Yuning Li

Dr. Yuning Li is a Chemical Engineering Professor and a researcher in the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Waterloo.

His research group studies optoelectronic materials that are suitable for the mass production of electronics using printing technologies. There is an emphasis on the development of printable electronic materials (polymers and nanomaterials) used in thin film transistors (for flexible displays, smart labels, chemo-/bio-sensors, themoelectrics, and memory devices), photovoltaics (for solar cells and photodetectors), and batteries.

Professor Li has been the co-recipient of several awards including the 3rd Annual national Aeronautics and Space administration (NASA) Nanotech Briefs Nano 50™ Awards for Printed Organic Electronics in the Technologies category in 2007. So far he has authored over 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Professor Li has filed over 120 US patent applications with 75 granted.

• Organic and polymer semiconductors, Organic thin film transistors, Organic solar cells, Organic photovoltaics, Printed electronics, Printable conductive inks, Polymer synthesis, Nanomaterials, Electronic materials, Polymer solar cells, Polymer bulk-heterojunction photovoltaics, Small molecule-based OPV, Dye-sensitized Solar Cells, Organic Light-Emitting Diodes, Chemical/biosensors and photo-detectors, Low Temperature-processable Conductive inks, Fabrications and Characterization of Organic Electronics, Internet of Things (IoT), Nanotechnology,

• 1999, Doctorate Polymer materials, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan

• 1988, Master's Polymer materials, Dalian University of Technology, China

• 1985, Bachelor's Polymer materials, Dalian University of Technology, China

• CHE 241 - Materials Science and Engineering
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024
• CHE 330 - Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
• CHE 640 - Principles of Polymer Science
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023
• ECE 109 - Materials Chemistry for Engineers
  • Taught in 2020, 2024
• NANO 600 - Introduction to Nanotechnology
  • Taught in 2025

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

• He, Keqiang and Kumar, Pankaj and Yuan, Yi and Zhang, Zhifang and Li, Xu and Liu, Haitao and Wang, Jinliang and Li, Yuning, A Wide Bandgap Polymer Donor Composed of Benzodithiophene and Oxime-Substituted Thiophene for High-Performance Organic Solar Cells, ACS Applied Materials \\& Interfaces, , 2021

• Xi, Guan and Xiao, Min and Wang, Shuanjin and Han, Dongmei and Li, Yuning and Meng, Yuezhong, Polymer-Based Solid Electrolytes: Material Selection, Design, and Application, Advanced Functional Materials, 2007598, 2021

• He, Keqiang and Kumar, Pankaj and Yuan, Yi and Li, Yuning, Wide bandgap polymer donors for high efficiency non-fullerene acceptor based organic solar cells, Materials Advances, 115, 2021

• Zhong, Lei and Wang, Shuanjin and Xiao, Min and Liu, Wei and Han, Dongmei and Li, Zhifeng and Qin, Jiaxiang and Li, Yuning and Zhang, Shichao and Huang, Sheng and others, Addressing interface elimination: boosting comprehensive performance of all-solid-state Li-S battery, Energy Storage Materials, , 2021

• Binaeian, Ehsan and Li, Yuning and Yuan, Daqiang, Improving ammonia uptake performance of zirconium-based metal-organic frameworks through open metal site insertion strategy, Chemical Engineering Journal, 129655, 2021

• Researchers unveil solar-powered desalination breakthrough
• Researchers design smart fabric to harvest energy