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Yi Zheng

Associate Professor,  Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Affiliated Faculty,  Chemical Engineering

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Office

  • 273 SN
  • 617.373.5558

Lab

  • 006A MU

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Research Focus

Nanoscale thermal transport; Nanoengineered materials; Multifunctional composites; Microfluidics; Chemical and biological nanosensors; Renewable energy harvesting; Thermophotovoltaics; Photon-based radiative cooling; Interfacial water desalination; Battery thermal management system; Proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell; Biomass hydrogel; Energy storage system; Nanophotonics; Light-matter interaction

About

Prof. Yi Zheng is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and the Director of Nano Energy Laboratory at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, United States. Prior to joining Northeastern, Prof. Zheng was an assistant professor from 2014 to 2019 and promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2019 at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, RI, United States. His research interests include theoretical, computational and experimental investigations on enhanced energy transport phenomena, thermal/optical/electromagnetic sensing, physical properties of nanoengineered metamaterials, and their applications in energy conversion, storage, and harvesting systems, thermophotovoltaics, wavelength selective thermal emitters/absorbers, near-field thermal diodes and transistors, and photon-based radiative cooling technique.

Prof. Zheng serves as editorial board member for Scientific Reports and associate editor for Journal of Photonics for Energy, and reviewer for peer-reviewed journals, such as Nature Communications, Nano Energy, Physical Review Letters, Applied Physics Letters, Scientific Reports, Nano Letters, and serves as topic/session chair at international conferences, such as ASME IMECE Conference and ASME Summer Heat Transfer Conference.

 

Education

  • Ph.D. (2015), Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY
  • M.S. (2011), Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY
  • B.S. (2009), Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Honors & Awards

Teaching Interests

  • Classical and Small-Scale Heat Transfer
  • Thermodynamics
  • Fluid mechanics
  • Solar Thermal Engineering
  • Micro and Nanotechnology

Research Overview

Nanoscale thermal transport; Nanoengineered materials; Multifunctional composites; Microfluidics; Chemical and biological nanosensors; Renewable energy harvesting; Thermophotovoltaics; Photon-based radiative cooling; Interfacial water desalination; Battery thermal management system; Proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell; Biomass hydrogel; Energy storage system; Nanophotonics; Light-matter interaction

Nano Energy Laboratory

The Nano Energy Laboratory features Nano Energy from multiple disciplines in materials science, physics, and engineering at Northeastern University. It emphasizes the basic and applied study of small-scale thermal transport through multifunctional materials with advanced thermal, optical, electromagnetic properties, super-hydrophobicity, self-adaptivity, high-temperature resistance, and self-cleaning and fire-retardant features. These materials can be applied in the areas of renewable energy harvesting, thermophotovoltaics, passive radiative cooling, solar desalination and purification, thermo rectification devices, and nanoscale opto-thermal sensing. Recently, Prof. Zheng’s research focus is on transforming sustainable biomass-derived composites such as cellulose fibers and farm waste to recyclable, cost-effective functional materials.

Nano Energy Laboratory

Selected Research Projects

Department Research Areas

Selected Publications

  • Liu, X., Tian, Y., Chen, F., Caratenuto, A., DeGiorgis, J., ELSonbaty, M., Wan, Y., Ahlgren, R., Zheng, Y. (2021). An Easy-to-fabricate 2.5D Evaporator for Efficient Solar Desalination. Advanced Functional Materials, 2100911. 10.1002/adfm.202100911
  • Tian, Y., Shao, H., Liu, X., Chen, F., Li, Y., Tang, C., Zheng, Y. (2021) Superhydrophobic and Recyclable Cellulose-fiber-based Composites for High-Efficiency Passive Radiative Cooling. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 13, 19, 22521. 10.1021/acsami.1c04046
  • Chen, F., Xu, L., Tian, Y., Caratenuto, A., Lium, X., Zheng, Y. (2021). Electrospun Polycaprolactone Nanofiber Composites with Embedded Carbon Nanotubes/Nanoparticles for Photothermal Absorption. ACS Applied Nano Materials, 4, 5, 5230. 10.1021/acsanm.1c00623
Yi Zheng

Faculty

Apr 23, 2025

Zheng Selected as 2025 NASA Glenn Faculty Fellow

MIE Associate Professor Yi Zheng was selected as a 2025 NASA Glenn Faculty Fellow, a 10-week residential research program, to work on advanced energy and power systems for space applications.

Faculty

Apr 17, 2025

Zheng Selected as One of Most-Read Authors of Advanced Engineering Materials

MIE Associate Professor Yi Zheng’s paper “Biomass‐Based Materials for Sustainably Sourced Solar‐Driven Interfacial Steam Generation” which was published in Advanced Engineering Materials, was ranked within the top 10% of most-viewed papers published by the journal.

Yi Zheng

Faculty

Mar 12, 2025

Developing New Ways To Control Heat Flow

MIE Associate Professor Yi Zheng’s Nano Energy Laboratory, in collaboration with Mauro Antezza’s Theoretical Physics Group at the Université de Montpellier in Montpellier, France, published their research on “Flexible Tuning of Asymmetric Near-Field Radiative Thermal Transistor by Utilizing Distinct Phase-Change Materials,” as a featured article in Applied Physics Letters.

Faculty

Nov 20, 2024

Zheng Receives ASME Rising Star Award

MIE Associate Professor Yi Zheng received an ASME Rising Star in Mechanical Engineering Award in recognition of his NSF CAREER award in “Nanoscale Radiative Heat Transfer for Enhanced Thermal Infrared Energy Conversion and Cooling.”

Faculty

Oct 18, 2024

Shaping the Future With Clean Tech

MIE Associate Professor Yi Zheng participated as a panelist at the Climate Beacon 2024 conference. Zheng, who is also the founder of Planck Energies, a spinout company from his lab at Northeastern, discussed how advanced materials and clean technologies are making a positive impact on the environment and climate change.

Yi Zheng

Faculty

Sep 25, 2024

Rethinking Solar-Driven Evaporation

MIE Associate Professor Yi Zheng published his research on “Critical Assessment of Water Enthalpy Characterization Through Dark Environment Evaporation,” in Science Advances.

Faculty

Sep 19, 2024

Zheng Selected for Boston Business Journal 40 Under 40

Yi Zheng, MIE associate professor and founder of Planck Energies, has been named a 2024 “40 Under 40” honoree by the Boston Business Journal. Zheng was selected from over 300 nominees in the greater Boston area for his excellence in academics, business leadership, and community service.

Faculty

Sep 09, 2024

Reversing Global Warming Effects With Cooling Paint

Through his startup, Planck Energies, MIE Associate Professor Yi Zheng is developing a cooling paint that reflects heat waves away from and draws existing heat out of buildings. It could reduce carbon emissions and electricity usage by reducing the need for air conditioning.

Yi Zheng

Faculty

Aug 27, 2024

Innovating Hydrogen Fuel Cells

MIE Associate Professor Yi Zheng received a research grant of $208,957 to work on “Innovative Hybrid PEM Hydrogen Fuel Cell” from THETA LLC of Fall River, Massachusetts. The project studies the biomimetic hybrid hydrogen fuel cell as a practical alternative, addressing key barriers to widespread adoption.

Faculty

Jul 25, 2024

Zheng Wins 2024 Raymond Viskanta Award

MIE Associate Professor Yi Zheng is the recipient of the 2024 Raymond Viskanta Award, one of the highest honors for faculty in the field of radiative heat transfer. He received the award at the 5th International Workshop on Nano-Micro Thermal Radiation (NanoRad 2024) in Japan.

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