Two outstanding scientists have been awarded the annual Nano Research Award which is sponsored by Tsinghua University Press (TUP). Professor Xiangfeng Duan is the Distinguished Professor at University of California, Los Angeles. Professor Akira Fujishima is the Professor at Institute of Photochemistry and Photofunctional Materials, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology.
Professor Xiangfeng Duan has been awarded the Nano Research Award for his pioneering contributions to the synthesis, integration, and discovery of novel properties in low-dimensional materials, including two-dimensional (2D) materials, heterostructures, and superlattices. His research has transformed the fields of nanomaterials and nanoelectronics, advancing technologies ranging from next-generation electronics and energy storage to quantum materials.
Duan is the Raymond A. and Dorothy A. Wilson Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), with an appointment in the California NanoSystems Institute. Over the past two decades, he has made foundational contributions to nanoscale materials and devices, pioneering van der Waals integration, scalable synthesis of 2D materials and heterostructures, and innovative porous graphene architectures for advanced energy storage.
More recently, Professor Duan introduced molecularly programmable layered hybrid superlattices, establishing a new paradigm for materials design. His breakthrough demonstrated that molecular building blocks can be deliberately integrated into layered superlattices to encode structure, symmetry, and functionality directly into extended electronic systems. By using molecules as programmable structural and electronic elements, his work created a new class of artificial quantum materials whose electronic, optical, magnetic, and emergent properties can be tailored with unprecedented precision. This platform has enabled the discovery of new quantum phenomena, including spin-selective transport and superconducting states exhibiting signatures consistent with chiral symmetry breaking, as well as scalable materials architectures with enhanced optical functionalities. More broadly, the work establishes molecular programmability as a general design principle for engineering quantum materials, bridging molecular chemistry with condensed matter physics and opening new pathways toward future quantum technologies.
Professor Duan is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. His honors include the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the Materials Research Society Mid-Career Researcher Award, the IEEE Nanotechnology Pioneer Award, and the Royal Society of Chemistry Faraday Horizon Prize.
Professor Akira Fujishima was selected for the award in recognition of his lifelong groundbreaking academic devotion and extraordinary transformative contributions to global science and human society. After graduating from Yokohama National University in 1966 and pursuing doctoral studies in applied chemistry at the University of Tokyo, he teamed up with Supervisor Kenichi Honda in 1967 to discover the landmark Honda–Fujishima Effect, realizing the pioneering photoelectrochemical water splitting on ultraviolet-excited titanium dioxide electrodes and achieving the first-ever artificial photosynthesis converting solar energy into chemical fuels. His continuous systematic research spanning decades unlocked core mechanisms of TiO₂ photocatalysis and photoinduced superhydrophilicity, and he pioneered self-cleaning photocatalytic coating technology from 1990 onwards. His achievements spawn mature commercial materials that enable automatic surface decontamination and sterilization, while his nanoscale TiO₂ photocatalyst innovations effectively degrade toxic industrial wastewater contaminants and ease worldwide environmental pollution crises. Dubbed the Father of Photocatalysis, his milestone 1972 Nature paper has earned over 42,000 citations, laying the foundational framework for global solar hydrogen economy research and renewable energy development. With over 1,190 published papers and 280 global patents, his discoveries drive cross-field advances in new energy, environmental governance, materials engineering and biomedicine, alleviating fossil energy shortages and environmental deterioration to substantially boost sustainable social development for all humankind.
Professor Akira Fujishima is currently the Dean of Institute of Photochemistry and Photofunctional Materials, Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Member of the European Academy of Sciences. He earned his Doctorate in Applied Chemistry from the University of Tokyo in 1971 and has long been engaged in research on semiconductor electrochemistry. He has held numerous prominent academic and administrative positions, including Professor at Kanagawa University, Professor at the University of Tokyo, Chair of the Kanagawa Institute of Science and Technology, President of Tokyo University of Science, President of the Chemical Society of Japan, and Director of the China Research Center of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). His distinguished accolades include the Heinz Gerischer Award, the Purple Ribbon Medal, the Japan Prize, the National Invention Award, the Kanagawa Cultural Award, the Chemical Society of Japan Award, the Medal of Purple Ribbon, the Japan International Prize, the Japan Academy Prize, the Order of Culture Merit (Japan), and the China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award.
The Nano Research Award, established by the journal Nano Research together with TUP and Springer Nature in 2013, is awarded for outstanding contributions to nano research by an individual scientist. The winner is selected by the Award Committee (the Editors-in-Chief, Associate Editors, representatives from TUP) after receiving nominations from the members of the Nano Research Editorial Board. The first nineteen recipients of the honor were Prof. Charles M. Lieber of Harvard University, Prof. Paul Alivisatos and Prof. Peidong Yang, both of the University of California Berkeley, Prof. Yi Xie of University of Science and Technology of China, Prof. Lei Jiang of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Chad Mirkin of Northwestern University, Prof. Xinhe Bao of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Omar M. Yaghi of the University of California Berkeley, Prof. Dongyuan Zhao of Fudan University, Prof. John A. Rogers of Northwestern University, Prof. Zhongfan Liu of Peking University, Prof. Cees Dekker of Delft University of Technology, Prof. Hongjie Dai of Stanford University, Prof. Zhong Lin Wang of Georgia Institute of Technology, Prof. Yi Cui of Stanford University, Prof. Robert Langer of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Prof. Louis E. Brus of Columbia University in New York, Prof. Moungi Bawendi of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Prof. Zhenan Bao of Stanford University.
About Nano Research
Nano Research is a peer-reviewed, open access, international and interdisciplinary research journal, sponsored by Tsinghua University and the Chinese Chemical Society, published by Tsinghua University Press on the platform SciOpen. It publishes original high-quality research and significant review articles on all aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology, ranging from basic aspects of the science of nanoscale materials to practical applications of such materials. After 18 years of development, it has become one of the most influential academic journals in the nano field. Nano Research has published more than 1,000 papers every year from 2022, with its cumulative count surpassing 8,000 articles. In 2025 InCites Journal Citation Reports, its 2025 IF is 9.4 (8.3, 5 years), and it continues to be the Q1 area among the four subject classifications. Nano Research Award, established by Nano Research together with TUP and Springer Nature in 2013, and Nano Research Young Innovators (NR45) Awards, established by Nano Research in 2018, have become international academic awards with global influence.