Water-borne pathogens induce over 2 million diarrheal-related deaths per year, occurring mostly in rural or disaster-stricken areas that lack sanitation facilities or reliable electricity. High-throughput and cost-effective water disinfection methods are essential to protect public health. Once disinfection doesn’t rely on any external energy/chemical input, it will notably benefit low-resource regions lacking sanitation facilities or reliable electricity. We conduct interdisciplinary research in the emerging field of water disinfection and the self-powered water purification process to achieve high throughput and cost-effective self-powered water disinfection. My goal is to touch and break the boundary between environment, materials, devices, and systems.

• Rapid water disinfection technology of microbial using the nano-confinement localized electric field.
• Nanogenerator and self-drive system for environmental applications.

About Me:

Dr. Zheng-Yang Huo is now an associate professor and leading the Nano Energy & Water Safety (NEWS) group at the School of Environment and Natural Resources, Renmin University of China. He received a Ph.D. degree from the School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2019, and then worked as a postdoctoral research fellow and research professor at the School of Advanced Materials Science & Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, under the supervision of Professor Sang-Woo Kim from 2019 to 2021. He has published over 30 journal and conference papers and received many prestigious awards, including the Outstanding Scholar of the Renmin University of China (Youth Scholar), the Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program of Beijing Association for Science and Technology. His research interests are diverse and interdisciplinary, which include rapid water disinfection technology, self-powered system, energy harvesting, and wastewater/drinking/surface water purification with the help of environmental science/engineering, material science, advanced fabrication technology, and life science.

News:

• [2023/02] Our work "Self-Powered Disinfection Using Triboelectric, Conductive Wires of Metal-Organic Frameworks" has been accepted by Nano Letters (IF: 12.3). Congrats!
• [2023/02] I was selected in the Youth Editorial Board of Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering (FESE).
• [2022/12] Our book "Nanowire-assisted Flow-through Electrode Enabling Electroporation Disinfection of Reclaimed Water (Engligh Edition, Tsinghua University Press)" was published. 
• [2022/12] Dai Haojie, Ji Qiuyin, Zhang Lulu and Xia Ting successfully passed the mid-term evaluation of the undergraduate innovation program of Renmin University of China.

Contact:

I am always looking for the self-motivated students with the background of environmental microbiology, material science, biotechnology, and especially the ones who enjoy the experience to build up a working system. If you are interested in working with us as a Master/Visiting student, please contact me. I will recruit 1-2 master students each year, and undergraduate students are welcome to apply for various innovative projects.

• Email：zhengyanghuo.edu@ruc.edu.cn
• Website：https://envi.ruc.edu.cn/jszy/hzy/index.htm
• Address：Room 216, School of Environment, Renmin University of China, No. 59, Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District, Beijing.