Profile

Dr. Wei Zhang, originally from Yichun, Jiangxi Province, is a Distinguished Professor at the School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, where he is affiliated with the team of Prof. Yanqing Lai, Dean of the School. He is also a core member of the State Key Laboratory of Energy Metal Resources and New Materials, the Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education for Advanced Battery Materials, and the Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Value-Added Metallurgy of Nonferrous Metals.

He has been selected for the Hunan Provincial “Furong Program” for Overseas High-Level Young Talents and is a JSPS Fellow and MRSC. He received his Ph.D. from University College London (UCL) under the supervision of Prof. Ivan P. Parkin and Prof. Guanjie He. He subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at UCL, The University of Tokyo, working with Prof. Atsuo Yamada, and the University of California San Diego, working with Prof. Ping Liu.

His research focuses on key materials and electrochemistry for next-generation energy-storage batteries. His work covers the development of high-performance electrode materials, regulation of electrolyte–interface structures, and electrode-process kinetics, with applications in sodium/lithium-ion batteries and aqueous zinc/iron/aluminum batteries. His research spans both fundamental studies and industry–academia collaborative projects.

Dr. Zhang has led one UK STFC project, one JSPS project in Japan, one Hunan Provincial Overseas High-Level Young Talent project, and one research start-up project at Central South University. His publications have received more than 5,400 non-self citations, with an H-index of 41 and 14 ESI Highly Cited Papers. As a first/co-first author or corresponding/co-corresponding author, he has published 28 papers in leading journals, including Science Advances, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie International Edition (x5), Energy & Environmental Science (x3), Science Bulletin, Materials Today, Advanced Energy Materials (x4), Advanced Functional Materials, and Chemical Science (x2).

He has received several honors, including the the JSPS Fellowship, IETI Ph.D. Fellowship Award, the CSCST-UK 2023 Emerging Research Award, and the STFC Early Career Research Award. He currently serves as an Associate Editor of Science Bulletin, a Guest Editor of Microstructures, and a Young Editorial Board Member of Science Bulletin, eScience, and Chinese Chemical Letters. He also serves as a reviewer for journals including Nature Communications, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, and Advanced Materials.