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Yining Huang

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

• S.H. Alahakoon, M.J. Willans, Y. Huang*, “In Situ Multinuclear Magic-Angle Spinning NMR: Monitoring Crystallization of Molecular Sieve AlPO4‑11 in Real Time”, JACS Au, 3, 1670−1683 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1021/jacsau.3c00109?urlappend=%3Fref%3DPDF&jav=VoR&rel=cite-as 
• V. Martins, B.E.G. Lucier, Z. Liu, H. Liang, A. Zheng, V.V. Terskikh, W. Zhang, B.E. Desveaux, Y. Huang*, “Cold, Hot, Dry, and Wet: Locations and Dynamics of CO2 and H2O Co-Adsorbed in an Ultramicroporous MOF”, Inorganic Chemistry, 62, 11152−11167 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c01251?urlappend=%3Fref%3DPDF&jav=VoR&rel=cite-as 
• W. Zhang, A. Hassan, J. Struppe, M. Monette, I. Hung, Z. Gan, V. Martins, V.V. Terskikh, Y. Huang*, “Overcoming challenges in 67Zn NMR: a new strategy of signal enhancement for MOF characterization”, Chemical Communications, 59, 5205–5208 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1039/d3cc00716b 
• 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”, Journal of the American Chemical Society 142, 4419-4428 (2020); https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b13414 
• 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”, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 142, 14877–14889 (2020); https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c02810