Peidong Yang

Biosketch

Peidong Yang is a Chemistry professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He is known particularly for his work on semiconductor nanowires and their photonic and energy applications. He is one of the co-directors for the Kavli Energy Nanoscience Institute at Berkeley. Dr. Yang received his B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Science and Technology in China in 1993. He then received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University in 1997, and did his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Soon after, he began his Assistant Professorship at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the recipient of MacArthur Fellowship, E. O. Lawrence Award, ACS Nanoscience Award, MRS Medal, Baekeland Medal, Alfred P. Sloan research fellowship, the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, MRS Young Investigator Award, Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics, ACS Pure Chemistry Award, and Alan T. Waterman Award. He is a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Research Interests

Dr. Yang's interests lie in the synthesis of new classes of materials and nanostructures, with an emphasis on the development of new synthetic approaches. Specifically, he is focused on developing a better understanding of the fundamental issues of structural assembly and growth in order to enable rational control of nanostructure, material composition, property, and functionality. The current direction of his group is focused on chemical integration, self-organization, and physical properties of one-dimensional nanostructures. Specific research projects currently being explored in Dr. Yang's laboratory include: nanowire photonics, nanowire-based solar cells, nanowires for solar to fuel conversion, nanowire thermoelectrics, nanowire-cell interface, and nanocrystal catalysis. At present, Dr. Yang is heavily involved in an effort to create a synthetic leaf that would allow the production of useful chemicals such as butanol, methane from CO2, water and sunlight.