Teng Cui, PhD (He/Him)

Dr. Teng Cui is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo, and the director of the Extreme Mechanics and Energy Materials Lab - (EM)² Lab. The overarching goal of his research group is to fundamentally understand how materials fail across multiple length and time scales under extreme conditions, and to practically design reliable materials and devices for energy and sustainability applications.

His current research interests include:

1). Solid-state batteries under extreme environments

2). Nanomechanics of low-dimensional materials and interfaces

3). Strain engineering of functional materials

4). Multi-scale and multi-physics characterization techniques

Prior to joining the University of Waterloo, Dr. Cui was a NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow (2021–2025) at Stanford University and SLAC-Stanford Battery Center, where he studied electro-chemo-mechanical coupling and failure mechanisms in solid-state batteries. He obtained his Ph.D. (2020) from the University of Toronto, where he developed an AFM-based method enabling the first mechanical fatigue study of 2D materials. He also obtained his MASc (2016) at University of Toronto, focusing on the mechanical aging of thermoset polymers. He holds a bachelor’s degree (2014) in Engineering Mechanics from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Dr. Cui has authored more than 20 papers in high-impact journals, including Nature Materials, Nature Energy, and Science Advances.

• Solid-state batteries

• Energy storage

• Energy materials

• Nanotechnology

• 2D materials

• Nanomechanics

• Electro-chemo-mechanics

• Fracture

• Fatigue

• Interfacial mechanics

• 2020, Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada

• 2016, M.A.Sc., Mechanical Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada

• 2014, B.Eng., Engineering Mechanics, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China

• T. Cui†, S. Wang†, S. Lee, E. Barks, J. Cattermull, C. Melamed, Z. Jiang, L. Narun, Y-K, Tzeng, S.H. Kim, X. Xu, G. McConohy, P. Wallace, A.C. Lee, X. Cui, J-H Lee, W.C. Chueh, X.W. Gu, Dendrite initiation and deflection in biaxially compressed solid electrolytes, ChemRxiv, DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-33sl7 (2025)

• T. Cui†, S. Mukherjee†, P.M. Sudeep, G. Colas, F. Najafi, J. Tam, P.M. Ajayan, C.V. Singh, Y. Sun and T. Filleter, Fatigue of Graphene, Nature Materials, 19 (2020) 405-411.

• G. McConohy†, X. Xu†, T. Cui†, E. Barks, S. Wang, E. Kaeli, C. Melamed, X.W. Gu, W.C. Chueh, Mechanical regulation of lithium intrusion probability in garnet solid electrolytes, Nature Energy, 8 (2023) 241–250.

• T. Cui, K. Yip, A. Hassan, G. Wang, X. Liu, Y. Sun, T. Filleter, Graphene fatigue through van der Waals interactions, Science Advances, 6 (2020) eabb1335.

• T. Cui†, S. Mukherjee†, M. Onodera, G. Wang, B. Kumral, A. Islam, M. Shayegannia, G. Krishnan, N. Barri, P. Serles, X. Zhang, L. Sassi, J. Tam, N. Bassim, N.P. Kherani, P.M. Ajayan, T. Machida, C.V. Singh, Y. Sun, T. Filleter, Mechanical reliability of monolayer MoS2 and WSe2, Matter, 5 (2022) 2975-2989.

• Scientists illuminate barrier to next-generation battery that charges very quickly
• GRAPHENE CAN WITHSTAND OVER ONE BILLION HIGH-STRESS CYCLES BEFORE FAILING
• Mechanical testing will be key to making thinner, more flexible electronics