Chaoji Chen

Research Statement

AI generated · 3d ago

Chaoji Chen's indexed work centers on sustainable materials for energy and water technologies, spanning solar evaporation and steam generation and structure–property–function relationships in natural and engineered wood. His highly cited first-author review on solar evaporation (over 1,500 citations) frames the field's challenges and opportunities, while related work on flexible solar steam generation devices established practical routes to efficient photothermal conversion. A parallel line examines Na+ intercalation pseudocapacitance in graphene-coupled titanium oxide, enabling ultrafast sodium storage, and all-wood, biodegradable supercapacitors with ultra-high capacitance. More recent senior-author contributions include freezing-tolerant, ion-conductive all-natural hydrogels enabled by cellulose–bentonite coordination and gel polymer electrolytes for wide-temperature rechargeable batteries. Beyond lead-author work, Chen contributed to processing bulk natural wood into a high-performance structural material and to a radiative cooling structural material, both middle-author collaborations in major venues that connect his wood-nanostructuring expertise to thermal and mechanical functionality. He also contributed to work developing fibrillated cellulose as a sustainable technological material and on a strong, biodegradable and recyclable lignocellulosic bioplastic, alongside Chunpeng Yang. No software, datasets, patents, or grants are indexed beyond these publications. Taken together, the works trace a consistent arc: engineering cellulose and wood at the nanoscale toward energy storage, thermal management, and sustainable structural materials.

Most Cited Works

Developing fibrillated cellulose as a sustainable technological material

Tian Li, Chaoji Chen, Alexandra H Brozena, J Y Zhu, Lixian Xu, Carlos Driemeier, Jiaqi Dai, Orlando J Rojas, Akira Isogai, Lars Wågberg, Liangbing Hu

Nature2021

1,669Citations

Processing bulk natural wood into a high-performance structural material

Jianwei Song, Chaoji Chen, Shuze Zhu, Mingwei Zhu, Jiaqi Dai, Upamanyu Ray,

Research Areas

Advanced Cellulose Research StudiesAdvanced Battery Materials and TechnologAdvancements in Battery MaterialsSupercapacitor Materials and FabricationWood Treatment and Properties

Affiliations & Education

Employment

2021–present· now
Wuhan University(CN)
Full Professor · School of Resource and Environmental Science
2016–2021
University of Maryland, College Park(US)
Postdoctor · Materials Science and Engineering

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