摘要：
Yuan’s  research interests focus on synthesizing carbon nanomaterials with well-defined atomic structures and exploring their novel applications. Three research areas will be introduced in my talk. I will focus on the first two parts. First, we demonstrated the feasibility of manipulating the chiral (n,m) distribution of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) though novel catalysts. Sulfur doped cobalt catalysts were developed to selectively grow large-diameter (9,8) single walled carbon nanotubes at 1.17 nm (JACS, 2010, 16747; ACS Nano, 2013, 614; Journal of Catalysis, 2013, 91; Chemical Communications, 2013, 2031). Theoretical simulation has also been used to better understand the chirality selectivity in SWCNT growth (ACS Nano, 2010, 4, 939; Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2011, 2, 1009; Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2012, 116, 11709). Second, we synthesized several novel nanocarbon composites for energy storage and electrocatalysts (Energy & Environmental Science, 2011, 4, 4220; Nanoscale, 2013, 5, 3457; Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2013, 1, 11061; Nanoscale, 2013, 5, 11108). Last, we showed that several factors, including metallicity, dispersibility and size, govern the antibacterial activity of one-dimensional SWCNTs and two-dimensional graphene based materials (ACS Nano, 2009, 3891; Nanoscale, 2010, 2744; ACS Nano, 2011, 6971, Langmuir, 2012, 12364), which provides useful insights for developing strategies to increase their application potentials while minimize their environmental and health risks.

A brief bio:
Associate Professor Yuan Chen obtained his B.E. in Chemical Engineering and M.E. in Biochemical Engineering at Tsinghua University in 1999 and 2001, respectively, and completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering with Prof. Lisa Pfefferle and Prof. Gary Haller at Yale University in 2005. He joined the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering (SCBE) in Nanyang Technological University as an Assistant Professor in 2005. He was promoted to a tenured Associate Professor in 2010. He was visiting Associate Professor at Brown University in 2010 and visiting Chair Professor at Tianjin University of Technology in China since 2011. He received Young Scientist Awards by Singapore National Academy of Science in 2011. He serves as Head of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Division in SCBE since July 2011.