Yimin Wu, DPhil

Professor Yimin Wu is the inaugural Tang Family Chair in New Energy Materials and Sustainability. Professor Wu’s research focuses on the design of new energy materials for solar fuels and batteries, and novel electronic, photonic, responsive materials for flexible electronics and soft robotics, and energy efficient neuromorphic computing through a deep understanding of energy transduction processes at interfaces. Wu is the director of the Materials Interfaces Foundry (MIF) at the University of Waterloo and serves on the board of directors in Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology. Wu also serves on the editorial board of Energy and Environmental Materials. Wu has authored and co-authored more than 130 peer-reviewed journal papers, which includes Nature, Nature Energy (x 2), Nature communications (x 7), Science Advances, Advanced Materials (x 3). Wu is also listed as an inventor on 10 US/international patents. Wu has delivered over 45 invited lectures across the world in last 5 years.

Wu obtained his DPhil in Materials from the University of Oxford in 2013, focusing on two dimensional quantum materials, thin film devices, and aberration corrected (scanning) transmission electron microscopy. He went to work as a SinBeRise Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and Materials Science Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, focusing on batteries and in situ multimodal characterizations using liquid phase transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron X-ray microscopy. Then, he joined the Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) at Argonne National Laboratory under Argonne Integrated Imaging Initiative, focusing on catalysis, battery and in situ multimodal characterizations using gas/liquid phase transmission electron microscopy, synchrotron X ray nanoprobe, and ultrafast X ray microscopy and spectroscopy. After that, he joined the faculty of University of Illinois at Chicago as an assistant professor of physics (research) and held a joint appointment at the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) at Argonne National Laboratory. In 2019, he joined the University of Waterloo as an assistant professor at Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering and Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2025. He is also cross-appointed to the Department of Chemistry. He has been awarded several prizes including the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University, Ontario Early Researcher Award, Nanoscale Emerging Investigator Award, WIN Research Leaders Award, MIT Technical Review 35 Innovators under 35 Award Finalist, UK Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) Doctoral Prize, Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad, and SinBeRise Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. His research was featured in >350 international news outlets, including Canadian Press, CBC news, Fast company, BNN Bloomberg, and French Science Magazine.

• Sustainable Manufacturing

• Materials Interfaces

• Energy Materials

• Solar Fuels

• CO2 reduction

• Ammonia synthesis

• Batteries

• Plastic recycling and upcycling

• In situ Multimodal Characterizations

• Artificial Intelligence

• Connectivity and Internet of Things

• Electronic and Photonic Materials

• Responsive Materials

• Neuromorphic Computing

• Flexible Electronics and Soft Robotics

• Sensing

• Healthcare

• Nanotechnology

• 2014, SinBeRise Postdoc Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, USA

• 2013, Doctor of Philosophy in Materials, University of Oxford, England, UK

• 2008, Bachelor in Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, China

• The World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University

• Ontario Early Researcher Award, Ministry of Colleges and Universities

• Inaugural Tang Family Chair in New Energy Materials and Sustainability

• Nanoscale Emerging Investigator Award, Royal Society of Chemistry

• Waterloo Institute of Nanotechnology (WIN) Research Leaders Awards

• ME 435 - Industrial Metallurgy
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025
• ME 596 - Special Topics in Mechanical Engineering
  • Taught in 2024
• ME 738 - Special Topics in Materials
  • Taught in 2022
• MTE 111 - Structure and Properties of Materials
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• NANO 600 - Introduction to Nanotechnology
  • Taught in 2021

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Waterloo researchers turning plastic waste into vinegar
• Researchers earn provincial awards for innovation
• From greenhouse gas to green energy
• Researchers transform CO2 into clean fuels
• Professor named to new Tang Family Chair
• Professor part of $24-million energy-storage project
• Researchers awarded $874,000 for tools, equipment
• Researchers awarded $3 million in federal funding
• Turning a new artificial leaf