![Dr Zhe Yang](/sites/default/files/profiles/43567.jpeg)
Overview
Background
Dr. Zhe Yang currently is an ARC DECRA fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering/Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation at the University of Queensland. He obtained his PhD degree in Environmental Engineering in 2018 at the University of Hong Kong (PhD supervisor: Prof. Chuyang Tang). He was appointed as research assistant/post-doc fellow in HKU from Nov 2018 to July 2021 and was further promoted to Research Assistant Professor from July 2021 to Dec 2023. He was recognized as a Top 1% Scholar worldwide ranked by Clarivate Analytics by citations in 2023. Dr. Yang has more than 10 years of R&D experience in membrane technology in the context of desalination, water reuse, and water/wastewater treatment. To date, he has published over 70 papers and two book chapters, with total citations of over 6,000 and an h-index of 41 based on Google Scholar. Most of these papers (90%) are published in Nature indexed/top tier journals in the field of environmental engineering and membrane technology, including Nature Communications, Nano Letters, Chemical Society Reviews, Environmental Science & Technology, Environmental Science & Technology Letters, Water Research, and Journal of Membrane Science. He has been awarded numerous prestigious awards, including The First Prize of the Water 2023 Young Investigator Award, Early Career Stars of Separation & Purification Technology, The 2022 ACS ES&T Engineering Best Paper Award, the Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions Gold Metal in 2019, etc. He currently serves as the Early Career Editorial Board member of the leading journal in his field (Desalination, IF 9.9).
Feature works:
1. Meta-analysis and establishing upper bound of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes:
2023: His work on establishing the nanofiltration upper bound framework and investigating its impact on system performance (ACS ES&T Eng., 2, 3, (2021) 377-390) was awarded the 2022 ACS ES&T Engineering Best Paper Award.
2022: Based on the upper bound framework, Dr. Yang collaborated with several international researchers/teams from KU Leuven, Yale University, and Technion to develop an open-access database of TFC desalination membranes - Open Membrane Database (OMD) (J. Membr. Sci., 641 (2021) 119927).
2019: His work on establishing the upper bound correlation between permeance and selectivity for desalination membrane (J. Membr. Sci., 590 (2019) 117297) is the first top-cited papers published in the Journal of Membrane Science in the year 2019 and among the top 1% cited according to Essential Science Indicators (ESI Highly Cited Paper).
2. High-performance gutter layer-based reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membrane:
2017-now: His works on designing high-performance novel gutter layer-based reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes significantly advance the water permeance of conventional membranes by an order of magnitude with simultaneously improved selectivity, which successfully surpasses the permeance-selectivity upper bound. The significance of these studies is highlighted by several ESI Highly Cited Papers (Environ. Sci. Technol., 52 (2018) 9341-9349; Environ. Sci. Technol., 53 (2019) 5301-5308; Environ. Sci. Technol., 54 (2020) 11611-11621).
3. Mechanistic investigation of nanofiller-enhanced reverse osmosis membranes:
2019-now: In the membrane community, the concept of thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) has successfully led to several commercialized products including Aquaporin-containing TFN membranes by Aquaporin A/S1 and zeolite-based TFN seawater and brackish RO membranes by LG-Chem NanoH2O®. Nevertheless, the mechanisms for membrane performance enhancement remained unclear. Dr. Yang's works on TFN membranes (Environ. Sci. Technol., 53 (2019) 5301-5308; Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett., 7 (2020) 766-772) unveiled the underlying transport mechanisms of TFN membranes based on a systematic framework of the interior and exterior channels of the embedded nanofillers.
