Prof. WANG Zuankai (王鑽開教授)
1996, BS, Mechanical Engineering, Jilin University, China2000, MS, Microelectronics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, CAS, China2008, PHD, Mechanical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, U.S.2009, Postdoc, Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, U.S.
Fellow of International Society of Bionic Engineering Founding Member of Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences
Chair Professor of Nature-Inspired Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Chair Professor of Materials Science and Engineering (joint)
Co-Director of University Research Center for Nature-Inspired Engineering
Professor Zuankai Wang will join the Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, on November 2, 2022.
Zuankai's interdisciplinary research focuses on nature-inspired engineering for water-energy nexus. His Nature Physics paper on the discovery of “pancake bouncing” published in 2014 triggered the revival of the study of droplet impact. This work was recognized by Guinness World Records, and was among the 15 favorite Nature Physics papers over the past 15 years' publication selected by editors. He also proposed the concept of topological liquid diode that allows for the spontaneous, directional and rapid transport of droplets without the need of any additional energy input by control of asymmetric structure (Science Advances, 2017), surface charge gradient (Nature Materials, 2019), surface self-organization (Science Advances, 2016), structure gradient-induced-vapor layer gradient (Nature Physics, 2016) as well as the tip-induced flipping (Science Advances, 2020). All these important works have far-reaching impact for a wide range of applications ranging from water harvesting, thermal management, anti-icing, and others. He is the inventor of Droplet-based Electricity Generator (published in Nature in 2020), which provides a paradigm shift in how water energy can be effectively harvested. He has also made seminal and original contribution to developing new materials and approaches for thermal management through surface engineering, especially on the inhibition of Leidenfrost effect, a long-standing challenge since 1756, with a series of publications in high-profile journals (Nature, Nature Physics, Science Advances, Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Materials, Physical Review Letters). He also made important contribution in extending nature-inspired concept for emerging applications such as reversible underwater adhesion, soft robot; Related works published in Nature Communications were highly cited.
He has published more than 210 papers (19 ESI Highly Cited Papers) with 13500 citations and an H-index of 57, and co-invented 10 patents and invention disclosures. His work has been supported by Collaborative Research Fund (2017, 2020), General Research Fund, Innovation and Technology Fund, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Shenzhen Key Project and others.
For his pioneering contributions in multidisciplinary research, Professor Wang was elected as the Fellow of the International Society of Bionic Engineering (ISBE), received numerous awards including the 2022 RGC Senior Research Fellow, 2021 Green Tech Award (9 nationally), 2020 Xplorer Prize ( 50 nationally), Top 10 Innovation and Technology News in Hong Kong in 2020, World Cultural Council Special Recognition Award, Outstanding Youth Award from ISBE, Outstanding Research Award (Senior, 2017) and President’s Lectureship (2018, 2020) at CityU. His innovation has received the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva Gold Metal with Congratulations of Jury (the highest award, 10/800), Gold Medal and Silver Medal. He was also appointed as Changjiang Chair Professor by Ministry of Education of China. He is the General Chair of the International Youth Conference of Bionic Science and Engineering Conference 2021, Program Chair of Nature Inspired Surface Engineering Conference (NISE 2022). He has delivered 4 plenary speeches, 32 keynotes speeches in international conferences. He is the editor, associate editor, editorial board member of 8 journals.
The Ph.D. students he supervised have won a number of prestigious awards including Hong Kong Young Scientist Award (2015, 2019), MRS Graduate Student Gold Award (2016), MRS Graduate Student Silver Award (2015, 2021), Hiwin Doctoral Dissertation Silver Award (2019), Hiwin Doctoral Dissertation Award (2016 and 2021), and RGC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2021, 2022).
Awards and Achievements
- Mar 2022 “Green Tech Award (9 nationally)” Meituan Fund .
- Feb 2022 “Hiwin Doctoral Dissertation Supervisor Award (outstanding)” Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society.
- Mar 2022 “International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva Gold Metal with Congratulations of Jury (” International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. The highest award (10/800).
- Mar 2022 “International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva Gold Metal ” International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. For the innovation of Structured Thermal Armor which was reported in Nature, 2022.
- 2020 “Xplorer Prize” Tenent Foundation. A non-governmental and public interest award for young scientists and technicians aged 45 and under who are working full-time in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong or Macao.
- 2020 “Among the 15 favorite Nature Physics papers selected by editors over the past 15 years, 2020.” Nature Physics.
- 2020 “• 2020 Premium Award for Best Paper in Biosurface and Biotribology, Institution of Engineering and T” Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)..
- 2020 “Hong Kong Best Science News Reporting (2nd Runner-up)” Hong Kong .
- 2020 “Top 10 Hong Kong Innovation and Technology News ” Hong Kong.
- 2020 “President Lectureship” City University of Hong Kong.
- 2019 “Fellow of International Society of Bionic Engineering” International Society of Bionic Engineering. only 10 fellows so far.
- 2019 “Hiwin Doctoral Dissertation Silver Medal Award” Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society.
- 2019 “Hall of Fame” Advanced Engineering Materials.
- 2018 “• Top 10 Research Achievement Award in China Robot Society (No.1)” 2018 Annual Conference of China Robot Industry.
Previous Experience
- Jul 2018 - Jun 2021, Full Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong.
- Jul 2014 - Jun 2018, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong.
- Jul 2011 - Jun 2014, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong.
- Sep 2009 - Jun 2011, Assistant Professor, Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management, City University of Hong Kong.
Journal
- Jin, Yuankai. & et, al. (2022). Electrostatic tweezer for remote droplet manipulation. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. 119. e2105459119 .
- Jiang, Mengnan. , Wang, Yang. & et, al. (2022). Inhibiting the Leidenfrost effect above 1000℃ for sustained thermal cooling. Nature. 601. 568 .
- Feng, Shile. & et, al. (2021). Three-dimensional capillary ratchet-induced liquid directional steering. Science. 373 - 1344.
- Xu, Wanghuai. , Zheng, Huanxi. , Liu, Yuan. , Zhou, Xiaofeng. , Zhang, Chao. , Song, Yuxin. , Deng, Xu. , Leung, Michael. , Yang, Zhengbao. , Xu, Ronald. X. , Wang, Zhonglin. , Zeng, Xiao Cheng. & Wang, Zuankai. (2020). A droplet-based electricity generator with high instantaneous power density. Nature. 578. 392 .
- Wang, Dehui. , Sun, Qiangqiang. , Hokkanen, Matti. J. , Zhang, Chenglin. , Lin, Fan-Yen. , Liu, Qiang. , Zhu, Shun-Peng. , Zhou, Quan. , Chen, Longquan. , Wang, Zuankai. , Butt, Hans-Jürgen. , Doris, Vollmer. & Deng, Xu. (2020). Design of robust superhydrophobic surfaces. Nature. 582. 55 .
- Feng, Shile. , Delannoy, Joachim. , Malod, Antoine. , Zheng, Huanxi. , Quere, David. & Wang, Zuankai. (2020). Tip-induced flipping of droplets on Janus pillars: From local reconfiguration to global transport. Science Advances. 6.
- Li, Wanbo. , Yu, Miao. , Sun, Jing. , Mochizuki, Kentaro. , Chen, Siyu. , Zheng, Huanxi. , Li, Jiaqian. , Yao, Shuhuai. , Wu, Hongkai. , Kawata, Satoshi. , Ong, Beng. s. , Wang, Zuankai. & Ren, Kangning. (2019). Crack engineering as a new route for the construction of arbitrary hierarchical architectures. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. 116. 23909 .
- Liu, Meijun. , Wang, Zhaoyue. , Liu, Peng. , Wang, Zuankai. , Yao, Haiming. & Yao, Xi. (2019). Supramolecular silicone coating capable of strong substrate bonding, readily damage healing and easy oil sliding. Science Advances. 5.
- Sun, Qiangqiang. , Wang, Dehui. , Li, Yanan. , Zhang, Jiahui. , Ye, Shuji. , Cui, Jiaxi. , Chen, Longquan. , Wang, Zuankai. , Butt, Hans-Jürgen. , Doris, Vollmer. & Deng, Xu. (2019). Surface charge printing for programmed droplet transport. Nature Materials. 18. 936 .
- Liu, Haojian. , Zhang, Mei. , Yang, Yuanyuan. , Huang, Qiang. , Fukuda, Toshio. , Wang, Zuankai. & Shen, Yajing. (2018). A bio-inspired multi-legged millirobot that functions in both dry and wet conditions. Nature Communications. 9. 3944 .
External Services
Professional Activity
- Jan 2022 - Now, Executive Editor of Droplet (Wiley), https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/27314375.
- Jan 2019 - Now, Advisory Board, Advanced Engineering Materials .
- Jan 2019 - Now, Advisory Board, iScience.
- Jan 2019 - Now, Associate Editor.Biosurface and Biotribology.
- Jan 2019 - Now, Chief Associate Editor, Journal of Bionic Engineering.
Service in CityU
Conferences Attended
- Aug 2022, Program Chair of The International Conference on Surface Engineering, South Korea.
- Jul 2021, General Chair of The International Youth Conference of Bionic Science and Engineering , China.
Last update date :
08 Nov 2022
