Dr Yao Lu

Senior Lecturer
Director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes of the School
School of Physical and Chemical Sciences
Queen Mary University of London
Queen Mary University of London
Research
Surface science, Nanomaterials, Low carbon manufacturing
Interests
My research is to create robust surface morphologies in micro and nano scales, for a variety of applications such as anti-fouling, anti-icing, anti-corrosion etc., to promote energy conservation and address the global Net Zero challenges. We are open to collaborations from both academic and industrial sectors, to study both fundamental science and their real-world applications.Publications
Publications of specific relevance to the Centre for Chemical Research2026
Stimuli-responsive shape-morphing soft actuators: metrics, materials, mechanism, design and applicationsSun L Li Z Zhang Y Lu Y Zhang S
Progress in Materials Science, Elsevier vol. 155
01-01-2026
2025
Rattan‐Based Solar Evaporator Hits 3.34 Kg·M−2·h−1 and Long‐Term Salt Resistance via Programmed CarbonizationJia S Qin X Dai S Qing Y Dai J Zhang S Xiao H Chen Y et al.
Advanced Science, Wiley vol. 13 (1)
24-10-2025
Anti-icing and fast deicing of superhydrophobic elastic film with electrothermal heating and pneumatic inflationZhang J Zhang Y Li X Chen Y Zheng H Sun J Lu Y Liu X et al.
Chemical Engineering Journal, Elsevier vol. 521
01-10-2025
A droplet splitter: Simple, controlled and efficient droplet splitting using superhydrophobic pyramid structuresLiu Q Su Q Hong Q Lu Y Huang S Feng K
Droplet, Wiley vol. 4 (3)
09-05-2025
Superwettable Nanomaterials: Fabrication, Application, and Environmental ImpactMeng S Lu Y
Acs Nano, American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 19 (8), 7417-7433.
20-02-2025
High‐Efficiency Water Collection of Superhydrophobic Condensation AbsorberYan D Lin J Chen Y Yang X Lu Y Song J
Advanced Science, Wiley vol. 12 (13)
10-02-2025
Intelligent manipulation of liquids through the bio-inspired structuring of materialsZhang C Wang L Crick CR Lu Y
Progress in Materials Science, Elsevier vol. 147
01-01-2025
Tough and recyclable hydrogel electrolytes with continuous ion migration pathways for dendrite-free zinc-ion batteries under harsh conditionsCao M Wang Y Zhang Y Yu M Zhao Q Briscoe J Lu Y Yao J
Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 13 (18), 13276-13285.
01-01-2025
Biomass-derived functional additive for highly efficient and stable lead halide perovskite solar cells with built-in lead immobilisationLi J Qiao X He B Zhang Y Pal S Sun L Bilal M Su Z et al.
Energy & Environmental Science, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 18 (11), 5632-5642.
01-01-2025
2024
Enhanced waterproof performance of superhydrophobic SiO2/PDMS coatingProgress in Organic Coatings, Elsevier vol. 197
01-12-2024
Reinforced Nacre‐Like MXene/Sodium Alginate Composite Films for Bioinspired Actuators Driven by Moisture and SunlightSun L Che L Li M Chen K Leng X Long Y Guo X Palma M et al.
Small, Wiley vol. 20 (51)
06-10-2024
Synergistically biomimetic platform that enables droplets to be self-propelledLi M Lu Y Wang Y Huang S Feng K
International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, Iop Publishing vol. 6 (5)
04-07-2024
Bionic design of multi-scale superhydrophobic textures to smash impacted droplets: An anti-icing strategyXin Z Zhang C Wei Z Wang L Lu Y
Chemical Engineering Journal, Elsevier vol. 490
01-06-2024
Versatile and recyclable double-network PVA/cellulose hydrogels for strain sensors and triboelectric nanogenerators under harsh conditionsWang Y Zhang Y Ren P Yu S Cui P Nielsen CB Abrahams I Briscoe J et al.
Nano Energy, Elsevier, 109599-109599.
01-04-2024
Endowing durable icephobicity by combination of a rough powder coating and a superamphiphobic coatingXiao Z Chen C Liu S Liu C Liu W Cheng Z Yu X Lu Y et al.
