Junjie Niu

Richard and Joanne Grigg Professorship
Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering

Prior to coming to the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Junjie Niu was a Postdoctoral Associate in Departments of Nuclear & Materials Science and Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science in 2005. He was a faculty member at Shanghai JiaoTong University (SJTU) before joining Prof. Yury Gogotsi's group at Drexel as a Postdoc. From 2011 to 2014, he moved to Prof. Ju Li's group at UPenn and MIT, developing a new lab and leading experimental research. Dr. Niu’s interdisciplinary research includes understanding fundamental science in physics/chemistry, and engineering materials in applications of energy storage, water treatments and chemo-mechanics.

Niu has published more than 80 papers in prestigious journals including Nature sister journals--Nature Nanotechnology and Nature Communications and two book chapters; By 3/2022, his total citation was 11,500+ times with a H-index of 44 and i10 index of 102.

Education

PhD (Combined with MS), Materials Physics and Chemistry, Zhejiang University, China, 2005
BS, Material Science, Shandong Institute of Light Industry, China, 2000

Research Interests

Next-generation lithium-ion and beyond batteries
NMC based battery and polymer recycling
Fundamental mechanism of electro-chemo-mechanical property of materials using in-situ TEM observations
Water-energy nexus: self-cleaning, water purification including bacteria/biofilm/POPs/chemicals/bacteria/chloroform removal

Publications

M Samuel, M Shang, Junjie Niu. Photocatalytic degradation of perfluoroalkyl substances in water by using a duo-functional tri-metallic-oxide hybrid catalyst. Chemosphere, 293 (2022) 133568.
M Samuel, S Moghaddam, M Shang, Junjie Niu. A flexible anti-biofilm hygiene coating for water devices. ACS Applied Bio Materials, 5 (2022) 3991–3998.
M Shang, M Samuel, S Biswas, Junjie Niu. Dual-layered SiO₂nanoparticles and epoxy polymers for self-cleaning coatings on ceramic glaze. ACS Applied Nano Materials. 5 (2022) 15934–15941.
M Shang, X Chen, Junjie Niu. Nickel-rich layered LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 with dual gradients on both primary and secondary particles in lithium-ion batteries. Cell Reports Physical Science, Cell Press, 3 (2022) 100767.
X Chen, M Shang, Junjie Niu. Pre-Solid Electrolyte Interphase-Covered Li Metal Anode with Improved Electro-Chemo-Mechanical Reliability in High-Energy-Density Batteries. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 13 (2021) 34064-34071.
Y Zheng, X Li, W Fullerton, Q Qian, M Shang, Junjie Niu, C Y Li. Interpenetrating Network-Based Hybrid Solid and Gel Electrolytes for High Voltage Lithium Metal Batteries. ACS Applied Energy Materials,4 (2021) 5639-5648.
Z Hood, X Chen, R Sacci, X Liu, G Veith, Y Mo, Junjie Niu, N Dudney, M Chi. Elucidating interfacial stability between lithium metal anode and LiPON via in situ electron microscopy. Nano Letters,21 (2021) 151-157.
X Li, Y Zheng, Y Duan, M Shang, Junjie Niu, C Li. Designing Comb-Chain Crosslinker-Based Solid Polymer Electrolytes for Additive-Free All-Solid-State Lithium Metal Batteries. Nano Letters,20 (2020), 6914-6921.
X Chen, M Shang, Junjie Niu. Inter-layer-calated thin Li metal electrode with improved battery capacity retention and dendrite suppression. Nano Letters,20 (2020), 2639-2646.
M Shang, X Chen, B Li, Junjie Niu. A fast charge/discharge and wide-temperature battery with germanium oxide layer on TiCA3 MXene matrix as anode. ACS Nano,14 (2020), 3678-3686.
S Klimchuk, M Shang, M Samuel, Junjie Niu. A robust hybrid hydrophilic coating on HDPE surface with enhanced mechanical property. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces,12 (2020), 32017-32022.
Y Lu, M Shang, X, Chen, P Nezhad, Junjie Niu, Largely improved battery performance using micro-sized silicon skeleton caged by polypyrrole as anode. ACS Nano,13 (2019), 12032-12041.
X Chen, Y Lv, M Shang, Junjie Niu. Iron controllable lithium into lithiotropic carbon fiber fabric: a novel Li metal anode with improved cyclability and dendrite suppression. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 11 (2019), 21584-21592.
Y Ye, S Klimchuk, M Shang, K McDonald, Junjie Niu. Acoustic bubble suppression by constructing a hydrophilic coating on HDPE surface. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces,11(2019), 16944-16950.
S Kang, Xi Chen, and Junjie Niu. Sn wears super skin: a new design for long cycling batteries. Nano Letters, 18 (2018) 467-474.
J Liu, Xi Chen, J Kim, Q Zheng, H Ning, P Sun, X Huang, J Liu, Junjie Niu, and P. Braun. High volumetric capacity three-dimensionally sphere-caged secondary battery anodes. Nano Letters, 16 (2016) 4501-4507.
Junjie Niu, A Kushima, X Qian, L Qi, K Xiang, YM Chiang, J Li. In situ observation of random solid solution zone in LiFePO4electrode. Nano Letters, 14 (2014) 4005-4010.
Junjie Niu, A. Kushima, M. Li, Z. Wang, W. Li, C. Wang, J. Li, Scalable synthesis of sulfur nanosponge cathode for lithium-sulfur battery with improved cyclability.Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2 (2014) 19788-19796.
V Presser, L Zhang, Junjie Niu, et al. Flexible carbide-derived carbon nano-felts with ultra-high power handling capability.Advanced Energy Materials, 1 (2011) 423-430. (plus Front Cover)
M Nagui, M Kurtoglu, V Presser, J Lu, Junjie Niu, et al. Two-dimensional nanocrystals produced by exfoliation of Ti3AlC2.Advanced Materials, 23 (2011) 4248-4253. (plus Front Cover)
Xia, J Wang, X Wang, Junjie Niu, et al. Synthesis and application of graphitic carbon with high surface area.Advanced Functional Materials, 18 (2008) 1790-1798.
J Wang, L Zhang, Junjie Niu, et al. Synthesis of high surface area, water-dispersible graphitic carbon nanocages by an in situ template approach.Chemistry of Materials, 19 (2007) 453-459.
R Singhal, Z Orynbayeva, R Sundaram, Junjie Niu, et al. Multifunctional nanotube-based cellular endoscopes.Nature Nanotechnology, 6 (2011) 57-64.
Junjie Niu, et al. Carbon nanotube-tipped endoscope for in situ intracellular surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.Small, 7 (2011) 540-545.
J Huang, Y Lo, Junjie Niu, et al. Nanowire liquid pumps.Nature Nanotechnology, 8 (2013) 277-281.

Awards, Honors, and Societies

STEM Forward Engineer of the Year (2024)
Niu group has received several millions of dollars research grants, which are sponsored by a variety of agencies including federal agencies such as NSF and industries.
Dr.Niu has received a series of awards including but not limited to, 2020 Office of Research/ UWM Foundation Research Award, Ignite Grant Program for Applied Research Award for 2020-2021, MRS Best Presentation Award, 2019, Outstanding Research Award, 2019.
UWMF Technology Licensing Award, 2018, and Shanghai “ChenGuang” Scholar (2007).