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Selected Journal Papers

Darjan Podbevšek, Yeojin Jung, Maheen K. Khan, Honghui Yu, Raymond S. Tu* and Xi Chen*. The role of water mobility on water-responsive actuation of silk. Nature Communications 15, 8287 (2024).

Avishek Dey*, Elma Naranjo, Ranajit Saha, Sheng Zhang, Maya Narayanan Nair, Tai-De Li, Xi Chen*, and Rein V. Ulijn*. Water-Vapor Responsive Metallo-Peptide Nanofibers. Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2024).

Jacob Kronenberg, Yeojin Jung, Jason Chen, Maria Jinu Kulapurathazhe, Dustin Britton, Seungri Kim, Xi Chen*, Raymond S. Tu*, and Jin Kim Montclare*. Structure-Dependent Water Responsiveness of Protein Block Copolymers. ACS Applied Bio Materials 7, 3714–3720 (2024).

Antonio R. Cerullo, Maxwell B. McDermott, Lauren E. Pepi, Zhi-Lun Liu, Diariou Barry, Sheng Zhang, Xu Yang, Xi Chen, Parastoo Azadi, Mande Holford, and Adam B. Braunschweig. Comparative mucomic analysis of three functionally distinct Cornu aspersum Secretions. Nature Communications 14, 5361 (2023).

Steven G. Harrellson, Michael S. DeLay, Xi Chen, Ahmet-Hamdi Cavusoglu, Jonathan Dworkin, Howard A. Stone, and Ozgur Sahin. Hydration solids. Nature 619, 500–505 (2023).

Fahmeed K. Sheehan, Haozhen Wang, Darjan Podbevšek, Elma Naranjo, Janel Rivera-Cancel, Cooper Moran, Rein V. Ulijn, and Xi Chen. Aromatic zipper topology dictates water-responsive actuation in phenylalanine-based crystals. Small 19, 2207773 (2023).

Yeojin Jung, Maheen K. Khan, Darjan Podbevšek, Tejaswini Sudhakar, Raymond S. Tu, and Xi Chen. Enhanced water-responsive actuation of porous Bombyx mori silk. Soft Matter 19, 2047-2052 (2023).

Zhi-Lun Liu and Xi Chen. Water-content-dependent morphologies and mechanical properties of Bacillus subtilis spores’ cortex peptidoglycan. ASC Biomaterials Science & Engineering 8, 5094–5100 (2022).

Qian Cheng, Tianwei Jin, Yupeng Miao, Zhe Liu, James Borovilas, Hanrui Zhang, Shuwei Liu, So-Yeon Kim, Ruiwen Zhang, Haozhen Wang, Xi Chen, Long-Qing Chen, Ju Li, Wei Min, and Yuan Yang. Stabilizing lithium plating in polymer electrolytes by concentration-polarization-induced phase transformation. Joule 10, 2372-2389 (2022).

Norma A Alcantar, Scott Banta, Anthony D Cak, Xi Chen, Christopher DelRe, Leila F Deravi, Jonathan S Dordick, Brian M Giebel, Dianne Greenfield, Peter M Groffman, Mandë Holford, George John, Neel S Joshi, Nick A Kotov, Jin Kim Montclare, Bradley S Moore, Julia H Ortony, Andrew B Reinmann, Jiye Son, Ruth E Stark, Rein V Ulijn, Charles J Vörösmarty, and Corey J Wilson. Bioinspired Green Science and Technology Symposium in NYC. Matter 7, 1980-1984 (2022).

Haozhen Wang, Zhi-Lun Liu, Jianpei Lao, Sheng Zhang, Rinat Abzalimov, Tong Wang, and Xi Chen. High energy and power density peptidoglycan muscles through super-viscous nanoconfined water. Advanced Science 9, 2104697 (2022).
• Featured on the back cover

Guitao Zhang, Xi Chen, Weihe Xu, Wei-Dong Yao, and Yong Shi. Piezoelectric property of PZT nanofibers characterized by resonant piezo-force microscopy. AIP Advances 12, 035203 (2022).

Roxana Piotrowska, Travis Hesketh, Haozhen Wang, Alan R. G. Martin, Deborah Bowering, Chunqiu Zhang, Chunhua T. Hu, Scott A. McPhee, Tong Wang, Yaewon Park, Pulkit Singla, Thomas McGlone, Alastair Florence, Tell Tuttle, Rein V. Ulijn, and Xi Chen. Mechanistic insights of evaporation-induced actuation in supramolecular crystals. Nature Materials 20, 403-409 (2021).
• Featured on the front cover and by Nature Materials

Yeojin Jung, Samaneh Sharifi Golru, Elizabeth Biddinger, Raymond S Tu, and Xi Chen. Tuning water-responsiveness with Bombyx mori silk-silica nanoparticle composites. Soft Matter 17, 7817-7821 (2021).

