Institute of Materials Research & Center of Double Helix
Dr. Lei is an assistant professor at the Institute of Materials Research, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School (SIGS) since Dec. 2021. Before joining Tsinghua SIGS, Dr. Lei was a post-doctoral scholar in Prof.Mauricio Terrones` lab at Physics Department at Penn State (USA). Dr. Lei obtained her PH.D. from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State in 2019, and her M.A./B.S. from Tsinghua University in 2013 and 2011, respectively. Her research dedicated in defect engineering in 2D materials: 1) Developed universal approaches to introduce defects in 2D materials; 2) Utilized the atomic-scale defects to activate the basal plane reactivities of 2D materials, and proposed a multi-scale strategy to understand the correlation between the reactivities and the atomic-scale defects; 3) Explored the application of defects in 2D materials for bio-sensing, DNA cleavage, and anti-bacterial coating. She has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers on top-tier journals including Materials Today, Science Advances, Advanced Materials, ACS Nano, Small, PNAS, Nature Materials etc. She is also active reviewer for journals including Carbon, 2D Materials, ACS Nano, ACS Applied Nano Materials, NPJ 2D Materials and Applications, etc.
Extensive research efforts have been dedicated to the field of two-dimensional (2D) materials in a short period of time. From semi-metallic graphene, to semiconducting MoS2, to insulating hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), 2D materials provide a wide range of physicochemical properties that can be engineered for diverse applications. Recently, defect engineering has emerged as a primary approach to tailor the physiochemical properties and further extend the functionalities of 2D materials. Comprehensive understanding between the atomic-scale defects and the effects on the physio-chemical properties is challenging and essential for the materials community to design multi-functional 2D materials. It is also equally important to develop scalable approaches to control and tailor the defect types and concentration. With the urgency, I have dedicated in defect engineering in 2D materials: 1) Developed universal approaches to introduce defects in 2D materials; 2) Utilized the atomic-scale defects to activate the basal plane reactivities of 2D materials, and proposed a multi-scale strategy to understand the correlation between the reactivities and the atomic-scale defects; 3) Explored the application of defects in 2D materials for bio-sensing, DNA cleavage, and anti-bacterial coating. Overall, the work aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the synthesis, characterization, properties, and application of 2D materials’ defects in the context of bio-applications.
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