Chunyi Zhi

Dr. Chunyi Zhi obtained his Ph.D. in physics from the Institute for Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, specializing in the topic of property investigation of BCN nanostructures. After two years of a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Japan, he was promoted to ICYS researcher, researcher (faculty) and senior researcher (permanent position) in NIMS. Dr. Zhi is currently a chair professor at Department of Mechanical Engineering, HKU.

Dr. Zhi has extensive experience in aqueous electrolyte batteries, zinc ion batteries, solid state batteries and catalysts for sustainable development. He has published more than 500 papers, including Nature Review Mater.; Nature Review Chem.; Nature Commun.; Joule, Chem, Matter, Energy Environ. Sci.; Adv. Mater.; J. Am. Chem. Soc.; Angew Chem. In. Ed. etc, with an H-index of 140 and other-citation of ~68000 (Web of Science). He has been granted more than 100 patents. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of Nano Research Energy, Editor of Materials Research Letters, associate editor of Materials Futures, and Editorial Board Member of "npj Flexible Electronics", “Rare Metals” and “Green Energy & Environment Science”. 

Flexible Energy Storage

Practical application of flexible energy storage devices has not been realized despite the booming of experimental researches. On one hand, their flexibility is not good enough to accommodate arbitrary deformations, which was merely demonstrated by statically bending at certain angles. Thus, stability against dynamic mechanical stimuli is highly desired. On the other hand, these devices are not strong enough to endure severe mechanical stimuli including large shear forces and impacts, which greatly limits their practicability. 

Our study focus on enhance device-level toughness and ensure long-term usability of flexible energy storage with hydrogel electrolyte developed and device level structure/materials optimization. We develop various hydrogel electrolytes for mutifunctional flexible energy storage devices and target on a highly reliable, stable and durable flexible energy storage.

Zinc Based Batteries & Aqueous Electrolyte Batteries

Since its first emergence in Leclanché cell in 1866, metallic zinc has been considered as an ideal electrode material for aqueous energy storage systems owing to its merits of intrinsically high capacity, suitable redox potential, non-toxicity, high abundance, and absolute safety. These advantageous features have resultantly promoted the recent renaissance of the studies on aqueous rechargeable zinc batteries. These zinc batteries mainly target at low-cost stationary grid storage or flexible applications for wearable electronics, as they have outperformed traditional lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in both cost efficiency and safety consideration.

Our study focus on enhance voltage and capacity, as well as stablity of a zinc based batteries by developing new electrode materials and electrolytes. We also explore other potential aqueous systems with extreme safety performance and enviromental-friendliness.

Catalysts for Sustainable Development

The benchmark ORR, OER catalysts are Pt-based and Ir/Ru-based composites, respectively, but the embarrassing high-cost and awkward bifunctionality along with limited durability of all these compounds regretfully dispel their potential extensive practical use. The last decade has witnessed the bloom of research into inexpensive and highly reversible electrocatalysts for ORR and OER, including doped carbons, metal compounds (alloys, oxides, nitrides, sulfides, etc.) and metal-carbon molecular composites. 

We focus on novel catalyst development, emphasizing their application for flexible zinc air batteries. Despite of catalyst, we also optimize metal air batteries through fabricating new electrolytes and fabricate integrated system of air batteries and metal ion batteries.

2025

●● From Alkaline to Near-Neutral Electrolytes: Progress and Prospects in Rechargeable Zinc–Air Batteries
Y Hou, H Hong, Y Zhao, X Yang, D Li, C Zhi

Advanced Energy Materials, Accepted.

●● Advancements in Separator Materials for Aqueous Zinc Batteries
Q Nian, X Yang, H Hong, P Chen, Y Zhao,H Lv, C Zhi

Nanoscale Horizons, Accepted.

Reversible multi-electron transfer chemistry of I-activated voltage-enhanced ferrocene-based organic cathodes
P Li, Y Yan, J Zhu, Y Wang, L Bi, H Hong, X Yang, Y Zhao, Q Li, S Wang, Y Hou, A Jen, C Zhi

Journal of the American Chemical Society, Accepted.

●● Adaptive Zincophilic-Hydrophobic Interfaces via Additive Engineering for Robust Zinc-Based Flow Batteries

S Wang, N Ma, P Zhang, H Hong, Q Li, Q Nian, Y Wang, Z Wu, J Zhu, S Wang, J Fan, C Zhi

Journal of the American Chemical Society, Accepted.

●● Achieving ultrahigh energy efficiency for acidic nitrate electroreduction via positively charged catalyst-electrolyte interface
R Zhang, X Ma, S Zhang, H Cui, C Li, Y Wang, Q Li, C Peng, Y Guo, C Zhi

Angew Chem International Edition 10.1002/ange.202507724, 2025.

●● Percolating Anode Microstructures Underpin the Choice of Electrolyte Composition for a Stable Alkaline Zn Battery
M Chen, Y Ma, N Li, L Li, D Xiao, C Zhi, Q Chen
ACS Energy Letters 10, 2440-2448, 2025.

●● An Ultra‐Stable 2D Linear Polymer Cathode for High‐Performance Aqueous Zinc‐Organic Batteries
L Zhao, Y Jia, Y Wu, T Gu, X Zhou, X Wang, L Zhong, S Zhan, H Lv, C Zhi, J Liu
Angewandte Chemie International Edition 64 (22), e202425082, 2025.

●● Pathways to realize high energy density aqueous redox flow batteries
Y Wang, H Hong, Z Wei, X Yang, D Li, S Wang, C Zhi

Advanced Functional Materials, Accepted.

●● A solid polymer electrolyte with inorganic-enriched cathode electrolyte interphases enabling 5.1 V solid-state lithium-ion batteries
Y Hou, Y Wang, Z Wei, Z Wu, D Li, Q Li, S Li,  Z Chen, Y Wang, G Liang, K Wang, C Zhi

Angew Chem International Edition DOI10.1002/anie.202505147, 2025.

●● In Situ Polymerized Polyfluorinated Crosslinked Polyether Electrolytes for High-Voltage Lithium Metal Batteries
S Li,, H Hong, X Yang, D Li, Q Xiong, D Zhang, S Wang, Z Huang, C Zhi

Advanced Materials 2504333, 2025.

●● Hydrogel Electrolyte Design for Long-Lifespan Aqueous Zinc Batteries to Realize a 99% Coulombic Efficiency at 90 ℃
Y Wang, B Liang, D Li, Y Wang, C Li, H Cui, R Zhang, S Yang, Z Chen, Q Li, F Mo, J Fan, C Zhi

Joule DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2025.101944.

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com.hk/citations?user=GLcfLW8AAAAJ&hl=en

Scopus: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=8723016900

Dr. Zhi is a recipient of the outstanding research award and the President Award of the City University of Hong Kong, NML award and Beijing Science and Technology Award (first class). He is also a Member of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry, a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (2019-2024, Materials Science, 2024, Environment and Ecology) and an RGC Senior Research Fellow.