Chemical Engineering Journal, Elsevier vol. 482
01-02-2024
2023
Droplet impacting multi-layer soap bubbles on patterned surfacesSurfaces and Interfaces, Elsevier vol. 43
01-12-2023
Multi‐Stimuli‐Responsive Weldable Bilayer Actuator with Programmable Patterns and 3D ShapesSun L Zhao Q Che L Li M Leng X Long Y Lu Y
Advanced Functional Materials, Wiley vol. 34 (8)
12-11-2023
A new insight into the design of robust superhydrophobic and fire retardant wood: Breaking the conflicting requirement on adhesivesJia S Deng S Lu Y Wu Y Qing Y
Chemical Engineering Journal, Elsevier vol. 475
01-11-2023
Enhanced performance of heterogeneous fenton-like Co-Cu catalysts for metronidazole degradation: Ethylene glycol as a superior fabrication solventLiu L Li J Guo X Wu H Wu J Dong Y Li Y Lu Y
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, Elsevier vol. 11 (5)
01-10-2023
Aqueous Fabrication of Recyclable and Color-Adjustable Superhydrophobic Pigments Based on NiFe-Layered Double Hydroxide Nanostructures for Coating ApplicationsWang F Wang J Gao P Wang Y Ma W Zhang Z Men X Lu Y
Acs Applied Nano Materials, American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 6 (18), 16555-16566.
09-09-2023
The Glaze Icing Performance of a Robust Superhydrophobic Film Composed of Epoxy Resin and PolydimethylsiloxaneZhuang A Li C Yu J Lu Y
Coatings, Mdpi vol. 13 (7)
20-07-2023
Sustainable corrosion-resistant superhydrophobic composite coating with strengthened robustnessQiao M Ji G Lu Y Zhang B
Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Elsevier vol. 121, 215-227.
01-05-2023
Inside Front Cover, Volume 2, Number 2, April 2023Yang X Qi B Lu Y Zhang W Wang X
Droplet, Wiley vol. 2 (2)
01-04-2023
Zero‐waste emission design of sustainable and programmable actuatorsSun L Che L Li M Neal WG Leng X Long Y Jia Y Gao Y et al.
Susmat, Wiley vol. 3 (2), 207-221.
06-03-2023
Bionic surface diode for droplet steeringDroplet, Wiley vol. 2 (2)
09-02-2023
Bamboo-shaped pumpless platform for long-distance and lossless droplet transportHuang S Li M Shu C Su Q Lu Y Feng K
Applied Surface Science, Elsevier vol. 609
01-01-2023
2022
Green self-propelling swimmer driven by rain dropletsNano Energy, Elsevier vol. 101
01-10-2022
Front Cover, Volume 1, Number 2, October 2022Leng X Sun L Long Y Lu Y
Droplet, Wiley vol. 1 (2), i-i.
01-10-2022
Bioinspired superwetting materials for water manipulationLeng X Sun L Long Y Lu Y
Droplet, Wiley vol. 1 (2), 139-169.
01-10-2022
Rational Design of Durable Anti-fouling Coatings with High Transparency, Hardness, and FlexibilityAcs Applied Materials & Interfaces, American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 14 (25), 29156-29166.
17-06-2022
Saturated Surface Charging on Micro/Nanoporous Polytetrafluoroethylene for Droplet ManipulationAcs Applied Nano Materials, American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 5 (3), 3342-3351.
24-02-2022
Green Self-Propelling Swimmer Driven by Rain DropletsChen Y Liu R Yan D Lu Y Zhao D Deng X Song J
In Ssrn Electronic Journal
01-01-2022
Robust and durable liquid-repellent surfacesChen F Wang Y Tian Y Zhang D Song J Crick CR Carmalt CJ Parkin IP et al.
Chemical Society Reviews, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 51 (20), 8476-8583.
01-01-2022
2021
Liquid-like transparent and flexible coatings for anti-graffiti applicationsProgress in Organic Coatings, Elsevier vol. 161
01-12-2021
Architecture-Driven Fast Droplet Transport without Mass LossLangmuir, American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 37 (43), 12519-12528.
04-10-2021
Comparison Study of Self-Cleaning, Anti-Icing, and Durable Corrosion Resistance of Superhydrophobic and Lubricant-Infused Ultraslippery SurfacesLangmuir, American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 37 (37), 11061-11071.
07-09-2021
Robust Micro-Nanostructured Superhydrophobic Surfaces for Long-Term Dropwise CondensationNano Letters, American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 21 (22), 9824-9833.
02-09-2021
Design robust, degradable and recyclable superhydrophobic materialsChemical Engineering Journal, Elsevier vol. 420
01-09-2021
A coating-free superhydrophobic sensing material for full-range human motion and microliter droplet impact detectionChemical Engineering Journal, Elsevier vol. 410
01-04-2021
Nanocrack-based strain sensorsJournal of Materials Chemistry C, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 9 (3), 754-772.
