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Liang Feng
Assistant Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Feng Group's mission is to develop innovative materials and mechanisms to address pressing global challenges in energy, climate, and health. We have two directions in the group: (1) Climate and Energy: The climate crisis is reshaping how we harvest, store, and consume energy globally. The Feng Group is dedicated to tackling issues in energy, climate, and environmental sustainability by working at the intersection of materials, photo- and electrochemical, and polymer science and engineering. Our goal is to create innovative materials for capturing essential elements like carbon dioxide from air and sea, and to develop sustainable strategies for using these elements. Using renewable energy, we aim to create efficient methods to turn these molecules into valuable products. (2) Biomaterials and Biomedicine: Our research aims to advance the understanding and application of molecular mechanisms in biology by developing artificial molecular machines. These machines will enable precise and controlled against-concentration-gradient movement of molecules within specific environments. We aim to use these principles in synthetic biology and designer cells to significantly enhance health outcomes. Steps include improving drug delivery methods and addressing issues in precision medicine, thereby contributing to the fundamental knowledge of living systems and their applications in health and disease management.
Dr. Feng earned his Ph.D. in 2020 from Texas A&M University, where he investigated hierarchical architectures of porous materials with applications in carbon capture, gas separation, and catalysis. As a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University (2020-2023), he worked with Sir Fraser Stoddart (2016 Nobel Laureate) to explore non-equilibrium materials and their transport behaviors. Liang made a groundbreaking discovery of the first fundamentally new adsorption mechanism since the 1930s, revolutionizing the approach to carbon capture and water remediation in non-equilibrium systems.
Appointments and Affiliations
- Assistant Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Contact Information
- Email Address: liang.feng@duke.edu
- Websites:
Education
- Ph.D. Texas A&M University, 2020
- B.S. Wuhan University (China), 2016
Research Interests
Climate | Energy | Biomedicine & Health | Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics | Carbon Capture | Adsorption & Separation | Molecular Machines | Supramolecular & Porous Materials | Polymer Science & Engineering
Awards, Honors, and Distinctions
- ACS Sustainability Star. American Chemical Society. 2024
- Scialog Fellow in Negative Emissions Science. Research Corporation for Science Advancement | Sloan Foundation. 2023
- Award for Excellence in Publications by a Young Member. International Adsorption Society. 2022
- 12 Under 12 Young Alumni Spotlight. Association of Former Students, Texas A&M University. 2022
- Innovators Under 35 of China. MIT Technology Review. 2022
- MRS Postdoctoral Award. Materials Research Society. 2022
- Forbes 30 Under 30. Forbes. 2022
- Distinguished Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research. Association of Former Students, Texas A&M University. 2020
- Distinguished Student Award in Nanotechnology. Foresight Institute. 2020
- Graduate Student Award . Materials Research Society. 2020
Courses Taught
- ME 555: Advanced Topics in Mechanical Engineering
- ME 491: Special Projects in Mechanical Engineering
- ME 490: Special Topics in Mechanical Engineering
In the News
- Liang Feng and Team Land Funding for Negative Emission Science Research (Jan 24, 2024)
- Meet the New Faculty Strengthening Duke’s Work on Climate Change (Nov 16, 2023 | Duke Stories)
- Engineering Solutions to Cutting Greenhouse Gases (Oct 26, 2023 | Pratt School of Engineering)
- Liang Feng: Creating Porous Materials for Enhanced Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Sustainable Energy Solutions (Jul 20, 2023)
- Liang Feng Will Be Joining Duke University as a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor (May 15, 2023)
- When push comes to shove (Jan 31, 2022)
- Liang Feng named to the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 list (Dec 15, 2021)
- First fundamentally new form of adsorption for more than 90 years driven by molecular machines (Oct 24, 2021)
- Mechanisorption mimics biomolecular machinery (Oct 20, 2021)
Representative Publications
- Wang, K-Y; Yang, Z; Zhang, J; Banerjee, S; Joseph, EA; Hsu, Y-C; Yuan, S; Feng, L; Zhou, H-C, Creating hierarchical pores in metal-organic frameworks via postsynthetic reactions., Nature protocols, vol 18 no. 2 (2023), pp. 604-625 [10.1038/s41596-022-00759-7] [abs].
- Feng, L; Astumian, RD; Stoddart, JF, Controlling dynamics in extended molecular frameworks., Nature reviews. Chemistry, vol 6 no. 10 (2022), pp. 705-725 [10.1038/s41570-022-00412-7] [abs].
- Feng, L; Qiu, Y; Guo, Q-H; Chen, Z; Seale, JSW; He, K; Wu, H; Feng, Y; Farha, OK; Astumian, RD; Stoddart, JF, Active mechanisorption driven by pumping cassettes., Science (New York, N.Y.), vol 374 no. 6572 (2021), pp. 1215-1221 [10.1126/science.abk1391] [abs].