RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Our research interests are nanoscale chemistry and biology on surfaces.
EDUCATION AND ACADEMIC CAREER:
09/2009-06/2013, B.S., in Material Chemistry, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, P. R. China.
09/2013-06/2018, Ph.D., in Physical Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Li-Jun Wan, Prof. Dr. Dong Wang
08/2018-08/2020, Postdoc, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Steven De Feyter
09/2020-06/2023, Postdoc, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Renato Zenobi
07/2023-now, Professor, College of Chemistry, Sichuan University
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
1. Gaolei Zhan+, Zhen-Feng Cai+*, Karol Strutyński, Lihua Yu, Niklas Herrmann, Marta Martínez-Abadía, Manuel Melle-Franco, Aurelio Mateo-Alonso and Steven De Feyter*, Observing Polymerization in Two-Dimensional Dynamic Covalent Polymers. Nature. 2022, 603, 835. (Corresponding author and co-first author)
2. Zhen-Feng Cai, Juan Pedro Merino, Wei Fang, Naresh Kumar*, Jeremy O. Richardson, Steven De Feyter and Renato Zenobi*, Molecular-level Insights on Reactive Arrangement in On-surface Photocatalytic Coupling Reactions using Tip-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 538.
3. Zhen-Feng Cai+, Li-Qing Zheng+, Yao Zhang and Renato Zenobi*, Molecular-Scale Chemical Imaging of the Orientation of an On-Surface Coordination Complex by Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 12380.
4. Gaolei Zhan+, Zhen-Feng Cai+*, Marta Martínez-Abadia, Aurelio Mateo-Alonso, and Steven De Feyter*, Real-Time Molecular-Scale Imaging of Dynamic Network Switching between Covalent Organic Frameworks. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 5964. (Corresponding author and co-first author)
5. Zhen-Feng Cai+, Gaolei Zhan+*, Lakshya Daukiya, Samuel Eyley, Wim Thielemans, Kay Severin and Steven De Feyter*, Electric-Field-Mediated Reversible Transformation between Supramolecular Networks and Covalent Organic Frameworks. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2019, 141, 11404. (Highlighted in Nature)
6. Zhen-Feng Cai, Timon Käser, Naresh Kumar and Renato Zenobi*, Visualizing On-Surface Decomposition Chemistry at the Nanoscale Using Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy. J. Phys. Chem. L, 2022, 13, 4864
7. Zhen-Feng Cai, Naresh Kumar, Renato Zenobi, Probing On-Surface Chemistry at the Nanoscale Using Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy. CCS Chem., 2023, 5, 55-71.