01-01-2021
Unprecedented enhancement of wear resistance for epoxy-resin graphene compositesNanoscale, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 13 (5), 2855-2867.
01-01-2021
Photolithography-assisted precise patterning of nanocracks for ultrasensitive strain sensorsJournal of Materials Chemistry A, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 9 (7), 4262-4272.
01-01-2021
The challenges, achievements and applications of submersible superhydrophobic materialsMehanna YA Sadler E Upton RL Kempchinsky AG Lu Y Crick CR
Chemical Society Reviews, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 50 (11), 6569-6612.
01-01-2021
2020
Creation of Topological Ultraslippery Surfaces for Droplet Motion ControlAcs Nano, American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 15 (2), 2589-2599.
30-11-2020
A simple, inexpensive and environmental-friendly electrochemical etching method to fabricate superhydrophobic GH4169 surfacesSurface and Coatings Technology, Elsevier vol. 399
01-10-2020
Sacrificial layer-assisted nanoscale transfer printingMicrosystems & Nanoengineering, Springer Nature vol. 6 (1)
21-09-2020
Nanoscale SiO2-coated superhydrophobic meshes via electro-spray deposition for oil-water separationPowder Technology, Elsevier vol. 373, 82-92.
01-08-2020
Durable fire retardant, superhydrophobic, abrasive resistant and air/UV stable coatingsJournal of Colloid and Interface Science, Elsevier vol. 582 (Pt A), 301-311.
21-07-2020
Bamboo-joint-like platforms for fast, long-distance, directional, and spontaneous transport of fluidsBiomicrofluidics, Aip Publishing vol. 14 (3)
01-05-2020
TiO2 nanotube arrays decorated with Au and Bi2S3 nanoparticles for efficient Fe3+ ions detection and dye photocatalytic degradationJournal of Material Science and Technology, Elsevier vol. 39, 28-38.
01-02-2020
Macroscale Superlubricity: Macroscale Superlubricity Enabled by Graphene‐Coated Surfaces (Adv. Sci. 4/2020)Advanced Science, Wiley vol. 7 (4)
01-02-2020
Macroscale Superlubricity Enabled by Graphene‐Coated SurfacesAdvanced Science, Wiley vol. 7 (4)
19-01-2020
Self-healing on mismatched fractured composite surfaces of SiC with a diameter of 180 nmNanoscale, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 12 (38), 19617-19627.
01-01-2020
Energy conversion based on superhydrophobic surfacesPhysical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 22 (44), 25430-25444.
01-01-2020
2019
Robust Superhydrophobic Conical Pillars from Syringe Needle Shape to Straight Conical Pillar Shape for Droplet Pancake BouncingAcs Applied Materials & Interfaces, American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 11 (48), 45345-45353.
25-10-2019
Superhydrophilic–superhydrophobic patterned surfaces on glass substrate for water harvestingJournal of Materials Science, Springer Nature vol. 55 (2), 498-508.
23-09-2019
Unprecedented Piezoresistance Coefficient in Strained Silicon CarbideNano Letters, American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 19 (9), 6569-6576.
05-08-2019
Heterojunction α‐Fe2O3/ZnO Films with Enhanced Photocatalytic Properties Grown by Aerosol‐Assisted Chemical Vapour DepositionJiamprasertboon A Kafizas A Sachs M Ling M Alotaibi AM Lu Y Siritanon T Parkin IP et al.
Chemistry - a European Journal, Wiley vol. 25 (48), 11337-11345.
01-08-2019
Ultrahigh Recovery of Fracture Strength on Mismatched Fractured Amorphous Surfaces of Silicon CarbideAcs Nano, American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 13 (7), 7483-7492.
04-06-2019
Low-Cost One-Step Fabrication of Highly Conductive ZnO:Cl Transparent Thin Films with Tunable Photocatalytic Properties via Aerosol-Assisted Chemical Vapor DepositionAcs Applied Electronic Materials, American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 1 (8), 1408-1417.
03-06-2019
Thermally-induced all-damage-healable superhydrophobic surface with photocatalytic performance from hierarchical BiOClJia S Lu Y Luo S Qing Y Wu Y Parkin IP
Chemical Engineering Journal, Elsevier vol. 366, 439-448.
01-06-2019
One‐step synthesis of Ag@PS nanospheres via flash nanoprecipitationHu X Zhang Z Lu Y Liu R Sun L Parkin IP Zhang X
Applied Organometallic Chemistry, Wiley vol. 33 (3)
28-01-2019
Inexpensive and non-fluorinated superhydrophobic concrete coating for anti-icing and anti-corrosionSong J Li Y Xu W Liu H Lu Y
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Elsevier vol. 541, 86-92.