Professional memberships
1. A member of Membrane Society of Australasia (MSA), since May 2024
2. A member of Australia Water Association (AWA), since April 2024
Availability
- Dr Zhe Yang is:
- Available for supervision
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology (华东理工大学)
- Masters (Research) of Chemical Engineering, University of Missouri-Columbia
- Doctor of Philosophy of Environmental Engineering, University of Hong Kong
Research impacts
SELECTED PRIZES, HONOURS AND AWARDS
- TOP 1% Scholar Worldwide (Link), Ranked by Clarivate Analytics, 2023
- The First Prize of the Water 2023 Young Investigator Award (Link and Interview), the Journal Water, 2023
- Early Career Stars of Separation & Purification Technology, GBA-SPT 2023 & 2nd GBA-MMP (Link), 2023
- The 2022 ACS ES&T Engineering Best Paper Award (Link), 2023
- 2022 Environmental Science & Technology Letters Best Paper Award (Link), 2023
- Stanford Top 2% of the World’s Most Cited Scholars, 2021-2023 (Link), 2021-2023
- ARC DECRA Fellowship(Link), 2023-2026
- Outstanding Paper Award, The 6th National Conference on Water Treatment and Reuse of China, 2021
- CAPEES Best Poster Presentation Award, Chinese-American Professors in Environmental Engineering and Science (CAPEES) Annual Meeting, 2021
- Gold Medal, Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions, 2019
Works
Search Professor Zhe Yang’s works on UQ eSpace
2022
Journal Article
Effects of water matrix on the rejection of neutral pharmaceutically active compound by thin-film composite nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes
Shah, Izaz Ali, Ali, Sharafat, Yang, Zhe, Ihsanullah, Ihsanullah and Huang, Haiou (2022). Effects of water matrix on the rejection of neutral pharmaceutically active compound by thin-film composite nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes. Chemosphere, 303 135211, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.135211
2022
Journal Article
Unveiling the growth of polyamide nanofilms at water/organic free interfaces: toward enhanced water/salt selectivity
Zhou, Shenghua, Long, Li, Yang, Zhe, So, Sik Lui, Gan, Bowen, Guo, Hao, Feng, Shien-Ping and Tang, Chuyang Y. (2022). Unveiling the growth of polyamide nanofilms at water/organic free interfaces: toward enhanced water/salt selectivity. Environmental Science & Technology, 56 (14), 10279-10288. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.1c08691
2022
Journal Article
Cosolvent-assisted interfacial polymerization toward regulating the morphology and performance of polyamide reverse osmosis membranes: increased m-phenylenediamine solubility or enhanced interfacial vaporization?
Gan, Qimao, Peng, Lu Elfa, Guo, Hao, Yang, Zhe and Tang, Chuyang Y. (2022). Cosolvent-assisted interfacial polymerization toward regulating the morphology and performance of polyamide reverse osmosis membranes: increased m-phenylenediamine solubility or enhanced interfacial vaporization?. Environmental Science and Technology, 56 (14), 10308-10316. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c01140
2022
Journal Article
Ion-plus salinity gradient flow battery
Jiang, Chenxiao, Mei, Ying, Chen, Binglun, Li, Xianhui, Yang, Zhe, Guo, Hao, Shao, Senlin, Tan, Siew-Chong, Xu, Tongwen and Tang, Chuyang Y. (2022). Ion-plus salinity gradient flow battery. Chemical Engineering Science, 253 117580, 1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ces.2022.117580
2022
Journal Article
Deciphering the role of amine concentration on polyamide formation toward enhanced RO performance
Peng, Lu Elfa, Gan, Qimao, Yang, Zhe, Wang, Li, Sun, Peng-Fei, Guo, Hao, Park, Hee-Deung and Tang, Chuyang Y. (2022). Deciphering the role of amine concentration on polyamide formation toward enhanced RO performance. ACS ES and T Engineering, 2 (5), 903-912. doi: 10.1021/acsestengg.1c00418
2022
Journal Article
