Welcome to the Nanostructured Functional Materials (NFM) laboratory led by Dr. Yu Han. The Lab is part of KAUST’s Physical Science and Engineering Division and is affiliated to the Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center.

In the NFM lab, we create novel nanostructured materials by designed synthesis. Our particular interests are nanoporous (inorganic, organic, polymeric and hybrid) materials, which are characterized by large surface area, confined yet well-defined microenvironment, and uniform cavities/channels of molecular dimensions. We tailor their structures and functions for a variety of important applications including heterogeneous catalysis, gas separation and capture, water harvesting, and energy storage and conversion. In addition to materials synthesis, we are also interested in developing low-dose electron microscopy techniques for real-space direct imaging of extremely sensitive crystalline materials, such as metal-organic frameworks, supramolecular crystals, and organic-inorganic hybrid halide perovskites, at the atomic-scale resolution, to unravel their local structural features (crystal surface, interface, stacking disorder, defects, host-guest interaction, etc.) that are not visible by other characterization methods. 

Selected publications are listed below. To learn more about our research, see the full publication list.

• Investigating the Origin of Enhanced C₂₊ Selectivity in Oxide-/Hydroxide-Derived Copper Electrodes during CO₂ Electroreduction, Journal of American Chemical Society, 2020, 142, 9, 4213-4222
• Direct Imaging of Atomically Dispersed Molybdenum that Enables Location of Aluminum in the Framework of Zeolite ZSM-5, Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 2020, 59, 819 – 825
• Imaging defects and their evolution in a metal–organic framework at sub-unit-cell resolution, Nature Chemistry, 2019, 11, 622–628
• Direct Imaging of Tunable Crystal Surface Structures of MOF MIL-101 Using High-Resolution Electron Microscopy, Journal of American Chemical Society, 2019, 141, 12021-12028
• Atomic-resolution transmission electron microscopy of electron beam–sensitive crystalline materials, Science, 2018, 359, 675-679
• Unravelling surface and interfacial structures of a metal–organic framework by transmission electron microscopy, Nature Materials, 2017, 16, 532–536
• Harnessing structural darkness in the visible and infrared wavelengths for a new source of light, Nature Nanotechnology, 2016, 11, 60-66
• Beyond Creation of Mesoporosity: The Advantages of Polymer‐Based Dual‐Function Templates for Fabricating Hierarchical Zeolites, Advanced Functional Materials, 2016, 26, 1881–1891
• Site-Specific Growth of Au–Pd Alloy Horns on Au Nanorods: A Platform for Highly Sensitive Monitoring of Catalytic Reactions by Surface Enhancement Raman Spectroscopy, Journal of American Chemical Society, 2013, 135, 8552-8561
• A perfluorinated covalent triazine-based framework for highly selective and water–tolerant CO₂ capture, Energy Environmental Science, 2013, 6, 3684-3692