Personal Profile

Ya Yan is currently a professor at the State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. (SICCAS). She received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Northwest University (China) in 2010 and earned her PhD at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in 2015. Her research interests are in the areas of functional electrocatalysts and their application in energy and the environment. As first/corresponding author, she has published over 40 academic papers in Science, Nature Energy, Nature Communications et. al., including 14 ESI highly cited papers, with total citations exceeding 15,000 and an H-index of 53. She has been selected for the Shanghai Municipal Eastern Elite Talent Program (2026), the Shanghai Rising Star Program for Young Scientists (2022), Chenguang Scholar Program (2018), Pujiang Talent Program (2017), and Young Eastern Scholar Program (2016). She was also selected as a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher (2022-2024) and serves as a young editorial board member for Nano-Micro Lett. and Polyoxometalates.

Research Interests

1. Design and synthesis of organic-inorganic hybrid electrocatalytic materials

2. Research on catalytic behavior and mechanisms of electrocatalytic materials

3. Engineering application of high-performance and low-cost electrocatalytic materials

Major Program

1. Design, Synthesis and Long-term Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation Performance of Polyoxometalate-grafted Nickel-Iron Metal-Organic Frameworks (Project No.: 22279159), National Natural Science Foundation of China General Program, RMB 540,000, 2023-2026, Principal Investigator (PI).

2. Design and Synthesis of Metal-Organic Framework Electrocatalytic Materials for Efficient Water Oxidation (Project No.: 22QA1410300), Shanghai Rising Star Program for Young Scientists, RMB 400,000, June 2022-May 2025, PI.

3. Controllable Construction of Nano-Carbon Network Materials for Long-Life Zinc-Air Batteries (Project No.: 22ZR1471900), Shanghai Natural Science Foundation General Program, RMB 200,000, April 2022-March 2025, PI.

4. Preparation and Application of Nano-Electrocatalysts (Project No.: E13ZB313), Talent Program of Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, RMB 1,000,000, April 2021-April 2024, PI.

5. Preparation of Composite Nano-Catalytic Systems Based on Transition Metals and Novel Carbon Materials and Their Water Splitting Performance (Project No.: QD2016013), Shanghai Young Eastern Scholar Program, RMB 600,000, June 2016-May 2019, PI.

Representative Publications

1. Kaihang Yue, Ruihu Lu, Mingbin Gao, Fei Song, Yao Dai, Chenfeng Xia, Bingbao Mei, Hongliang Dong, Ruijuan Qi, Daliang Zhang, Jiangwei Zhang*, Ziyun Wang*, Fuqiang Huang*, Bao Yu Xia,* and Ya Yan *,Polyoxometalated metal-organic framework superstructure for stable water oxidation, Science, 2025, doi:10.1126/science.ads1466 (ESI Highly Cited Paper, ESI Hot Paper).

2. Kaihang Yue, Yanyang Qin, Honghao Huang, Zhuoran Lv, Mingzhi Cai, Yaqiong Su, Fuqiang Huang*, Ya Yan*; Stabilized Cu⁰ -Cu¹⁺ dual sites in a cyanamide framework for selective CO₂ electroreduction to ethylene, Nature Communications, 2024, 15(1): 7820.

3. Yao Dai, Xueyang Tu, Kaihang Yue, Yingjie Wan, Peng Zhao, Xuerong Shi*, Fuqiang Huang*, Ya Yan*, Anti‐dissolving High Entropy Phosphorus Sulfide for Efficient and Durable Seawater Electrolysis, Advanced Functional Materials, 2025, 2417211.

4. Shujiao Yang, Kaihang Yue, Xiaohan Liu, Sisi Li, Haoquan Zheng, Ya Yan*, Rui Cao, Wei Zhang*, Electrocatalytic water oxidation with manganese phosphates, Nature Communications, 2024, 15(1): 1410 (ESI Highly Cited Paper).

5. Chaofan Liu, Xue‐Rong Shi, Kaihang Yue, Peijie Wang, Ke Zhan, Xianying Wang*, Bao Yu Xia*, Ya Yan*; S Species‐Evoked High‐valence Ni^2+δ of the Evolved β-Ni(OH)₂ Electrode for Selective Oxidation of 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural, Advanced Materials, 2023, 35(12):2211177(ESI Highly Cited Paper).

6. Ruiting Liu, Zhenglong Xu*, Fumin Li, Feiyang Chen, Jingya Yu, Ya Yan*, Yu Chen*, Baoyu Xia*, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2022, 52, 5652-5683 (ESI Highly Cited Paper, ESI Hot Paper).