Nanofiltration for drinking water treatment: a review
Guo, Hao, Li, Xianhui, Yang, Wulin, Yao, Zhikan, Mei, Ying, Peng, Lu Elfa, Yang, Zhe, Shao, Senlin and Tang, Chuyang Y. (2022). Nanofiltration for drinking water treatment: a review. Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering, 16 (5), 681-698. doi: 10.1007/s11705-021-2103-5
2022
Journal Article
Tweak in puzzle: tailoring membrane chemistry and structure toward targeted removal of organic micropollutants for water reuse
Guo, Hao, Dai, Ruobin, Xie, Ming, Peng, Lu Elfa, Yao, Zhikan, Yang, Zhe, Nghiem, Long D., Snyder, Shane A., Wang, Zhiwei and Tang, Chuyang Y. (2022). Tweak in puzzle: tailoring membrane chemistry and structure toward targeted removal of organic micropollutants for water reuse. Environmental Science and Technology Letters, 9 (4), 247-257. doi: 10.1021/acs.estlett.2c00094
2022
Journal Article
Second interfacial polymerization decorating defects of TFC NF membrane formed by 1D nanochannels for improving separation performance
Li, Wenxuan, Yang, Zhe, Wang, Zhongying, Han, Qi, Taymazov, Dovletjan, Wang, Jianqiang, Ma, Xiaohua and Xu, Zhenliang (2022). Second interfacial polymerization decorating defects of TFC NF membrane formed by 1D nanochannels for improving separation performance. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 10 (2) 106896, 1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jece.2021.106896
2022
Journal Article
High permeance or high selectivity? Optimization of system-scale nanofiltration performance constrained by the upper bound
Yang, Zhe, Long, Li, Wu, Chenyue and Tang, Chuyang Y. (2022). High permeance or high selectivity? Optimization of system-scale nanofiltration performance constrained by the upper bound. ACS ES and T Engineering, 2 (3), 377-390. doi: 10.1021/acsestengg.1c00237
2022
Journal Article
Carbon nanotube interlayer enhances water permeance and antifouling performance of nanofiltration membranes: mechanisms and experimental evidence
Long, Li, Wu, Chenyue, Yang, Zhe and Tang, Chuyang Y. (2022). Carbon nanotube interlayer enhances water permeance and antifouling performance of nanofiltration membranes: mechanisms and experimental evidence. Environmental Science and Technology, 56 (4), 2656-2664. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.1c07332
2022
Journal Article
Vapor-phase polymerization of high-performance thin-film composite membranes for nanofiltration
Li, Wanbin, Yang, Zhe, Yang, Wulin, Guo, Hao and Tang, Chuyang Y. (2022). Vapor-phase polymerization of high-performance thin-film composite membranes for nanofiltration. AIChE Journal, 68 (2) e17517, 1-7. doi: 10.1002/aic.17517
2022
Journal Article
Unraveling the kinetics and mechanism of surfactant-induced wetting in membrane distillation: an in situ observation with optical coherence tomography
Shao, Senlin, Shi, Danting, Hu, Jiangshuai, Qing, Weihua, Li, Xianhui, Li, Xue, Ji, Bin, Yang, Zhe, Guo, Hao and Tang, Chuyang Y. (2022). Unraveling the kinetics and mechanism of surfactant-induced wetting in membrane distillation: an in situ observation with optical coherence tomography. Environmental Science and Technology, 56 (1), 556-563. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.1c05090
2022
Journal Article
The open membrane database: Synthesis–structure–performance relationships of reverse osmosis membranes
Ritt, Cody L., Stassin, Timothée, Davenport, Douglas M., DuChanois, Ryan M., Nulens, Ines, Yang, Zhe, Ben-Zvi, Adi, Segev-Mark, Naama, Elimelech, Menachem, Tang, Chuyang Y., Ramon, Guy Z., Vankelecom, Ivo F.J. and Verbeke, Rhea (2022). The open membrane database: Synthesis–structure–performance relationships of reverse osmosis membranes. Journal of Membrane Science, 641 119927, 1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.memsci.2021.119927
2022
Journal Article
