Nan

Yao

Professor of the Practice in the Princeton Materials Institute; Director, Imaging and Analysis Center; Senior Research Scholar at the Princeton Materials Institute.

Research interests: Utilizing advanced imaging, diffraction, spectroscopy and in-situ techniques, in tandem with theoretical simulations, to study fundamentals of the structure-composition-processing-property-performance relations in complex materials such as nanostructured materials, biomaterials, organic/inorganic interfaces, block copolymers, catalysts, quasicrystals and functional nanomaterials.

Woman handles strings to extract lithium salts. — Meiqi Yang, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering and one of the study’s lead authors, operates the string-based approach for lithium extraction. Photo by Bumper DeJesus

Better lithium production on a string

Iron's electron orbits are thicker and dimmer than cobalt's, allowing identification of each element — Electron orbits shown in an image made with an atomic force microscope at the Princeton Materials Institute. Images by Princeton University

Like facial recognition for atoms, image distinguishes elements by electron orbitals

Microscope images of iron phthalocyanine molecules before and after removal of carbon monoxide — Researchers measured the mechanical forces applied to break a bond between carbon monoxide and iron phthalocyanine, which appears as a symmetrical cross in scanning probe microscope images taken before and after the bond rupture.

Researchers measure the breakup of a single chemical bond

Yao, director of Imaging and Analysis Center, named AAAS fellow

Three researchers examine a dish of cells in the laboratory — Seeking techniques for long-term storage of mammalian cells at room temperature, molecular biology professor Eszter Posfai, mechanical engineering professor Daniel Cohen and graduate student Lisset Duran Rosario are investigating the unique molecular machinery of the water bear, a micro-sized animal resilient enough to survive extreme environments. (This photo was taken before the social distancing guidelines put in place during the COVID-19 crisis.) Photo by Sameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy

Innovation funds propel research to improve health, computing and sustainability

Graduate students discuss research at conference poster session

Data tools give microscopes unprecedented views of living and physical systems

Researchers, dressed in white suits, work in "clean room" lab under yellow light.

Princeton Materials Institute

Multidisciplinary research driving advances in materials science and photonics

Nan Yao