Peidong Yang

Research summary

Self-organized ZnO nanowires oriented along <0001> were grown on sapphire substrates by vapor transport and condensation, forming natural laser cavities 20-150 nm in diameter and up to 10 µm long; under optical excitation the arrays exhibited surface-emitting lasing at 385 nm with a linewidth below 0.3 nm at room temperature [1]. The same vapor-liquid-solid mechanism, using gold catalyst layers of tunable thickness, produced patterned photoluminescent ZnO nanowire networks whose emission characteristics tracked wire diameter [3]. In electrocatalysis, crystalline PtNi3 polyhedra were converted in solution by interior erosion to Pt3Ni nanoframes whose retained edge skeleton exposes both inner and outer catalytic surfaces composed of a Pt-rich (111) skin, delivering markedly improved activity and durability for oxygen reduction [2]. The shape-control principles underpinning such structures are reviewed for colloidal noble metals, with emphasis on solution-phase nucleation and growth, crystallographically selective adsorbates, and seed-mediated anisotropic growth [5]. In CO2 conversion, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) built from cobalt-porphyrin units linked by imine bonds were optimized modularly for aqueous electroreduction of CO2 to CO, reaching ~90% Faradaic efficiency and turnover numbers up to 290,000 with an initial TOF of 9,400 h^-1 at pH 7 and -0.55 V overpotential, a 26-fold activity gain over the molecular Co complex [4]. For photovoltaics, ordered silicon nanowire arrays were shown by optical transmission and photocurrent measurements on thin films to increase the path length of incident solar radiation by a factor up to ~73 — well above the Lambertian limit at long wavelengths — quantifying the light-trapping advantage that makes nanowire architectures attractive for low-cost thin-film solar cells [6].

Recent publications

1. Room-Temperature Ultraviolet Nanowire Nanolasers2001 · Science · 8896 citationsDOI
2. Nanowire dye-sensitized solar cells2005 · Nature Materials · 5300 citationsDOI
3. Enhanced thermoelectric performance of rough silicon nanowires2008 · Nature · 4061 citationsDOI
4. Highly Crystalline Multimetallic Nanoframes with Three-Dimensional Electrocatalytic Surfaces2014 · Science · 2736 citationsDOI
5. Catalytic Growth of Zinc Oxide Nanowires by Vapor Transport2001 · Advanced Materials · 2694 citationsDOI
6. Covalent organic frameworks comprising cobalt porphyrins for catalytic CO 2 reduction in water2015 · Science · 2535 citationsDOI
7. Generalized syntheses of large-pore mesoporous metal oxides with semicrystalline frameworks1998 · Nature · 2486 citationsDOI
8. Shape Control of Colloidal Metal Nanocrystals2008 · Small · 2375 citationsDOI
9. Janus monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides2017 · Nature Nanotechnology · 2315 citationsDOI
10. Light Trapping in Silicon Nanowire Solar Cells2010 · Nano Letters · 2163 citationsDOI

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Email Peidong Yang 6-12 months before your application deadline. Read several recent papers and reference specific work in your message. Use our how to email a Japanese professor guide for the proven email structure.

For applications via MEXT scholarship: see our MEXT 2027 complete guide and university-specific University Recommendation track.

External profiles

• ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4799-1684
• OpenAlex: openalex.org

Profile compiled from public sources (Researchmap, OpenAlex, The University of Tokyo faculty directory). Last refreshed 2026-05. Report incorrect information.