Yining Huang

huang115x150.jpg

Contact Information

Title: Professor 
Office: Rm 17 ChB,
Lab: Rm 0250 MSA, Phone (Office): ext 86384
E-mail: yhuang@uwo.ca

Inorganic Teaching Division

Materials: Design, Function and Characterization

Nanoporous Materials, Application of Solid-State NMR and Vibrational and Spectroscopy to Inorganic Framework Materials

Group Website

Education

B.Sc., M.Sc., Peking University; Ph.D., McGill University; NSERC PDF, University of British Columbia

AWARDS

  • Faculty of Science’s Graduate Student Mentorship Award (Western)
  • NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplements (DAS) Award
  • Canada Research Chair (Tier 2)
  • Florence Bucke Award (Faculty of Science, Western)
  • Canadian National Congress-International Union Pure and Applied Chemistry (CNC-IUPAC) Award
  • Premier's Research Excellence Award
  • Alumni Research Award, Laurentian University

RESEARCH

Our research is directed towards the investigations of various porous materials including zeolites, AlPO4 based molecular sieves, mesoporous materials and, more recently, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). These materials have many current and potential applications in industry as ion exchangers, molecular sieves, catalysts, sensors, CO2 capture/storage. Current efforts emphasize vibrational and, especially, solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

Research Projects

  1. Crystallization of microporous materials under hydrothermal, dry gel conversion and ionothermal conditions. Current focus is on the formation pathways of molecular sieves by in-situ solid-state NMR spectroscopy.
  2. Characterization of local environments of metal centers in MOFs by high-resolution solid-state and wideline NMR at high magnetic fields.
  3. Host-guest interactions in porous materials. Particular attention is paid to directly monitoring the behavior of small gaseous molecules such as CO2, CO, H2, C2H2, and CH4 adsorbed inside MOFs by solid-state NMR.
  4. Characterization of solid-state electrolytes in solid-state Li-ion batteries (in collaboration with Professor Andy Sun).
  5. Tuning the properties of porous materials (MOFs and zeolites) by high temperature and high external pressures (in collaboration with Professor Y. Song).

Students will be trained both in materials synthesis and in the theory and practice of a whole range of characterization techniques for materials science.

TEACHING

  • 2281 - Inorganic Chemistry of the Main Group Elements
  • 4481 - Solid-state Inorganic Chemistry and Materials
  • 1024 - Chemistry for Engineers
  • 9570 - Problem Seminars
  • 9571 - Vibrational Spectroscopy of Materials
  • 9581 - Basics of Solid-state NMR

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  • Chen, Z. Song, J. Lye, Y. Guo, B.E.G Lucier, W. Luo, M. S. Workentin, X. Sun*, Y. Huang*, “Anhydride Post-Synthetic Modification in a Hierarchical Metal-Organic Framework”, JACS 142, 4419-4428 (2020); https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b13414 
  • Mukherjee, S. Chen, A.A. Bezrukov, M. Mostrom, V.V. Terskikh, D. Franz, S.-Q. Wang, A. Kumar, M. Chen, B. Space, Y. Huang*, M. J. Zaworotko*, “Ultramicropore engineering by dehydration to enable molecular sieving of H2 by calcium trimesate”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 59, 16188-16194 (2020); doi.org/10.1002/anie.202006414 
  • Marins, J. Xu*, X. Wang, K. Chen, I. Hung, Z. Gan*, C. Gervais, C. Bonhomme*, A. Zheng, B.E.G. Lucier, Y. Huang*, “Higher Magnetic Fields, Finer MOF Structural Information: 17O Solid-State NMR at 35.2 T”, JACS, 142, 14877–14889 (2020); https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c02810
  • Chen, S. Mukherjee, B.E.G. Lucier, Y. Guo, Y. T. A. Wong, V. V. Terskikh, M. J. Zaworotko*, Y. Huang*, “Cleaving Carboxyls: Understanding Thermally Triggered Hierarchical Pores in the Metal-Organic Framework MIL-121”, JACS 141, 14257−14271(2019); DOI:10.1021/jacs.9b06194
  • B.E.G. Lucier, S. Chen, Y. Huang*, “Characterization of Metal–Organic Frameworks: Unlocking the Potential of Solid-State NMR,” Acc. Chem. Res. 51, 319-330 (2018); Front Cover Article; DOI:10.1021/acs.accounts.7b00357