Welcome to the Nano Energy Laboratory
The Nano Energy Laboratory emphasizes the study of small-scale thermal transport phenomena, thermal, optical, electromagnetic, and mechanical properties of nanostructured (meta-)materials, and their engineering applications in energy conversion and harvesting systems, thermophotovoltaic cells, thermorectification devices, photon-based radiative cooling, highly thermal conductive nanoparticle-nanofiber composites, wavelength selective thermal emitters/absorbers, and nanoscale biosensing devices for real-time monitoring harmful algal blooms and early detection of cancer biomarkers.
Prof. Zheng is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, an Affiliate Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer 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.
As a principal investigator, Prof. Zheng has been awarded 2020 Soleeva Energy Innovation Award, 2019 ONR NIUVT Grant, 2019 NSF CAREER Award, 2018 NASA RID Research Award, 2017 NSF RI EPSCoR Research Grant, 2017 NIH RI-INBRE Early Career Development Award, 2016 NIH RI-INBRE Pilot Research Development Award, 2016 Rhode Island Foundation Research Fund, 2015 RI-STAC Collaborative Research Grant, 2015 COBRE CCRD Junior Investigator Support Program Award, and 2015 URI Council for Research Grant. Dr. Zheng also received research funding from Champlin Foundations, Amazon, Modular Thermal Technologies, LLC (North Kingstown, RI, USA), Life Wear Technologies, LLC (Pompano Beach, FL, USA), and Nanjing Canatal Air-Condition Electromechanical Co., Ltd. (Nanjing, China).
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.
Acknowledgments of Federal, State, and Industrial Research Funding Support
