edwin G. Moore, Chad M. Rienstra, Jeffrey S. Moore, and Qian Chen ACS Applied Nano Materials, 3(2), pp 937-945 (2020)

    2019

    • Determination of Crystallinity in Li1-xMgxMn2O4 Nanocrystals Based on Diffraction Patterns Correlation Analysis and Strain Mapping Xun Zhan, Renliang Yuan , Wenxiang Chen, Qian Chen and Jian-Min Zuo Microscopy and Microanalysis, 25 (S2), pp 1972-1973 (2019)
    • Effects of Particle Size on Mg2+ Ion Intercalation into ?-MnO2 Cathode Materials Wenxiang Chen, Xun Zhan, Binbin Luo, Zihao Ou, Pei-Chieh Shih, Lehan Yao, Saran Pidaparthy, Arghya Patra, Hyosung An, Paul V. Braun, Ryan M. Stephens, Hong Yang, Jian-Min Zuo* and Qian Chen* Nano Letters, 19, pp 4712-4720 (2019)
    • Hierarchical self-assembly of 3D lattices from polydisperse anisometric colloids Binbin Luo, Ahyoung Kim, John W. Smith, Zihao Ou, Zixuan Wu, Juyeong Kim and Qian Chen Nature Communications, 10, 1815 (2019)
    • Liquid-phase TEM imaging of self-assembly pathways of anisotropic nanoparticles Zihao Ou, Binbin Luo, Chang Liu, and Qian Chen* Microscopy and Microanalysis, 25 (S2), pp 1414-1415 (2019)
    • Multivalent Polymer–Peptide Conjugates: A General Platform for Inhibiting Amyloid Beta Peptide Aggregation Xing Jiang, Abigail J. Halmes, Giuseppe Licari, John W. Smith, Yang Song, Edwin G. Moore, Qian Chen, Emad Tajkhorshid, Chad M. Rienstra, Jeffrey S. Moore ACS Macro Letters, 8, pp 1365-1371 (2019)
    • Real-time Electron Microscopy of Protein Nanodiscs in Graphene Liquid Cells John W. Smith, Lauren N. Carnevale, Aditi Das and Qian Chen Microscopy and Microanalysis, 25 (S2), pp 1498-1499 (2019)
    • Tip-Patched Nanoprisms from Formation of Ligand Islands Ahyoung Kim, Shan Zhou, Lehan Yao, Stacey Ni, Binbin Luo, Charles E Sing, and Qian Chen Journal of the American Chemical Society, 141 (30), pp 11796-11800 (2019)
    • Unraveling the Morphology–Function Relationships of Polyamide Membranes Using Quantitative Electron Tomography Xiaohui Song, John W. Smith, Juyeong Kim, Nestor J. Zaluzec, Wenxiang Chen, Hyosung An, Jordan M. Dennison, David G. Cahill, Matthew A. Kulzick, and Qian Chen ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces 11 (8), pp 8517–8526 (2019).