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Academic Appointments
Academic Appointments
2026–present
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)
Principal Investigator, LOGICS Lab (“势界”实验室)2025–2026
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto
Member, Acceleration Consortium
Bio: Dr. Weilai Yu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Principal Investigator of the LOGICS Lab. Before joining HKUST, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto, where he established the LOGICS Lab and was a member of the Acceleration Consortium.
He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 2021, where he worked with Professors Nathan S. Lewis and Harry B. Gray on the stability of semiconductor photoelectrodes for solar-fuel production. From 2021 to 2024, he was a postdoctoral scholar in Chemical Engineering at Stanford University, working with Professors Zhenan Bao and Yi Cui to investigate electrolyte reactivity and interphase formation in lithium-metal batteries. He received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Wuhan University.
His research integrates electrochemistry, surface and interfacial science, operando characterization, functional materials design, and data-driven experimentation to understand how molecular-scale interactions at nanoscale interfaces govern the macroscopic performance of energy-storage and chemical-conversion systems.
EDUCATION & TRAINING
EDUCATION & TRAINING
2021-2024 Stanford University, Postdoc scholar of Chemical Engineering, with Prof. Zhenan Bao & Prof. Yi Cui
2016-2021 California Institute of Technology, Ph.D in Chemistry, with Prof. Nathan S. Lewis & Prof. Harry B. Gray
2015 Spring Harvard University, Visiting Undergraduate Student
2012-2016 Wuhan University, B.S in Chemistry (Highest Honor)
HONORS & AWARDS
HONORS & AWARDS
2025 Faculty Accelerator Award, Acceleration Consortion (UofT)
2025 ECS Battery Division Postdoctoral Associate Award, The Electrochemical Society
2025 Connaught New Researcher Award, University of Toronto
2024 Invited Speaker, Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) of Batteries
2022 Young Scientist, 71st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (Chemistry)
2022 Community Editorial Board, Materials Horizons (Royal Society of Chemistry, RSC)
2022 Discussion Leader, Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) of Electrochemistry
2022, 2024 Bio-X Travel Award, Stanford University
2021 Caltech Student Community Service Award
2020 Highlight by Cover Story on Sustainability, Caltech Magazine (2020 Spring)
2020 Caltech Art of Science Prize
2017 Resnick Sustainability Institute Fellowship, Caltech
2015 Leijun Scholarship, the highest honor at WHU
Previous Research Contributions
My PhD thesis at Caltech has delivered three key mechanisms for understanding the stability of semiconductor photoelectrodes for solar fuels. First, accelerating catalytic kinetics of fuel-forming reactions can suppress corrosion pathways at semiconductor surface that are competitive but less favored by thermodynamics. Also, their photo-electrochemical behaviors are sensitive to altered surface stoichiometry producing unfavorable surface states. Architectural integrity is equally significant for multi-layered solar-fuel devices where corrosion of specific functional layer can cause individual failure mode.
Stabilization by Catalytic Kinetics
Investigations of the stability of etched or platinized p-InP(100) photocathodes for solar-driven hydrogen evolution in acidic or alkaline aqueous electrolytes, Energy Environ. Sci., 2021, 14, 6007-6020
Surface Stoichiometry Matters
Investigations of the stability of GaAs for photoelectrochemical H2 evolution in acidic or alkaline aqueous electrolytes, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021,9, 22958-22972
Architectural Integrity for Solar Fuels
Failure Modes of Platinized pn+-GaInP Photocathodes for Solar-Driven H2 Evolution, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2022, 14, 23, 26622–26630
To follow, my postdoc works at Stanford is bridging a knowledge gap from interfacial electrolyte reactivity to the formation of solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) at Li metal anode (LMA). By innovating X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), I managed to reveal underlying electron-transfer pathways causing electrolyte breakdown, and its kinetic dependence on thermodynamic driving force. These fundamentals of SEI chemistry further illustrate the dynamic assembly of passivating layer against dissolution.
XPS for Battery Chemistry
Degradation and Speciation of Li Salts during XPS Analysis for Battery Research, ACS Energy Lett. 2022, 7, 3270–3275
During my PhD at Caltech, I also extensively collaborated with Prof. Harry B. Gray and Dr. Nathan Dalleska on analytical verification of N2-reduction electrocatalysis. We established a new protocol of isotopic quantification of ammonia with low detection-limit and high sensitivity.
Analytical Nitrogen Catalysis
Isotopically Selective Quantification by UPLC-MS of Aqueous Ammonia at Submicromolar Concentrations Using Dansyl Chloride Derivatization, ACS Energy Lett., 2020, 5, 5, 1532–1536
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