Background Information: 

Prof. Xu received his B.S. from Zhejiang University (1993), M.S. from Peking University (1996) and University of Chicago (1997), and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (2001). He conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford University (2001-2002) and UC Santa Barbara (2002-2005) before he joined NUS Chemistry in 2005 and became a tenured Associate Professor in 2011. His primary research interests focus on optical properties and dynamical processes of novel low-dimensional materials as well as their applications in biomedicine, energy, and environmental areas. His research spans a broad range from materials preparation to practical applications as well as fundamental studies by using single particle spectroscopy and time-resolved spectroscopy, nonlinear optical spectroscopy, and microscopy. So far, he has published >250 peer reviewed articles with total citations of >20,000 times and H-index of 82 (Google scholar). He has been selected as one of the top 2% most-cited scientists in the world for the year 2018, 2010-2023(ranked by Stanford University).

Research Field:

Biophotonics/Nanoplasmonics/Nonlinear Spectroscopy/Optical Microscopy/Single Particle Spectroscopy: Our primary research interest is nonlinear optical properties of novel nanocomposite materials and their applications in energy, environment, and biomedical areas. Our research spans a broad range from materials preparation, fundamental understanding to practical applications.

Educational Background:

UC Berkeley, Ph.D. in Chemical Physics, 2001(Supervisor: Prof. Graham R. Fleming)

University of Chicago, M.S. in Physical Chemistry, 1997 (Supervisor: Prof. Graham R. Fleming)

Peking University, M.S. in Materials Chemistry, 1996

Zhejiang University, B.S. in Chemistry & Minor in Chemical Engineering, 1993

Work Experience:

2024 - present: Professor, Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo, China 

2011- 2024: Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, National University of Singapore

2007-2016: PI, Singapore-MIT Alliance of Research and Technology (SMART), NUS

2007-2018: PI, Nanocore, NUS Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Initiative (NUSNNI), NUS

2005-2010: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, National University of Singapore

2002-2005: Research Associate, Dept. of Physics, UC Santa Barbara (Supervisor: Prof. Alan J. Heeger, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2000)

2001-2002: Research Associate, Dept. of Chemistry, Stanford University (Supervisor: Prof. Michael D. Fayer)

Academic Part-time Jobs (Partial):

2018- now：Advisory board member of “ACS Applied Bio Materials”

2013- now：Advisory board member of Indian Association of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology 

2012- present: Senior Investigator, NUS Suzhou Research Institute; Director, Center for Peak of Excellence on Environmental and Energy Nanotechnology (2020-2023)

2011-2023：Visiting Chair Professor, South China University of Technology

2017-2022：Visiting Professor, Shenzhen University

2012-2014：Visiting Chair Professor, Soochow University

Awards and Honors:

2018, 2020-2023: Top 2% of the most cited scientists in the world (ranked by Stanford University)

2015: Outstanding Chemist Award (NUS)

2013: RSC Fellow

2008: Young Scientist Award (NUS)

Representative Works:

General Information

Total Publications: >250 SCI papers; Total Citations: > 20, 000; H-index: 82; Top 2% of the most cited scientists in the world for the Year 2018, 2020-2023 (ranked by Stanford University)

Google Scholar：https://scholar.google.com.sg/citations?user=LM2WhBsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Scopus：https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=57201904970

Web of Knowledge：http://www.researcherid.com/rid/B-1478-2013

10 Representative Works (* refers to the corresponding author)

1. S. Tian, X.F. He, X. Wu, D. Hu, Q.-H. Xu*, “pH-Responsive Metal Nanoparticles as High Contrast Theranostic Agents for Selective Imaging and Synergistic Cancer Therapy”, Sci. China Chem. 2024, 67(9), 3063-3070.

2. J. Shi, Z. Lin, Z. Zhu, J. Zhou, G. Q. Xu, and Q.-H. Xu*, “Probing Excitonic Rydberg States by Plasmon Enhanced Nonlinear Optical Spectroscopy in Monolayer WS2 at Room Temperature”, ACS Nano 2022, 16 (10), 15862-15872.

3. S. Tian, J. He, D. Lyu, S. Li, Q.-H. Xu*, “Aggregation enhanced photoactivity of photosensitizer conjugated metal nanoparticles for multimodal imaging and synergistic phototherapy below skin tolerance threshold”, Nano Today 2022, 10, 101354.

4. K. Li, L. Wang, Z. Chen, X. Yang, Y.X. Yu, W.D. Zhang, Y. Wang, Y. Shi,* K.P. Loh, Q.-H. Xu*, “Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution under Ambient Conditions on Polymeric Carbon Nitride/Donor‐π‐Acceptor Organic Molecule Heterostructures”, Adv. Funct. Mater. 2020, 30(43), 2005106

5. J. He, S. Li, D. Lyu, D.F. Zhang, X. Wu, Q.-H. Xu*, “Aggregation Induced Emission Enhancement by Plasmon Coupling of Noble Metal Nanoparticles”, Mater. Chem. Front. 2019, 3, 2421-2427.

6. T. Zhang, N. Gao, S. Li, M.J. Lang*, Q.-H. Xu*, “Single-particle spectroscopic study on fluorescence enhancement by plasmon coupled gold nanorod dimers assembled on DNA origami”, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2015, 6 (11), 2043-2049. 

7. X.-F. Jiang, Y.L. Pan, C.F. Jiang, T.T. Zhao, P.Y. Yuan, T. Venkatesan, and Q.-H. Xu*, “Excitation Nature of Two-photon Photoluminescence of Gold Nanorods and Coupled Gold Nanoparticles by Two-pulse Emission Modulation Spectroscopy”, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2013, 4, 1634-1638.

8. Z.P. Guan, N.Y. Gao, F. Han, Q.-H. Xu*, “Huge Enhancement in Two-photon Photoluminescence of Au Nanoparticle Clusters Revealed by Single Particle Spectroscopy”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135 (19), 7272-7277.

9. N. Tian and Q.-H. Xu*, “Enhanced Two-Photon Excitation Fluorescence by Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer Using Conjugated Polymers”, Adv. Mater., 2007, 19, 1988-1991.

10. Q.-H. Xu, S. Wang, A. Mikhailovsky, G. C. Bazan, D. Moses and A. J. Heeger*, "Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer Gate in DNA Sequence Detection: a Time-Resolved Study", PNAS, 2005, 102(3), 530-535.