Chemistry Department Faculty
Mengyu Gao
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Mengyu Gao
Ph.D.
Contact
Merkert Center
Telephone: 617-552-1735
Email: mengyu.gao@bc.edu
ORCID 0000-0003-1385-7364
Education
- Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
- B.S.E., Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Research Interests
Low-dimensional electronic materials; optical and electron microscopy; nanoelectronics; condensed-matter physics and chemistry; electrochemistry.
Research
Our research seeks to understand and control how electrons, ions, and matter interact at nanoscale interfaces, where many of the most important processes in energy conversion, electronics, and quantum materials emerge. We pioneer advanced synthesis, electron transport, microscopy, and device integration to discover materials that host molecular degree of freedom, with their dynamic energy and electron transport behaviors probed in situ. A central theme of the group is the development of molecularly programmable interfaces, where molecular structure, electrostatic environments, and nanoscale geometry are engineered to create new physical and chemical functionality. To accelerate discovery, we integrate higher-level automation and data-driven workflows that enable rapid synthesis, characterization, and analysis across a wide range of electronic and energy systems – from ion transport in battery materials to microscopic structural evolution in photovoltaics, from identifying catalyticactive sites to interfacial charge transfer in novel transistors.
REPRESENTATIVE KEY PUBLICATIONS
- Gao, M.; Hong, H.; Fan, S.; Chowdhury, T.; Naqvi, Z.; Ge, J.; Liang, C.; Han, Y.; Guisinger, N. P.; Qiu, Y.; Kim, D. H.; Vaikuntanathan, S.; Liu, C.; Park, J. Room-temperature charge localization in ion-coupled bilayer transistors. Science 2025, 390, 356–360.
- Chen, P.-C.†; Gao, M.†; McCandler, C. A.†; Song, C.; Jin, J.; Yang, Y.; Maulana, A. L.; Persson, K. A.; Yang, P. Complete Miscibility of Immiscible Elements at the Nanometre Scale. Nat. Nanotechnol. 2024, 6 (19), 775–781.
- Gao, M.; Park, Y.; Jin, J.; Chen, P-C.; DeVyldere, H.; Yang, Y.; Song, C.; Lin, Z.; Zhao, Q.; Siron M.; Scott, M. C.; Limmer, D. T.; Yang, P., Direct Observation of Transient Structural Dynamics of Atomically Thin Halide Perovskite Nanowires. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 4800–4807.
- Zhu, C.†; Jin, J.†; Gao, M.†; Odde, A. M.; Folgueras, M. C.; Zhang, Y.; Lin, C.-K.; Yang, P., Supramolecular Assembly of Halide Perovskite Building Blocks. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144 (27), 12450–12458.
- Gao, M.; Zhang, Y.; Lin, Z.; Jin, J.; Folgueras, M.; Yang P., The Making of a Reconfigurable Semiconductor with a Soft Ionic Lattice. Matter 2021, 4 (12), 3874–3896.
- Gao, M.; Liu, H.; Yu, S.; Louisia, S.; Zhang, Y.; Nenon, D. P.; Alivisatos, A. P.; Yang, P. Scaling Laws of Exciton Recombination Kinetics in Low Dimensional Halide Perovskite Nanostructures. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 8871–8879.