Yizhou Zhang

Current Research

My research in the Ousji lab is focused on the development of nanostructured thin-films based on direct lyotropic liquid crystal mesophases. In the past years, prior studies was focused on preserving the self-assembled nanostructure during the polymerization, and such effort had been transferred into useful application as a robust nanofiltration membrane. In the course of fabricating these nanostructured liquid crystals based on novel functional monomers, I pursue a comprehensive understanding of the structure-property-performance relationship of liquid crystal thin-films.

Previous Research

Prior to joining the lab, I acquired Ph.D. in chemical engineering, advised by Professor Bill Phillip from the University of Notre Dame. My thesis research was focused on the development of block copolymer based membranes. In one approach, I focused on the engineering the self-assembled block copolymer to target a nanofiltration membrane with a pore size smaller than 2nm. Meanwhile, I was also focused on the research related with microfiltration membrane that efficiently captures metal ions in a manner with extremely high throughput.