We produce high-quality research inspired by bold ideas and underpinned by rigorous experiments.
Our work spans organic chemistry, materials science, membrane engineering, and technologies for
energy and the environment.
Theme 1A: Flow Battery Energy Storage
1. Liu J., Ye C.*, Ma Y., Tan R., Wang X., Zhang H., Song P. & An Q.*. Scalable copolymerisation of microporous ion-exchange membranes for flow battery energy storage. Nature Communications, in submission, *Corresponding authors.
2. Wong T., Yang Y., Tan R., Wang A., Zhou Z., Yuan Z., Li J., Liu D., Alvarez-Fernandez A., Ye C., Sankey M., Ainsworth D., Guldin S., Foglia F., McKeown N., Jelfs K.E., Li X., Song Q. Sulfonated poly(ether-ether-ketone) membranes with intrinsic microporosity enable efficient redox flow batteries for energy storage. Joule, 9(2), (2025). DOI
3. Zuo P.*, Ran J.*, Ye C.*, Li X., Xu T., & Yang Z. Advancing ion selective membranes with micropore ion channels in the interaction confinement regime. ACS Nano, 18, 6016-6027 (2024). *Co-first authors contributed equally. DOI
4. Zuo P.*, Ye C.*, Jiao Z., Luo J., Fang J., Schubert U. S., McKeown N. B., Liu T., Yang Z. & Xu T. Near-frictionless ion transport from rigid nanoconfinement by triazine framework membranes. Nature, 617, 299-305 (2023). *Co-first authors contributed equally. DOI
5. Tan R., Wang A., Ye C., Li J., Liu D., Dawich B.P., Petit L., Fan Z., Alvarez-Fernandez A., Furedi M., Wong T., Guldin S., Breakwell C., K. Jelfs, McKeown N. B. & Song Q. Thin film composite membranes with regulated crossover and water migration for long-life aqueous redox flow batteries. Advanced Science, 10, 2206888 (2023). DOI
6. Wang A., Tan R., Liu D., Lu J., Wei X., Alvarez-Fernandez A., Ye C., Breakwell C., Guldin S., Kucernak A. R., Jelfs K.E., Brandon N. P., McKeown N. B. & Song Q. Ion-selective Microporous Polymer Membranes with Hydrogen-bond and Salt-bridge Networks for Aqueous Organic Redox Flow Batteries. Advanced Materials, e2210098 (2023). Link
7.Ye C., Wang A., Breakwell C., Tan R., Grazia Bezzu C., Hunter-Sellars E., Williams D. R., Brandon N. P., Klusener P.A.A., Kucernak A. R., Jelfs K.E., McKeown N. B. & Song Q. Development of efficient aqueous organic redox flow batteries using ion-sieving sulfonated polymer membranes. Nature Communications, 13, 3184 (2022). Link
8.Ye C., Tan R., Wang A., Chen J., Comesana Gandara B., Breakwell C., Alvarez-Fernandez A., Fan Z., Weng J., Bezzu C.G., Guldin S., Brandon N.P., Kucernak A.R., Jelfs K.E., McKeown N.B. & Song Q. Long-Life Aqueous Organic Redox Flow Batteries Enabled by Amidoxime-Functionalized Ion-Selective Polymer Membranes. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 61, e202207580 (2022). Link
9. Tan R., Wang A., Malpass-Evans R., Williams R., Zhao E.W., Liu T., Ye C., Zhou X., Darwich B.P., Fan Z., Turcani L., Jackson E., Chen L., Chong S.Y., Li T., Jelfs K.E., Cooper A.I., Brandon N.P., Grey C.P., McKeown N.B. & Song Q. Hydrophilic microporous membranes for selective ion separation and flow-battery energy storage. Nature Materials, 19, 195-202 (2020). DOI
Theme 1B: Other Energy Conversion & Storage Technologies
10. Hao H., Rui T., Ye C. & Low. C. Carbon coated current collectors in lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors: Materials, Manufacture and Applications. Carbon Energy, 6:e604 (2024). DOI
11. Tan R., He H., Wang A., Wong T., Yang Y., Iguodala S., Ye C., Liu D., Fan Z., Furedi M., He G., Guldin S., Brett D., McKeown N.B. & Song Q. Interfacial Engineering of Polymer Membranes with Intrinsic Microporosity for Dendrite-free Zinc Metal Batteries. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, e202409322 (2024). DOI
Theme 2A: Membrane Processes for Liquid Separation
12. Wang A., Tan R., Breakwell C., Wei X., Fan Z., Ye C., Malpass-Evans R., Liu T., Zwijnenburg M.A., Jelfs K.E., McKeown N.B., Chen J. & Song Q. Solution-processable redox-active polymers of intrinsic microporosity for electrochemical energy storage. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 144, 17198−17208 (2022). DOI
13. Tian X.*, Ye C.*, Zhang L., Sugumar M., Zhao Y., Margadonna S., McKeown N.B. & Tan R. Advancing membrane materials for efficient Li recycling and recovery. Advanced Materials, 37, 2402335 (2025). *Co-first authors contributed equally. DOI
14. Chen Y., Shi W., Li S.*, Wang M., Hao S., Gong G, Ye C.*, McKeown N.B. & Hu Y.*. Rapid and precise molecular nanofiltration using ultra-thin-film membranes derived from 6,6′-dihydroxy-2,2′-biphenyldiamine. Advanced Functional Materials, 2406430 (2024). *Corresponding authors. DOI
15.Ye C., An Q., Wu J., Zhao F., Zheng P. & Wang N. Nanofiltration membranes consisting of quaternized polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles for heavy metal removal. Chemical Engineering Journal, 359, 994-1005 (2019). DOI
16. Zhao F., Jiang Y., Liu T., Ye C.. Nanofiltration membrane based on novel materials. Progress in Chemistry, 30, 1013 (2018). DOI
17.Ye C., Zhao F., Wu J., Weng X., Zheng P., Mi Y., An Q. & Gao C. Sulfated polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles structured nanofiltration membrane for dye desalination. Chemical Engineering Journal, 307, 526-536 (2017). DOI
18. Mi Y., Zhao F., Guo Y., Weng X., Ye C. & An Q. Constructing zwitterionic surface of nanofiltration membrane for high flux and antifouling performance. Journal of Membrane Science, 541, 29-38 (2017). DOI