Liang Feng

Visiting Assistant Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

The climate crisis is reshaping how we harvest, store, and consume energy globally. The Feng Group at Duke is dedicated to addressing grand challenges in energy, climate, health, and environmental sustainability by working at the intersection of materials, photo- and electrochemical, and polymer science and engineering. Our goal is to create innovative materials for capturing essential elements like carbon dioxide from air and sea, and to develop sustainable strategies for using these elements. Using renewable energy, we aim to create efficient methods to turn these molecules into valuable products. We will develop clean cooling techniques that aid in a fair transition to a net-zero carbon future, providing access to efficient, climate-friendly heat management. Additionally, we study bio-inspired materials and bio-interfaces, concentrating on their impact on cell health and the effects of greenhouse gases on biological systems.

Dr. Feng earned his Ph.D. in 2020 from Texas A&M University, where he investigated hierarchical architectures of porous materials with applications in carbon capture, gas separation, and catalysis. As a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University (2020-2023), he worked with Sir Fraser Stoddart (2016 Nobel Laureate) to explore non-equilibrium materials and their energy applications. Liang made a groundbreaking discovery of the first fundamentally new adsorption mechanism since the 1930s, revolutionizing the approach to methane and hydrogen storage, carbon capture, and water remediation in non-equilibrium systems.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Visiting Assistant Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Contact Information

Education

  • B.S. Wuhan University (China), 2016
  • Ph.D. Texas A&M University, 2020

Research Interests

Climate | Energy | Biomedicine & Health | Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics | Carbon Capture | Adsorption & Separation | Molecular Machines | Supramolecular & Porous Materials | Polymer Science & Engineering

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

  • Scialog Fellow in Negative Emissions Science. Research Corporation for Science Advancement | Sloan Foundation. 2023
  • 12 Under 12 Young Alumni Spotlight. Association of Former Students, Texas A&M University. 2022
  • Forbes 30 Under 30. Forbes. 2022
  • Innovators Under 35 of China. MIT Technology Review. 2022
  • Award for Excellence in Publications by a Young Member. International Adsorption Society. 2022
  • MRS Postdoctoral Award. Materials Research Society. 2022
  • Distinguished Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research. Association of Former Students, Texas A&M University. 2020
  • Graduate Student Award . Materials Research Society. 2020
  • Distinguished Student Award in Nanotechnology. Foresight Institute. 2020

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Wang, Kun-Yu, Zhentao Yang, Jiaqi Zhang, Sayan Banerjee, Elizabeth A. Joseph, Yu-Chuan Hsu, Shuai Yuan, Liang Feng, and Hong-Cai Zhou. “Creating hierarchical pores in metal-organic frameworks via postsynthetic reactions.” Nature Protocols 18, no. 2 (February 2023): 604–25. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-022-00759-7.
  • Feng, Liang, R Dean Astumian, and J Fraser Stoddart. “Controlling dynamics in extended molecular frameworks.” Nature Reviews. Chemistry 6, no. 10 (October 2022): 705–25. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-022-00412-7.
  • Feng, Liang, Yunyan Qiu, Qing-Hui Guo, Zhijie Chen, James S. W. Seale, Kun He, Huang Wu, et al. “Active mechanisorption driven by pumping cassettes.” Science (New York, N.Y.) 374, no. 6572 (December 2021): 1215–21. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abk1391.