Liang Feng joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the National University of Singapore as an Assistant Professor in 2026. He received his Ph.D. in 2020 from Texas A&M University, focusing on hierarchical architectures of porous materials for carbon capture and catalysis. Following his doctoral work, he served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University under Nobel Laureate Prof. Fraser Stoddart. During this time, Dr. Feng discovered the first fundamentally new adsorption mechanism since the 1930s—which has revolutionized the approach to active non-equilibrium systems for energy storage and carbon removal. He was an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke University from 2023–2025. His recent recognitions include Texas A&M University College of Arts & Sciences Outstanding Young Former Student, ARPA-E/DOE Early-Career IGNIITE Award, ACS’s first Sustainability Star (C&EN Feature), Sloan Foundation Scialog Collaborative Innovation Award, Bezos Earth Fund Greenhouse Gas Removal Ideation Prize, Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35 (China), Materials Research Society (MRS) Postdoctoral Award and Graduate Award, International Adsorption Society Award for Excellence in Publications by a Young Member.
Research Interests
- Energy and Sustainability
- Carbon Capture and Removal
- Decarbonization
- Critical Materials and Minerals
- Bioinspired Soft Matter
- Supramolecular & Porous Materials
- Polymer Science and Engineering
- Clean Air and Clean Water
Selected Publications
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Feng, L.*, Enabling carbon capture with adsorbent solutions, Nat. Rev. Clean Tech. 2025, 1, 111.
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Feng, L.†; Qiu, Y.†; Guo, Q.-H.; Chen, Z.; Seale, J.; He, K.; Wu, H.; Feng, Y.; Farha, O. K.; Astumian, R. D.; Stoddart, J. F., Active Mechanisorption Driven by Pumping Cassettes, Science 2021, 374, 1215–1221.
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Wu, H.; Wang, Y.; Đorđević, L.; Kundu, P.; Bhunia, S.; Chen, X.-Y.; Feng, L.; Shen, D.; Liu, W.; Zhang, L.; Song, B.; Stern, C.; Stupp, S.; Stoddart, J. F., Dynamic Supramolecular Snub Cubes, Nature 2025, 637, 347–353.
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Feng, L.*; Astumian, R. D.*; Stoddart, J. F.*, Controlling Dynamics in Extended Molecular Frameworks, Nat. Rev. Chem. 2022, 6, 705–725.
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Zhang, R.; Daglar, H.; Tang, C.; Li, P.; Feng, L.; Han, H.; Wu, G.; Limketkai, B.; Wu, Y.; Yang, S.; Chen, X.-Y.; Stern, C.; Malliakas, C.; Snurr, R.; Stoddart, J. F., Balancing volumetric and gravimetric capacity for hydrogen in extended catenated supramolecular frameworks, Nat. Chem. 2024, 16, 1982–1988.
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Lo, S.-H.†; Feng, L.†; Tan, K.; Huang, Z.; Yuan, S.; Wang, K.-Y.; Li, B.-H.; Liu, W.-L.; Day, G.; Tao, S.; Yang, C.-C.; Luo, T.-T.; Lin, C.-H.; Wang, S.-L.; Billinge, S.; Lu, K.-L.; Chabal, Y.-J.; Zou, X.; Zhou, H.-C., Rapid Desolvation-Triggered Domino Lattice Rearrangement in a Metal-Organic Framework, Nat. Chem. 2020, 12, 90–97.
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Feng, L.; Wang, K.-Y.; Day, G. S.; Ryder, M.; Zhou, H.-C., Destruction of Metal-Organic Frameworks: Positive and Negative Aspects of Stability and Lability, Chem. Rev. 2020, 120, 13087–13133.
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Wang, K.-Y.; Yang, Z.; Banerjee, S.; Zhang, J.; Hsu, Y.-C.; Joseph, E.; Yuan, S.*; Feng, L.*; Zhou, H.-C.*, Creating Hierarchical Pores in Metal‒Organic Frameworks via Post-Synthetic Reactions, Nat. Protoc. 2023,18, 604–625.
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Feng, L.; Li, J.; Day, G. S.; Lv, X.-L; Zhou, H.-C., Temperature-Controlled Evolution of Nanoporous MOF Crystallites into Hierarchically Porous Superstructures, Chem 2019, 5, 1265–1274.
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Feng, L.; Yuan, S.; Zhang, L.-L.; Tan, K.; Li, J.-L.; Kirchon, A.; Liu, L.-M., Zhang, P.; Han, Y.; Chabal, Y. J.; Zhou, H.-C., Creating Hierarchical Pores by Controlled Linker Thermolysis in Multivariate Metal-Organic Frameworks, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 2363–2372.