Biography

Dr Zhai Peng is Research Associate in the International School of Design and was selected as a Dongguan Special Talent (Category II) in 2025. His research focuses on thin-film solar cell, including perovskite and dye-sensitized solar cells. He has published over 40 papers as first author or corresponding author in SCI-indexed journals such as Energy & Environmental Science, Matter, Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, and Nano Energy. He has served as Principal Investigator for projects including the National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Fund and the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province, China. His research outcomes have been recognized with a First Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Science and Technology Research at the provincial level, awarded to the student teams he supervised.

Academic and Professional Qualifications

Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University

Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong

Research Faculty, Northwestern Polytechnical University

Research Faculty, Shaanxi Normal University

Research Areas

● Green Aqueous Precursor Enables High-Efficiency and Stable Perovskite Photovoltaics:

Targeting the critical issue of toxic solvent reliance in the fabrication of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), we have proposed an innovative strategy for fabricating high-performance PSCs via a green aqueous precursor system (Pb(NO₃)₂/H₂O), achieving a world-record photovoltaic conversion efficiency.

●  Magnon Transport Study of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Perovskite Materials:

Focusing on a core scientific challenge in spintronics―the pursuit of diamagnetic materials featuring both strong spin-orbit coupling and long-range spin diffusion, we have systematically investigated the magnon transport behaviors of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites by virtue of their excellent intrinsic spin characteristics.

● Research on High-Efficiency Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs)

To replace costly noble-metal platinum counter electrodes and address the limited diffusion issue of cobalt-based electrolytes, low-cost carbon-based counter electrodes and TiO₂ photoanodes with exposed high-energy (001) facets were fabricated respectively. This strategy effectively improves the photovoltaic efficiency of DSSCs.

Publications

1. Jiarong Wu, Lixia Ren,* Yujie Zhu, Xing Li, Yujie Liu, Hua Yang, Yanrui Zhang, Jingjing Xin, Runkang Wang, Hua Yu,* Shengzhong (Frank) Liu,* and Peng Zhai* Adv. Energy Mater., 2025, 15(43), e03352.

2. Yanrui Zhang, Lixia Ren, Peng Zhai,* Jingjing Xin, Jiarong Wu, Qi Zhang, Xin Chen, Kui Zhao, Lu Zhang and Shengzhong (Frank) Liu* Energ. Environ. Sci., 2024, 17 (1), 296-306.

3. Peng Zhai,* Lixia Ren,* Yanrui Zhang, Zhuo Xu, Yin Wu, Kui Zhao, Lu Zhang and Shengzhong (Frank) Liu* Energ. Environ. Sci., 2023, 16(7), 3014-3024.

4. Peng Zhai,* Lixia Ren, Shuqin Li, Lu Zhang, Deng Li, and Shengzhong (Frank) Liu* Matter, 2022, 5(12), 4450-4466.

5. Peng Zhai, Tsung-Yu Hsieh, Chen-Yu Yeh, Kamani Sudhir K Reddy, Chi-Chang Hu, Jhih-Hao Su, Tzu-Chien Wei, * and Shien-Ping Feng* Adv. Func. Mater., 2015, 25(38), 6093.