Lifeng Zhang

About Professor Zhang

Curriculum Vitae

PDF Version, April 2018

Biography

Dr. Lifeng Zhang is currently an associate professor of nanoengineering at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (JSNN) of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.  He earned his Ph.D. degree in Fiber and Polymer Science from the University of California at Davis in 2006. Prior to joining the faculty at JSNN in 2012, he worked as a postdoctoral scholar at UC Davis from 2006 to 2007 and as a research scientist from level I to III at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology from 2007 to 2011.

Research

Dr. Zhang’s research interests lie in engineered materials at nanometer scale. The advanced nanomaterials developed in his research including polymer, ceramic and carbon nanomaterials and their nanocomposites have seen a wide range of applications such as energy conversion and storage, optical/gas/bio sensors, photo-catalysis, ballistic protection, and biomedical uses. Since he joined the North Carolina A&T State University, Dr. Zhang has published 24 peer-reviewed prestigious journal articles including some top journals in their respective fields like Progress in Polymer Science (Impact Factor 24.558), Nanoenergy (Impact factor 13.120), and Journal of Materials Chemistry A (Impact Factor 9.931), and 5 book chapters, filed 13 invention disclosures and received two U.S. patents with another 3 U.S. and PCT patent applications pending. Dr. Zhang has presented his research 68 times in the form of invited talk, oral presentation, and poster presentation at international, national, regional, and university conferences, symposia, workshops, and seminars. To date Dr. Zhang’s overall publications have been cited over 3,800 times by researchers from more than 40 countries/territories across the world. Dr. Zhang’s research goals are to understand the structural and morphological development at nanometer scale during nanomaterials processing; to design, fabricate, and characterize novel nanomaterials; and to promote nanomaterials’ commercial applications.

Dr. Zhang’s Graduated Research Team Members

• Dr. Arifa Parveen, Ph.D., Spring 2018
• Dr. Nafisa Sirelkhatim, Ph.D., Spring 2016
• Dr. Alex Aboagye, Ph.D., Fall 2015
• Taiseer Eldirdiri, M.S., Summer 2017
• William Bizzell, M.S., Summer 2017
• Nikhil Reddy Mucha, M.S., Summer 2016
• Spero Gbewonyo, M.S., Spring 2015
• Divya Shankar Iyer, M.S., Spring 2015
• De’andre Cherry, M.S., Fall 2014

Honors & Awards

2018 March NCATSU Faculty Excellence Awards: OUTSTANDING YOUNG INVESTIGATOR

2018 January Best Oral Presentation Award at the 6th International Conference on Nano and Materials Science (ICNMS 2018),  Florida Polytechnic University, FL, USA

2016 August Travel Award from Material Research Society (USA) to XXV International Materials Research Congress (Mexico)

2016 April Intellectual Property Research Excellence Award, North Carolina A&T State University

2016 April Outstanding Poster Award at MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit, Phoenix, AZ, USA

2014 April Rookie of the Year Research Excellence Award, North Carolina A&T State University

2013 December Best Poster Award at 3rd International Conference on Nanotek & Expo, Las Vegas, NV, USA

2013 September Best Poster Award at Nanomanufacturing Conference, Greensboro, NC, USA

Publications

• Aboagye, Alex; Liu, Yiyang; Ryan, James G.; Wei, Jianjun; Zhang, Lifeng*. Hierarchical carbon composite nanofibrous electrode material for high-performance aqueous supercapacitors. Materials Chemistry and Physics, 2018, 214, 557-563.
• Wang, Guolong; Yu, Demei; Kelkar, Ajit; Zhang, Lifeng*. Electrospun nanofiber: Emerging reinforcing filler in polymer matrix composite materials. Progress in Polymer Science, 2017, 75, 73-107.
• Gbewonyo, Spero; Carpenter, Alexis W.; Gause, Charles B.; Mucha, Nikhil Reddy; Zhang, Lifeng*. Low thermal conductivity carbon fibrous composite nanomaterial enabled by multi-scale porous structure. Materials & Design, 2017, 134, 218-225.
• Wang, Guolong; Lv, Guowei; Zhang, Shihu; Shao, Jinyou; Li, Xiangming; Tian, Hongmiao; Yu, Demei; Zhang, Lifeng*. A photocurable leaky dielectric for highly electrical insulating electrohydrodynamic micro-/nanopatterns. Soft Matter, 2016, 12, 8819-8824.
• Wang, Guolong; Yu, Demei; Mohan, Ram V.; Gbewonyo, Spero; Zhang, Lifeng*. A comparative study of nanoscale glass filler reinforced epoxy composites: Electrospun nanofiber vs nanoparticle. Composites Science and Technology, 2016, 129, 19-29.
• Cai, Yibing; Liu, Mengmeng; Song, Xiaofei; Zhang, Jin; Wei, Qufu; Zhang, Lifeng*. A form-stable phase change material made with a cellulose acetate nanofibrous mat from bicomponent electrospinning and incorporated capric-myristic-stearic acid ternary eutectic mixture for thermal energy storage/retrieval. RSC Advances, 2015, 5, 84245-84251.
• Elbohy, Hytham; Aboagye, Alex; Sigdel, Sudhan; Wang, Qi; Sayyad, M. Hassan; Zhang, Lifeng*; Qiao, Qiquan. Graphene-embedded carbon nanofibers decorated with Pt nanoneedles for high efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2015, 3, 17721-17727.
• Aboagye, Alex; Elbohy, Hytham; Kelkar, Ajit D.; Qiao, Qiquan; Zai, Jiantao; Qian, Xuefeng; Zhang, Lifeng*. Electrospun carbon nanofibers with surface-attached platinum nanoparticles as cost-effective and efficient counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. Nano Energy, 2015, 11, 550-556.
• Sirelkhatim, Nafisa; Lajeunesse, Dennis; Kelkar, Ajit D.; Zhang, Lifeng*. Antifungal activity of amidoxime surface functionalized electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibers. Materials Letters, 2015, 141, 217-220.
• Zhang, Lifeng*; Aboagye, Alex; Kelkar, Ajit; Lai, Chuilin; Fong, Hao. A review: carbon nanofibers from electrospun polyacrylonitrile and their applications. Journal of Materials Science, 2014, 49, 463-480.

Patents

• Zhang, Lifeng; Kelkar, Ajit; Fong, Hao; Lai, Chuilin. Production of carbonaceous nano-fibrous materials with ultra-high specific surface area from alkali (Kraft) lignin. U.S. Patent, 9190222B1.
• Fong, Hao; Zhang, Lifeng; Zhao, Yong; Zhu, Zhengtao. Process of making titanium carbide (TiC) nanofibrous felts. U.S. Patent, 8932513B2.
• Zhang, Lifeng; Fini, Elham; Karnati, Sidharth Reddy. Green Epoxy Resin with the Biobinder from Swine Manure. U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/622,866.
• Zhang, Lifeng; Carpenter, Alexis Wells; Gause, Charles Boyd; Gbewonyo, Spero. Low Thermal Conductivity Carbon-Containing Materials and Methods of Producing the Same. PCT/US2017/53762.
• Zhang, Lifeng; LaJeunesse, Dennis R; Sirelkhatim, Nafisa. Antifungal compositions and methods of use thereof. U.S. Patent Application 15/360,068.