Prof. Wei Zhanhua (the first from the left) instructs his students in the lab.

     On October 11^th, the world’s leading science journal Nature published two papers from Chinese researchers at a stretch, complemented by a long comment.

     One of them is attributed to the research team led by Prof. Wei Zhanhua of Huaqiao University. Still in his 20s, the young professor and his colleagues have already published their findings in the top scientific journal. What breakthrough and efforts have they indeed made?

The Achievement

      Prof. Wei and his co-workers have developed world-leading green-light-emitting perovskite LEDs with high photoluminescence and high quantum efficiency, as its external quantum efficiency achieves a record of 20.3% and lifetime exceeds 100 hours.

    This represents a significant progress in perovskite electroluminescence and a substantial step towards the practical application of perovskite LEDs in China in low-cost lighting and displays of independent intellectual property rights.

The Growth

     In the paper entitled "Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes with External Quantum Efficiency Exceeding 20 Percent", Prof. Wei Zhanhua from College of Materials Science & Engineering of Huaqiao University is listed as the first corresponding author, HQU PhD student Lin Kebin as the first author, and Huaqiao University as the first affiliation. Two other corresponding authors are Prof. Xiong Qihua of Nanyang Technological University and Prof. Edward H. Sargent of University of Toronto. This is the first HQU paper ever published in Nature, a breakthrough for the university in fundamental research.

     "Seeing my supervisor and seniors go all out in research, we just can’t afford to slack off." In 2011, Wei graduated from Xiamen University with a degree in chemistry before leaving for Hong Kong as a PhD student. He tells us that his supervisor Prof. Yang Shihe has devoted himself to scientific research for decades on end; he has been greatly influenced by his passion, diligence and rigorous scholarship; majority of his seniors work in higher educational institutions and are getting somewhere.  

     Amid such academic atmosphere, Wei followed their examples, determined to pursue excellence in scientific research. From September 2015 to July 2016, he joined Prof. Xiong Qihua’s group and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of Nanyang Technological University.

       During all this time, he published over 10 papers on journals such as Energy & Environmental Science and Angewandte Chemie.

The Gains

      In 2016, Wei returned to China and continued his work on perovskite materials at the College of Materials Science & Engineering of Huaqiao University.

       Lin Kebin, the first author of the published Nature paper, is Wei’s first PhD student. He feels lucky to study at Huaqiao University, under Prof. Wei. He has witnessed the growth and difficulties of the research group over the last two years. Wei’s instruction and dedication to research has helped Lin to build his dream. He plans to work on the stability of perovskite devices with Prof. Wei for another three years before going abroad for postdoctoral studies.

      Here at Huaqiao University, Wei has a bigger dream. "I hope that we can achieve a series of systematic, profound research findings with international influence; our research team would spring to mind at the mention of perovskite materials, be it at home or abroad."

Prof. Wei Zhanhua (right) poses for a photo with his PhD student Lin Kebin. (photographed by Ren Linjie)