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Congratulations: Dr. Minghao Yu among the 3 winners of ERC Starting Grant at TU Dresden
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Today, the European Research Council (ERC) announced the winners of 400 Starting Grants for early-career researchers across Europe, including three outstanding scientists from TU Dresden, who will each receive EUR 1.5 million for their research between 2024 and 2028. Among them is Dr. Minghao Yu who is a researcher at the Chair of Molecular Functional Materials (Prof. Xinliang Feng). Dr. Yu has been leading a research group at cfaed since March 2019.
Dr. Minghao Yu: Magnesium batteries as next generation energy storage systems
With his "BattSkin” project (Practical Magnesium Batteries Enabled by 2D Crystalline Polymer-Based Artificial Electrode Skins), chemist Dr. Minghao Yu aims to advance research into a new and more sustainable battery technology over the next five years. The focus will be on advancing the promising magnesium batteries, using precise polymer chemistry to govern the interfacial ion dynamics. Magnesium batteries are considered top candidates in the race for the next generation of battery technologies due to their low cost, high efficiency, sustainability, and safety. So far, they are still the subject of fundamental research, since charge transfers at the interface in particular still pose problems in practical implementation.
In his ERC project, Dr. Minghao Yu will work on a groundbreaking concept in which molecule-specific customizable 2D crystalline polymers (2DCPs) serve as artificial electrode 'skins', a kind of interphase, to regulate interfacial ion transport and make magnesium batteries ready for application. “With the project, I expect to strengthen my research independence by assembling a skilled and competitive research team with diverse expertise. Meanwhile, the scientific outcomes will earn me a unique academic reputation in the field of next-generation sustainable batteries,”Yu is convinced.
The Chinese-born chemist has been leading a research group at cfaed (Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden) since March 2019 and works at the Faculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry at TU Dresden. He has already been listed several times in Clarivate Analytics’ list of Highly Cited Researchers and has received numerous other awards.