A critical review on porous substrates of TFC polyamide membranes: Mechanisms, membrane performances, and future perspectives
Peng, Lu Elfa, Yang, Zhe, Long, Li, Zhou, Shenghua, Guo, Hao and Tang, Chuyang Y. (2022). A critical review on porous substrates of TFC polyamide membranes: Mechanisms, membrane performances, and future perspectives. Journal of Membrane Science, 641 119871, 1-21. doi: 10.1016/j.memsci.2021.119871
2021
Journal Article
Facile ZIF–8 nanocrystals interlayered solvent–resistant thin–film nanocomposite membranes for enhanced solvent permeance and rejection
Wei, Yayu, Yang, Zhe, Wang, Ling, Yu, Yifei, Yang, Hong, Jin, Hua, Lu, Peng, Wang, Yi, Wu, Dapeng, Li, Yanshuo and Tang, Chuyang Y. (2021). Facile ZIF–8 nanocrystals interlayered solvent–resistant thin–film nanocomposite membranes for enhanced solvent permeance and rejection. Journal of Membrane Science, 636 119586, 1-14. doi: 10.1016/j.memsci.2021.119586
2021
Journal Article
Interlayered forward osmosis membranes with Ti3C2TxMXene and carbon nanotubes for enhanced municipal wastewater concentration
Sun, Peng-Fei, Yang, Zhe, Song, Xiaoxiao, Lee, Jeong Hoon, Tang, Chuyang Y. and Park, Hee-Deung (2021). Interlayered forward osmosis membranes with Ti3C2TxMXene and carbon nanotubes for enhanced municipal wastewater concentration. Environmental Science and Technology, 55 (19) acs.est.1c01968, 13219-13230. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.1c01968
2021
Journal Article
Does interfacial vaporization of organic solvent affect the structure and separation properties of polyamide RO membranes?
Peng, Lu Elfa, Jiang, Yucen, Wen, Lei, Guo, Hao, Yang, Zhe and Tang, Chuyang Y. (2021). Does interfacial vaporization of organic solvent affect the structure and separation properties of polyamide RO membranes?. Journal of Membrane Science, 625 119173, 1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.memsci.2021.119173
2021
Journal Article
Novel positively charged metal-coordinated nanofiltration membrane for lithium recovery
Wang, Li, Rehman, Danyal, Sun, Peng-Fei, Deshmukh, Akshay, Zhang, Liyuan, Han, Qi, Yang, Zhe, Wang, Zhongying, Park, Hee-Deung, Lienhard, John H. and Tang, Chuyang Y. (2021). Novel positively charged metal-coordinated nanofiltration membrane for lithium recovery. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 13 (14), 16906-16915. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c02252
2021
Journal Article
Recent advances in high-performance TFC membranes: A review of the functional interlayers
Ji, Chenhao, Zhai, Zhe, Jiang, Chi, Hu, Ping, Zhao, Shuzhen, Xue, Shuangmei, Yang, Zhe, He, Tao and Niu, Q. Jason (2021). Recent advances in high-performance TFC membranes: A review of the functional interlayers. Desalination, 500 ARTN 114869. doi: 10.1016/j.desal.2020.114869
2021
Journal Article
Stainless steel mesh supported thin-film composite nanofiltration membranes for enhanced permeability and regeneration potential
Zhu, Xuewu, Tang, Xiaobin, Luo, Xinsheng, Yang, Zhe, Cheng, Xiaoxiang, Gan, Zhendong, Xu, Daliang, Li, Guibai and Liang, Heng (2021). Stainless steel mesh supported thin-film composite nanofiltration membranes for enhanced permeability and regeneration potential. Journal of Membrane Science, 618 118738, 1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.memsci.2020.118738
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Zhe Yang is:
- Available for supervision
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Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Application of advanced membranes in precise separation
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Xiwang Zhang
-
Doctor Philosophy
Synthesis and applications of advanced membranes
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Jingwei Hou, Professor Xiwang Zhang
Media
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