Yaewon Park and Xi Chen. Water-responsive materials for sustainable energy applications.
Journal of Materials Chemistry A  8, 15227-15244 (2020).
• Featured on the inside cover

Yaewon Park, Yeojin Jung, Tai‐De Li, Jianpei Lao, Raymond S. Tu, and Xi Chen. β‐Sheet nanocrystals dictate water responsiveness of Bombyx Mori silk. Macromolecular Rapid Communications 41, 1900612 (2020).
• Featured on the back cover

Onur Cakmak, Hassan O El Tinay, Xi Chen, and Ozgur Sahin. Spore‐based water‐resistant water‐responsive actuators with high power density. Advanced Materials Technologies 4, 1800596 (2019).

Ahmet-Hamdi Cavusoglu, Xi Chen, Pierre Gentine, and Ozgur Sahin. Potential for natural evaporation as a reliable renewable energy resource. Nature Communications 8, 617 (2017).
• Major media coverage: Discover, Gizmodo, Popular Mechanics, MIT Technology Review, and Popular Science

Xi Chen, Davis Goodnight, Zhenghan Gao, Ahmet-Hamdi Cavusoglu , Nina Sabharwal, Michael Delay, Adam Driks, and Ozgur Sahin. Scaling up nanoscale water-driven energy conversion into evaporation-driven engines and generators. Nature Communications 6, 7346 (2015).
• Highlighted in Nature and Science Now
• Major media coverage: NBC News, PBS, BBC, New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Scientific American, and Discover Magazine

Xi Chen, L Mahadevan, Adam Driks, and Ozgur Sahin. Bacillus spores as building blocks for stimuli-responsive materials and nanogenerators. Nature Nanotechnology 9, 137-141 (2014).
• Highlighted in Science
• Major media coverage: The Wall Street Journal and Discovery News 

Xi Chen, Stephen Guo, Jinwei Li, Guitao Zhang, Ming Lu, and Yong Shi. Flexible piezoelectric nanofiber composite membranes as high performance acoustic emission sensors. Sensors and Actuators A 199, 372-378 (2013).

Jinwei Li, Xi Chen, Weihe Xu, Chang-Yong Nam, and Yong Shi. TiO₂ nanofiber solid state dye sensitized solar cell with thin TiO2 hole blocking layer prepared by atomic layer deposition. Thin Solid Films 536, 275-276 (2013).

Weihe Xu, Jinwei Li, Guitao Zhang, Xi Chen, Richard Galos, Hamid Hadim, Ming Lu, and Yong Shi. A low-cost MEMS tester for measuring single nanostructure’s thermal conductivity. Sensors and Actuators A 191, 89–98 (2013).

Xi Chen, Shiyou Xu, Nan Yao, and Yong Shi. Young’s modulus determination of unpolled electrospun PZT nanofibers. Science of Advanced Materials 4, 847-850 (2012). (Invited)

Xi Chen, Anton Li, Nan Yao, and Yong Shi. Adjustable stiffness of individual piezoelectric nanofibers by electron beam polarization. Applied Physics Letters 99, 193102 (2011).

Xi Chen, Jinwei Li, Guitao Zhang, and Yong Shi. PZT nano active fiber composites for acoustic emission detection. Advanced Materials 23, 3965–3969 (2011).
• Featured as Frontispiece

Jinwei Li, Xi Chen, Nan Ai, Jumin Hao, Qi Chen, Stefan Strauf, and Yong Shi. Silver nanoparticle doped TiO2 nanofiber dye sensitized solar cells. Chemical Physics Letters 514, 141-145 (2011).

Xi Chen, Shiyou Xu, Nan Yao, and Yong Shi. 1.6 Volt nanogenerator for mechanical energy harvesting using PZT nanofibers. Nano Letters 10, 2133-2137 (2010).
• Major media coverage: Science Daily, PhysOrg, Nanowerk, and Physics World

Xi Chen, Shiyou Xu, Nan Yao, Weihe Xu, and Yong Shi. Potential measurement from a single lead ziroconate titanate nanofiber using a nanomanipulator. Applied Physics Letters 94, 253113 (2009).

Book Chapters

Xi Chen, Nan Yao, and Yong Shi
Mechanical properties characterization of PZT nanofibers
Nanocantilever Beams – Modeling, Fabrication and Applications, eds. Ioana Voiculescu, Mona Zaghloul, Pan Stanford (2016).

Xi Chen, Nan Yao, and Yong Shi
Energy harvesting based on PZT nanofibers
Energy Efficiency and Renewable energy through Nanotechnology, eds. Ling Zhang, Springer Series in Nanoscience and Technology (2011).

Xi Chen, and Yong Shi
PZT nano active fiber composites based acoustic emission sensor
Selected Topics in Micro/Nano-robotics for Biomedical Applications, eds. Yi Guo, Springer (2012).