NEWS

The Wei You Group

Application Oriented Fundamental Research

February News
- Jeromy passed his oral exam and is now a PhD Candidate. Congrats Jeromy!
- We have another publication in Advance Materials with many collaborators. This time, we help fabricate a polymer solar cell with 90% external quantum efficiency (EQE)!
- Jeromy was part of a two different publication in Materials Chemistry Frontiers with our collaborators in Xiaowei Zhan's group and Liming Ding's group. Both explore new non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) paired with FTAZ. It is truly amazing to see the continued fruitfulness of our many collaborations!
- Our collaboration paper with Prof. Shengqiang Xiao is now online in ACS Applied Energy Materials.
- Wei gave a talk in Fayetteville State University, a sister school in the UNC system.
January News
- We went out for a great group lunch to ring in the new year and celebrate/say farewell to our former graduate student turned postdoc, Qianqian Zhang, as she takes a job at Eastman Chemical. Qianqian, you will be missed!
- A few of us attended the “The Future of Materials Research II (FOM II) Workshop” at NCSU and gave our research pitches. Jeromy placed second with his talk titled, "Molecular Engineering of Non-Fullerene Acceptors for Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells" Congrats Jeromy!
- In collaboration with Prof. Harald Ade’s group, we published another cool paper where we showed over 10% efficiency solar cells could be obtained with scalable coating in air with non-halogenated solvents. See detailed in Adv. Mater.
- Yet another paper with Prof. Xiaowei Zhen’s group appeared in JMCC.
- The optimized synthesis of PTB7 was reported by Prof. Shengqiang Xiao and us in JMCA.
- Professor Valy Vardeny helped us understand more the native defects with our FTAZ polymers. Read more details in Journal of Applied Physics.
December News
- Ian presented a poster in the fall MRS meeting and had a very nice time.
- Wei attended the 15th Pacific Polymer Conference (PPC15) and gave an invited talk. It was very ward in Xiamen, China.
- Jeromy was part of a publication with our collaborators in Xiaowei Zhan's group. Check out the work in JMCC.
November News
- Our FTAZ polymer continues to show its superior performance with non-fullerene acceptors. Another paper with our collaborators appeared in Adv. Mater.
- With our FTAZ polymer, Prof. Xiaowei Zhan showed that UV absorbent can enhance the efficiency and stability in the recent paper in Solar RRL.
- Wei organized a symposium in SERMACS. It was very cold in Charlotte, North Carolina!
- As tradition, we gathered for a Thanksgiving feast. When will we learn that we cook too much food!
- We warmly welcome Ms. Stephanie Samson, a first year in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences, to join our group! She had her Master in MSE of Stanford and will continue her PhD with us.
- Jeromy and Nicole helped with lab tours organized through the Energy LEAP program. They had lots of fun doing demos with local high school teachers.
October News
- Nicole published our first study of the impact of fluorine with non-fullerene acceptors (ITIC) in JMCA. Congrats Nicole!
- In collaboration with the Gomez group, we understood more on how luorination impacts hte FET mobility of TAZ polymers in this ACS Macro Letters publication!
- Both Ian and David presented their research at the 5th annual Triangle Student Research Competition (TSRC). This event is organized by the Materials Research Societies and Electrochemical Societies of Duke, UNC, and NCSU. Ian took first place in the category of Materials Characterization! Congrats!
September News
- Wei visited University of Akron, and gave a seminar in the Department of Polymer Science.
- We welcome our newest member, Prof. Zheng Chen from Jilin University, to spend one year in our lab!
- If you are interested in what fluorine impact is in the context of polymer solar cells, and what we could do in the future along this line, check out our latest review in Acc. Chem. Res. A must-read authored by Qianqian, Allison and Nicole!
August News
- Wei and David attended the ACS meeting in Washington D.C., and presented our work in conjugated polymers and cationic polymerization.
- Alka Prasher, our former postdoc, has joined another lab at UNC Chapel Hill. Good luck and we will miss you!