06-01-2019
High-efficiency bubble transportation in an aqueous environment on a serial wedge-shaped wettability patternSong J Liu Z Wang X Liu H Lu Y Deng X Carmalt CJ Parkin IP
Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 7 (22), 13567-13576.
01-01-2019
2018
Multifunctional Porous and Magnetic Silicone with High Elasticity, Durability, and Oil–Water Separation PropertiesWang X Lu Y Carmalt CJ Parkin IP Zhang X
Langmuir, American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 34 (44), 13305-13311.
16-10-2018
A universal method to create surface patterns with extreme wettability on metal substratesSun J Chen C Song J Liu J Yang X Liu J Liu X Lu Y
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Elsevier vol. 535, 100-110.
24-09-2018
Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Micro Post Array on Aluminum Substrates Using Mask Electrochemical MachiningSun J Cheng W Song J-L Lu Y Sun Y-K Huang L Liu X Jin Z-J et al.
Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, Elsevier vol. 31 (1)
20-08-2018
Electrochemical machining of superhydrophobic surfaces on mold steel substratesSong J Huang W Liu J Huang L Lu Y
Surface and Coatings Technology, Elsevier vol. 344, 499-506.
01-06-2018
Efficiently texturing hierarchical superhydrophobic fluoride-free translucent films by AACVD with excellent durability and self-cleaning abilityLi S Page K Sathasivam S Heale F He G Lu Y Lai Y Chen G et al.
Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 6 (36), 17633-17641.
01-01-2018
Photocatalytic and electrically conductive transparent Cl-doped ZnO thin films via aerosol-assisted chemical vapour depositionJiamprasertboon A Powell MJ Dixon SC Quesada-Cabrera R Alotaibi AM Lu Y Zhuang A Sathasivam S et al.
Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 6 (26), 12682-12692.
01-01-2018
Robust platform for water harvesting and directional transportLuo H Lu Y Yin S Huang S Song J Chen F Chen F Carmalt CJ et al.
Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 6 (14), 5635-5643.
01-01-2018
2017
Computational Intelligence‐Assisted Understanding of Nature‐Inspired Superhydrophobic BehaviorAdvanced Science, Wiley vol. 5 (1)
08-12-2017
Self-standing electrodes with core-shell structures for high-performance supercapacitorsEnergy Storage Materials, Elsevier vol. 9, 119-125.
01-10-2017
Table Salt as a Template to Prepare Reusable Porous PVDF–MWCNT Foam for Separation of Immiscible Oils/Organic Solvents and Corrosive Aqueous SolutionsAdvanced Functional Materials, Wiley vol. 27 (41)
07-09-2017
Large-Area Fabrication of Droplet Pancake Bouncing Surface and Control of Bouncing StateAcs Nano, American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 11 (9), 9259-9267.
25-08-2017
2016
S, N‐Co‐Doped Graphene‐Nickel Cobalt Sulfide Aerogel: Improved Energy Storage and Electrocatalytic PerformanceAdvanced Science, Wiley vol. 4 (1)
17-08-2016
2015
Robust self-cleaning surfaces that function when exposed to either air or oilLu Y Sathasivam S Song J Crick CR Carmalt CJ Parkin IP
Science, American Association For The Advancement of Science (Aaas) vol. 347 (6226), 1132-1135.
06-03-2015
Creating robust superamphiphobic coatings for both hard and soft materialsChen F Song J Lu Y Huang S Liu X Sun J Carmalt CJ Parkin IP et al.
Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 3 (42), 20999-21008.
01-01-2015
Grants
Grants of specific relevance to the Centre for Chemical Research
Novel Sustainable Fluorine-Free Antifouling Coatings with High-Performance and Low-CostYao Lu
£33,010 Innovate UK
26-08-2025 - 18-12-2025
Sustainable Fluorine-Free Omniphobic Anti-Fouling Coatings with High Transparency, DurabilityYao Lu
£2,500 Innovate UK
01-05-2025 - 31-07-2025
Wettability of functionalised micro and nano particlesYao Lu
£20,000 Royal Society
09-03-2020 - 08-03-2022
Research Group
PhD Students
- Rafael Domingos Pinto
Design and Fabrication of Micro Actuating Devices For Controlling Wettability - Siyu Meng
Multifunctional Anti-Wetting Surfaces - Maria Rojas Rojas Ruiz
Metal and Metallic Ceramics as Building Blocks For Complex Nanostructures
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