Junhao Lin

Junhao Lin has mainly focused on structural manipulations and properties optimization in novel two-dimensional (2D) materials, and achieved groundbreaking results.   

One of his representative works is the universal synthesis of 2D materials. Lin applied the low-voltage TEM technique to study the growth mechanism systematically, found out the key parameters in the growth process, and proposed the physical picture of the “magic salt” that facilitates the synthesis of the library of 2D materials with collaborators. This is innovative and very original, which has significant promise in other materials synthesis and their applications in the future.    

Another masterpiece that Lin presented is on the precise TEM characterization of monolayer amorphous carbon that is also published in Nature. In materials science, amorphous materials are a forbidden region for microscopic studies, due to the dilemma that no direct measurements are precise enough to determine every atom position in an amorphous material. Lin and his collaborators have made a breakthrough in this field, by which they have successfully synthesized “monolayer” amorphous carbon, and have determined the precise atomic structure atom-by-atom by the state-of-the-art low voltage monochromatic TEM. They are the pioneers to calculate the pair correlation function in real space for amorphous materials, which points out that the sub nanocrystalline model is still valid in the low dimensional limit, giving hints to this controversial question that has been debated for decades. His work leads to the development of material science, especially in low-dimensional materials.