- Wei was promoted to the rank of full professor. A new milestone! Cannot believe he has been at UNC for over 11 years.
- Jeromy and Nicole helped out with Climate LEAP lab tours (pictures), teaching high school students about solar energy.
- We had a group lunch at Mellow Mushroom, yum.
- Working with Prof Xiaowei Zhan’s group, we published another paper in Adv. Mater.
July News
- Qianqian published her latest work in Chemistry of Materials . A must-read if you're interested in the impact of fluorination on conjugated polymer based solar cells. Congrats Qianqian!
- We published another collaboration article with Xiaowei Zhan's group in Advanced Materials looking at the effect of side change conjugation in ITIC based non-fullerene acceptors.
- Wei visited Soochow University and gave a talk in the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering.
- Areon finishes her summer stay with us with the 2017 Summer Undergraduate Pipeline (SUP) Research Symposium. Best of luck during your senior semester at Jackson State University! (Pictures)
- Prof. Kai Zhu of Southeast University (China) joined out group as a visiting professor. Welcome!
June News
- Qianqian successfully defended her thesis. Congratulations Dr. Zhang! (Pictures)
- Wei gave an invited talk in the 13th international symposium on functional pi-electron systems. It was very hot and humid in Hong Kong in June, but the campus of HKUST is very beautiful and it always feels great to catch up with old friends and get to know new ones.
- Wei attended the Gordon Research Conference (Polymer) and served as a Discussion Leader. Mount Holyoke changed quite a bit since 2009.
- As the summer begins to heat up, we gathered at Wei's house to enjoy great food and company at our annual cookout. As usual, we had way too much food! A special thanks to our grill master, Frank Leibfarth! (Pictures)
- Wei visited High Point University and gave a talk in their Chemistry Department.
- Our lab helped with UNC's MRS Chapter High School Outreach event to show the many possible pathways a future in STEM can hold. Thanks Nicole and Jeromy! (Pictures)
May News
- Areon Smith from Jackson State University joins us for the summer with support from SUROC. Welcome!
- We published an update in Advanced Materials to summarize the molecular engineering of conjugated polymers for solar cells.
- Wei visited UC Davis and gave a talk in their Chemistry Department.
- Nicole received a Druscilla French Graduate Student Excellence Fellowship in the Department of Chemistry at UNC Chapel Hill. Congratulations Nicole!
April News
- The group had a great showing in San Francisco for the ACS Spring meeting! Together, Alka, Elizabeth, Nicole, Qianqian and Wei gave 5 oral presentations, and 1 poster. Qianqian was honored for her “Excellence in Polymer Graduate Research”, a special symposium dedicated to these graduate students that have made spectacular achievements in polymer sciences! (BTW, Wei received the same award back in 2014). :) (Pictures)
- Wei attended the Spring 2017 MRS meeting and gave an invited talk. We should really appreciate the green & trees in the triangle area, in contrast to the desert-like Phoenix.
- We love reaching out to the general public and disseminate our cool research in a general context! As usual, we had a strong presence in the 2017 NC Science Festival! Thanks Nicole, Allison, David, Elizabeth, and Jeromy! (Pictures)
- Allison successfully defended her thesis. Congratulations Dr. Mary Allison Kelly! (Pictures)
- Our collaboration with Prof. Dieter Neher’s lab resulted in another interesting paper published in JPCC. This successful collaboration continues…
March News
- Another collaborative paper with Prof. Xiaowei Zhan’s group appeared on Adv. Mater, which showed 12.1% efficiency with FTAZ and ITIC-Th1!
- Sam Lawton, a senior graduate student from Professor Dave Haddleton’s lab at Warwick in UK, spend one month working with us. It was a pleasure to have Sam in lab, best of luck on your continuing research!
February News
- Nicole published her work in JMCA on comparing non-fullerene acceptors with fullerene in polymer solar cells. Congratulations, Nicole!
- Sam Lawton, a senior graduate student from Professor Dave Haddleton's lab at Warwick in UK, joined us to spend one month working in our lab. Welcome, "An Englishman in North Carolina!" Lovely isn't it?
