Shiyuan Zhou
Bio: Shiyuan Zhou received his Ph.D. in energy chemistry in 2024 through a joint doctoral program between Xiamen University and Argonne National Laboratory, advised by Prof. Shi-Gang Sun, Dr. Gui-Liang Xu, and Dr. Khalil Amine. Trained as both a materials chemist and a microscopist, his research focuses on visualizing highly sensitive and previously inaccessible electrochemical processes in batteries. His doctoral research investigated real-time reactions in lithium–sulfur batteries through the development of in situ liquid-cell transmission electron microscopy. Following his Ph.D., he continued at Argonne as a postdoctoral fellow, where he expanded his research to multimodal and multiscale imaging by integrating electron microscopy with transmission X-ray microscopy for all-solid-state batteries. His research was recognized as one of China’s Top 10 Scientific Advances of 2023, and he received the Tan Kah Kee Medal, Xiamen University’s highest student honor.
Postdoctoral research project: Operando electrochemical electron microscopy for batteries. Electrochemistry plays a central role in clean energy storage and conversion, with batteries among the most promising applications. However, batteries operate under complex conditions where electrical, thermal, and mechanical factors interact, leaving many critical processes hidden as a “black box”. Under the mentorship of Professors Yi Cui and Wah Chiu at Stanford, Shiyuan Zhou will develop a multimodal operando electrochemical scanning/transmission electron microscopy plus (EC-S/TEM+) platform to visualize electrochemical reactions in real time under realistic working conditions. The “plus” framework will integrate complementary approaches, including cryogenic electron microscopy and X-ray techniques, to capture highly sensitive species, short-lived intermediates, and dynamic interfacial changes across multiple length scales. Using this platform, he will investigate interfacial mechanisms in all-solid-state batteries and lithium metal batteries, providing critical insight to next-generation energy storage materials and systems.
Research focus: Energy Conversion & Storage - Batteries
Advisors: Yi Cui - Materials Science and Engineering | Wah Chiu - Bioengineering | Xueli Zheng - SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory