Zhu, Yuanyuan

Yuanyuan Zhu

Associate Professor, Materials Science & Engineering

Email yuanyuan.2.zhu@uconn.edu
Phone (860) 486-2378
Mailing Address Materials Science and Engineering 25 King Hill Road, Unit 3136 University of Connecticut Storrs, CT 06269-3136
Campus Storrs
Link Department Page
Google Scholar Link

Brief Bio

Dr. Yuanyuan Zhu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering and the Institute of Materials Science at the University of Connecticut (UConn). She also serves as the Director of the Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) Honors Program and Director of the UConn DENSsolutions Center for IN-siTu/Operando Electron Microscopy (InToEM) at UConn Tech Park. She earned her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. Her research interests include advanced materials for fusion energy, heterogeneous catalysts, materials transformation under extreme conditions, in-situ/operando transmission electron microscopy, and deep learning for materials science. She is the recipient of several awards, including the NSF Early Career award (2023) and the DOE Early Career award

  • Advanced Materials for Fusion Energy and Reactor Safety
  • Heterogenous Catalysts for Clean Energy
  • Materials Transformation Under Extreme Conditions
  • In-situ/Operando Transmission Electron Microscopy
  • Deep Learning for Materials Science
  • K. Pazdernik, N. L. LaHaye, C. M. Artman, Y. Zhu, Microstructural classification of unirradiated LiAlO2 pellets by deep learning methods. Computational Materials Science, 181, 2020, 109728
  • M. Hu, L. Jin, Y. Zhu, L. Zhang, X. Lu, P. Kerns, X. Su, S. Cao, P. Gao, S. L. Suib, J. He. Self-limiting growth of ligand-free ultrasmall bimetallic nanoparticles on carbon through under temperature reduction for highly efficient methanol electrooxidation and selective hydrogenation. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 264, 2020, 118553
  • M. Hu, W. Yang, H. Tan, L. Jin, L. Zhang, P. Kerns, Y. Dang, S. Dissanayake, S. Schaefer, B. Liu*, Y. Zhu*, S. L. Suib*, J. He*, Template-free Synthesis of Mesoporous and Crystalline Transition Metal Oxide Nanoplates with Abundant Surface Defects. Matter, 2, 2020, 1244-1259
  • G. Roberts, S. Y. Haile, R. Sainju, D. J. Edwards, B. Hutchinson, Y. Zhu*, Deep Learning for Semantic Segmentation of Defects in Advanced STEM Images of Steels. Scientific reports, 9, 2019, 1-12
  • W. Jiang, Y. Zhu, L. Zhang, D. J. Edwards, N. R. Overman, G. Nandipati, W. Setyawan, C. H. Henager Jr., & R. J. Kurtz, Dose Rate Effects on Disordering Rate and Void Growth in Self-Ion Irradiated Tungsten. Available at SSRN 3427545, 2019
  • D. Melzer, G. Mestl, K. Wanninger, Y. Zhu, N. D. Browning, M. Sanchez-Sanchez1, J. A. Lercher, Design and synthesis of highly active MoVTeNb-oxides for ethane oxidative dehydrogenation, Nature Communication, 10, 2019, 1-9
  • Y. Zhu, C. Ophus, M. B. Toloczko, D. J. Edwards, Towards bend-contour-free dislocation imaging via diffraction contrast STEM, Ultramicroscopy 193, 2018, 12-23
  • Y. Zhu, P. V. Sushko, E. Jensen, L. Kovarik, D. Melzer, C. Ophus, M. Sanchez-Sanchez, J. A. Lercher and N. D. Browning, Formation of Oxygen Radical Sites on MoVNbTeOx by Cooperative Electron Redistribution, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 139, 2017, 12342-12345
  • Y. Zhu, N. D. Browning, The Role of Gas Environment in Determining Image Contrast and Resolution in In-situ Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy. Chemcatchem, 9, 2017, 3478-3485
  • Y. Zhu, Q. M. Ramasse, M. Brorson, P. G. Moses, L. P. Hansen, H. Topsøe, C. F. Kisielowski and S. Helveg, Location of Co and Ni promoter atoms in multi-layer MoS2 nanocrystals for hydrotreating catalysis. Catalysis Today, 261, 2016, 75-81
    Y. Zhu, C. J. Munro, M. J. Olszta, D. J. Edwards, A. B. Braunschweig, M. R. Knecht and N. D. Browning, Dose-rate controlled energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopic mapping of the metallic components in a biohybrid nanosystem. Semiconductor Science and Technology, 31, 2016, 084002-084008
  • D. Melzer, P. Xu, D. Hartmann, Y. Zhu, N. D. Browning, M. Sanchez-Sanchez and J. A. Lercher, Atomic-scale determination of active facets on the MoVTeNb oxide M1 phase and their intrinsic catalytic activity for ethane oxidative dehydrogenation. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 55, 2016, 8873–8877
  • W. Zhang, M. Li, A. Chen, L. Li, Y. Zhu, Z. Xia, P. Lu, P. Boullay, L. Wu, Y. Zhu, J. L MacManus-Driscoll, Q. Jia, H. Zhou, J. Narayan, X. Zhang and H. Wang, Two-dimensional layered oxide structures tailored by self-assembled layer stacking via interfacial strain. ACS applied materials & interfaces, 8, 2016, 16845-16851
  • Y. Zhu, Q. M. Ramasse, M. Brorson, P. G. Moses, L. P. Hansen, C. F. Kisielowski and S. Helveg, Visualizing the stoichiometry of industrial-style Co-Mo-S catalysts with single-atom sensitivity. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 53, 2014, 10723-10727
  • Y. Zhu, L. Chen, J. Ciston and H. Wang, Atomic-Scale Investigations of Intrinsic Chemical Inhomogeneity in Superconducting Fe1.10Te0.45Se0.55 Epitaxial Films. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 117, 2013, 7170-7177
  • Y. Zhu, A. Chen, H. Zhou, J. Narayan, Q. Jia, J. MacManus-Driscoll and H. Wang, Research Updates: Epitaxial strain relaxation and associated interfacial reconstructions: the driving force for creating new structures with integrated functionality. Applied Physics Letters-Materials, 1, 2013, 050702-050713
  • Y. Zhu, C. Ophus, J. Ciston and H. Wang, Interface lattice displacement measurement to 1 pm by geometric phase analysis on aberration-corrected HAADF STEM images. Acta Materialia, 61, 2013, 5646-5663.
  • Y. Zhu, C. Song, A. Minor and H. Wang, Cs-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy investigation of dislocation core configurations at a SrTiO3/MgO heterogeneous interface. Microscopy and Microanalysis, 19, 2013, 706-715
  • Y. Zhu, C. Tsai, J. Wang, H. Wang, C. Varanasi, J. Burke, L.Brunke and P. Barnes, Interfacial defects distribution and strain coupling in the vertically aligned nanocomposite YBa2Cu3O7-x/ BaSnO3 thin films. Journal of Materials Research, 27, 2012, 1763-1769
  • Y. Zhu, C. Tsai and H. Wang, Atomic interface sequence, misfit strain relaxation and intrinsic flux-pinning defects in different YBa2Cu3O7-δ heterogeneous systems. Superconductor Science and Technology, 26, 2013, 025009-0250019