January News
- Allison published her work in JPCC on a comparative study of different means to incorporate fluorine substitution into polymers for solar cells. A multi-institutional and international collaboration allowed this to happen (UNC, Penn State and Potsdam in Germany). Congrats, Allison!
- In collaboration with Prof. Xiaowei Zhan’s lab (Peking University), we were able to achieve 11.5% efficiency by pairing our FTAZ polymer with his novel INIC non-fullerene acceptor! Find the details in JACS.
- Ian, Allison, and Qianqian presented their work at the The Future of Materials Research Workshop hosted by ORaCEL and The NC Carbon Materials Initiative. Allison was honored to received the third place prize for an oral presentation!
- Ian passed his oral exam and is now a PhD Candidate. Congrats Ian!
December 2016 News
- Winter holidays. 2017 is upon us! Many of us visited family over the break and returned ready to research!
- In collaboration with Professor Tara Meyer’s lab, we published one paper in Macromolecules. Congrats, Nicole!
- We published a concise update in Advanced Materials to summarize the progress in the field of polymer solar cells the five years since our last comprehensive review in Macromolecules in 2012.
November 2016 News
- The collaborative project "Solar Powered Integrated Greenhouse (SPRING)" which is funded by NSF INFEWS, has made it into the news at NCSU and Indyweek.
- Our successful and long-term collaboration with the Ade group at NC State lead to another paper in Adv. Mater.! And was covered by the News at NC State.
- We celebrated our fifth annual You Group Thanksgiving!! As always, there was much food and much merriment
October 2016 News
- Huamin attended the 28th Biocermics meeting in Charlotte and presented her recent research on bone scaffold
- Wei gave an invited talk at the 2016 Southeast Regional Meeting (SERMACS) in Columbia, South Carolina
- Qianqian, Nicole, and David presented their research at the 14th International Conference of Electroluminescence and Optoelectronic Devices (ICEL) in Raleigh North Carolina
- The group gave Wei a surprise on his 40th birthday1 (It happened to be the same day as a group meeting
- Nicole, David, and Ian presented at the Triangle Student Research Competition at RTP
- Jeromy Rech joined our group as a First Year graduate student. Welcome, Jeromy!
September 2016 News
- Huamin published her first-authored paper in Langmuir on dopamine analogs and their polymerizations. Congratulations!
- David Dirkes raked in another paper with the Moran group. Congrats!
- Wei was invited to participate in the “NSFC-RSC International Symposium: Novel Polymer Synthesis to Solve Tomorrow’s Problems – Healthcare, Materials and Energy”. It was fun to meet Brits and Chinese! (pictures)
- On the same trip, Wei gave a talk in the Department of Chemistry at Zhejiang University. The quality of research in Chemistry at ZJU was very impressive.
August 2016 News
- The annual group BBQ happened again at Wei’s house. We had fun!
- Our visiting professor, Prof. Junge Zhi, returned to China. We will miss you!
- Wei participated in an ONR workshop in Seattle. It was amazing to see how rapidly the progress on perovskite solar cells has been made.
- Sam successfully defended his thesis. Congrats, Dr. Anderson! (pictures)
- Wei gave an invited talk at the ACS meeting in Philly. It was fun to meet with friends from all over the world!
- Our visiting student, Yun Zhu, returned to USTC after two months’ stay. We wish him all the best!
July 2016 News
- We welcome Yun Zhu, a rising senior at USTC, to join us for summer research
- Wei attended the Warwick Polymer Conference 2016 and gave an invited presentation on photo-initiated cationic polymerization. Given the north location of Warwick (near Birmingham, UK), the weather was very nice and the day was much longer in the summer.
- Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) did a roadshow at UNC. Our group helped organize this successful event. We had fun!
June 2016 News
- Stephanie Leiffland, a rising senior in polymer chemistry, joined us for summer research. Welcome!
- Jeromy Rech, an incoming graduate student in the polymer/materials division, joined us for summer research. Welcome!
