Welcome to Laboratory for Nanomaterials and Multiscale Modeling!

Welcome to the research group website of Prof. Zhenhai Xia at the University of North Texas. Our research is focused on the understanding of basic principles that control mechanical properties and behaviors of materials. We study polymeric, metallic and ceramic materials in composite and thin film forms, and the materials mimicking biological materials such as gecko by combining experiment with theory and computation.

The topics include

  • Ceramic, metal, and polymer matrix micro-/nano-composites
  • Multifunctional materials for sensing and damage detection
  • Catalytic materials for clean energy (fuel cells, batteries ...)
  • Bio-inspired and bio-mimetic materials and bio-nano interfaces
  • Multiscale/multiphysics modeling and simulation
Catalysts for clean energy
Catalysts for clean energy
Structural and functional composites
Structural and functional composites
Bio-inspired materials and design
Bio-inspired materials and design
Multiscale Modeling
Multiscale Modeling

You will find more in-depth information about our ongoing projects and cutting-edge results in corresponding pages of this site.

 

News

  1. Zhenghang Zhao has passed his PhD defense, Congratulations! (4/10/2017)
  2. Dr. Cuixia Liu joined us as a visiting scholar from Xi’an Technological University, Xi’an China. Welcome.(3/10/2017)
  3. Dr. Zhichao Li joined us as a visiting scholar from University of Science and Technology, Beijing. Welcome.(10/5/2016)
  4. Yong Gao has joined us as a Ph.D. Student. Welcome! (9/23)
  5. Nature Energy has published Dr. Xia’s paper: Hydrogen Evolution: Guiding Principles  in News and Views of Nature Energy (9/8/2016).
  6. Dr. Xia’s new book entitled “Biomimetic Principles and Design of Advanced Engineering Materials” has been published by Wiley,  ISBN: 978-1-118-53307-9. (9/6/2016) Read the detail at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781118926253
  7. Dr. Jinlong Tang joined us as a visiting scholar from Southwestern University of Science and Technology. Welcome.(9/5/2016)
  8. Dr. Haitao Jiang joined us as a visiting scholar from Southwestern University of Science and Technology. Welcome.(3/15/2016)
  9. Our work on Robust self-cleaning and micromanipulation capabilities of gecko spatulae and their bio-mimics has been published in Nature Communications. The article was featuredwith  Featured Image on their website and Facebook page by Nature Communications (11/20/2015). Read the story.
  10. Our work with Dr. L. Dai on Carbon nanomaterials as bifunctional catalysts for Metal-air Batteries has been published in Nature Nanotechnology, (4/6/2015).
  11.  Daniel Lin has jointed our groupas a Ph.D. student.Welcome! Congratulation!  (1/2015)
  12.  Jianbing Niu has passed his Ph.D. defense and graduated. Congratulation!  (12/2014)
  13.  Our work with Dr. Jun Lou on MoS2 materials has been published in Nature CommunicationsSeptember 24, 2014.
  14.  Yiyang Wan has jointed our groupas a Ph.D. student.Welcome! Congratulation!  (9/2014)
  15. Zhenghang Zhao has jointed our group  as a Ph.D. student.Welcome! Congratulations!  (6/2014)
  16.  NSF supports our three-year research on "Nanomanufacturing of carbon nanomaterials as catalysts for clean energy conversion".(7/6/2014) 
  17.  NSF supports our 2-year research on Technology translation  of carbon nanomaterials. (7/6/2014) 
  18.  Quan Xu has passed his Ph.D. defense and graduated. Congratulations!  (12/2013)
  19. NSF supports our three-year research on "Smart materials and Interfaces".(7/6/2013)
  20. Our work on X-doped Carbon nanomaterials as catalysts for Fuel Cells has been published in SCIENTIFIC REPORTS June 5, 2013. Read the story.
  21. Lipeng Zhang has passed his Ph.D. defense and graduated. Congratulation!  (5/2013)
  22. Lili Li has passed his Ph.D. defense and graduated at NWPU, China. Congratulation!  She will be a assistant professor at Fujian University of Technology, China (4/2013)
  23. Shihao Hu has passed his Ph.D. defense and graduated. Congratulation! . He continue his research work as postdoctoral research associate at Case Western Reserve University.(5/2012)
  24. Jie Wen has passed his Ph.D. defense and graduated. Congratulation! (11/2011)
  25. AFOSR MURI award on Nanofabrication of 3D tunable Carbon Nanotube Architectures. The team, from five universities, two government research institutes and a private company, has been awarded a Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative grant totaling more than $7 million over five years. (11/2011)
  26. NSF award on catalytic mechanisms of carbon nanomaterials as electrodes in fuel cells (6/2010); Naval SBIR supports our research on ceramic matrix composites (6/2010)
  27. Austen BioInnovation Institute Award: Real-time sensing of nerve strain for nerve injury prevention and diagnosis (2/2010)
  28. Air Force SBIR supports our research on ceramic matrix composites (1/2010)
  29. NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) awarded an AFM/Raman system to support our research on Bio-/Nano- Functional Materials and Devices (9/2009).
  30. Our work on Fuel Cells has been published in SCIENCE February 6, 2009. Read the story in Crain's Cleveland Business, Akron Beacon Journal, U. Akron.
  31. Our work on Gecko-foot-mimetic dry adhesives has been published in SCIENCE October 2008. Read the story.
  32. NSF supports our research on Interfaces in Nanocomposites and Nanoimprinting.
  33. NASA continues its support to the projects on Physics-based multiscale modeling of  multifunctional nanoceramic composites.
  34. NASA GSRP second-year award to Craig Smith for sensing damage in CMCs.

 

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