Materials Horizons Emerging Investigator Series: Professor Xiangyu Jiang, Beihang University, China

---

Abstract

Our Emerging Investigator Series features exceptional work by early-career researchers working in the field of materials science.

---

Xiangyu Jiang (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3429-6888) is a research professor at the International Institute for Interdisciplinary and Frontiers, Beihang University (Beijing, China). He received his PhD in physical chemistry from Jilin University in 2016 under the supervision of Prof. Wensheng Yang, and subsequently carried out postdoctoral research with Prof. Lei Jiang at the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was selected for the “Postdoctoral Innovation Talents Support Program” and supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Outstanding Youth Science Foundation.

His research focuses on the design and fabrication of low-dimensional sensors based on interfacial wettability principles, including capillary bridge-induced confined assembly and liquid-bridge-assisted patterning. His group has developed several innovative strategies for the one-dimensional structuring of inorganic, organic, polymeric, and hybrid materials, achieving highly ordered sensing arrays with programmable geometries. These arrays have further improved the sensing performance of materials through structural design, enabling them to be used in more practical scenarios.

He has published more than 20 papers in high-impact journals such as Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, Advanced Science, and Advanced Functional Materials. His recent work has broken through the sensitivity limit of traditional organic luminescent small molecule vapor sensors, achieving detection at the 5 ‱ level of saturated vapor pressure. He has also been invited to give keynote speeches at several important international conferences. He also serves as a Youth Editorial Board Member of Nano and Precision Engineering (NPE) and as a reviewer for multiple high-level journals.

Read Xiangyu Jiang’s Emerging Investigator Series article ‘Solvated ion transport in hierarchical tremella-like ionic membranes for low-power and high-sensitivity ethanol sensing’ ( https://doi.org/10.1039/D5MH01249J ) and read more about him in the interview below:

MH: Your recent Materials Horizons Communication demonstrates a paradigm shift in gas sensing by realizing nanoconfined solvated ion transport within hierarchical porous membranes. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article and where do you see your research going in future?

XJ: My early research mainly focused on bioinspired interfacial wettability and one-dimensional (1D) assembly of materials. Over time, this interest evolved toward confined assembly based on capillary bridge phenomena, where the interplay of wetting, evaporation, and confinement can be precisely engineered to create ordered micro/nano architectures. These designed structures can often significantly improve the sensing performance of materials. In my recent Materials Horizons paper, we extended this concept to ion-conducting systems, achieving low-power and highly sensitive ethanol sensing through solvated ion transport in hierarchical tremella-like ionic membranes.

In the future, I will achieve precise device structure assembly through precise control of the interface, thereby improving the performance of materials in sensing. I aim to integrate multi-scale interfacial design with intelligent sensing systems, enabling adaptive, energy-efficient, and flexible sensors for complex chemical environments.

MH: What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

XJ: I am most excited about exploring how liquid bridges and interfacial confinement can serve as dynamic and adaptive templates for the controlled assembly of functional materials. These transient yet highly tunable interfaces provide a powerful way to direct molecular organization in nonequilibrium environments, enabling the construction of well-defined structures that are otherwise difficult to achieve through traditional top-down fabrication.

What fascinates me most is that these interfacial processes occur naturally and spontaneously under mild conditions, guided only by wettability contrast, capillary forces, and solvent evaporation dynamics. By understanding and harnessing these subtle physical mechanisms, we can realize programmable micro/nano-architectures that respond to external stimuli such as light, heat, or chemical vapors.

Currently, I am particularly interested in coupling these confined systems with optical, ionic, or electronic transduction pathways, which allows us to translate interfacial phenomena into measurable sensing signals.

MH: In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

XJ: One of the most critical questions in this field is how molecular-scale interactions at confined interfaces translate into measurable macroscopic sensing behaviors. Understanding this correlation requires bridging the gap between wetting dynamics, charge or ion transport, and optical or mechanical signal responses under confinement. It is essential to develop a theoretical and experimental framework that can describe how these nanoscale interfacial processes collectively determine the performance of the whole sensing system.

A second, equally important question is how to establish universal design principles that link structure and function across different classes of materials—ranging from polymers and hybrid nanocomposites to biomimetic systems. For example, drawing inspiration from biological olfactory proteins, it is worth exploring how micro- and nanoscale architectures can be designed to mimic selective recognition and transduction behaviors, thereby enabling sensors that combine high sensitivity with excellent specificity. In this regard, uncovering the intrinsic relationship between polymer swelling behaviors and organic vapor sensing mechanisms will be pivotal.

In the long term, the development of sensors represents a crucial goal for the next generation of intelligent systems. Achieving this will require answering a series of intertwined scientific and engineering questions:

How can we couple interfacial self-assembly with functional signal transduction (optical, electrical, or magnetic) in a controllable manner?

How can bioinspired design principles—such as the hierarchical organization of olfactory or tactile systems—be translated into artificial sensor architectures?

MH: What do you find most challenging about your research?

XJ: The most challenging aspect of my research lies in capturing, understanding, and precisely controlling transient interfacial states—especially when dealing with volatile solvents, dynamic liquid bridges, and confinement-induced assembly. These liquid bridges exist only for very short timescales, yet their evolution critically determines the final architecture and performance of the resulting materials. Achieving reproducibility under such dynamic, non-equilibrium conditions is extremely difficult. A small fluctuation in temperature, humidity, or surface energy can lead to significant variations in the structure, making it challenging to obtain consistent and scalable results.

Moreover, the path from controlled interfacial assembly to functional sensor integration introduces a second layer of complexity. When we attempt to translate confined structures into sensing devices, additional variables—such as polymer chain dynamics, ion and charge transport, and environmental interference—must be considered. For example, in my work on polymer/AIE-based fluorescent sensors, the swelling behavior of the polymer directly affects optical emission, yet this response is sensitive to both molecular structure and external vapor composition. Isolating and controlling each factor in real time demands both precise fabrication and advanced in situ characterization.

Another technical barrier arises when scaling up from laboratory demonstrations to large-area or device-level applications. The liquid-bridge-mediated patterning process relies on local balance between capillary forces and surface tension gradients. Maintaining this balance across a wafer-scale substrate without losing uniformity is non-trivial. Achieving this goal requires the fine tuning of wettability contrasts, solvent evaporation kinetics, and surface microstructure design—all of which must work in synergy.

Ultimately, the process of mastering transient interfaces is a process of learning to control complexity. While it often feels like navigating at the edge of stability, it is precisely at this edge that the most unexpected and transformative discoveries emerge.

MH: In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

XJ: I am scheduled to participate in the 35th Academic Annual Meeting of the Chinese Chemical Society.

MH: How do you spend your spare time?

XJ: In my spare time, I value spending quality moments with my family—it helps me stay grounded and reminds me why persistence and balance matter in research. Beyond that, I enjoy an active lifestyle and often play badminton, tennis, and swim to stay energized and focused. I also take great pleasure in reading, particularly books on science history and philosophy, which broaden my perspective and continuously renew my curiosity toward scientific exploration.

MH: Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

XJ: Be patient with your ideas. True innovation often arises from deep observation of simple phenomena. Stay curious, stay humble, and let nature inspire your science.

---