- Elizabeth and Allison attended the 58th Electronic Materials Conference (ECM 2016) and presented their results! They bumped into Rob Bruce, pleasantly surprised.
- Wei traveled to Guangzhou (it was hot and humid!), and presented an invited talk at the International Conference of Synthetic Metals (ICSM 2016). It was great to meet many old/new friends!
- Another collaborative paper was published in J. Phys. Chem. A. Thanks to the Moran group and our David
May 2016 News
- Rob, our most recent PhD graduate, came back for the hooding ceremony!
- Wei presented research updates at the ONR OPV review meeting.
- We published another collaborative paper in ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, focusing on using V2O5 as the interfacial layer for polymer solar cells.
April 2016 News
- Ian VonWald was selected to receive the prestigious NSF fellowship. Congratulations, Ian!
- Elizabeth and Allison attended the MRS Spring 2016 meeting; they presented their research, made friends, and had a lot of fun!
- As always, we had a great presence at NC Science Fair!
- We published a collaborative paper with a number of UNC research groups, focusing on NiO solar photocathodes.
March 2016 News
- Wei visited University of Nebraska and gave a talk in the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience.
- Wei attended the ACS Spring Meeting in San Diego and gave two invited talks. The best part was to have a small gathering with PhD alumni from our group (Dr. Huaxing Zhou and Dr. Rob Bruce)!
- It took more than a year for Qianqian and Allison to finally publish their interesting discovery on terpolymers in Macromolecules. Congratulations, Qianqian and Allison!
February 2016 News
- In collaboration with the Therien group at Duke, Rob published his new discovery on charge transport in bulk molecular electronic devices with a series of porphyrin molecules in JACS. Great job, Rob!
January 2016 News
- The group welcomed some new members! Dr. Alka Prasher (PhD at U. New Hampshire) joined our group as a postdoc; Ian VonWald and Devin Schaefer, two first-year graduate students, officially signed up; Stephanie Liffland and Dustin Sneed decided to continue their undergraduate research in our group as well.
December 2015 News
- Wei gave an invited presentation at Pacific Chem. Oahu was very warm indeed in December (BTW, Chapel Hill was unusually warm in that week as well).
November 2015 News
- The group had a party at Wei’s house to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. As usual, food was more than enough!!!
October 2015 News
- Wei gave an invited talk at “the 9th National and Global Chinese Conference on Organic Molecules & Polymer Light-Emitting Materials and Their Optoelectronic Properties together with the 1st Conference on Organic Electronics” in Nanjing.
- Dr. Rob Bruce, a joint postdoctoral scholar between us and NIST, received the prestigious NRC postdoc fellowship!
- Wentao’s recent paper in Chem. Mater. was one of the top 5 downloads for the past month for the journal, as informed by the Chief Editor of Chemistry of Materials. Congratulations, Dr. Li!
September 2015 News
- Wei visited Carnegie Mellon University and gave a talk in the Chemistry Department.
- Wei visited NC Central University and gave a general talk in the Chemistry Department.
- Another paper in Adv. Energy. Mater. came out from our collaboration with the Gundogdu group. Congratulations!
- Elizabeth and Allison presented posters at the Triangle Student Research competition in Durham.
August 2015 News
- We warmly welcome Professor Junge Zhi from Beijing Institute of Technology, who joined our group as a visiting professor.
- Josh successfully defended his PhD thesis. He is the 11th PhD from our group! (PICTURES)
- Our collaboration with Professor Kenan Gundogdu (and other folks at NCSU) resulted in a joint paper in JPCC. Well done, guys!
- Wentao’s ingenious design of TAZ derivatives came online in Chem. Mater. His new material, PyCNTAZ, made the record high efficiency in our group (~8.5%)!
- Andrew’s JACS 2013 article was selected into ACS Select Virtual Issue #33. Very cool.
- Qianqian presented on the comparative study between physical blends and chemical blends of two parent polymers at the ACS meeting in Boston.

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